Harvard Divinity School
Encyclopedia
Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

, in the United States. The School's mission is to train and educate its students either in the academic study of religion
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...

, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public service vocation. It also caters to students from other Harvard schools that are interested in the former field. Harvard Divinity School is among a small group of university-based, non-denominational divinity schools in the United States (some others being the University of Chicago Divinity School
University of Chicago Divinity School
The University of Chicago Divinity School is a graduate institution at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries...

, Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School is a professional school at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. preparing students for ordained or lay ministry, or for the academy...

, and Vanderbilt University Divinity School).

History

Harvard College was founded in 1636 as a Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...

/Congregationalist
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....

 institution, and trained ministers for many years. The separate institution of the Divinity School, however, dates from 1816, when it was established as the first non-denominational divinity school in the United States. (Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...

 had been founded as a Presbyterian institution in 1812 and Andover Theological Seminary in 1807.) Nevertheless, for most of its history, Harvard Divinity School was unofficially associated with the Unitarian
American Unitarian Association
The American Unitarian Association was a religious denomination in the United States and Canada, formed by associated Unitarian congregations in 1825. In 1961, it merged with the Universalist Church of America to form the Unitarian Universalist Association.According to Mortimer Rowe, the Secretary...

 church. However, it also retains a historical tie to one of the successor denominations of American Congregationalism, the United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...

.

Harvard Divinity School and Unitarianism

When the Hollis Professor of Divinity
Hollis Chair of Divinity
The Hollis Chair of Divinity is an endowed chair at Harvard Divinity School. It was established in 1721 by Thomas Hollis, a wealthy English merchant and benefactor of the university, at a salary of £80 per year...

 David Tappan died in 1803 and the president of Harvard Joseph Willard died a year later in 1804, the overseer of the college Jedidiah Morse
Jedidiah Morse
Jedidiah Morse was a notable geographer whose textbooks became a staple for students in the United States. He was the father of Samuel F. B. Morse, the man who developed Morse code.-Early life and education:...

 demanded that orthodox men be elected. This angered the liberals with Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....

 leanings. After much struggle the Unitarian Henry Ware
Henry Ware
Henry Ware may refer to:*Henry Ware , U.S. preacher and theologian*Henry Ware, Jr. , Unitarian theologian, son of the above*Henry Ware , Bishop of Chichester...

 was elected. This signaled a shift as Harvard Divinity went from orthodox Calvinist conservative roots to what it is today, a liberal Unitarian divinity school. Jedidiah Morse went on to found the Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School is a graduate school and seminary located in Newton, Massachusetts. It is America's oldest graduate seminary and the nation's first graduate institution of any kind...

 as an orthodox alternative to the Harvard Divinity School. Harvard Divinity was very much a Unitarian school even before Unitarianism was defined. Harvard Divinity school became a national training ground hub for Unitarian ministers. Some orthodox and evangelical critics called this "The Unitarian takeover of Harvard."

William Ellery Channing
William Ellery Channing
Dr. William Ellery Channing was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton, one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. He was known for his articulate and impassioned sermons and public speeches, and as a prominent thinker...

, a Harvard graduate and minister revered by Ralph Waldo Emerson, steered Unitarianism into a public and what evangelicals consider, controversial course. He publicly preached against the Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...

 and the Congregationalist (those holding the Puritan/Calvinist ideals that only the elect receive salvation) churches split in half. The vast majority of Old Light Congregationalist
Old and New Light
The terms Old Lights and New Lights are used in Christian circles to distinguish between two groups who were initially the same, but have come to a disagreement. These terms have been applied in a wide variety of ways, and the meaning must be determined from context...

 churches became Unitarian and held Unitarian doctrines. To this day Old Light Congregationalist churches still exist, but in small numbers. The quip was made by critics and then later embraced by the Boston community that, "Unitarian preaching is limited to fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man and the neighborhood of Boston."

Unitarianism became a distinct Bostonian religion, extending into New England but not much further. In the late 19th century it took hold of many highly educated people in cosmopolitan cities and diverse municipalities, especially Seattle and San Francisco.

Unitarians, like the early Pentecostals and those who take the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 literally, had to know the Bible very well to argue for their doctrines. However, Unitarians used their knowledge to argue for fallacies in the Bible and against the Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...

. Today some of the most intricate inter-faith arguments about the Bible take place between evangelicals and Unitarian students. Both groups are very well versed in the Bible, though each group interprets what the Bible says very differently.

Today

Today its students and faculty come from a variety of religious backgrounds, Christian (all denominations), Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, etc. Its academic programs attempt to balance theology and religious studies, that is, the "believer's" perspective on religion with the "secular" perspective on religion. This is in contrast to many other divinity schools where one or the other is given primacy (Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School is a professional school at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. preparing students for ordained or lay ministry, or for the academy...

, for example, emphasizes its ministry program, while at the University of Chicago Divinity School
University of Chicago Divinity School
The University of Chicago Divinity School is a graduate institution at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries...

, the majority of students enroll in its "religious studies" Master of Arts program).

Degrees

Harvard Divinity School is accredited
Educational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...

 by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada
Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada
The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada is an organization of seminaries and other graduate schools of theology. ATS has its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has more than 250 member institutions...

 (ATS) and approved by ATS to grant the following degrees:
  • Master of Theological Studies
    Master of Theological Studies
    A Master of Theological Studies is a general academic degree that gives students an introduction to advanced theological studies. The M.T.S usually requires two years of program study to complete. The Latin equivalent for M.T.S...

     (MTS)
  • Master of Divinity
    Master of Divinity
    In the academic study of theology, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America...

     (MDiv)
  • Master of Theology
    Master of Theology
    A Master of Theology is an advanced theological research degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries.-North America:In North America, the Master of Theology is considered by the Association of Theological Schools to be the minimum educational credential for teaching...

     (ThM)
  • Doctor of Theology
    Doctor of Theology
    Doctor of Theology is a terminal academic degree in theology. It is a research degree that is considered by the U.S. National Science Foundation to be the equivalent of a Doctor of Philosophy....

     (ThD)

In addition to candidates for the above, many Harvard graduate students pursuing PhDs in the study of religion work closely with Divinity School faculty. These students are formally affiliated with the Committee on the Study of Religion which is made up of 50% Arts and Sciences and 50% Divinity faculty members and housed in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Curriculum

Candidates for the MTS choose among 19 areas of academic focus:
  • Africa
    Africa
    Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

    n and African American Religious Studies
  • Buddhist
    Buddhism
    Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

     Studies
  • Comparative Religious Studies
  • East Asian Religious Studies
  • Hebrew Bible
    Hebrew Bible
    The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

     / Old Testament
    Old Testament
    The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

  • History of Christianity
    History of Christianity
    The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, its followers and the Church with its various denominations, from the first century to the present. Christianity was founded in the 1st century by the followers of Jesus of Nazareth who they believed to be the Christ or chosen one of God...

  • Hindu Studies
    Hindu studies
    Hindu studies is the study of the traditions and practices of the Indian subcontinent, especially Hinduism. Beginning with British philology in the colonial period, Hindu studies has been practiced largely by Westerners, due in part to the lack of a distinct department for religion in Indian academia...

  • South Asian Religious Studies
  • Islam
    Islam
    Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

    ic Studies
  • Jewish
    Jews
    The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

     Studies
  • New Testament
    New Testament
    The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

     and Early Christianity
  • Philosophy of Religion
    Philosophy of religion
    Philosophy of religion is a branch of philosophy concerned with questions regarding religion, including the nature and existence of God, the examination of religious experience, analysis of religious language and texts, and the relationship of religion and science...

  • Religions of the Americas
  • Religion, Ethics, and Politics
  • Religion, Literature, and Culture
  • Religious Studies and Education
  • Theology
    Theology
    Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

  • Women, Gender, Sexuality, and Religion

Candidates for the MDiv are required to take:
  • Three courses in the theories, methods, and practices of scriptural interpretation within the student's religious tradition
  • Six courses in the history, theology, and practice of the student's religious tradition in which they are preparing to minister
  • Three courses within a religious tradition different from the one they are studying

Women's Studies in Religion Program

The Women's Studies in Religion Program (WSRP) at Harvard Divinity School was founded in 1973 and was the first program to focus on the interdisciplinary study of women and religion. Since its founding, it has supported more than 100 scholars, representing over 50 institutions of higher learning in the United States and around the world.

The WSRP promotes critical inquiry into the interaction between religion and gender, and every year the program brings five postdoctoral scholars to HDS. The research associates each work on a book-length research project and teach courses related to their research. The director of the WSRP is Ann Braude.

Center for the Study of World Religions

Founded in 1960 after an anonymous donation in 1957, the CSWR at Harvard Divinity School is a residential community of academic fellows, graduate students, and visiting professors of major world religious traditions. The Center focuses on the understanding of international religions through its research, publications, funding, and public programs. Its current director is Donald Swearer, a Buddhism scholar.

The CSWR sponsors a diverse range of educative programs, which are generally centered around an annual programming theme. For example, the organizing theme for 2006-07 was "Whose Religion? Which Morality? Conflict and Authority in World Religions." The series included seminars on historical and contemporary issues in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. It concluded with a conference titled "Visions of Peace and Reconciliation: Historical and Contemporary Patterns". The program's focus for 2007-08 will be "Rethinking the Human."

The building that houses the Center was designed by Josep Lluís Sert
Josep Lluís Sert
Josep Lluís Sert i López was a Spanish Catalan architect and city planner.- Biography :Born in Barcelona, he showed keen interest in the works of his painter uncle Josep Maria Sert and of Gaudí. He studied architecture at the Escola Superior d'Arquitectura in Barcelona and set up his own studio...

.

Summer Leadership Institute

The Summer Leadership Institute (SLI), which has been discontinued, was a two-week training program that sought to establish theological instruction and grounding for individuals engaged in community and economic development.

The program of study was divided into four modules: Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy;
Organizational Development and Management; Housing and Community Development; and Finance and Economic Development. As a full-time residential program, holding classes five days a week, the educational focus lies on faith-based case studies of corporations and communities.

Since the SLI's inauguration in 1998, more than 450 participants have completed the program. About 50 people were selected each year from around the United States and internationally to participate in lectures, seminars, and field visits with faculty from across Harvard and other recognized experts. Participants also developed individual plans of action, on a case-study model, applicable to the local work in their communities.

Program in Religion and Secondary Education

The Program in Religion and Secondary Education is a teacher education program that prepares students to teach about religion in public schools from a non-sectarian perspective. Students in the master of theological studies or master of divinity degree programs integrate their work in religion with courses on education and public policy to understand the relationship between religion and education and to advance religious literacy within their fields of licensure.

Harvard Divinity School's Program in Religious Studies and Education (PRSE) has been temporarily suspended, pending new permanent funding that will allow the program to continue and to be capable of serving more students than can currently be admitted into the program. Beginning with the 2009-10 academic year, no new students will be admitted to the program for at least the next two years. Students who are already in the PRSE will continue and be able to finish their degree in normal fashion.

Andover-Harvard Theological Library

Andover-Harvard Theological Library was founded in 1836 and underwent expansion in 1911 when the collections of HDS and Andover Theological Seminary were combined. The Library is part of the larger Harvard University library system, which is available to all faculty, staff, and students at HDS. In September 2001, the library completed a $12-million renovation that enhanced its technology facilities and improved its information systems. Andover-Harvard participates in the Boston Theological Institute
Boston Theological Institute
Boston Theological Institute is the largest theological consortium in the world, bringing together the resources of universities and divinity schools throughout the greater Boston area and some of the most prestigious educational institutions...

 library program, which extends borrowing privileges to all members of the HDS community at any of the other BTI libraries.

(From the HDS 2007-08 Catalog)
  • Books and bound periodicals: 485,046
  • Over 30,000 rare books (including 22 published before 1525)
  • Current serial (periodical) subscriptions: 2,981
  • Original papers of Paul Tillich
    Paul Tillich
    Paul Johannes Tillich was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. Tillich was one of the most influential Protestant theologians of the 20th century...

  • Audiovisual material: 633 titles
  • Historical archives of the Unitarian Universalist Association
    Unitarian Universalist Association
    Unitarian Universalist Association , in full the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in North America, is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations formed by the consolidation in 1961 of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of...

  • Library adds 4,000 to 6,000 new volumes to its collection each year.
  • Total circulations in 2006: 46,703

Andover Hall

Completed in 1911 at a cost of $300,000, Andover Hall was designed by Allen and Collens, a firm that focused largely on neo-medieval and ecclesiastical designs, and is the only building at Harvard built in the Collegiate Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 style of architecture.

Andover Hall was commissioned by Andover Theological Seminary, which, by 1906, saw its enrollment slide and entered an affiliation with the Divinity School in 1908. The Hall contained a chapel, library, dorms, and seminar and lecture rooms. Today, Andover Hall still contains a chapel and some classrooms, but it also holds many administrative and faculty offices.

Notable professors

  • James Luther Adams
    James Luther Adams
    James Luther Adams , an American professor at Harvard Divinity School, Andover Newton Theological School, and Meadville Lombard Theological School, and a Unitarian parish minister, was the most influential theologian among American Unitarian Universalists in the 20th century.Adams was born in...

    , the most influential theologian among American Unitarian Universalists in the 20th century, who had been reared among the Plymouth Brethren
    Plymouth Brethren
    The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...

    , but who built his reputation by videorecording interviews of anti-Hitler underground resistance neo-Orthodox German theologians and Protestant church leaders.
  • Leila Ahmed
    Leila Ahmed
    Leila Ahmed is an Egyptian American writer on Islam and Islamic feminism as well as being the first women's studies professor at Harvard Divinity School.- Background :...

    , professor of women's studies and scholar of Islam
  • Charles G. Adams
    Charles G. Adams
    Charles Gilchrist Adams became the first Nickerson Professor of the Practice of Ethics and Ministry at Harvard Divinity School in 2007.-Biography:...

    , William and Lucille Nickerson Professor of the Practice of Ethics and Ministry
  • François Bovon, prolific scholar in New Testament
    New Testament
    The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

     and Christian Apocrypha
    Apocrypha
    The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....

  • Davíd Carrasco, scholar of Latin American religion and culture
  • Francis X. Clooney
    Francis X. Clooney
    Francis Xavier Clooney, S.J., is a professor and a Roman Catholic priest.-Career:After earning his doctorate in South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago in 1984, he taught at Boston College until 2005, when he became the Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of...

    , comparative theologian and scholar of Hinduism
    Hinduism
    Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

  • Harvey Cox
    Harvey Cox
    Harvey Gallagher Cox, Jr. is one of the preeminent theologians in the United States and served as Hollis Research Professor of Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School, until his retirement in October 2009...

    , author of "The Secular City"
  • Diana L. Eck
    Diana L. Eck
    Diana L. Eck is Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, as well as a Master of Lowell House and the Director of The Pluralism Project, at Harvard University...

    , scholar of Hinduism
    Hinduism
    Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

     and founder of The Pluralism Project
  • Peter J. Gomes
    Peter J. Gomes
    Peter John Gomes was an American preacher and theologian,the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard Divinity School and Pusey Minister at Harvard's Memorial Church—in the words of Harvard's president "one of the great preachers of our generation, and a living symbol of courage and...

     (1942-2011), Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church
    Memorial Church of Harvard University
    The Memorial Church of Harvard University, more commonly known as the Harvard Memorial Church is a building on the campus of Harvard University.-Predecessors:...

     and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals
  • Janet Gyatso, scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
    Tibetan Buddhism
    Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...

    , history, and culture
  • William A. Graham
    William A. Graham
    William A. Graham may refer to:*William Alexander Graham , American politician; Whig from North Carolina; U.S. Senator, Governor, Secretary of the Navy, Winfield Scott's running mate in 1852 presidential election*William A...

    , comparative historian and scholar of Islam
    Islam
    Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

  • Charles Hallisey, scholar of Therevada Buddhism,
  • David Hempton, historian of Methodism and Evangelical Protestantism
  • Michael Jackson (anthropologist)
    Michael Jackson (anthropologist)
    Michael D. Jackson is a post-modern New Zealand anthropologist who has taught in the anthropology departments at the University of Copenhagen and Indiana University and is currently a distinguished visiting professor of world religions at Harvard Divinity School...

    , anthropologist and novelist
  • Baber Johansen, scholar of Islamic law
  • Karen King, author of "What is Gnosticism?" and "The Gospel of Mary Magdala
    Gospel of Mary
    The Gospel of Mary is an apocryphal book discovered in 1896 in a 5th-century papyrus codex. The codex Papyrus Berolinensis 8502 was purchased in Cairo by German scholar Karl Reinhardt....

    "

  • Gordon D. Kaufman
    Gordon D. Kaufman
    Dr. Gordon D. Kaufman was the Mallinckrodt Professor of Divinity at Harvard University where he taught since 1963. He lectured widely, and taught at universities across the United States , and also in India, Japan, South Africa, England, and Hong Kong...

    , liberal Mennonite pacifist theologian and author of God the Problem
  • Helmut Koester
    Helmut Koester
    Helmut Koester is a German-born American scholar of the New Testament and currently Morison Research Professor of Divinity and Winn Research Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School. He teaches courses at both the Divinity School and at Harvard Extension School, and was the...

    , New Testament scholar
  • Jon D. Levenson
    Jon D. Levenson
    Jon D. Levenson is the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at the Harvard Divinity School.-Education:*Ph.D. Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University, 1975,*M.A...

    , scholar of Hebrew Bible
    Hebrew Bible
    The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

     and Jewish studies
    Jewish studies
    Jewish studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history , religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages , political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies...

  • Henri Nouwen
    Henri Nouwen
    Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen , was a Dutch-born Catholic priest and writer who authored 40 books about spirituality.- Writing :...

     (1983–1985), Professor of Divinity and Horace De Y. Lentz Lecturer
  • John G. Palfrey
    John G. Palfrey
    John Gorham Palfrey was an American clergyman and historian who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. A Unitarian minister, he played a leading role in the early history of Harvard Divinity School, and he later became involved in politics as a State Representative and U.S...

    , clergyman, historian, and U.S. Representative
  • Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
    Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
    Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza is a feminist theologian. She received her Theologicum , Lic. Theol., University of Würzburg, Thoel.D. from the University of Munster, Germany. She identifies as Catholic and her work is generally in the context of Christianity, although much of her work has broader...

    , feminist New Testament scholar
  • Robert William Scribner (1941–1998), Reformation
    Protestant Reformation
    The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

     historian
  • Wilfred Cantwell Smith
    Wilfred Cantwell Smith
    Wilfred Cantwell Smith was a Canadian professor of comparative religion who from 1964-1973 was director of Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions. The Harvard Gazette characterized him as one of the field's most influential figures of the past century...

    , former director of the school's Center for the Study of World Religions
  • Ronald Frank Thiemann, Christian theologian and dean of the Divinity School from 1986 to 1998
  • Paul Tillich
    Paul Tillich
    Paul Johannes Tillich was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. Tillich was one of the most influential Protestant theologians of the 20th century...

     (1886-1965), Protestant theologian and Christian existentialist
    Christian existentialism
    Christian existentialism describes a group of writings that take a philosophically existentialist approach to Christian theology. The school of thought is often traced back to the work of the Danish philosopher and theologian considered the father of existentialism, Søren Kierkegaard...

  • Henry Ware, Jr.
    Henry Ware, Jr.
    Henry Ware, Jr. was an influential Unitarian theologian, early member of the faculty of Harvard Divinity School, and first president of the Harvard Musical Association. He was a mentor of Ralph Waldo Emerson when Emerson studied for the ministry in the 1820s.The son of Henry Ware, he was born in...

    , (1794–1843), Unitarian
    Unitarian Universalism
    Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists do not share a creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth and by the understanding that an individual's theology is a...

     theologian
  • Henry Ware, Sr.
    Henry Ware (Unitarian)
    Henry Ware was a preacher and theologian influential in the formation of Unitarianism and the American Unitarian Association in the United States....

     (1764–1845), prominent early Unitarian
    Unitarian Universalism
    Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists do not share a creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth and by the understanding that an individual's theology is a...

     theologian
  • C. Conrad Wright (1917-2011), historian of American Congregationalism and Unitarianism
    Unitarian Universalism
    Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists do not share a creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth and by the understanding that an individual's theology is a...

  • George Ernest Wright (1958–1974), Parkman Professor of Divinity; (1961–1974) Curator of the Semitic Museum, Presbyterian, leading Old Testament scholar and biblical archaeologist

Notable alumni

  • Charles G. Adams
    Charles G. Adams
    Charles Gilchrist Adams became the first Nickerson Professor of the Practice of Ethics and Ministry at Harvard Divinity School in 2007.-Biography:...

    , Pastor, Hartford Memorial Baptist Church; Former President, Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.; William and Lucille Nickerson Professor of the Practice of Ethics and Ministry, Harvard Divinity School.
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson
    Ralph Waldo Emerson
    Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...

    , philosopher, poet, and essayist
  • Horatio Alger, scholar and novelist
  • Reza Aslan
    Reza Aslan
    Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American activist, a nationally acclaimed writer of religions. He is on the faculty at the University of California, Riverside, and is a contributing editor for The Daily Beast...

    , author and Islamic scholar
  • Charles Bennison
    Charles Bennison
    Charles Ellsworth Bennison, Jr. is 15th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.-Education and family:Bennison was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 30, 1943, and was baptized at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Hastings, Minnesota, on December 24, 1943. His father, Charles E...

    , bishop in the Episcopal Church
  • George Bradburn
    George Bradburn
    George Bradburn was an American politician and Unitarian minister in Massachusetts known for his support for abolitionism and women's rights. He attended the 1840 conference on Anti-Slavery in London where he made a stand against the exclusion of female delegates. In 1843 he was with Frederick...

    , Unitarian preacher and abolitionist from Massachusetts
    Massachusetts
    The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

    .
  • Neville Callam
    Neville Callam
    Neville Callam is General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance.Callam was born in Jamaica to a committed Baptist family, his father a deacon and his mother involved in other ministries...

    , General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance
    Baptist World Alliance
    The Baptist World Alliance is a worldwide alliance of Baptist churches and organizations, formed in 1905 at Exeter Hall in London during the first Baptist World Congress.-History:...

  • Edward John Carnell
    Edward John Carnell
    Edward John Carnell was a prominent Christian theologian and apologist, was an ordained Baptist pastor, and served as President of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He was the author of nine major books, several of which attempted to develop a fresh outlook in Christian...

    , prominent neoevangelical theologian
  • Demetrios, Archbishop of America
    Demetrios, Archbishop of America
    Archbishop Demetrios of America is the current archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and Exarch of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.-Overview:...

    , current primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
    Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
    The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, headquartered in New York City, is an eparchy of the Church of Constantinople. Its current primate is Archbishop Demetrios of America.-About the Archdiocese:...

  • Tom Chappell
    Tom Chappell
    Thomas Matthew "Tom" Chappell is an American businessman and manufacturer and co-founder of Tom's of Maine in 1970.Chappell graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut with a B.A. in English in 1966. Chappell and his wife, cofounder Kate Chappell, moved to Kennebunk, Maine in 1968 to...

    , founder of Tom's of Maine, large producer of natural personal care products
  • Tom Chick
    Tom Chick
    Tom W. Chick is an American television and movie actor, and independent journalist. His most prominent TV roles were as Oscar's lover Gil in the US version of The Office, and the hard-hitting reporter Gordon in The West Wing. As a writer, Tom has contributed to many current and past video game...

    , actor, editor and video game journalist
  • Delman L. Coates, Senior Pastor, Mt. Ennon Baptist Church, Clinton, MD
    Mt. Ennon Baptist Church
    Mt. Ennon Baptist Church is located in Clinton, Maryland, USA and has a rapidly growing membership of over 6,500. In 2009, was ranked by Outreach Magazine as one of the 100 Fastest Growing Congregations in the U.S....

  • Moncure D. Conway, Unitarian preacher and abolitionist from Virginia
    Virginia
    The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

    .
  • Janet Cooper-Nelson, Chaplain of Brown University
    Brown University
    Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

    , first woman university chaplain in the Ivy League
    Ivy League
    The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

  • John Cranley
    John Cranley
    John Cranley was a Democratic member of the city council of Cincinnati, Ohio and a partner of City Lights Development. John is a Harvard law school graduate and co-founder of the Ohio Innocence Project at the University of Cincinnati College of Law....

    , former congressional candidate in Ohio.
  • William Greenleaf Eliot
    William Greenleaf Eliot
    William Greenleaf Eliot was an American educator, Unitarian minister, and civic leader in Missouri. He is most notable for founding Washington University in St. Louis, but also contributed to the founding of numerous other civic institutions, such as the St...

    , co-founder of Washington University in St. Louis
    Washington University in St. Louis
    Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...

  • Archie Epps
    Archie Epps
    Archie C. Epps III was dean of students at Harvard University from 1971 to 1999....

    , Harvard University Dean of Students 1971-1999
  • Robert P. George
    Robert P. George
    Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, where he lectures on constitutional interpretation, civil liberties and philosophy of law. He also serves as the director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions...

    , author, constitutional law scholar, and Princeton professor
  • Peter J. Gomes
    Peter J. Gomes
    Peter John Gomes was an American preacher and theologian,the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard Divinity School and Pusey Minister at Harvard's Memorial Church—in the words of Harvard's president "one of the great preachers of our generation, and a living symbol of courage and...

    , preacher and writer
  • Chris Hedges
    Chris Hedges
    Christopher Lynn Hedges is an American journalist, author, and war correspondent, specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics and societies...

    , author and journalist
  • Iakovos, Archbishop of America
    Iakovos, Archbishop of America
    Archbishop Iakovos , born Demetrios Koukouzis was the Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America from 1959 until his resignation in 1996...

    , Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America
    Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
    The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, headquartered in New York City, is an eparchy of the Church of Constantinople. Its current primate is Archbishop Demetrios of America.-About the Archdiocese:...

     from 1959 to 1996
  • James Franklin Kay
    James Franklin Kay
    James Franklin Kay is the Joe R. Engle Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics, and Dean of Academic Affairs at Princeton Theological Seminary.-Biography:...

    , professor of Homiletics and Liturgy at Princeton Theological Seminary
    Princeton Theological Seminary
    Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...

  • Michael Muhammad Knight
    Michael Muhammad Knight
    Michael Muhammad Knight is an American Muslim novelist, journalist, and performance artist. His writings are popular among American Muslim youth...

    , author
  • Scotty McLennan
    Scotty McLennan
    The Reverend William L. McLennan, Jr. — better known as "Scotty McLennan" — was born on November 21, 1948, son of William L. McLennan and Alice Polk Warner. He is an ordained minister, lawyer, professor, published author, public speaker and senior administrator at Stanford University...

    , Dean
    Dean (education)
    In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...

     for Religious Life at Stanford University
    Stanford University
    The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

  • C.E. Morgan
    C.E. Morgan
    C. E. Morgan is an American author born in 1976. The author of the novel All the Living , she was a recipient of the National Book Foundations 5 under 35 award and a 2010 Lannan Literary Fellowship...

    , author
  • William B. Oden
    William B. Oden
    William Bryant Oden is a retired American Bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1988. He was born 3 August 1935 in McAllen, Texas. He is married to Marilyn Brown Oden, the author of over eight books. They have four children and four grandchildren....

    , bishop in the United Methodist Church
    United Methodist Church
    The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...

  • Theodore Parker
    Theodore Parker
    Theodore Parker was an American Transcendentalist and reforming minister of the Unitarian church...

    , prominent Unitarian and transcendentalist
    Transcendentalism
    Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the New England region of the United States as a protest against the general state of culture and society, and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian...

     thinker, scholar, and abolitionist
  • Rodney L. Petersen
    Rodney L. Petersen
    Rodney Lawrence Petersen is an American scholar in the area of history, ethics, and religious conflict.He moved to the Boston area from Switzerland in 1990 and currently works as the Executive Director of the Boston Theological Institute. In addition to this work with the BTI, he teaches in both...

    , scholar of history, ethics, and religious conflict, and executive director of the Boston Theological Institute
    Boston Theological Institute
    Boston Theological Institute is the largest theological consortium in the world, bringing together the resources of universities and divinity schools throughout the greater Boston area and some of the most prestigious educational institutions...

  • Richard L. Pratt, Jr.
    Richard L. Pratt, Jr.
    Richard Linwood Pratt, Jr. is an American Reformed theologian and author. As founder and President of , Richard is actively involved in all aspects of the ministry, including writing, teaching, and global advancement. He also travels extensively to evangelize and teach and is adjunct professor of...

    , Professor of Old Testament, President of Third Millennium Ministries
  • Saba Soomekh
    Saba Soomekh
    Saba Soomekh is an Iranian-born American professor and writer.Soomekh was born in Teheran, Iran to a Persian Jewish family that moved to Los Angeles, California to escape the Islamic Revolution of Iran. Saba is a sister to actress Bahar Soomekh...

    , professor/ essayist
  • Edmund Sears
    Edmund Sears
    Edmund Hamilton Sears was an American Unitarian parish minister and author who wrote a number of theological works influencing 19th century liberal Protestants. Sears is known today primarily as the man who penned the words to "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" in 1849...

    , Unitarian theologian
  • Jeffrey L. Seglin
    Jeffrey L. Seglin
    Jeffrey L. Seglin is an American journalist and writer. Seglin grew up in Boonton, New Jersey and attended Boonton High School....

    , journalist, writer, and Emerson College
    Emerson College
    Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...

     professor
  • Vanessa Southern
    Vanessa Southern
    Vanessa Rush Southern is an American Unitarian minister in New Jersey notable for being a progressive liberal advocate of issues such as reproductive health care options for women, diversity and racial tolerance, affordable housing including projects for Habitat for Humanity, human rights, and...

    , Unitarian minister and progressive liberal advocate
  • Richard Tafel, founder Log Cabin Republicans
    Log Cabin Republicans
    The Log Cabin Republicans is an organization that works within the Republican Party to advocate equal rights for all Americans, including gays and lesbians in the United States with state chapters and a national office in Washington, D.C...

    , lobbyist, executive coach
  • Sarah Warn
    Sarah Warn
    Sarah Warn is an American writer and the former editor of entertainment website AfterEllen.com.-Biography:Warn graduated from in Tacoma, WA in 1992. She then attended Wellesley College in 1996 with a degree in women's studies, and received a master's degree in theological studies from Harvard...

    , Editor-in-Chief; founder of AfterEllen.com
  • Leland Wilkinson
    Leland Wilkinson
    Leland Wilkinson is a statistician and computer scientist at SYSTAT Software Inc. Dr. Wilkinson developed SYSTAT in the early 1980s, sold it to SPSS in 1995, and now serves as Executive VP of SYSTAT Software Inc. in Chicago. His research focuses on scientific visualization and statistical...

    , statistician and computer scientist

Harvard Divinity Bulletin

Harvard Divinity Bulletin is a magazine published by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Communications two times per calendar year – generally spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The magazine features nonfiction essays, opinion pieces, poetry and reviews generally linked to religion and its relationship with contemporary life, art, and scholarship. Also included is the text of each year's Ingersoll Lecture on Human Immortality.

Harvard Divinity Today

HD Today is an alumni/ae magazine published three times per year also by the HDS Office of Communications. It includes original news articles, event listings, an alumni/ae journal, and class notes.

Harvard Theological Review

Founded in 1908, Harvard Theological Review is a quarterly journal that publishes original research in many scholarly and religious fields, including ethics, archeology, Christianity, Jewish studies, and comparative religious studies.

Cult/ure

Cult/ure: the Graduate Journal of Harvard Divinity School is the online, student-run academic journal of Harvard Divinity School and the only graduate journal of religion at Harvard University. It publishes exemplary student scholarship in the areas of religious studies, ministry studies, and theology every spring.

The Wick

The Wick is a journal for literary and creative works by the HDS community. The Wick publishes both published and non-published writers of fiction, poetry, essays, photography, sermons, and creative non-fiction.

The Nave

The Nave is an online electronic newsletter of HDS student activities and events. It includes announcements of lectures, social events, important academic deadlines, and other matters. The Boston Theological Institute, along with other schools in the area, provides students, staff and faculty numerous cultural and academic experiences, many of which are featured in The Nave.

Student religious affiliation

(Figures taken from 2007-2008 Harvard Divinity School Catalog)
  • African Methodist Episcopal: fewer than five
  • Agnostic: fewer than five
  • Anglican/Episcopal: 32 (7.2%)
  • Assemblies of God
    Assemblies of God
    The Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...

    : fewer than five
  • Baptist
    Baptist
    Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

    : 15 (3.6%)
  • Buddhist
    Buddhism
    Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

    : 13 (2.9%)
  • Catholic
    Roman Catholic Church
    The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

    : 53 (11.9%)
  • Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
    Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
    The Christian Church is a Mainline Protestant denomination in North America. It is often referred to as The Christian Church, The Disciples of Christ, or more simply as The Disciples...

    : fewer than five
  • Church of God in Christ
    Church of God in Christ
    The Church of God in Christ is a Pentecostal Holiness Christian denomination with a predominantly African-American membership. With nearly five million members in the United States and 12,000 congregations, it is the largest Pentecostal church and the fifth largest Christian church in the U.S....

    : fewer than five
  • Congregationalist: fewer than five
  • Covenant Charismatic: fewer than five
  • Evangelical
    Evangelicalism
    Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

    : fewer than five
  • Hindu
    Hinduism
    Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

    : fewer than five
  • Jain: fewer than five
  • Jewish
    Judaism
    Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

    : 16 (3.6%)
  • LDS/Mormon: fewer than five
  • Lutheran: 14 (3.1%)
  • Mennonite
    Mennonite
    The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...

    : fewer than five students
  • Methodist: 20 (4.5%)
  • Muslim
    Muslim
    A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

    : 8 (1.8%)
  • No Denominational Affiliation: 29 (6.5%)
  • Nondenominational: 8 (1.8%)
  • Orthodox: fewer than five
  • Pagan
    Paganism
    Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....

    : fewer than five
  • Pentecostal: fewer than five
  • Presbyterian: 25 (5.6%)
  • Multidenominational: 9 (2%)
  • Redeemed Christian Church of God
    Redeemed Christian Church of God
    The Redeemed Christian Church of God is a Nigeria-based Pentecostal Holiness ministry.-History:The RCCG was founded by Nigerian pastor Josiah Akindayomi...

    : fewer than five
  • Religious Naturalist: fewer than five
  • Religious Society of Friends/Quaker
    Religious Society of Friends
    The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

    : (1.1%)
  • Seventh-day Adventists
    Seventh-day Adventist Church
    The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...

    : fewer than five
  • Sikh
    Sikh
    A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...

    : fewer than five
  • Sufi: fewer than five
  • Undeclared: 85 (19%)
  • Unitarian Universalist: 36 (8.1%)
  • United Church of Christ
    United Church of Christ
    The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...

    : 24 (5.4%)


Divinity School buildings

  • Divinity Hall
    Divinity Hall, Harvard Divinity School
    Divinity Hall is the oldest building in the Harvard Divinity School at Harvard University. It is located at 14 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts....

  • Andover Hall, Harvard Divinity School|Andover Hall
  • Center for the Study of World Religions
  • Rockefeller Hall
  • Jewett House (Dean's Residence)
  • Carriage House (Women's Studies in Religion Program)


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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