Harvard Divinity School

On November 6, 2019, Harvard Divinity School hosted its annual Theological Education Day. The day featured many panel discussions, including this one that introduced participants to the school's MDiv, MTS, ThM, and PhD degree programs. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/files/hds/files/ted-mdiv-2019.pdf Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at https://hds.harvard.edu/.

A conversation on Nov. 4 with the three Hindu monastics visiting HDS this year, each representing a different Hindu tradition: Swami Sarvapriyananda (Ramakrishna Mission), Brahmacharini Shweta Chaitanya (Chinmaya Mission), and Sadhak Akshar–Guru: Mahant Swami Maharaj (BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha). They introduced the traditions to which they belong, explained why they joined the traditions, and what it has meant for their lives. Francis X. Clooney, S.J., Parkman Professor of Divinity, moderated the conversation. Video and full transcription here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/11/04/video-being-hindu-monastic-personal-journeys Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at hds.harvard.edu/.

Alicia Izharuddin (University of Malaya), Visiting Senior Lecturer on Women’s Studies and Islam, gives a lecture entitled “‘Bureaucratic Islam and the Romance Industry in Southeast Asia.” Video and full transcript: https://wsrp.hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/10/24/video-bureaucratic-islam-and-romance-industry-southeast-asia Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Anne E. Monius, Professor of South Asian Religions at Harvard Divinity School, passed away on August 3, 2019. A distinguished scholar and engaged as well as engaging teacher, Professor Monius taught for 17 years at Harvard Divinity School, where she specialized in the religious traditions of India. Her research examined the practices and products of literary culture to reconstruct the history of religions in South Asia. HDS faculty and friends remembered Professor Monius during a memorial service on October 11, 2019. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video-anne-e-monius-memorial-service

Jyoti Puri, Visiting Professor of Women’s Studies and South Asian Religions Colorado Scholar from Simmons University, presents on “Death in Transit: Cremation, Spectacle, and Looking Off-center.” Video and full transcript here: https://wsrp.hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/09/27/video-death-transit-cremation-spectacle-and-looking-off-center Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at hds.harvard.edu/.

Marder formulates the paradox of “excessive heat” that, on the one hand, signals the ardency of faith and the love of God and, on the other, the effect of sin configured as ariditas (dryness), undoing viriditas (the greening green, a self-refreshing power of creation). The difference between the two kinds of excessive heat is folded into the material distinction between the woods and wood: while timber is dry and ready to go up in flames, living trees are anything but inert matter ready to be incinerated. Paradoxically, though, the woods themselves are ablaze; they are heat, which Hildegard associates with spirit. In them, solar energy is not only captured and detained but perpetually transformed in an ongoing elemental conversation with water, the earth, and the atmosphere. Michael Marder is IKERBASQUE Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. His writings span the fields of phenomenology, political thought, and environmental philosophy. Video and full transcript here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/09/26/ardencies-st-hidegard-blazing-plants Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

In this lecture, Ruth Harris examines how Vivekananda conveyed the meaning of “guru-bakhti” to his female disciples, and the spiritual lens through which he sought to mold them in a male spiritual milieu. Ruth Harris is Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford and Senior Research Fellow at All Souls’ College. She has published widely in the history of religion, science, women’s history, French history, and more recently, global history. The lecture took place at the Center for the Studies for World Religions on September 23, 2019. Full transcript here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/09/23/gurus-women-yoga Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Author, activist, and farmer Leah Penniman discusses the movement for food sovereignty and building a food system based on justice, dignity, and abundance for all members of our community. The talk took place at the Center for the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) at Harvard Divinity School on September 17, 2019. Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol educator, farmer/peyizan, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York. She has been farming since 1996, and co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2011 with the mission to end racism in our food system. Her James Beard award-winning book, Farming While Black, offers the first comprehensive manual for African-heritage people ready to reclaim their rightful place of dignified agency in our food system. Video and full transcript here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/09/17/video-farming-while-black Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Professor Davíd Carrasco, Neil L. Rudenstine Professor for the Study of Latin America delivered the 2019 Convocation address "Toni Morrison Stories: Goodness and Mercy and Mexico," on September 5, 2019. Wampanoag elder Ramona Peters welcomed students to the location on the ancestral lands of the Massachuset, Nipmuc, and Wampanoag people. Actress, poet, songwriter, and educator Alexandria Danielle King performed and HDS Professor Cornel West provided a blessing. Jazz pianist Danilo Pérez performed an original tribute to Morrison. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/09/05/video-convocation-2019-toni-morrison-stories Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Today, mindfulness meditation courses can be found everywhere from schools to prisons to sports teams. The trendy fitness apparel company Lululemon is now advertising mindful clothing for men. There’s also Mindful Meats, Mindful Mints, and Sherwin-Williams sells a paint color they call Mindful Gray. There’s even Mindful Mayo, which you can buy at your local Whole Foods for $5.99. So why has mindfulness meditation suddenly become so popular? Well, for starters, recent studies show benefits against an array of conditions both physical and mental, including helping to counter stress, chronic pain, and other ailments such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. But are there possible downsides to mindfulness being fully embraced by capitalists? As David Gelles writes in the New York Times, “With so many mindful goods and services for sale, it can be easy to forget that mindfulness is a quality of being, not a piece of merchandise.” This is the Harvard Religion Beat, a podcast examining religion’s underestimated and often misunderstood role in society. Here, I’m speaking with Chris Berlin, mediation teacher, instructor at Harvard Divinity School, and counselor to Buddhist students at Harvard. I wanted to get his insight into this mainstreaming of mediation and what he thinks the reasons are for today’s mindfulness boom. I’ll also talk to him about the potential issues faced in our new digital mindfulness landscape, as well as how small benefits can lead to lasting positive change. The Rundown 00:01 - Jon Kabat-Zinn speaking with Bill Moyers 00:36 - Birth and rise of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction 02:03 - Mindfulness meditation gains popularity 04:25 – Intro to the episode and to guest Chris Berlin, mediation teacher and instructor at HDS 05:59 - Mindfulness as a secular approach to traditional meditation practice 10:34 – Benefits and how mindfulness meditation has/n't changed over the years 12:21 - Explosion of the digital mindfulness landscape and possible downsides 14:45 - Whatever works for you 17:20 - Anything we do, we can be mindful about it 19:23 - Credits, connect with us, and Veritalk If you don’t already, please follow us on social and subscribe to our e-newsletter! hds.harvard.edu/news/connect Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/08/13/mainstream-meditation-and-million-dollar-mindfulness-boom Music credits: Chris Zabriskie; InSpectr (Free Music Archive)