Harvard Divinty School recently hosted Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and legendary gospel artist Twinkie Clark, who talked about her musical journey and performed from her catalog of over 350 songs.... Read more about Video: An Evening with Twinkie Clark
“To remember who we were is to remember our most authentic self. Who we are is liberation itself. We are free. And none of us can be free if others are not free.”—Lama Rod Owens... Read more about Becoming 'New Saints' with Lama Rod Owens
Thomas Santa Maria is a Yang Visting Scholar in World Christianity at Harvard Divinity School for the 2023-24 academic year. He has published in journals including the Catholic Historical Review, and the Journal of Early Modern Christianity. He comes to HDS from Yale University, where he was the Residential College Dean of Silliman College, and before that, a graduate student in renaissance studies and history. His work focuses primarily on the relationship between the body, emotions, and religion in the Early Modern period.... Read more about Yang Scholar Thomas Santa Maria on Mysticism and Miracles in World Christianity
“I resonate with Paul Tillich’s conception of religion as dealing with the ‘ultimate concern.’ Religion, for me, is a way of harnessing that which we are all ultimately concerned with, in both a tangible sense and a metaphysical one. In other words, we all have an inclination toward fulfillment, and it is necessary for us to feel meaningfully connected with our own life and community, whether or not we believe one thing over another.”... Read more about Student Explores People, Traditions, and 'Ultimate Concern' at Harvard Divinity
In many ways, Swami Chidekananda grew up as an “all-American kid.” Raised in Los Angeles, California, his father was a UCLA microbiology professor for more than 40 years, and Chidekananda made the all-star team as a shortstop in baseball. On the inside, though, he felt tension as a first-generation Indian American still very much immersed in the rich Hindu spirituality with which his mother bestowed him.... Read more about Hindu Monastic at Harvard Divinity School Lives to Learn
“I never thought that I would get into Harvard Divinity School. I still remember the morning I received my online acceptance letter. I had just woken up, unlocked my phone in spite of my blurry vision, and saw that I had an update on my application status. Thinking I had surely been rejected, I quickly checked my application only to see virtual confetti sprinkle across my screen and over my acceptance letter. I immediately told my parents the good news, and we were all thrilled.”
“I think that what the Black Church should model and what it is that I'm trying to implement at Third Baptist Church is what Dr. King coined ‘the beloved community’.”
Taylon Lancaster is senior pastor at Third Baptist Church, in Springfield, Massachusetts, and a second-year master of divinity degree candidate at Harvard Divinity School. Lancaster is in the unique position of pairing his studies at HDS with lived community. He has been an interlocutor between theory and practice throughout his time at Clark Atlanta University. Currently, he seeks to expand his congregation’s vision of the gospel to include a holistic sense of ministry and inclusivity.... Read more about Student and Pastor Taylon Lancaster Creates Pathways for 'Holistic Ministry'