![Collage of images representing different religions](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2026-10/ExpandingMinistryResources.jpg?itok=ZIqd2qY6) 

 



 

#  The Past, Present, and Future of Ministry and Spiritual Care at Harvard Divinity School 

 





Building on its historic strength in Christian ministry, HDS expands spiritual care offerings.



 

November 02, 2026

 

 

 [ Tyler Sprouse ](/people/tyler-sprouse) 

At the heart of the Harvard Divinity School mission is an abiding commitment to educating leaders who promote the flourishing of individuals and communities from a wide range of faith traditions. HDS prepares its students to teach and research at colleges and universities around the world; to lead diverse faith-based and nonprofit organizations; and to serve the spiritual needs of community members as ministers and chaplains in religious organizations and multifaith settings.

In all of these contexts, centering our shared humanity is vital—not only for successful leadership across an array of traditions and professions, but also for the health and well-being of the organizations and institutions HDS graduates are called to serve. To deepen ministry-related expertise in more religious traditions, the School seeks to expand its pedagogical resources and programmatic offerings. With guidance from Dean Marla F. Frederick, strengthening multifaith ministry and spiritual care efforts at the School will be a key priority for the foreseeable future.

“As the world becomes increasingly multireligious and pluralistic, HDS will continue to lead in the preparation of chaplains, ministers, and leaders from an array of traditions to offer spiritual care in different settings,” says Frederick. “Building on the School’s historic strength in Christian ministry, we are being called to support spiritual care offerings from different perspectives, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. These efforts bolster the HDS vision to ‘teach the varieties of religion in service of a just world at peace across religious and cultural divides.’”

### A Legacy of Learned Ministry 

When Harvard College was established in 1636, the training of religious leaders was a central priority. As the founders stated, they created this center of learning in part to ensure that they would not “leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when our present ministers shall lie in the dust.” For these early Harvard leaders, the advancement of learning was synonymous with the preparation of spiritual leaders.

As Harvard grew, preparation for religious leadership and learning continued to be important. In 1811, Harvard established the first graduate program for ministerial candidates, followed by the founding of HDS in 1816.

As the first nonsectarian theological school in the country, HDS was largely focused on Christianity at its inception, as well as on Unitarianism, which helped shape and support the School’s mission in its early years—including through Unitarian leadership and funding. Throughout its history, HDS has remained committed to the training of religious leaders. Ideas articulated by Ralph Waldo Emerson, a Unitarian leader and key transcendentalist, also made clear that a divinity school can prepare students for many professional pathways—a concept reflected in the wide range of vocations HDS students and alumni pursue today.

As the School looks to the future, an important priority is multifaith efforts—building upon the success of existing initiatives and answering the call to include more traditions in HDS’s spiritual care offerings. Rooted in its identity as a multireligious academic community, HDS is uniquely positioned to expand and deepen ministry studies to contribute to advanced knowledge and innovative resources in a range of religious traditions.





 

 

 

The Multifaith Space (left) and Preston N. Williams Chapel (right) in Swartz Hall offer places to gather for celebrations, worship, and services—including interfaith and nonreligious events—led by HDS community members representing 35+ different traditions.

 

 



     ![Spacious room with high ceiling, bright windows, and hanging glass globe lights](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2026-10/Multifaith-Space.jpg?itok=IeQZtHGd) 

 



 

  

 

     ![HDS's historic Christian chapel](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2026-10/Williams-Chapel.jpg?itok=4srfjEKX) 

 



 

  

 

 

 

 

### Ripple Effects Around the Globe

Ministry studies at HDS currently offers students an academically rigorous education that includes coursework and guided learning experiences to reflect and integrate theory and practice in their future career paths. There is increased student interest in chaplaincy and ministry across religious traditions, ensuring that the study of spiritual care at HDS will continue to grow—leading to the potential for an expanded network of scholars and practitioners around the globe.

HDS has a longstanding commitment to fostering leadership in an array of religious traditions. The Buddhist Ministry Initiative (BMI) and the visiting Hindu monastics program serve as two examples of HDS’s dedication to helping cultivate strong leadership within diverse faith communities.

Established in 2012 with funding from The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global, and supported by the Once Here Foundation with additional donors in recent years, the BMI at HDS has become a flourishing model of learning and community. The initiative has built a growing network of faculty and other leaders from Buddhist traditions, creating new resources for teaching and curricular development. It draws on the academic expertise of Janet Gyatso, Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies, and Charles Hallisey, Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures, as well as spiritual care publications by Cheryl Giles, Francis Greenwood Peabody Senior Lecturer on Pastoral Care and Counseling Emerita, Chris Berlin, Instructor in Ministry Studies and Pastoral Counseling, and Monica Sanford, Lecturer in Ministry Studies. The BMI brings international visiting fellows to campus—including monastics—who enrich the community as scholar practitioners during their time at the School. The initiative has also generated new courses, research, and collaborations to extend the reach of Buddhist Studies, particularly around ministry and chaplaincy in North America. It continues to inspire innovation in this field, including new books by initiative participants, the “Insight into Mindfulness” Professional and Lifelong Learning course, and a podcast on Buddhist traditions, as well as other novel contributions that advance Buddhist studies.

HDS began hosting visiting Hindu monastics in 2019, when three scholar-practitioners joined as in-residence community members. These visitors have been welcomed thanks to generous gifts from HDS friends, including Vibhu and Ajit Nagral and Akhil Gupta, and the leadership of Francis X. Clooney, S.J., Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology. The School seeks to expand the effort with new philanthropic support, in order to enrich HDS’s multireligious community and enable the participating monastics to return to their home communities with expanded knowledge and skills. The visiting Hindu monastics have created opportunities for learning from religious leaders with different perspectives and highlighted the inherent diversity within Hinduism—allowing students, staff, and faculty the opportunity to experience pluralism across and throughout traditions. HDS seeks to develop this into a Hindu Ministry Initiative, building on the model of the BMI.





 

     ![Students sitting around large round tables for an outdoor lunch during Orientation](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2026-10/Orientation-lawn.jpg?h=7d7f4d08&itok=XwojZ1CF) 

 



 

 Visiting monastics and students meet on the campus green for the fall 2026 HDS Orientation.



   

 

     ![Multifaith altar from HDS Seasons of Light service](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2026-10/12022025-SeasonsOfLight-11.jpg?itok=yYx7U5EQ) 

 



 

 The HDS community offered prayers, readings, and music from an array of traditions at the annual Seasons of Light event in December 2025.



   

 

 

 

 

### On the Horizon

In addition to strengthening these initiatives, HDS is developing two new iterations that will expand its work in multireligious spiritual leadership preparation: the Jewish Leadership Initiative and the Muslim Spiritual Care Initiative.

The Jewish Leadership Initiative is designed to support coursework while also establishing a network of students, scholars, and practitioners engaged in Jewish scholarship and spiritual care work globally. Rabbinic study provides robust preparation for ministry and chaplaincy in the Jewish tradition here in North America. The multireligious context of HDS can add dimension to this preparation for interested religious and community leaders. The new initiative will build on the vast resource of Jewish scholarship through Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies, founded in 1978.

In particular, this initiative will create innovative pathways for preparing leaders to serve in an increasingly multicultural world. It will draw on Jewish inheritances and experiences while responding to the specific contemporary circumstances, needs, and aspirations of diverse Jewish communities in America and beyond.

In concert with other work at the School, the Jewish Leadership Initiative will inform ongoing efforts to expand spiritual care resources and leadership development—ensuring a broad and inclusive future for HDS’s multifaith offerings.

The Muslim Spiritual Care Initiative is designed to reflect Harvard’s commitment to the study of Islam and Muslim cultures, which dates from the 1880s, when the College first offered courses in Arabic and the Qur’an. Since then, some of the world’s most renowned scholars have taught courses about Islam and related fields at Harvard: Sir Hamilton A. R. Gibb, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Annemarie Schimmel, Oleg Grabar, Leila Ahmed, William A. Graham, Ousmane Oumar Kane, and Roy Mottahedeh, among others. With the establishment of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program in the early 2000s, as well as various faculty chairs and programs with support from the Aga Khan, Harvard has bolstered scholarly offerings across the University—including at HDS. This new initiative will build on existing academic strengths while responding to the specific contemporary aspirations and needs of diverse Muslim communities, now and into the future.

In recent years, the School has made additions to the faculty that also provide support and leadership for these initiatives, including the appointments of Susannah Heschel, Visiting Professor in Jewish Studies; Mohsen Goudarzi, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies; Shaul Magid, Professor of Modern Judaism in Residence; and Teren Sevea, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Associate Professor of Islamic Studies.

Together, the Buddhist Ministry Initiative, Hindu Ministry Initiative, Jewish Leadership Initiative, and Muslim Spiritual Care Initiative represent both new opportunities and a continuation of HDS’s longstanding mission to advance scholarship, leadership, and service across religious traditions. Through academic rigor, spiritual formation, and practical learning, the School will prepare rising leaders to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow while enriching the entire HDS community.





 

##  Scholars Connected to Ministry and Spiritual Care 

 



   ![Collage of faculty portrait photos](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/2026-10/FacultyCollage.jpg?itok=cmNrRBY_) 

 

**Swayam Bagaria**, Assistant Professor of Hindu Studies

**Francis X. Clooney, S.J.**, Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology

**Mohsen Goudarzi**, PhD ’18, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies

**Janet Gyatso**, Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies

**Charles Hallisey, MDiv ’78**, Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures

**Susannah Heschel, MTS ’76**, Visiting Professor in Jewish Studies

**Teddy Hickman-Maynard, AB ’00**, Associate Dean for Ministry Studies and Lecturer on Ministry

**Shaul Magid**, Professor of Modern Jewish Studies in Residence

**Matthew I. Potts, MDiv ’08, PhD ’13**, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church

**Monica Sanford**, Assistant Dean for Multireligious Ministry and Lecturer in Ministry Studies

**Stephanie Sears**, Lecturer on Spiritual Care

**Teren Sevea**, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Associate Professor of Islamic Studies





 

 

##  Examples of Recent Course Offerings 

 



**“Muslim Ministry, Chaplaincy, and Leadership: Theory & Practice”**   
Taught by: Imam Khalil Abdur-Rashid, Muslim Chaplain at Harvard University, Instructor of Muslim Studies at Harvard Divinity School, and Public Policy Lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government

**“Mind, Spirituality, and Mental Health in Hinduism**”   
Co-Taught by: Swayam Bagaria, Assistant Professor of Hindu Studies, and Francis X. Clooney, S.J., Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology

**“Clinical Chaplaincy: Interfaith Caregiving Skills and Practice”**  
Taught by: Chris Berlin, MDiv ’06, Instructor in Ministry Studies and Pastoral Counseling

**“The Public Church: Bearing Christian Witness through Community Engagement”**  
Taught by: Ray Hammond, AB ’71, MD ’75, AM ’84, Swartz Practitioner in Residence

**“Introduction to Ministry Studies”**  
Taught by: Teddy Hickman-Maynard, AB ’00, Associate Dean for Ministry Studies and Lecturer on Ministry

**“Prayer Book Hebrew and the History of Jewish Liturgy”**  
Taught by: Shaul Magid, Professor of Modern Jewish Studies in Residence

**“Meaning Making: Thinking Theologically about Ministry Experience”**  
Taught by: Monica Sanford, Assistant Dean for Multireligious Ministry and Lecturer in Ministry Studies

**“Spiritual Care and Counseling”**   
Taught by: Stephanie Sears, Lecturer on Spiritual Care

**“Spiritual Care for Nones”**   
Taught by: Vanessa Zoltan, MDiv ’15, Lecturer on Spiritual Care





 

 

 

 

### Supporting Multifaith Ministry and Spiritual Care Efforts at HDS

HDS has a long history of preparing leaders to attend to the spiritual needs of those they are called to serve, and it is poised to expand on this central element of the school’s mission. Thanks to generous gifts, the School has begun deepening the scope of its curriculum, enabling the creation of innovative offerings designed to support the development of spiritual leaders. In the coming years, HDS hopes to build on the initiatives described here. This work includes further increases in coursework, programming, and visiting scholars and practitioners related to humanist, agnostic, and nonreligious traditions, and care for nature, which are also robust areas of student interest.

HDS seeks to raise additional funds for this expansion of multifaith ministry initiatives—vital to the realization of the School’s mission and vision. Philanthropic support will help HDS to develop curricular resources, deepen the impact of ministry studies across faith traditions, and provide opportunities for visiting scholars to enrich HDS as a vibrant, pluralistic environment. HDS welcomes conversations about expanding these initiatives—as well as all ministry and spiritual care offerings—to support this work today and for generations to come. In a multireligious, multicultural world moving through vast technological, environmental, and societal changes, the School has an essential role to play in preparing leaders to offer spiritual care on individual, community, and global levels.





 

##  Defining Multifaith Ministry 

When asked how to define multifaith ministry, Teddy Hickman-Maynard, AB ’00, Associate Dean for Ministry Studies and Lecturer on Ministry, offers both a lesson in linguistics and a capacious understanding of a word that carries a predominately Christian connotation. “The etymology of the word comes from the Latin ministre, which means to serve,” he says. “So on a fundamental linguistic level, ‘minister’ does not have to be truncated into the American, Christian, clerical paradigm that has dominated the use of that word.”

In fact, Hickman-Maynard cautions against a narrow definition. “I think it’s wise that we expand our understanding of ministry beyond the bounds of one faith,” he says. “The task of being a person who reckons with the significance and meaningful nature of life, in the face of all kinds of forces that seek to dehumanize our human experience, necessitates a connection to service and to each other regardless of our personal metaphors.”

Monica Sanford, Assistant Dean for Multireligious Ministry and Lecturer in Ministry Studies, adds, “I think of ministry as service to others grounded in how we understand our spiritual, religious, existential, and philosophical values—values that are in some sense sacred or transcendent. And for me, that definition leaves a lot of room for people of all backgrounds to come into the practice of ministry.” But she adds a word of caution: “As Buddhists and as non-Christians … within the field, there can be a bit of vigilance around words like ‘ministry,’ ‘chaplaincy,’ and ‘pastoral,’ but the truth of the matter is, when you look at the roots of these concepts, you’ll find similarities across many different traditions and cultures throughout history.”

Support for multifaith offerings will contribute to the vitality of spiritual life while strengthening the broader religious and academic landscape at HDS. Additionally, support for these efforts help address the need for pedagogical resources grounded in faiths beyond Christianity and Judaism, which are more robust in North America—creating more opportunities for students to engage in teaching and learning from a range of traditions.





 

 



 

 See also:- [ Faculty and Research ](/discover-stories-about/faculty-and-research)
- [ Ministry ](/discover-stories-about/ministry)