Who is the right conversation partner for our most vulnerable, confessional moments?
In the latest edition of Harvard Divinity Bulletin, HDS alums Daniel H. Weiss and Darren Frey examine what it means to relate to AI as a "who" rather than a "what."
Read the full piece: https://bit.ly/4cpfFmO
A group of people standing together on a red carpet at the Harvard Divinity School Film Fest. They are smiling, with some wearing lanyards. The background features a banner repeating "THE HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL FILM FEST.
Recently, the HDS Film Fest hosted filmmakers and panelists from across the globe. Audiences engaged in meaningful discussions about how religious themes are represented through cinema.
Highlights included panel discussions and screenings of student films, independent films, and studio films.
Jack Tripp, MTS '25, smiling for an outdoor headshot.
Meet Jack Tripp, MTS ’25, a ceramic artist and recent alum who sees theology as a process of co-creation with the world around him. Now teaching English at Moses Brown School in Providence, RI, he inspires students through the arts each day.
Read more: bit.ly/4meEFS5
How do we hold on to our humanity in the face of revolutionary technological change?
For Harvard Divinity Bulletin, entrepreneur and former venture capitalist James Prashant Fonseka, MRPL ’25, looks deeper into this question.
Read more: https://bit.ly/4tC7Wc4
Filmmaker and literary scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., joined panelists at HDS last week to discuss his four-part PBS documentary tracing the rich, complex history between Black and Jewish Americans.
Read more: https://bit.ly/4sPrEBa
André Holland headshot
HDS alum, André Holland, MRPL ’25, known for "Selma" (2014) and Oscar-winning "Moonlight "(2016), sees film as a force for meaningful change.
Now a fellow at Harvard’s Hutchins Center, he explores how arts, education, and community can build a more just world.
Read more: bit.ly/4sH6rsR
Hannah Desouza in graduation cap and gown
During her time at HDS, Hannah DeSouza, MDiv ’25, won the 2025 Billings Preaching Prize, led in Harambee, and sang at the Multireligious Commencement Service. She now continues her work as a visiting scholar at Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio.
Read more in the Dean's Report: bit.ly/4bmdGAk
Happy Open House for Admitted Students Day!
In a recent interview, Erik Ewers, co-director of PBS’s highly anticipated Henry David Thoreau documentary, sat down with Gosia Sklodowska, Executive Director of CSWR, to discuss the film ahead of its premiere tonight.
Read more in the Harvard Gazette:
We are thrilled to share that applications for Harvard Divinity School's Summer Language Program are now open!
The SLP is an eight-week, online intensive language study program designed specifically for the curriculum in theological and religious studies.
Learn more: https://bit.ly/3ReDdk1
Reverend Kelly Brown Douglas headshot
In the most recent episode of the Harvard Religion Beat, Reverend Kelly Brown Douglas discusses the enduring struggle for justice and the role of hope in confronting it:
www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2026/03...
Celebrating the life and scholarship of Baber Johansen, Professor of Islamic Studies Emeritus at HDS, who passed away in late January.
His work challenged static readings of Islamic law, emphasizing instead its interpretive flexibility and historical complexity.
Read more: https://bit.ly/47FtpbF
Does AI align with human values, and will AI get out of control?
In their course “AI Ethics and Society” at Harvard Divinity School, David Lamberth and Richard Geruson explore the types of harms that we confront in artificial intelligence.
Join us for next week 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.
https://bit.ly/4uBcQan
@wgbh.org
A professor in a black suit speaks into a microphone
A group of people are seated indoors facing a small panel of speakers. Two speakers are visible on the panel. The setting suggests a discussion or lecture, with everyone attentively listening.
A professor wearing grey speaks into a microphone
A professor sits in a chair smiling.
Through personal story and theological reflection, HDS faculty examined how different Christian traditions wrestle with faith, justice, and love in the latest installment in OCB’s Building Community Through Love series.
Read more: https://bit.ly/3Phr1RL
Congratulations to the newly admitted students of Harvard Divinity School!🎉
Admissions decision emails for the 2026-27 academic year have been released, and we are excited to welcome you to the HDS community.
See you soon!
#HarvardDivinity #WelcometoHDS
Two athletes are at an award ceremony. One is placing a gold medal over the other’s neck. They are wearing jackets with the USA insignia. In the background, a person is wearing a jacket with the Paralympics logo. The medal is from the Beijing 2022 event.
Meet four-time Paralympian Dan Cnossen, MPA ’16, MTS ’18!
Ahead of the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games in Italy, he reflects on his journey from the U.S. Navy to Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Divinity School—and to multiple Paralympic Games.
Read more here: https://bit.ly/4l8GyiC
How does technology design and profiling reinforce power imbalances in AI?
For Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Jenn Louie, MRPL ’23, offers compassionate interrogation as an intervention to interrupt the creation of the often invisible systems of inequity & violence in AI design.
https://bit.ly/4bk0prY
In "The Divine Economy: How Religions Compete for Wealth, Power, and People," Paul Seabright draws on insights from economics to reframe religions as competing “platforms.”
Prof. Swayam Bagaria offers a reflection on the book for Harvard Divinity Bulletin:
Psychedelic chaplaincy is an emerging field responding to the need for spiritually attuned care.
This fall, CSWR hosted spiritual care intensives for therapists, chaplains, and medical professionals working in psychedelic research, clinical, religious, and recreational contexts.
🔗: bit.ly/4qI18b2
What does love mean in the context of different faith traditions?
Last spring, the HDS community explored how love is understood and practiced across Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam through the "Love Through a Multifaith Lens" series.
Read more in the 2025 Dean’s Report: bit.ly/4abAa5q
The most recent issue of the HDS Dean’s Report highlights the expansion of ministry studies through new curriculum, visiting scholars and monastics, and deeper training in spiritual care as a strategic priority for HDS in the years ahead.
Read more: https://bit.ly/4kzemp1
As Professor Shaul Magid steps into a new role as co-editor of Harvard Theological Review, he reflects on the future of scholarship in religious studies, the challenges facing academic publishing, and what it means to teach Judaism at a multireligious divinity school.
https://bit.ly/4au5mwV
Explore the transformative power of ritualized sleep with educator and scholar Sarabinh Levy-Brightman for the autumn/winter issue of Harvard Divinity Bulletin.
bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/sacred-sleep...
Professor Ahmad Greene-Hayes explores Black Atlantic religion-making in Jim Crow New Orleans and how histories of faith, surveillance & survival reshape our understanding of home.
Read here: bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/descending-i...
The cover art and album for Bon Iver's Sable fable
"It's is about reckoning with what happiness might be—precisely because you’ve also come to terms with everything your sadness has been."
For Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Russell C. Powell reviews Bon Iver's new album, nominated at this weekend's #GrammyAwards.
https://bit.ly/4a3iusC
A clipart image of an outline of many individuals holding hands. The text reads "Meaning Makers of HDS"
A woman in a yellow head covering smiles at the camera.
An image of a woman smiling at the camera
New HDS Podcast! Meaning Makers of HDS features alumni, faculty, and community members and how they create meaning in their lives.
First up, Maytal Saltiel, MDiv '12, and Ailya Vajid, MTS '11, talk about their roles as chaplains and the sacred work of presence.
https://bit.ly/3ZzI9UO
From divinity school to the for-profit tech world, HDS alum Waskito Jati, MTS ’18, discovered the unexpected career paths a Harvard Divinity School degree can open.
Read more about Jati's journey here: bit.ly/4jS1hH2
For the Wonderstruck podcast, host Elizabeth Rovere, MTS ’95, spoke with Mark Vernon, philosopher and psychotherapist, discussing how to recover the "vertical dimension" or realm of soul and spirit as a way of living with more depth in an increasingly disoriented age.
https://bit.ly/49s588O
