Paul Hanson in a red academic robe speaking at a podium

Paul D. Hanson, Professor Emeritus, Dies

June 20, 2023

Paul D. Hanson, Florence Corliss Lamont Professor of Divinity Emeritus at Harvard Divinity School, died June 9, 2023, at the age of 83.... Read more about Paul D. Hanson, Professor Emeritus, Dies

Dean Hempton and students walking to the HDS campus

'Share Your Joy with Others': Celebrating 2023 Commencement

June 1, 2023

"On this joyous day, surrounded by your loved ones, I hope and pray this is the kind of love that will propel you forward, through your certainties and uncertainties, through the rest of our lives."—Class Speaker Breana Norris, MTS '23... Read more about 'Share Your Joy with Others': Celebrating 2023 Commencement

Suzannah Omonuk, MDiv ’23, and Rebecca Mendoza Nunziato, MDiv ’23. / Photo: Justin Knight

Two Graduating Students Honored with Buechner Prize

May 31, 2023

Harvard Divinity School is delighted to announce that the 2023 winners of the Buechner Prize are Rebecca Mendoza Nunziato, MDiv ’23, and Suzannah Omonuk, MDiv ’23. The prize is awarded annually to the two authors of MDiv senior papers whose work best exemplifies the religious and literary ideals of writer-theologian Frederick Buechner, who passed away in August 2022.

Suzannah Omonuk’s “In the garden we sat weeping” is a collection of poems that Omonuk describes as “searchlights of the years I have spent being someone who is still seeking and who also in the...

Breana Norris speaking at a clear podium wearing an academic robe

'Love That Grounds Us'

May 25, 2023

Breana Norris, MTS '23, was selected by a panel of students, staff, and faculty as the class speaker for HDS Commencement 2023. Each year, the addresses of all of the finalists are published in the HDS Commencement Bulletin. The following remarks were delivered by Norris at the Diploma Awarding Ceremony on May 25, 2023.... Read more about 'Love That Grounds Us'

Dean David Hempton standing behind a clear podium dressed in a light blue academic robe

'A Moment for Saving Time and Saving Ourselves'

May 23, 2023

Dean of the Faculty of Divinity, Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies, and John Lord O'Brian Professor of Divinity David N. Hempton was the faculty speaker during the Multireligious Commencement Service on May 24, 2023. The following remarks were delivered by Hempton during the service on the HDS Campus Green.... Read more about 'A Moment for Saving Time and Saving Ourselves'

The Harvard Legacy of Slavery report book sits on a table surrounded by flowers, candles, and other decorative pieces

We Have Only Just Begun: Reflections from HDS’s Common Read of Harvard’s Legacy of Slavery Report

May 10, 2023

On April 24, drumbeats echoed through Swartz Hall. The rhythm acted as a current flowing through staircases, between common areas, and into the James Room, where the School’s Racial Justice and Healing (RJH) Committee welcomed staff, faculty, students, and alumni to the closing circle celebration of the Common Read program at Harvard Divinity School. More than 100 community members gathered to reflect on a year-long journey with The Legacy of Slavery at Harvard Report engaging with and...

Research Associate Elyan Jeanine Hill on ‘Women's Ritual, Dance, and Identity’

May 5, 2023

As an interdisciplinary scholar of African arts, Dr. Elyan Hill’s research interests include festival arts, religious materiality, Black feminisms, and embodied renderings of the domestic and transatlantic slave trades in Ghana, Togo, Benin, Liberia, and their diasporas.

Sights and Sounds: Climate Justice Week

April 27, 2023

"Whatever your gifts are, those are needed."

This April, Harvard Divinity School students, faculty, and staff organized the first-ever Climate Justice Week, an initiative to honor Earth Month by proactively tackling the urgency of the climate crisis.

The goal of the week was to provide HDS and the Harvard community with opportunities to build connections, activate their passion around environmental justice, and understand the critical role that religion,...

Compassion in Action, Education as Ministry

April 18, 2023

Tulku Tenzin Gyurmey Rinpoche (Tengyur Rinpoche for short) noticed a problem in his hometown of Tawang, India. There was an overall lack of access to education, especially “culturally-appropriate” schools that fostered a connection with local culture.... Read more about Compassion in Action, Education as Ministry

Participants seated in a circle the Braun Room of Swartz Hall during the October Common Read opening session.

Head and Heart Work: Harvard Divinity Community Spends Year Deeply Engaged with Harvard Legacy of Slavery Report

April 18, 2023

On a fall afternoon in November inside Harvard Divinity School’s Swartz Hall, the School’s Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Melissa Wood Bartholomew along with Assistant Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Steph Gauchel and their colleagues Professors David Holland and Diane Moore, prepared to lead a small group restorative circle session for the HDS community to discuss the report of the Presidential Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery. They arranged chairs in a circle for participants and readied an agenda with multiple questions to pose to attendees.... Read more about Head and Heart Work: Harvard Divinity Community Spends Year Deeply Engaged with Harvard Legacy of Slavery Report

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