Religion and Public Life

Watch this online conversation featuring Bishop Yvette Flunder and the Rev. Eric Ovid Donaldson. Bishop Yvette Flunder (she/her) is an American womanist, preacher, pastor, activist, and singer from San Francisco, California. She is the senior pastor of...

“How do we tell complex, nuanced stories about religion? I think part of that depends on good writing. And when you can figure out – how to tell a complex story about a person – religion organically fits into that. But if you’re just like, well, we all...

“Those who founded the nation’s first non-sectarian theological school in 1816 would be astounded by this gathering, which represents these ever-widening circles of inclusion.” Harvard President Claudine Gay shared those words while addressing a crowd of...

When Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School launched three years ago, it engendered a new Certificate in Religion and Public Life, providing students the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills, and networks to leverage their master of...

"U.S. advocacy for religious freedom must be conflict-sensitive, so as not to render already vulnerable communities more vulnerable nor exacerbate religious dimensions of conflict," Susan Hayward, associate director of the Religious Literacy and the...

During the fifth installment of the Divinity School’s “Religion and Legacies of Slavery” series moderated by Tracey Hucks, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Africana Religious Studies at HDS, Dain Perry, a descendant of the largest slave-trading family in U.S...

On Monday, February 13, 2023, Harvard Divinity School hosted an event, featuring HDS Professor Dan McKanan, on legacies of slavery at HDS as seen through stories of the School’s founders and early students. Following the event, Morgan Curtis and Emily...

Sara Bleich, vice provost for special projects, stressed more localized efforts taking place within individual schools at Harvard to incorporate the Legacy of Slavery report and its recommendations. Harvard Divinity School has been holding a series of...

The fourth installment of the Divinity School’s “Religion and Legacies of Slavery” series, the lecture by Terrence L. Johnson, Professor of African American Religious Studies at HDS, focused on the malleability of historical memory, creativity in...