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Religion
Shining a spotlight into darkness
National & World Affairs
By: Edward Mason/
February 28, 2012
A panel of scholars explored the topic of Islam in Nigeria in preparation for the visit to Harvard by Alhaji Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto.
Americans are a God-fearing people, but we increasingly identify as nonreligious, according to Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam. Putnam shed light on “the rise of the nones” and other findings from his new book, “American Grace,” in a talk at Harvard Divinity School on Feb. 15.
Harvard Divinity School professor Peter Machinist encouraged students to alter their perspectives on education and life through defamiliarization.
A panel of scholars explored the changing landscape of religion in the United States and its implications for both churches and education for ministry.
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A panel of religious scholars examined the role of organized religion in helping to shape the national debate on economic reform and the country’s moral direction.
Intersection of climate change and Christianity
A leader in the field of Christian theology and ecofeminism explores the role of religion in combating global warming.
Before Greg Epstein became chaplain at Harvard's Humanist Chaplaincy, he was a rock star. Now he's written a book on Humanism, a religious philosophy that rejects supernaturalism while encouraging virtuous actions and decisions.
‘Paging God: Religion in the Halls of Medicine’
What happens when a Buddhist monk visiting the United States is hospitalized, terminally ill with liver cancer? Does religion interfere with his medical care? What about his Buddhist brethren, unable to join him bedside? Who will provide the appropriate services and ceremonies? Well, says Wendy Cadge, that’s where hospital chaplains come in.
Geneticist ‘who doesn’t believe in God’ offers new conception of divine
The Paul Tillich Lecture, offered annually at Harvard since 1990, commemorates the memory of a public intellectual who was once “the largest theological figure in our orbit,” said The Rev. Peter J. Gomes.
The Dalai Lama speaks at Harvard
The Dalai Lama addressed a capacity crowd at the Memorial Church on Thursday (April 30). With his trademark affable, down-to-earth style the religious leader counseled the audience about the important things in life in a talk titled “Educating the Heart.”
Harvard Kennedy School professors named 2009 Carnegie Scholars
Associate Professor Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Assistant Professor Tarek Masoud of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (HKS) have been named 2009 Carnegie Scholars by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The honorees were selected for their compelling ideas and commitment to enriching the quality of the public dialogue on Islam.
Afghan ambassador welcomes more U.S. ‘boots on the ground’
“I want to make one point very clear,” Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United States Said T. Jawad told a crowd in Harvard’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum Wednesday (March 11). “To build a pluralistic, a prosperous, peaceful society in Afghanistan is not a luxury for the Afghanistan people or for the Afghan government; it’s a necessity. It’s a necessity for peace in Afghanistan, stability in the region, and for security in the world.”
Religious diversity explored at local level
Can a diverse religious community unite and heal after a brutal murder in broad daylight, one possibly motivated by religious hatred? That profound question and others like it, questions of religious diversity and tolerance, are at the heart of the new documentary “Fremont, U.S.A.,” which was developed by Harvard’s Pluralism Project and screened last Thursday afternoon (March 5) at Boylston Hall’s Fong Auditorium.
In 1215, Pope Innocent III convened the Fourth Council of the Lateran, a religious convocation that laid out to hundreds of bishops, abbots, priors, and Christian patriarchs 70 new decrees. One enjoined the clergy to stop frequenting taverns, engaging in trials by combat, hunting, and practicing what might be called noncelibate habits.
Quinn talks to students of various faiths
If she can help it, Washington Post journalist Sally Quinn prefers to avoid the phrase “spiritual journey.” Quinn, who co-moderates the blog “On Faith” with Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, finds the words overused. But she is quick to acknowledge that people’s relationship to faith can change over time — and having interviewed hundreds of scholars, politicians, and other American leaders about their religious viewpoints, she knows that the undergraduate years are often a period of remarkable transformation.
Where science and religion meet, from an Islamic perspective
Where and how science and religion intersect is a debate that dates back centuries; it’s also a regular part of contemporary discourse. The discussion took center stage at the 2007-08 Paul Tillich Lecture on Monday (May 5) in the Science Center’s lecture hall B, where a noted astrophysicist and religious scholar explored the deeper dimensions of science’s relationship to Islam.
Scholarly journal reveals precious gems; marks major milestone
One of the oldest scholarly theological journals in the country, the HTR celebrated its 100th anniversary last Friday (April 11) at the Harvard Divinity School (HDS) with a day of talks by several HDS scholars.
The Holy Land comes to Florida as a theme park
Little did a Harvard scholar who studies sacred spaces imagine that she would find the Holy Land in Florida. Several years ago, while chatting with her niece, a resident of the Sunshine State, Joan Branham, visiting associate professor of women’s studies and early Christianity and Judaism and acting director of the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School (HDS), learned about Florida’s newest theme park, one with a divine foundation.
Wisse explores mutations of Jewish power
If the Jewish rebellion led to a diaspora that lasted millennia, it also prompted a sea change in the nature of Judaism, said Ruth R. Wisse, Harvard College Professor and Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature. An energetic commentator on Jewish culture, Wisse delivered a Humanities Center lecture this week (March 17) summarizing her new book, “Jews and Power” (Nextbook/Schoken, 2007).
Where the intellectual and spiritual intersect
Kevin Madigan wishes he could have saved Anne Frank. Today, he repeatedly saves her memory. Madigan, professor of the history of Christianity at Harvard Divinity School (HDS), teaches the College freshman seminar “The Holocaust, History and Reaction,” which addresses the Jewish genocide through the study of a variety of texts, literature, and film. The course offers students a historical perspective on the Holocaust, and examines religious and theological reactions to the tragedy.
Armstrong: God is hard to get to know
Man’s practical understanding of God, said one religious scholar speaking at Harvard, is “like a goldfish trying to understand a computer. … It will always be beyond us.”
Researcher finds roots of fundamentalism in 16th century Bible translations
The English Reformation — heyday of religious change — spurred a fundamentalist approach to Bible reading, according to new research by a Harvard professor.
Islam in the contemporary world: Questions of interpretation
“Interpreting the Islamic Tradition in the Contemporary World” was the title of the gathering, the first annual Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program Conference.
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