Religious History

The intention of this lecture and study was to investigate the intricacies and substance of a genre of devotional literature and liturgical practice in Twelver Shī‘īsm, namely the Ziyārat (visitational eulogy) of Imam al-Ḥusayn. In doing so, this talk...

At the time of his death in 2020, Dr. Charles H. Long was called “a preeminent figure in the study of the history of religions, including American and Black Religions.” Long was a past president of the American Academy of Religion, and faculty member at...

A report about the First Church of Roxbury, released Monday, brings new historical perspective about the presence of people of color and enslaved people in colonial Massachusetts. The report largely relied on the First Church of Roxbury records, which are...

David Hempton made these remarks following Harvard President Drew Faust's introduction of him as the next Dean of Harvard Divinity School at a reception at HDS on March 30, 2012. My thanks to President Faust for this very generous introduction. It's a...

Harvard University President Drew Faust announced today that David Hempton will become dean of Harvard Divinity School, effective July 1. Hempton, the Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies at the Divinity School, succeeds...

History books are filled with accounts of the past, shaped by the perspectives of those who wrote them. A reader’s imagination may conjure events across the miles and millennia based on those accounts, but at best their own life experiences and interests...

In the deadliest incident of anti-Semitic violence in U.S. history, 46 year-old Robert Bowers allegedly shot dead 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh during morning Shabbat services on Saturday, October 27. During a gunfight with...