Harvard Divinity School

Ousmane Kane, HDS Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society and Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, discusses his recent publication, Beyond Timbuktu: An Intellectual History of Muslim West Africa. Ali Asani (FAS), Khaled El-Rouayheb (NELC), and Fallou Ngom (BU) served as respondents. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Consciousness Hacking is a growing community interested in expanding the focus area of local design, science and tech talent to include contemplative frameworks. This event brings together experts in Neuro-Engineering, Meditation, Psychiatry, Self-Reflection Technology, and more. Speakers include Dr. Jeffrey Rediger, Dr. Andreas Mershin, Baruti KMT-Sisouvong, and Chris Berlin. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Dr. Tyler Roberts presents the 2017 Dudleian Lecture. Dr. Tyler Roberts, Professor of Religious Studies at Grinnell College, presents the 2017 Dudleian Lecture. Marx’s claim that premise of all criticism is the criticism of religion continues to shape critical projects today. It enables scholars of religion such as Bruce Lincoln to distinguish the study of religion from theology and other religious discourses and literary critics such as Stathis Gourgouris to distinguish the secular from the religious. But we are left, consequently, with impoverished notions of critique and of religion. Starting instead from Foucault, who dreamt of a criticism that “would multiply not judgments but signs of life,” and with special attention to Ted Smith’s political theology, “Signs of Life” considers how we might rethink the critical project with and not against at least certain forms of “religion.” Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, HDS Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity, discusses her recent publication, Congress of Wo/men: Religion, Gender, and Kyriarchal Power. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

The Islamic tradition and Muslim communities have rich and long legacies of teachings, practices, and precedents for prioritizing nonviolent approaches to conflict transformation. Two leading scholar-practitioners discuss theological, spiritual, and practical resources for peace in Islamic scripture and tradition, historical cases, and implications for our contemporary world. Dr. A. Rashied Omar speaks on “Justice and Compassion: Embodying the Core Values of Peacebuilding in Islam” Afra Jalabi speaks on “In Search of the Lost Hero: The ‘Muslim’ as a Peace-Maker: Reflections on the Theory and Practice of Islamic Nonviolence and its New Possibilities” Moderated by Prof. Jocelyne Cesari Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Zachary Wright, Associate Professor of History, Northwestern University Qatar Visionary Knowledge: Encounters with the Prophet in Islamic Africa, 18th Century to the Present Khaled Esseissah, Ph.D. student, History Department, Indiana University-Bloomington The Ulama of Bilad Shinqiti (Mauritania) and their Roles in Disseminating Islamic Learning Outside Africa Ahmed Chanfi, Senior Lecturer, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany Northeastern African `ulama' and Salafism in Mecca and Medina: The Case of the Ethiopian Born Shaykh Muhammad ʿAli Amin al-Jami and the al-Jamiyya Movement in Saudi Arabia Dahlia Gubara, Assistant Professor, American University of Beirut Black Magic, White Magic, and the Man from Katsina Panel chair: Oludamini Ogunnaike, College of William and Mary Texts, Knowledge, and Practice: The Meaning of Scholarship in Muslim Africa website: http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/islamafrica Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://

Iqbal Akhtar, Associate Professor, Florida International University, “The Indic Chronicle of Light from Zanibar” Kim Wortmann, PhD Student, Harvard University, “Zanzibar and Oman: Ibadi Revival in an East Africa town” Caity Bolton, PhD Student, Graduate Center CUNY, “Divine Science: Knowledge, Islamic Education and Development in Zanzibar” Ahmed Sharif, PhD student, NYU, “Somalia, Sudan, and the rise of Scholar Politics in the ICU” Panel chair: Kai Kresse, Columbia University Texts, Knowledge, and Practice: The Meaning of Scholarship in Muslim Africa website: http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/islamafrica Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Anthony Pinn, MDiv ’89, delivered the William James Lecture on March 9, 2017, at HDS. Pinn, the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and Professor of religion at Rice University, discussed “the problem soul.” Pinn calls it an important but underappreciated dimension in The Souls of Black Folk, one of the most well-known books by W.E.B. Du Bois. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at www.hds.harvard.edu.

Robert C. Neville, Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Theology at the Boston University School of Theology, gave the CSWR's Annual Comparative Theology Lecture on March 6, 2017. Professor Neville discussed the nature of comparative theology and the different approaches one could take: being grounded in a home tradition versus using a comparative approach to inform one’s own ideas about religion. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Robert C. Neville, Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Theology at the Boston University School of Theology, gave the CSWR's Annual Comparative Theology Lecture on March 6, 2017. Professor Neville discussed the nature of comparative theology and the different approaches one could take: being grounded in a home tradition versus using a comparative approach to inform one’s own ideas about religion. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

On March 2, 2017, Rev. Jim Mitulski, Mark D. Jordan, and Lynne Gerber explore the profound challenges AIDS has made to Christian theologies, both liberal and conservative, and the constructive possibilities of an AIDS Theology of Liberation. The Rev. Jim Mitulski has been engaging AIDS theologically, liturgically, and pastorally since the first days of the epidemic. He served as pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco from 1986 to 2000 where he was deemed the “compassion of the Castro.” Rev. Mitulski is currently the Interim Senior Pastor of the Congregational Church of Needham. Mark D. Jordan is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Christian Thought and a Professor of Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality. Lynne Gerber is a Visiting Scholar in the Women’s Studies in Religion Program. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

This discussion will consider social scientific research shedding light on religion’s role in advancing cooperation within groups, as well as its complex role in competition and cooperation among groups. Speakers: Omar Sultan Haque, MD, PhD, MTS, Program in Psychiatry and the Law; Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University; and Joseph Henrich, PhD, Professor, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard; codirector of the Centre for Human Evolution, Cognition and Culture and the Cultural Evolution of Religion Consortium, University of British Columbia. Moderator and Respondent: Jeff Seul, JD, MTS '97 HDS, LLM '01 HLS, Lecturer on the Practice of Peace, Harvard Divinity School; cochair, Peace Appeal Foundation. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Larycia Hawkins, Abd el-Kader Visiting Faculty Fellow at University of Virginia, delivered the annual Greeley Lecture for Peace and Social Justice on February 23, 2017. Hawkins discussed the meaning of solidarity in the context of political and theological spaces. Drawing largely from Christian theology and political theory and focusing on racism in the U.S., she explored how these ideas must be enacted practically and not remain theoretical works in the academy. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

WSRP Research Associate Changshen Shi (Ching-ning Wang) delivers the talk, "The Making of A Modern Female Chan Teacher: Gender, Religion, and Modernity." Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Iqbal Akhtar, Associate Professor, Florida International University, “The Indic Chronicle of Light from Zanibar” Kim Wortmann, PhD Student, Harvard University, “Zanzibar and Oman: Ibadi Revival in an East Africa town” Caity Bolton, PhD Student, Graduate Center CUNY, “Divine Science: Knowledge, Islamic Education and Development in Zanzibar” Ahmed Sharif, PhD student, NYU, “Somalia, Sudan, and the rise of Scholar Politics in the ICU” Panel chair: Kai Kresse, Columbia University Texts, Knowledge, and Practice: The Meaning of Scholarship in Muslim Africa website: http://hds.harvard.edu/texts-knowledge-practice-africa Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Abdulkadir Hashim, Senior Lecturer Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies Praise and Prestige: Significance of Elegiac Poetry among Muslim Intellectuals in the Late Twentieth Century Kenya Coast Lidwien Kapteijns, Elizabeth Kimball Kendall and Elisabeth Hodder Professor of History, Wellesley College, and Alessandra Vianello, Affiliated Researcher at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), ʻIlm and the Common People: Sufi Vernacular Poetry and Islamic Education in Brava, c. 1890–1925 Hassan Mwakimako, Associate Professor, Department of Religious and Philosophical Studies, Pwani University Kenya, “Swahili Islamic Manuscripts; the Friday khutba of Shaykh Al-Amin b. Ali al-Mazrui, 1890-1947.” Kai Kresse, Associate Professor Columbia University, ‘Enduring relevance. Sample of Oral Poetry on the Swahili Coast Panel chair: Chanfi Ahmed, Humboldt Universität Texts, Knowledge, and Practice: The Meaning of Scholarship in Muslim Africa website: http://hds.harvard.edu/texts-knowledge-practice-africa Le

Ousmane Kane, Alwaleed Professor of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society at Harvard Divinity School delivers a lecture titled “History, Movement, and the Spread of Islamic Scholarship in Muslim Africa.” Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Martin Doblmeier, Cornel West, Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy, Harvard Divinity School, and project director Andrew Finstuen discuss Doblmeier's documentary on Reinhold Niebuhr. K. Healan Gaston, Lecturer on American Religious History at Harvard Divinity School moderated the discussion. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Divinity School professors have long taught ethics in the Yard. Beginning early in the 1880s, as HDS pioneered the analysis of "social problems" using the case method, Francis Peabody taught an undergraduate course on urban ills. Students called it "drainage, drunkenness, and divorce." Today teaching has to address other ethical anxieties. Despite claims of universal liberation, many of them have to do with sexuality and gender. Professor Mark Jordan discusses teaching sexual ethics at Harvard in the age of hook-up apps, fluid identities, and "affirmative consent." Mark D. Jordan is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Christian Thought at Harvard Divinity School and Professor of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Vinya Ariyaratne, Nobuyuki Asai, Tara Gingerich, and Susan Hayward discuss the humanitarian crisis of a natural disaster. Diane L. Moore moderated the discussion. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.