![Altar with the word 'love' on it](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2025-11/03272025-DIB-Love-Buddhism-216.jpg?itok=nB1ylR2e) # Love Through a Multifaith Lens In the spring 2025 semester, the Harvard Divinity School community explored the ways love is understood and practiced across different faith traditions throughout the "Love Through a Multifaith Lens" series. November 17, 2025 [ Tyler Sprouse ](/people/tyler-sprouse) Throughout the spring 2025 semester, the Harvard Divinity School community explored ways that love is understood and practiced across different faith traditions. Building on conversations from the previous year’s Common Read, organized by the HDS Office for Community and Belonging, the discussion continued through the spring series titled “Love Through a Multifaith Lens.” This series explored teachings on love in three different religions: Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam. In each session, two faculty members approached the topic from different perspectives to highlight the pluralism within each tradition. “Now more than ever, we recognize the importance of love to keep us grounded in our humanity and in the humanity of others—and to affirm our interconnectedness to each other and to the natural world,” said Associate Dean Melissa Wood Bartholomew, MDiv ’15. “Through this intentional multifaith lens, we are not only learning about love’s power to help us engage across difference but also to advance human flourishing as we cultivate our connection to each other.” This series brought students, staff, faculty, and alumni together for critical intrareligious and interreligious conversations to better understand love, connection, and community within and across an array of faith traditions. ## Judaism: Love of God and Love of Humanity The “Love Through a Multifaith Lens” series began in February with a session dedicated to Judaism. Shaul Magid, Professor of Modern Jewish Studies in Residence at HDS, and Jay Michaelson, Gruss Visiting Professor in Talmudic Civil Law at Harvard Law School, led community members in a conversation regarding a debate between the Jewish intellectuals Hermann Cohen and Martin Buber. Through an analysis of passages from Martin Buber’s “The Love of God and the Idea of Deity” in his 1952 book Eclipse of God: Studies in the Relation between Religion and Philosophy, and Hermann Cohen’s 1919 text Religion of Reason: Out of the Sources of Judaism, Magid and Michaelson explored the nuances of each thinker’s depiction of the relationship between God and humanity. With excerpts from each text, the professors offered philosophical insights to the group of students, staff, faculty, and alumni who joined. Influenced by Immanuel Kant’s ethical grounding of religion, Cohen held that love of God and the imperative to act morally toward one’s neighbor are synonymous. He argued that “the love of God is the knowledge of morality.” As Cohen writes in Religion of Reason, “I cannot love God without devoting my whole heart as living for the sake of my fellow man.” Now more than ever, we recognize the importance of love to keep us grounded in our humanity and in the humanity of others—and to affirm our interconnectedness to each other and to the natural world.” Melissa Wood Bartholomew, MDiv ’15 Associate Dean for Community and Belonging With his emphasis on the “I and Thou” relationship between God and human beings, Buber makes a subtle distinction in his conception: Contra Cohen, the relationship with God is personal, not ideational. Buber explains that “when man learns to love God, he senses an actuality which rises above the idea. The love bears witness to the existence of the Beloved.” Throughout the conversation, Magid and Michaelson encouraged community members to investigate the relationship between love and responsibility. Magid also addressed the dynamic nature of the life of faith, wherein one must continuously discern what love looks like in practice. In a succinct metaphor, Magid described the ways faith can offer exploration of insight and deep reflection from a range of experiences rather than one unilateral point of view. “One way to think about religion is as a map, not as a GPS,” he said. Expanding beyond the rigorous philosophical readings, the professors encouraged small group discussions to delve into broader questions. Topics ranged from responsibility vs. obligation, finding different pathways to faith-based living, and how secular art (such as pop music) may inspire connections to the divine. A key takeaway: Love can be experienced and understood in myriad ways—even when explored through the teachings of just one tradition. ![Shaul Magid engages with audience at event with others around him](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-11/02252025-DIBLoveJudaism_134.jpg?itok=fViECE4a) HDS Professor of Modern Jewish Studies in Residence Shaul Magid. Photo by Caroline Cataldo ![Jay Michaelson](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-11/02252025-DIBLoveJudaism_100%20%281%29.jpg?itok=R8K0MBnz) Harvard Law School professor Jay Michaelson. Photo by Caroline Cataldo ## Buddhism: The Art of Recognition Charles Hallisey, MDiv ’78, Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures, and Janet Gyatso, Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies, led a wide-ranging conversation on Buddhism and love during the second session of the series. Both have spent decades writing about and researching Buddhist thought, and they also brought a unique relational perspective to the discussion; “Everybody knows we’re married, right?” Gyatso said. Hallisey began with a multireligious approach to the question of love in Buddhism, using the last section of a reflection on the Buddha by the twentieth century African American thinker Howard Thurman as an entry point to exploring the relationship between the self and others. Hallisey explained his reasoning through an analogy of a polyglot. “When people switch from language to language, often they gain new insights on a subject in one language that they didn’t think of in another,” he said. In a 1953 audio recording of his reflection, Thurman explained that, in the Buddhist framework, the purity of one’s life “radiates a quality that is moral in character that affects the lives of other people.” According to Hallisey, Thurman makes clear that this process, which is also “an attack on the moral disorder of the world,” is redemptive in character. \[Love\] calls us back to our common humanity. This is our way of equipping our community to do the work of advancing peace and healing.” Melissa Wood Bartholomew, MDiv ’15 Associate Dean for Community and Belonging Hallisey described this as love. In this framework, a person “gets out from under the necessities of life” and connects with an energy that is purer and more essential, which then reaches out to other people. Love is somehow given to a person; it is not subject to the will. After concluding his remarks, Hallisey said with a smile, “I’ll turn things over to someone I love.” Gyatso followed with an explication of Words of My Perfect Teacher by the nineteenth-century Tibetan teacher Patrul Rinpoche—specifically of the “four boundless minds” as described in the book: loving-kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), sympathetic joy (mudita), and equanimity (upekkha). As Gyatso explained, Rinpoche takes the well-known Buddhist categories and presents them differently, describing the fourth, equanimity, as the most important and turning it toward one’s enemies. Gyatso emphasized the power of Rinpoche’s logic through a description of the art of recognition. “When you look into the eyes of another being, you see their soul, you see their potential, you see their beauty, you see their desire to be happy, you see their suffering,” she said. “By seeing their eyes, you care about them.” ![Melissa Bartholomew engages with students during session ](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2025-11/03272025-DIB-Love-Buddhism-211%20%282%29%20crop.jpg) Associate Dean for Community and Belonging Melissa Wood Bartholomew centered in conversation with HDS community members. Photo by Kristie Welsh ![Charles Hallisey and Janet Gyatso](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2025-11/03272025-DIB-Love-Buddhism-163-%281%29%20landscape.jpg) Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures Charles Hallisey (left) and Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies Janet Gyatso engage with audience members during the Buddhism session. Photo by Kristie Welsh ## Islam: A Divine Passion During the third and final session, Teren Sevea, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, and Mohsen Goudarzi, AM ’14, PhD ’18, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, led a discussion about how love is understood—in theory and in practice—through the lens of Islam. Goudarzi began by outlining four discourses about love in Islam: love for Allah, the prophet Muhammad, other humans (including romantic love), and the family of Muhammad. From the first discourse, Goudarzi described the Sufi theological tradition’s use of the neo-Platonic idea of emanation, whereby all things are manifestations of God; this idea presents humans’ love of God as a path of return to oneness with the divine, the source of all existence. “There’s a beautiful Qur’anic verse that encapsulates this idea, ‘We are all from God; unto him shall we return,’” explained Goudarzi. He then described the inseparability of divine love from human love within this framework. “When we love somebody, it is because we love God,” he said. “When we love our neighbor, that’s an infusion of divine love, because that person manifests something of God, as do all humans.” Teren Sevea referenced All About Love by bell hooks (the focus of last year’s HDS Common Read) to begin to discuss the way suffering within love can be productive and constructive. “In this society, there is a shame of grieving,” Sevea said. “There is a shame in indulging in the madness of grieving because it supposedly removes one from living.” Sevea then segued into a retelling of the seventh-century Arabian love story of Layla and Qays, who became “Majnun,” or “the passionate one,” due to his all-consuming love for Layla. Drawing from the works of Islamic intellectuals, such as Ibn ‘Arabi and Rumi, Sevea explained how the tragic love story of Layla and Majnun evolved into a profound allegory for the relationship between the lover and the Divine. “The passion Majnun had for Layla is the archetype of loving God,” said Sevea. Majnun wandered through the pain of separation and the madness of longing, yet never ceased to love. “This is a kind of ontological premise in Islam’s narratives of love: One can only unite with God in death,” said Sevea. “But managing that separation from God—suffering it on a daily basis and learning to appreciate that suffering—is something that Majnun embodies for us.” Sevea concluded by highlighting how similar love stories in the Islamic tradition celebrate those who embraced annihilation to be able to see the Beloved. In doing so, these lovers attain their truest selves—subsisting within and through God. ![Professor Goudarzi speaks with other community members around him](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2025-11/04102025-DIB-Love-Islam-011.jpg) Associate Professor of Islamic Studies Mohsen Goudarzi speaks with audience members during the Islam session of the Love Through a Multifaith Lens series. Photo by Kristie Welsh ![Professor Sevea speaks into microphone](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2025-11/04102025-DIBLoveIslam_117.jpg) Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Associate Professor of Islamic Studies Teren Sevea offers reflections during the Islam session. Photo by Caroline Cataldo ## An Antidote to Fear As MTS candidate Ariela Rudy Zaltzman noted, the “Love Through a Multifaith Lens” series provided space for HDS community members to learn deeply from one another. “These conversations provided a unique opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to engage in the type of discourse that rarely happens; they comprised academic context, intellectual discussions, and personal anecdotes,” said Rudy Zaltzman. “This combination of elements allowed us to encounter one another as scholars, experts, and students but, more importantly, as curious people open to learning and sharing. I believe nothing strengthens a community more than when we see others as people first so that our differences and disagreements can be used as fuel for connection rather than division.” Both an academic pursuit and a way of being within beloved community, love, as Bartholomew said, is essential during these times. “Love, however you define it, is an antidote to fear,” said Bartholomew. “It calls us back to our common humanity. This is our way of equipping our community to do the work of advancing peace and healing. This series illuminated the vastness of love. Love cannot be contained.” ### Dean's Report Learn more out about Harvard Divinity School’s recent research, teaching, and impact. [Read the Report chevron\_right](/alumni-friends/deans-report) ![2025 Dean's Report cover](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-11/2025-DeansReport-sq.jpg?itok=xUjPiRss) See also:- [ Faculty and Research ](/discover-stories-about/faculty-and-research) - [ Buddhism ](/featured-topics/buddhism) - [ Islam ](/featured-topics/islam) - [ Judaism ](/featured-topics/judaism)