![David Holland, Kelly Brown Douglas, and Raul Zegarra sit side-by-side during a conversation, with brown wall behind them and sunlight coming in on the left side](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2026-03/OCBChristianity03022026_-122%20wide%20resize%202%20copy.jpg?h=424f0e88&itok=MMvefYHp) # Harvard Divinity School Faculty Explore Different Traditions Within Christianity Through personal story and theological reflection, HDS faculty examined how different Christian traditions wrestle with faith, justice, and love. March 12, 2026 [ Tyler Sprouse ](/people/tyler-sprouse) As a multireligious institution representing more than 35 religious and spiritual communities across the U.S. and around the world, a key commitment of Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is to honor religious differences and examine internal variations within faith traditions. This essential component of the HDS mission was recently on display when the community gathered to explore “Christianities,” placing three branches of the global tradition in a conversation spanning diverse experiences of faith. Representing the “Christianities” were three HDS faculty members: Visiting Professor of Theology [Kelly Brown Douglas](https://www.hds.harvard.edu/people/kelly-brown-douglas), who approached the discussion through the lens of Black Christian theological traditions; John A. Bartlett Professor of New England Church History [David F. Holland](https://www.hds.harvard.edu/people/david-f-holland), a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS); and Assistant Professor of Roman Catholic Theological Studies [Raúl E. Zegarra](https://www.hds.harvard.edu/people/raul-zegarra), representing a Roman Catholic perspective. Co-sponsored by the HDS [Office for Community and Belonging](https://www.hds.harvard.edu/about/community-and-belonging) (OCB) and [Religion and Public Life](https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/) (RPL), “Exploring Christianities: Reckoning with Complexity” marked the latest installment in OCB’s Building Community Through Love series. “This series gives us the opportunity to grow in our capacity to understand one another, increase our awareness of our common humanity, and operationalize love within community,” said [Melissa Wood Bartholomew](https://www.hds.harvard.edu/people/melissa-bartholomew), associate dean for community and belonging. ![Julia Chopelas, Armond Dorsay, and Liam Kenney sit in a row facing audience members, who are not pictured, with a brown wall in the background](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__960x960_scale/public/2026-03/OCBChristianity03022026_-210%20wide%20resize.jpg?itok=rLGuZ08o) HDS students Julia Chopelas, MTS candidate (left); Armond Dorsey, MDiv candidate; and Liam Kenney, MDiv candidate, lead a restorative grounding exercise at the beginning of "Exploring Christianities: Reckoning with Complexity." Photo by Caroline Cataldo ## 'Deep Moment of Transformation' Each faculty panelist shared how their ongoing commitments to the Christian faith originated in and continue to be informed by personal experiences of connection to the divine. Growing up in segregated Dayton, Ohio, within a Black Episcopalian faith community, Douglas recounted a scene from her early life that continues to guide her vocation and faith. On a drive with her parents from the west side of the city into downtown Dayton on a cold, rainy evening, Douglas saw two young children walking through the inner-city streets without coats. Watching them struggle to stay warm, she thought of Jesus and his manger birth—how he, too, was exposed to the elements, vulnerable as a newborn to the cold and wind. “I remember crying seeing them,” reflected Douglas. “I had recently come to love the biblical story of Jesus’s manger birth, and somehow I made that connection seeing those children. I made a vow to myself in that moment: someday, I was going to come back for those children; I was going to hold myself accountable to them, because that’s who God is.” Holland shared how, as a teenager living in the U.K., he came to realize the healing significance of the Christian message in a moment of spiritual searching. While watching the BBC’s coverage of an international scandal involving the Australian prime minister violating royal protocol by placing his hand on the back of the Queen of England in a public ceremony, Holland reflected on an episode he had recently read in the Book of Mormon. In the sacred LDS text, the resurrected Christ appears in the Americas, his hands and feet bearing the prints of the nails driven into them at his crucifixion, the wound from the spear thrust into his flesh still fresh in his side. He invites those gathered to come and put their fingers into his wounds. “I remember as a kid looking at the world of human power, where even prime ministers of nations cannot touch certain people, and comparing that to the king of heaven and earth inviting the dirty, the dispossessed, and the diseased to touch him and be close to him,” said Holland. “That marked a deep moment of transformation in my life.” For Zegarra, whose upbringing in Peru was influenced by a cultural association with the Roman Catholic Church, embracing the Christian message occurred in stages, culminating in a significant shift during his undergraduate studies at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Having developed a deepened spiritual commitment to Christian piety through his exposure to Augustinian friars in high school, his faith was further changed by the release of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR) report, which documented the political violence in Peru from 1980 to 2000, during which time nearly 70,000 Peruvians were killed—an overwhelming majority of whom were poor and Indigenous. The report’s release and the involvement of Catholic theologians and institutions in its development helped Zegarra connect his burgeoning Catholic faith with a commitment to social justice. “That opened a new path for me—not simply one of cultural Catholicism and traditional piety, but rather a path to a Catholicism committed to social justice and to those on the margins who suffer the legacies of colonialism and racism,” said Zegarra. As a theologian, I believe that if there's a synonym for God, it's love." Kelly Brown Douglas Visiting Professor of Theology ## 'A Fierce Commitment to Those Who Suffer' Nonetheless, each panelist acknowledged the difficult legacy of Christianity—the ways that some groups and institutions throughout history have used the tradition to subjugate and oppress. As Holland explained, the sense of universality at the heart of the Christian message is deeply ambivalent, fueling both its progressive capacity and many of its colonialist harms. “Universality has its risks,” said Holland. “When a tradition claims to be universal, the great danger is the ‘false universal,’ which occurs when a community thinks it is representing a universal theme but is, in fact, enshrining its own identity, assumptions, and prejudices as a projection of the divine mind into the world.” This projection ultimately fueled and justified the genocide of Indigenous people in the Americas, the enslavement of people of African descent, and other systems of oppression. As Douglas said, “Christianity lends itself to danger and becomes harmful when it aligns itself with power and empire.” Another aspect of the complex legacy of Christianity addressed by the panelists was the way that, in some historical instances, the religion that at first was used to subjugate became, in the hands and hearts of the oppressed, a powerful inspiration for freedom. According to Douglas, the West African tradition of the “high God” helped enable the enslaved to “resist those notions that God intended for anyone to be enslaved,” for they knew their God as the God of freedom. This theological foundation, paired with a deep resonance with the Exodus narrative and the cross of Christ, gave rise to a liberating tradition. For Zegarra, this is also seen in the Latin American context through the liberation theologies of Gustavo Gutiérrez and others, which have empowered those on the margins to work for freedom and dignity. “These theologies helped us see that, in Christ, God becomes flesh in our flesh,” said Zegarra. “God in Christ has a strong and fierce commitment to those who suffer.” Ultimately, the panel conversation highlighted the diversity within the Christian theological tradition and the ways that its message of divine love and liberation have transformed lives and communities. “It’s so good to talk with people who are different than myself, but who have a common commitment to good and to love,” said Douglas. “As a theologian, I believe that if there’s a synonym for God, it’s love.” *Banner photo by Caroline Cataldo.* See also:- [ Faculty and Research ](/discover-stories-about/faculty-and-research) - [ Christianity ](/featured-topics/christianity)