David and Louanne Hempton reflect on their time at HDS
David and Louanne Hempton have graced Harvard Divinity School with their wisdom, their kindness, and their hospitality in the 11 years that they have lived on campus. With David leading as dean and Louanne offering her support to HDS in ways big and small, they have both left an indelible impression. In this interview, the Hemptons offer a look back at what brought them to Harvard, a look ahead as David prepares to return to his teaching and writing, and a look inward to share insights from their unique connection to the community.
HDS: What drew you to the Boston/Cambridge area from your hometown in Northern Ireland?
Louanne: A phone call.
David: (Laughing) It was serendipity, really. I was chair of the history department at Queen’s University in Belfast and had a well-established career as a university professor in Ireland. And, Louanne’s right. We got a phone call one night from someone at Boston University asking if we would be interested in moving to Boston University. And I said, “Certainly not.”
Louanne: We knew one person in America!
David: Even so, BU persuaded me to interview and asked that we just come over to see Boston for ourselves. So, we did. I had a great conversation with BU’s president at the time, and he asked, “Why not give it a try for a short time?” Anyway, BU, Queens, and Louanne’s employer were all amenable to us having a two-year sabbatical. So, we came in a bit of a temporary adventure, and we treated it that way for quite a while. And then, of course, came the difficult time of decision-making: Would we stay, or would we go? We lost a lot of sleep over that one.
Louanne: It was hard. I knew if I came here, I was potentially giving up my career as a social worker because I was going to have to completely retrain. At the end of two years, we simply could not make a decision, so we asked for a third year from our employers and from BU, which they gave us. Even after that, moving here was still a 49/51% decision. But the job at BU just seemed so perfect—as if 25 years of David’s working life had led to this, so we took that leap of faith together.
David: So one question, I suppose, that’s a bit opaque is why BU? BU was established by the Methodist church in 1839, and they were interested in someone who had some real expertise in the Methodist tradition as a historian, so there was that connection. The other thing that was important to me was that I’d spent two decades or so as a faculty member within the arts and sciences field. The move to BU to become a university professor brought me to the world of divinity school vocation.
HDS: What did the landscape of HDS look like when you began as a professor in 2007, and what were some of the most significant changes you’ve seen since then?
David: One theme that comes up in our lives is serendipity, really. The Harvard connection also started with a phone call. HDS was starting a search for a newly established chair by Al McDonald in the evangelical tradition, broadly conceived. That’s why Harvard was interested in seeing whether I would consider the position. Obviously, Harvard is an attractive proposition. It’s one of the greatest universities in the world with, arguably, the best library system. That alone offers immense appeal for a historian. Beyond that, Bill Graham was dean when I was applying, and I talked to him quite a bit about the transition. He had also been a professor in the arts and sciences before joining the Divinity School, so we shared many things in common.
As for what the School looked like when I started, I must pay tribute to past deans and other pivotal leaders—such as Preston Williams and Connie Buchanan—who set a strong course for HDS; they had brought first-rate scholars to HDS. The multireligious aspect was also evolving quite strongly. Students and alumni had done amazing work to make the School more pluralistic, which I talked about quite a bit in my address to the European Academy of Religion. But what was noticeable to me in 2007 was that the School’s physical campus didn’t quite match its mission. It seemed like a rather heavy Gothic, Protestant, churchy environment. You could feel there was somewhat of an asymmetry between the School’s aspirations and its facilities. That is something we have worked to change over the years—especially with the revitalization of Swartz Hall. And I am excited to continue in my role as the Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies (and Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor) as we look toward the next chapter for the School.
HDS: Religious literacy and ethical leadership are two ideals that are clearly important to you both, personally and professionally. Louanne, as a social worker, active volunteer, and parent—and David, in your roles at Harvard and as a parent—how have you seen these ideals make a difference in the world?
Louanne: All of my life I’ve just been fascinated by the human condition—who we are as human beings. I think that we are remarkably complicated and that we live in a complicated world, which can be challenging to make sense of in our everyday lives. Additionally, as a social worker in Northern Ireland, and in the time I have spent here, I’ve seen this permanent conflict between the me and the us. We always seem to be experiencing that tension in so many ways. And how do you navigate that in a world that is reeling from the same tension? With that in mind, I think religious literacy and ethical leadership can give us a helpful framework—for ourselves and for future generations—because we do need guidelines to be able to navigate challenges in personal and public spheres. And I think the Divinity School gives us a real place to start asking good questions: What can the best of religion and the best of leadership offer that helps us all—not just some of us, but all—thrive? And how do we work through those complexities together?
David: In reflecting on religious literacy and ethical leadership, a couple of things come to mind. Again, Louanne is right. It’s about the people—the people who work with us and the people we educate to send out into the world. One place where I see this most clearly is with the Gomes alumni honorees, who are truly distinguished people. And I see it every year at Commencement. When I stand on that stage and hear these biographies of our students who are bound for remarkable lives, it’s very moving, actually, to see the range and the scope and the depth of their commitment to making the world a better place. Those are, I think, two very inspiring occasions. As I look back over these 11 years, I can’t help but think about meeting some of the people who really exemplified ethical leadership and religious literacy in the world. We were blessed to be visited by leaders like Atul Gawande, Leymah Gbowee, Toni Morrison—an amazing array of leaders and scholars who have joined us over the years...and President Carter, who came here as part of his book tour trying to improve the lives of women throughout the world and fight against systems of oppression.
I am also struck by some of the people I’ve met on our own Dean’s Council, where you just see these extraordinary individuals who are at the peak of their powers as professionals in different parts of the world—everything from ethical investing to major law firms to the media industry—really working hard to bring ethical leadership, religious literacy, and simple decency to the world. And then there is the wonderful collection of deans—and the three Harvard presidents I have had the privilege of working with, Drew, Larry, and Claudine—who demonstrate camaraderie, mutual support, and a shared desire to serve the institution in the best way possible. All these people, in all these ways, make a difference.
HDS: What are a few moments that stand out for you through your time within the HDS community?
Louanne: Obviously, all the big events stand out: the bicentennial and the capital campaign and the many, many dinners that we hosted throughout the years. But, for me, I’ll always remember the remarkable people that we have met here...and not just the big names. I’ve seen endless acts of kindness and care by the staff who work behind the scenes to make all these big moments happen—in the midst of everyday operations to keep the School up and running. And then the students! How could you not be energized by the students? They go on, and you just sit in awe watching all the amazing things they do in the world. So, those are the kinds of things I take away.
HDS: You’ve mentioned some exciting research on the horizon for your sabbatical this year. What are you most looking forward to exploring?
David: My next academic priority is to turn the Gifford Lectures into a book. What motivated those lectures was a sense that a lot of religious history was written either within nation-states or within particular denominational traditions. What I was trying to do in the Gifford Lectures was to show the importance of looking transnationally and also transdenominationally for some of the bigger shifts. And I gave many examples of this during the lectures where, if you don’t appreciate that bigger dimension, you begin to explain things in too-narrow categories and with too-small questions. So that’s the main aim of those lectures.
And beyond that...who knows! I’ve written a bunch of books in my time that I never expected to write before I wrote them. I’m interested in looking at my own trajectory, from Belfast to Harvard, and what I learned about religion along the way—the good, the bad, and the ugly. But the most important thing with this sabbatical is just to start reading widely again, to have a bit more time to spend in libraries and reconnect with that deeper thought, I think, that you can only do with time.
HDS: You are both avid readers. What is your favorite book to recommend?
Louanne: I could list a whole pile of books, but how can I not say Middlemarch because that novel by George Eliot is our favorite. And I have to read the last page because it has been our touchstone, I think, forever: “But the fact of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive, for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs.” I just think it’s the most remarkable passage because, to me, it says that it’s the big people who usually get remembered. However, it’s the ordinary people doing the simplest things every day that make the biggest difference in all of our lives. That will always be my takeaway line.
David: Another book that has made an impression on me is The Empathy Diaries by Sherry Turkle. She’s a professor of the social studies of science and technology at MIT and founding director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and the Self, so her expertise is on the effect of technology and technological change on human behavior and human life—everything from computers to email to artificial intelligence and so on. And she’s written this memoir about her life, which I won’t say too much about the storyline, but the main point of the memoir is to show the way in which empathy is a restorative human characteristic. She’s really making a case for this very special human quality, which she wants to see more of in her own family, in the field of academia, and in the wider world.
I found it especially interesting because we all face up now to artificial intelligence dramatically changing the landscape of higher education in the next decade in ways that we can’t even yet fully imagine. I think this book is a good beginning point to think about what it means for the human condition to be operating in a world where technology and machines are going to have an ever-increasing role in our lives. And what are the boundary lines? What are the ways to think about it? And especially from someone who has expertise in that world.
Even as we look back to our Northern Ireland experiences and so on, having an empathetic connection to people who were born a couple of miles away and come from very different religious and political traditions is really the key to getting at these problems. Otherwise, it’s just a zero-sum game. And empathy takes you out of a zero-sum game where there have to be winners and losers and there has to be a conflict. So those are some of the things that I think I’ve been thinking about. And that book is really great. She’s a beautiful writer, and clearly a wonderful person, so I would definitely recommend that.
Louanne: Building on David’s point about empathy, I think one of the things that came out, again and again, was just the importance of bringing people together—the importance of food, the importance of dancing, the importance of laughing, the importance of all of those ways to connect with one another. And I think, having got to our stage of life, we just realize how incredibly important it is in just having those things that help break down those barriers and bring people together. And that’s what happened in Northern Ireland. We had people who came from bitterly divided situations. And when they had a common cause, such as caring for their children, they were able to bridge those divisions. I think it’s important to be continually thinking: “What is it that shares our humanity and brings us all together?”
HDS: Are there any closing words you would like to share?
Louanne: I want to reiterate that the people we’ve met here have just been wonderful and inspiring and have expanded my mind more than I could even think was possible. These 11 years have shown me a world that I didn’t even dream was possible when I was living in Northern Ireland, and I’m very grateful for that.
David: People often ask me about what I enjoyed most about the job, or what I found most fulfilling, and I do think that a few aspects made a real difference to me. It often comes down to kindness, support, decency, transparency, integrity, respect...very basic things, actually. I also think that being able to have fun and just talk about things—to be able to laugh—is really important. Those dimensions of humor and lightness and appreciation, in my humble opinion, help everybody enjoy their jobs and lives a bit more. Don’t they?
—by Amie Montemurro
Ethical Leadership and the Orchestra Analogy
I think of HDS as an orchestra.
Everybody in that orchestra may play different instruments. Some may have very big parts, and some may just have small but critical parts—like the kettledrum that only plays every now and again but is absolutely crucial to the overall piece. And then there are the people who have other responsibilities. The orchestra needs people to set up the stage with chairs and music stands, to run lights and sounds, and to manage the whole performance process. From instrument repair to conducting, a performance is made possible by way of a collective effort.
In short, we may have different roles, but we’re all trying to play a decent piece of music together. And we might not always get it right, but we have to keep rehearsing. I think about the different offices and areas of study across the School and how we all play the same piece of music but keep learning along the way. That’s how we begin to play music better and better over time.
For me, ethical leadership is about asking: “What is the music we’re trying to play? And who is invited to both share in and help shape this performance?’ Religious literacy is looking at history—at the human condition—and asking: ‘What over many millennia have been the things that actually help us do just that?”
And you can see that every day at HDS. You see it when people are working well together. You can see it when people act not as the center of their own lives but rather live in harmony with others, like when the violin provides an underscore to help the cello sound even better. Or a cymbal crash punctuates the next movement for the whole orchestra. We don’t all have to play the same part—or even an instrument—but learning how to work together and ask the right questions can create more beauty than any one solo piece.
—Louanne Hempton