Hackett Lecture: The Light from the Other Shore”: The Rise of Public Christianity in Contemporary China, with Xi Lian
Registration Required.
Please register to attend in person.
Please register to attend on zoom.
In a major historical development in China since the 1980s, amid the crisis of belief in the post-Mao era, an assertive, homegrown Christianity has emerged in the public sphere to proclaim a transcendent truth and offer a new moral compass for Chinese society. Christian beliefs and values have since inspired some of the most unconventional and innovative intellectual and artistic works, reshaping the cultural mainstream. They have also given rise to a morally charged, frequently unrealistic, and at times tragically heroic political and social activism to promote democracy and human rights.
XI LIAN is the David C. Steinmetz Distinguished Professor of World Christianity at Duke Divinity School. He is the author of The Conversion of Missionaries: Liberalism in American Protestant Missions in China, 1907-1932 (Penn State UP, 1997), Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China (Yale UP, 2010),…
Programming Series: Annual Lectures. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu.
Tuesday, March 24, 2026, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM.
Common Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit cswr.hds.harvard.edu. Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History: A Panel Discussion featuring Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Registration is required. Please register to attend.
Join us for a panel discussion of Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History, a four-part PBS series written and narrated by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. tracing the rich, complex relationship between Black and Jewish Americans—defined by solidarity and strained by division. The series explores both the challenges and enduring promise of that alliance. It first aired on February 3 and is available to view on streaming platforms. Panelists include: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University , Terrence L. Johnson, Charles G. Adams Professor of African American Religious Studies, Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS), and Director of Religion and Public Life at HDS , Susannah Heschel, Joseph Engel Visiting Professor (FAS) and Visiting Professor in Jewish Studies (HDS) , Phil Bertelsen, Co-Executive Producer…
Contact: Steffany Rosario - srosario@hds.harvard.edu.
Wednesday, March 25, 2026, 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM.
James Room, Swartz Hall, 45 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit harvard.az1.qualtrics.com. Capital, Conscience, and Knowledge: Religion and the Common Good in a Market-Driven Society
Registration is required. Please register to attend.
Please visit the conference webpage for more information.
This conference, hosted by Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School in partnership with Arizona State University’s Department of Religious Studies, engages the fundamental moral questions animating the overlapping sources of power now shaping higher education within market and political economies increasingly influenced by AI, digitization, and related social dynamics. Capital, Conscience, and Knowledge frames the endowment as a central site of governance. Alongside broader themes at the intersection of religion, capitalism, and higher education, we ask how payout rules, restricted gifts, and investment mandates shape academic freedom, moral formation, and public trust.
We will bring together scholars, public intellectuals, and institutional leaders to analyze these pressures and to develop practical strategies, with a focus on the role of higher education in moral formation, ethical…
Contact: Reem Atassi - ratassi@hds.harvard.edu.
Thursday, March 26, 2026 – Friday, March 27, 2026.
Swartz Hall.
For more info visit rpl.hds.harvard.edu. HDS Film Fest
Founded in 2017, the Harvard Divinity School Film Fest (HDSFF) is an annual student-led festival dedicated to exploring the intersectionality of film and faith. Hosted on the historic Harvard Divinity School campus, the festival is a unique platform that delves into the themes of religion, faith, spirituality, and their relationships to social justice and community.
As the only film festival of its kind focused on the academic study of religion and film, HDSFF provides filmmakers and audiences with a rare opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions about how religious themes are represented and understood through cinema. The festival combines academic scholarship with the immersive power of film to foster dialogue, inspire creativity, and deepen understanding.
WHEN AND WHERE
HDSFF takes place over two days each spring at the Harvard Divinity School campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The 2026 festival is scheduled for Thursday March 26 and Friday March 27.
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
The festival features scr…
Contact: filmfest@hds.harvard.edu.
Thursday, March 26, 2026, 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
Cader Room, Swartz Hall 117, 45 Francis Ave.
For more info visit filmfreeway.com. Global Ayahuasca: A Book Talk with Anthropologist Alex Gearin
Registration is required.
Please register to attend on Zoom.
Ayahuasca originated in the Amazon jungle and is considered sacred by many Indigenous and mestizo communities across South America. Fueled by the “psychedelic renaissance” and growing interest in ayahuasca’s visionary and healing potential, groups serving the potent psychoactive brew can now be found around the world. In his latest book, Global Ayahuasca: Wondrous Visions and Modern Worlds (2024), medical anthropologist Alex Gearin charts ayahuasca’s spread through fieldwork in three countries—Peru, Australia, and China. His findings challenge universalizing narratives about the nature and uses of ayahuasca, offering readers insight into ayahuasca's prismatic forms. Gearin will be in conversation with Jeffrey Breau, program lead for psychedelics and spirituality, to discuss his book and its implications for the study of psychedelics and religion.
ALEX K. GEARIN (PhD) is a medical anthropologist specializing in the intersections of mental…
Programming Series: Spirituality and Psychedelics. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu.
Thursday, March 26, 2026, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM.
Zoom.
For more info visit cswr.hds.harvard.edu. HDS Film Fest
Founded in 2017, the Harvard Divinity School Film Fest (HDSFF) is an annual student-led festival dedicated to exploring the intersectionality of film and faith. Hosted on the historic Harvard Divinity School campus, the festival is a unique platform that delves into the themes of religion, faith, spirituality, and their relationships to social justice and community.
As the only film festival of its kind focused on the academic study of religion and film, HDSFF provides filmmakers and audiences with a rare opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions about how religious themes are represented and understood through cinema. The festival combines academic scholarship with the immersive power of film to foster dialogue, inspire creativity, and deepen understanding.
WHEN AND WHERE
HDSFF takes place over two days each spring at the Harvard Divinity School campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The 2026 festival is scheduled for Thursday March 26 and Friday March 27.
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
The festival features scr…
Contact: filmfest@hds.harvard.edu.
Friday, March 27, 2026, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
Cader Room, Swartz Hall 117, 45 Francis Ave.
For more info visit filmfreeway.com. Deep Listening Series with Peter Schmidt
This will be the 3rd session of the Deep Listening workshop series funded by HCLIF. Peter Schmidt, Co-Founder of the Strother School for Radical Attention, will be facilitating a workshop on attention and attunement practices.
Peter Schmidt is a writer and organizer from Clayton, Missouri. His writing has appeared in Foreign Affairs, The Baffler, The Brooklyn Rail, and The New York Times. Since September of 2022 he has served as the Program Director of the Strother School of Radical Attention. You can read more about Peter’s work on his website.
Contact: studentlife@hds.harvard.edu.
Friday, March 27, 2026, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM.
Multifaith Space, Swartz Hall 214, 45 Francis Ave.
Ecstatic Dance!
The iconic HDS alum Nicole Marie will lead our ten fingers and toes in an ecstatic and beloved expression of dance! Come as you are with comfortable clothing and water and prepare for a fun, energetic, and spiritually-informed gathering. Check out this link to learn more (https://www.embodied-inquiry.org/writings/blog-post-title-one-kxtdz) or contact Paige Scanlon (paigescanlon@hds.harvard.edu) with any questions.
Contact: studentlife@hds.harvard.edu.
Monday, March 30, 2026, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM.
Williams Chapel, Swartz Hall 212, 45 Francis Ave.
Reading Group: Transcendentalism
This group meets on Wednesdays, 10-12 pm (1/28, 2/11, 3/4, 3/11, 3/25, 4/8)
Registration is required.
Please register to attend each session.
American Transcendentalism emerged in the mid-1800s from New England Unitarianism and European Romanticism. It distinguished itself by rejecting convention, challenging traditional religious doctrines of authority and election, opposing dominant philosophies, discarding genteel literary styles, and defying political complacency regarding slavery, gender inequality, and disenfranchisement. At Harvard, Transcendentalists were seen as mystics, misfits, rogues, and dissidents. Their refusals, however, sparked a social movement based on friendship and collaboration, united by a radical spirituality promising personal renewal and social transformation. This reading group invites participants to explore both sides of that legacy. We'll focus on Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller in the fall, and on figures including Bronson Alcott, Theodore Parker,…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu.
Wednesday, April 1, 2026, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Common Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.
Book Talk with Lawrence Buell: Henry David Thoreau: Thinking Disobediently
Registration is required.
Please register to attend in person.
Please register to attend on Zoom.
As part of our Transcendentalism initiative, we are pleased to host a book talk with Lawrence Buell in celebration of the publication of Henry David Thoreau: Living Disobediently. While no single event could fully encompass the breadth and influence of Buell’s scholarship, this occasion offers an opportunity to honor his foundational contributions to the study of Transcendentalism and to American literary and cultural history more broadly.
Professor Buell will deliver a talk of approximately 35–45 minutes reflecting on the aims and arguments of his new book, followed by a conversation with CSWR Director Charles Stang and time for questions from the audience. The event invites sustained reflection on Thoreau’s legacy as well as on current and future directions in Transcendentalism studies.
LAWRENCE BUELL is Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature Emeritus at Harvard University. His previous books…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu.
Thursday, April 2, 2026, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM.
Common Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge & Zoom.
For more info visit cswr.hds.harvard.edu. Ken Burns’ "Henry David Thoreau": A Screening and Discussion with Directors and Scholar Panel
Registration is required.
Please register to attend in person.
Please register to attend on Zoom.
The Center for the Study of World Religions’ Transcendentalism Initiative will host a special screening of Episode 2 of Henry David Thoreau, a new documentary directed by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers and produced by Ken Burns. The film is narrated by George Clooney and features voice performances by Jeff Goldblum and Meryl Streep. Director Erik Ewers will introduce the film.
The documentary offers a vivid, integrated portrait of Thoreau, bringing together the contemplative naturalist of Walden and the political thinker behind “Civil Disobedience.” It traces a life in which attention to the natural world and a commitment to social justice are presented as intertwined expressions of a single moral vision.
Following the screening, scholars Jeffrey S. Cramer (independent scholar), Rebecca Kneale Gould (Middlebury College), and John Kucich (Bridgewater State University and President of the…
Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu.
Friday, April 3, 2026, 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM.
24 Quincy St. Cambridge, MA.
Soup and Hope with Shaul Magid - Spring Faculty Speaker Lunch Series
Join the HDS community for soup and bread as we hear from HDS faculty sharing their intellectual and spiritual autobiographies. Each speaker will particularly focus on what sustains their sense of hope at this time in history. No registration is necessary.
Contact: Kerry A. Maloney, kmaloney@hds.harvard.edu.
Monday, April 6, 2026, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Braun Room, Swartz Hall 101, 45 Francis Ave.
God After Atheism: Lecture One, God in the Dirt
New atheism promised clarity. By removing God from the world, it offered an account of reality free from faith and superstition. But in doing so, it left us without an explanation of the universe’s origin, objective morality, or our ultimate purpose. In response, many have been drawn back to religions they once rejected – traditions that offered meaning and structure, yet continue to face unresolved problems of evil, hiddenness, and dogma. We are caught between exhausted alternatives. The old stories – of God and atheism – no longer fit the scale and strangeness of the reality we have come to understand. The difficulty lies with the pictures we have inherited: rigid ways of thinking that force a choice between dirt and divinity. But this is a false choice. Recent work in philosophy suggests more expansive ways of understanding God – ways that do not place divinity outside the world, nor reduce existence to something unexplained and meaningless. This lecture series explores one such framework: a new story…
Contact: studentlife@hds.harvard.edu.
Tuesday, April 7, 2026, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM.
Multifaith Space, Swartz Hall 214, 45 Francis Ave.
CSWR Poetry Series: The Invisible Sun: Poetry, Translation, and the Mystical Imagination with Sholeh Wolpé
Registration is encouraged.
Please register to attend in person.
Please register to attend on Zoom.
The Invisible Sun is the first comprehensive English collection of poetry by the twelfth-century Persian mystic Attar, revered by Rumi as his master. Translated by award-winning poet Sholeh Wolpé this luminous selection introduces Attar’s timeless Sufi wisdom—poetry that speaks to the soul’s inward journey, self-knowledge, and spiritual awakening. About the Author & Translator Attar (1145–1221), a Persian Sufi poet from Nishapur, profoundly influenced Rumi and remains one of the most important mystic poets of the Islamic world.
SHOLEH WOLPÉ is an Iranian-born poet, playwright, and acclaimed translator of Persian literature.
Programming Series: Poetry. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu.
Tuesday, April 7, 2026, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM.
Common Room, CSWR
42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit cswr.hds.harvard.edu. God After Atheism: Lecture Two, The World As It Really Is
New atheism promised clarity. By removing God from the world, it offered an account of reality free from faith and superstition. But in doing so, it left us without an explanation of the universe’s origin, objective morality, or our ultimate purpose. In response, many have been drawn back to religions they once rejected – traditions that offered meaning and structure, yet continue to face unresolved problems of evil, hiddenness, and dogma. We are caught between exhausted alternatives. The old stories – of God and atheism – no longer fit the scale and strangeness of the reality we have come to understand. The difficulty lies with the pictures we have inherited: rigid ways of thinking that force a choice between dirt and divinity. But this is a false choice. Recent work in philosophy suggests more expansive ways of understanding God – ways that do not place divinity outside the world, nor reduce existence to something unexplained and meaningless. This lecture series explores one such framework: a new story…
Contact: studentlife@hds.harvard.edu.
Wednesday, April 8, 2026, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM.
Multifaith Space, Swartz Hall 214, 45 Francis Ave.
God After Atheism: Lecture Three, Everything Matters
New atheism promised clarity. By removing God from the world, it offered an account of reality free from faith and superstition. But in doing so, it left us without an explanation of the universe’s origin, objective morality, or our ultimate purpose. In response, many have been drawn back to religions they once rejected – traditions that offered meaning and structure, yet continue to face unresolved problems of evil, hiddenness, and dogma. We are caught between exhausted alternatives. The old stories – of God and atheism – no longer fit the scale and strangeness of the reality we have come to understand. The difficulty lies with the pictures we have inherited: rigid ways of thinking that force a choice between dirt and divinity. But this is a false choice. Recent work in philosophy suggests more expansive ways of understanding God – ways that do not place divinity outside the world, nor reduce existence to something unexplained and meaningless. This lecture series explores one such framework: a new story…
Contact: studentlife@hds.harvard.edu.
Thursday, April 9, 2026, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM.
James Room East, Swartz Hall 122, 45 Francis Ave.
Holding Liat Screening and Discussion
Join the HDS Film Fest for a screening of the Oscar shortlisted film "Holding Liat" The film will be followed by a panel and discussion about the role of public media, religious literacy, and the emotional/political rifts in the film.
Contact: studentlife@hds.harvard.edu.
Tuesday, April 14, 2026, 5:00 PM – 8:30 PM.
Cader Room, Swartz Hall 117, 45 Francis Ave.
CANCELLED - Reading Group: Transcendentalism
This group meets on Wednesdays, 10-12 pm (1/28, 2/11, 3/4, 3/11, 3/25, 4/8)
Registration is required.
Please register to attend each session.
American Transcendentalism emerged in the mid-1800s from New England Unitarianism and European Romanticism. It distinguished itself by rejecting convention, challenging traditional religious doctrines of authority and election, opposing dominant philosophies, discarding genteel literary styles, and defying political complacency regarding slavery, gender inequality, and disenfranchisement. At Harvard, Transcendentalists were seen as mystics, misfits, rogues, and dissidents. Their refusals, however, sparked a social movement based on friendship and collaboration, united by a radical spirituality promising personal renewal and social transformation. This reading group invites participants to explore both sides of that legacy. We'll focus on Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller in the fall, and on figures including Bronson Alcott, Theodore Parker,…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu.
Wednesday, April 15, 2026, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
The Ambiguity of the Vow: Law, Kinship, and Gender in Pathologizing the Jain Fast Until Death
Miki Chase, Visiting Assistant Professor of South Asian Religions
In contemporary urban India, Jain laywomen comprise the majority of those who undertake sallekhanā or santhāra, the Jain fast until death. This project examines the everyday relational and ethical labor through which the fast is enacted within the domestic sphere, tracing how doctrinal ideals of asceticism are translated into embodied practice and how women’s ascetic agency is rendered both morally precarious and intelligible within kinship configurations and the evolving Indian legal and political landscape.
Lunch provided.
Contact: Tracy Wall twall@hds.harvard.edu.
Thursday, April 23, 2026, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
Braun Room.
Reading Group: Transcendentalism
This group meets on Wednesdays, 10-12 pm (1/28, 2/11, 3/4, 3/11, 3/25, 4/8)
Registration is required.
Please register to attend each session.
American Transcendentalism emerged in the mid-1800s from New England Unitarianism and European Romanticism. It distinguished itself by rejecting convention, challenging traditional religious doctrines of authority and election, opposing dominant philosophies, discarding genteel literary styles, and defying political complacency regarding slavery, gender inequality, and disenfranchisement. At Harvard, Transcendentalists were seen as mystics, misfits, rogues, and dissidents. Their refusals, however, sparked a social movement based on friendship and collaboration, united by a radical spirituality promising personal renewal and social transformation. This reading group invites participants to explore both sides of that legacy. We'll focus on Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller in the fall, and on figures including Bronson Alcott, Theodore Parker,…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu.
Wednesday, April 29, 2026, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Common Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.