David C. Lamberth

 On leave

• Fall 2025

Education

• BA, University of North Carolina
• AM, PhD, Harvard University

Profile

David Lamberth is Professor of Philosophy and Theology in the Faculty of Divinity, where he teaches a range of courses in Western thought that probe the interconnections between theological and philosophical reflection in American and continental traditions. He joined the faculty in 1997 as an assistant professor after spending two years at Florida State University, and he served a three-year term as associate dean for academic affairs at HDS from 2000 to 2003.

His 1999 William James and the Metaphysics of Experience exhibits his interest in the revival of pragmatism and demonstrates the inherent engagement with religion in James's philosophical views. Lamberth has written extensively on James’s radical empiricism, and his approaches to rationality and truth. One of his projects underway is "Religion: A Pragmatic Approach," which analyzes both historical and contemporary treatments of religion in the pragmatic tradition.

Other research interests include: method and theory in the study of religion; the intersection of neuroscience and theories of mind in relation to religion; the framing of the intersection of philosophy and religion; and religious experience. Lamberth has served widely on committees in the Divinity School and the University, and in 2010-11 he chaired Harvard's university-wide library reform effort for the Office of the Provost. He is currently the faculty chair of the Master of Theological Studies program.

Full CV (PDF)

Courses

View HDS courses taught by David Lamberth in the my.harvard Course Search.

Also view FAS courses taught by David Lamberth. (HDS students: for jointly offered and reading and research courses, please enroll in the HDS version of the course.)

All Harvard courses

Selected publications

• William James and the Metaphysics of Experience (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
• “A Pluralistic Universe a Century Later: Rationality, Pluralism, and Religion.” In William James and the Transatlantic Conversation: Pragmatism, Pluralism, and Philosophy of Religion, edited by Martin Halliwell and Joel D. S. Rasmussen, 133-150. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
• “What to Make of James’s Genetic Theory of Truth?” William James Studies, 4:1-20 (2009).
• Lamberth, David C. “Original and Ongoing Theological Issues through One Hundred Years of the Harvard Theological Review.” Harvard Theological Review 101, no. 3-4 (2008): 323–38.

See also

• 'Populism and Politicking,' Harvard Divinity Bulletin
• Video: "What is a Multi-Religious Divinity School?" Contribution to the 200^th Anniversary of the Harvard Divinity School
• Video: “James’s Barking Crab: Becoming a Person in a Mechanistic Universe,” address to the Boston University Institute for Philosophy and Religion, September 2018.

Support

To reach Harvard Divinity School's faculty coordinators, email div-faculty_coordinators@calists.harvard.edu.

For media inquiries or requests, please contact Tyler Sprouse in the Office of Communications.