![Michael Fuhrman](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2025-05/05022025-MichaelFuhrmanHeadshots-010.jpg?h=207ede63&itok=C9-jWxVv) # Michael Fuhrman, MDiv ’25, on Living a Philosophy of Presence May 07, 2025 [ Jonathan Beasley ](/people/jonathan-beasley) When Michael Fuhrman, MDiv ’25, graduates from Harvard Divinity School (HDS) later this May, he will leave Cambridge with more than just a master’s degree. He will leave with a philosophy of presence and listening, shaped in part by his three years studying religion and immersing himself in community at HDS. Raised in Bryant, Arkansas, Fuhrman grew up immersed in public schools, where his mother worked. A self-described “typical high school student,” he was active in theater and band, but it was his dual interest in history and psychology at the University of Arkansas that opened up a new realm of academic possibility: the intersection of religion, identity, and community. “Religion became an interesting way to discipline my curiosity,” Fuhrman said. That curiosity initially led him far from home. First to India, where he interviewed Tibetan refugees about how their religious identity helped them navigate displacement. Back in Arkansas, he worked closely with a Vietnamese Buddhist community in Fort Smith, just blocks from the Catholic church he attended with his grandparents. In college, it wasn’t just the coursework that pulled him toward the study of religion—it was the people. “I got lucky,” Fuhrman said. “The Honors College faculty were all these religious history weirdos, medieval history weirdos. I loved it,” he said. His undergraduate thesis became a formative project: an oral history of a Vietnamese Buddhist community in Fort Smith. “I was interested in the question: you're a Buddhist dropped into Arkansas—how do you start to cultivate what it might mean to be that here?” he explains. The project involved interviews with older refugees as well as younger community members. “What helped build trust was making clear that this work was for them—an archive they could have and celebrate,” he said. “My analysis was secondary to the act of listening.” That project, along with an earlier experience documenting Tibetan exile communities in India, revealed for Fuhrman a key theme. “Religion, for me, became a point of inquiry into not just personal narratives, but larger communal ones,” he said. Fuhrman’s interest in divinity school was sparked by the suggestion of a teacher and mentor at the University of Arkansas who happened to be an HDS graduate. John Treat, MDiv ’94, encouraged him to consider HDS as a next step in his academic and vocational development, so Fuhrman took a leap of faith and applied. “Divinity school was never on my radar,” he admitted. “But I got a fellowship, and that felt like a sign.” He packed up a U-Haul with his family and drove from Fayetteville to Cambridge, turning the move into a road trip. Once on campus, he found inspiration in courses taught by HDS Professors Diana Eck and Tracey Hucks. The classes, steeped in American religious and racial identity, helped clarify his evolving academic interests. “Moving away from Arkansas made me turn back toward it,” he said. “The American experiment, especially through the lens of religious and cultural diversity, became central to my work.” Fuhrman also deepened his commitment to education while at HDS. He taught with Harvard’s Bridge Program for adult learners and with Alexander Twilight Academy, a middle school enrichment program. Fuhrman’s perspective as an educator is also shaped by what he’s learned through his chaplaincy work and his experience producing the [Hope podcast](https://soundcloud.com/harvard-divinity-school/sets/hope-hds-students-on-hope), in which he interviewed student colleagues about their religious and spiritual journeys. Under the mentorship of Kerry Maloney, HDS chaplain and director of religious and spiritual life, and through courses like Vanessa Zoltan’s “Spiritual Care for Nones,” he’s come to see chaplaincy not only as a formal vocation, but as a way of being with others. “Chaplaincy is about listening,” he said, “without demanding a specific outcome—and honoring their internal world.” Later this fall, Fuhrman will step into a full-time role at the Wooster School in Connecticut as a high school history teacher. “My goal, especially when working with young people, is to help prepare them to tell the story of themselves,” he said. “So often we feel siloed by our religious identity or where we come from. But if students can connect their personal story to the wider world, that’s powerful.” For Fuhrman, education, storytelling, and care are not separate callings—they’re intertwined. He said, “Whether I’m in a classroom, behind a podcast mic, or sitting with someone one-on-one, the question I keep returning to is: how do we show up for each other?” *Banner photo: Michael Fuhrman, MDiv '25. Photo by* *Marisol Andrade Muñoz* See also:- [ Student Activities and Interviews ](/discover-stories-about/student-activities-and-interviews)