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BTI Consortium | Last Updated July 8, 2026 - 3:00PM
Harvard Divinity School
School
BTI Category
Semester
Professor
Class Day & Time
Grading Option
Credits
Online?
Professor Approval Req'd?
Prerequisites?
Notes
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 1385
Religion and Nationalism: The Cases of Religious Zionism and Religious Anti-Zionism
BTI Category
Semester
Judaic Studies
FA26
The rise of nationalism in the nineteenth century raised a variety of issues relating to the role of religion in that European project. This course will focus on the challenges, obstacles, and role religion played in the national project Our case study will be Jewish nationalism also called Zionism. We will explore religious Zionism and religious anti-Zionism as competing philosophical movements within Jewish modernity. The focus will be less on historical events, though they are important, and more on the philosophical and theological foundations of a variety of Jewish reactions to nationalism. We will read across the plethora of Jewish voices who weighed in on the monumental Jewish project in modernity.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Magid
W
01:00pm-02:59pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 1480
Prayer Book Hebrew and the History of Jewish Liturgy
BTI Category
Semester
Judaic Studies
FA26
Throughout most of Jewish history, the form of the Hebrew language that most Jews have encountered is the language of Jewish prayer found in the Siddur (Jewish Prayer Book), including but not limited to the daily prayers that structure lived Jewish time. Course offerings in Hebrew within universities like Harvard, however, are typically limited to Biblical Hebrew and Modern Hebrew, with not much in between. Despite its centrality to Jewish life, the Siddur has received far less academic attention than the Bible and the Talmud. This course combines close reading of such materials in Hebrew with analysis of Jewish prayer from both historical and phenomenological perspectives. Students are required to have some background in Hebrew, equivalent to at least one year of biblical or modern Hebrew.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Magid
T
03:00pm-05:00pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Students are required to have some background in Hebrew, equivalent to at least one year of biblical or modern Hebrew.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 1561
The Self in Early Christianity
BTI Category
Semester
Church History/History of Religions
FA26
In conversation with Michel Foucault’s account of the complex relations between subjectivity and truth (and the importance of “techniques of the self”) in the ancient and late ancient worlds, this limited-enrollment seminar will explore various notions of the self in early Christianity. Focusing on the first four centuries of Christianity, we will investigate specific problems of theological anthropology (i.e., what it means to be human) that emerged for early Christian thinkers at the intersection between established modes of ancient thought and specifically Christian notions of scripture, creation, incarnation, resurrection etc. In view throughout will be questions related to the “hermeneutics of the self” that proved richly generative for the Christian tradition in its formative moments—and continue to animate the tradition today. This is a limited enrollment course. Please email the instructor (bdunning@hds.harvard.edu) with a short introduction including relevant background and reasons for wanting to enroll in the course. Students will be notified of acceptance before the enrollment deadline.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Dunning
T
03:00pm-04:59pm
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
This is a limited enrollment course. Please email the instructor (bdunning@hds.harvard.edu) with a short introduction including relevant background and reasons for wanting to enroll in the course. Students will be notified of acceptance before the enrollment deadline.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 1724
Early Christian Demonology
BTI Category
Semester
Church History/History of Religions
FA26
This course will introduce students to the theory and practice of demonology in early Christianity. The course will begin with the sudden explosion of interest in demons in ancient Judaism in the 3rd c. BCE, the role of demons in the Christian New Testament, and their role in early Christian thought, especially in the writings of Origen of Alexandria (d. 185-253 CE). The course will then move into early monastic demonology and focus on such figures as Antony the Great, Athanasius, Evagrius Pontus, Pachomius, Shenoute, and others, and such texts as the various collections of apophthegmata patrum, or "Sayings of the Fathers." Among other things, the course will question of the category of "demon" understood as an evil spirit or entity, its relationship to the pre-Christian notion of the daimōn, and how demons were understood to be related to angels and humans. If time permits, the course will look at the development of Christian demonology in early medieval Eastern Christianity.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Stang
W
01:00pm-02:59pm
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 1845
Lamentations and Its Rabbinic Interpretations: Catastrophe and Recovery in Ancient Judaism: Seminar
BTI Category
Semester
Judaic Studies
FA26
A close historical-critical reading of the Book of Lamentations in Hebrew and a careful reading, also in Hebrew, of a generous sample of midrashim from Lamentations Rabbah. Emphasis upon the theological and literary dimensions. Prerequisite: Three years of college-level Hebrew (any period) and some previous experience with historical-critical methods. Not a course for those with a weak grasp of biblical grammar.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Levenson
R
03:00pm-04:59pm
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Prerequisite: Three years of college-level Hebrew (any period) and some previous experience with historical-critical methods. Not a course for those with a weak grasp of biblical grammar.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2063
A Poetics of Difficulty
BTI Category
Semester
Systematic Theology & Philosophy (Western)
FA26
Through the careful reading of and exploratory writing about selected works of contemporary poetry, together with some key pieces of criticism and philosophy, the seminar will explore different modalities of difficulty. The hypothesis driving the course is that in difficult times, reading difficult writing can be a vital, intellectually and affectively powerful task. Readings will likely include work by Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Myung Mi Kim, Susan Howe, Dan Beachy-Quick, Harryette Mullen, Elizabeth Robinson, Lisa Robertson, TC Tolbert, and Cameron Awkward-Rich. We will work together as a seminar and in smaller groups. Enrollment limited to 20 students. I will ask for a statement of interest at the beginning of the fall term. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 2993.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Hollywood
T
03:00pm-05:45pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
Enrollment limited to 20 students. I will ask for a statement of interest at the beginning of the fall term
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2156
The Public Church: Bearing Christian Witness through Community Engagement
BTI Category
Semester
Practical/Pastoral Theology
FA26
This course explores how Christian theology, scripture, and congregational life inform and sustain faithful public witness through transformative community engagement. Grounded in theological reflection, ethical inquiry, and practical training, the course emphasizes the role of relational power, leadership development, and collective action in addressing systemic injustice and cultivating the common good.Through case studies, field-tested organizing tools (including 1:1 relational meetings, house meetings, and power analysis), students will examine how these tools have been used by Christian communities to pursue practices of community empowerment, advocacy, and broad-based organizing in partnership with ecumenical, interfaith, and civic/secular coalitions.While the course explores Christian theological frameworks and practices of public engagement, students from other religious or ethical traditions are welcome and encouraged to bring their own perspectives into dialogue with the course material, reflecting on how the model of “The Public Church” might resonate with or challenge their own commitments and inform leadership practice in their own faith or moral communities.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Hammond
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
Students interested in taking this course should attend the first day of classes and submit a one-paragraph statement of purpose (SOP) to the instructor summarizing the reasons for their interest and how the course will contribute to their degree goals.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2300
Black Political Thought and the Spirit of Freedom
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA26
When Audre Lorde argued "the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house," the lesbian feminist writer challenged the marginality of Black women in the feminist movement and exposed the invisibility of Black and lesbian epistemic resources in re-imagining freedom, justice, and liberation within political struggles against domination, subjugation, and violence. In doing so, she highlighted the limits of (white liberal) feminist thought and Black politics of respectability to detangle the web of political, racial, economic, gender, and cultural domination in the U.S. and abroad. To this end, Lorde's hermeneutical turn fundamentally altered the conceptual schemes and political aspirations steering post-Black Power writings on politics, transnationalism, and power. This course retrieves Lorde's critical theory as a framework for examining social domination and inequality within the post-Civil Rights era. We will then (re) turn to figures such as W.E.B Du Bois, Frederick Douglass, Maria Stewart, Anna Julia Cooper, and Booker T. Washington to explore the major moral questions that framed the emergence of Black liberal, conservative, nationalist, Marxist, and feminist thought. Lorde’s framework will give us the tools for examining the major political categories at stake (and contested) within Black liberation theology and contemporary Black Political Thought: double consciousness, domination, respectability, freedom, racial uplift, intersectionality, social death and racial solidarity.Based on HDS policy, HDS students will have priority for enrollment. Additional openings will be filled based on student readiness for this level and then the date when the petition was submitted. Course is letter grade option only and not open to auditors.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Johnson
W
09:00am-11:00am
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
Based on HDS policy, HDS students will have priority for enrollment. Additional openings will be filled based on student readiness for this level and then the date when the petition was submitted
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2390A
Colloquium in American Religious History
BTI Category
Semester
Sociology/Ethnography/Research Methods
FA26
Presentation and discussion of the research of doctoral candidates in American religious history. Available, with instructors' permission, to Harvard doctoral students in other fields of religious studies or American studies. Note: First half of an academic year bi-weekly course. Credit will not be earned unless both the fall and spring semester of the course is completed. Course may be taken on a Sat/unsat basis only. This course is limited to doctoral students with interests in North American religions. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 3505A.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Brekus
T
06:00pm-07:59pm
Grading Option
P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
This course is limited to doctoral students with interests in North American religions. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 3505A.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2507
Fallen Angels
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA26
This course surveys Jewish and Christian traditions about fallen angels beginning with the oldest attested articulations in relation to the Flood, especially in Enochic and related traditions, and tracing late antique and medieval reinterpretations within and between Judaism and Christianity, from the Epistle of Jude to Sefer Hekhalot. Readings will include selections from apocryphal, biblical, magical, mystical, Patristic, and Rabbinic corpora, and key themes will include the origins of sin, aetiology of magic and civilization, the enduring impact of non-canonical writings, and the shared ideas of an antediluvian past among different religious groups in Late Antiquity. Although the class will focus on premodern Judaism and Christianity, students will have opportunities to explore later trajectories and transformations, from Islamic angelology to Japanese anime.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Reed
T
09:00am-11:45am
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2692
Sex, Gender, and Sexuality I
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA26
The course will explore the theoretical articulation of sex, gender, and sexuality in twentieth-century theory, particularly in psychoanalysis, philosophy, and feminist and queer theory. Readings may include texts by Sigmund Freud, Simone de Beauvoir, Jacques Lacan, Luce Irigaray, Michel Foucault, Gayle Rubin, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Hortense Spillers, Judith Butler, and others. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1572.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Dunning
T
12:00pm-02:45pm
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2930
Spiritual Care in Psychedelic Settings
BTI Category
Semester
Practical/Pastoral Theology
FA26
With the resurgence of psychedelics in research and clinical settings, the field of psychedelic chaplaincy has burgeoned. The spiritual, existential, religious, and theological experiences that psychedelics engender positions chaplains to compassionately and skillfully provide care to those receiving treatment in these settings. This course focuses on the theory and practice of spiritual care for people receiving psychedelic treatment with particular attention paid to spiritual care competencies, assessments, and interventions; the history and contemporary state of therapeutic psychedelics; and the development of one’s identity as a spiritual care provider. Students will gain the ability to articulate the role of a chaplain in the preparation, guidance, integration, and community support for patients undergoing psychedelic treatments; facilitate spiritual health and growth; and attend to the unique epistemic, spiritual, and even ontological aspects of non-ordinary, mystical, and transcendent states of consciousness.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Deonauth
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
This is a limited enrollment course and requires instructor permission. Prospective students may email the instructor prior to the first class meeting to express their interest and should attend the first course meeting. In the event that the course is overenrolled, prospective students will be asked to write a short paragraph during the first class meeting expressing their interest and aspirations for the class. Selected students will then be invited to enroll in the course by the end of the first week of classes.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3057
Intro to Islam through Prophetic Traditions
BTI Category
Semester
Islamic Studies
FA26
This course will engage in a critical reading and analysis of well-known Muslim prophetic traditions and a study of the practices of the Prophet Muhammad. Through analysis of Muslim prophetic traditions, such as “Hadith Jibril,” we will develop an understanding of the Islamic value systems, Islamic manners/etiquette and Prophetic Character. The fundamental building blocks such as Islam (the physical surrender of the body), Iman (internal truth), and Ihsan (excellence and beauty) will be closely examined. We will focus on Muslim spiritual care through these building blocks during the semester. We will also develop a framework for understanding core Islamic sciences, such as: Jurisprudence, creed/theology, and spiritual purification. Throughout various modalities and exercises, we will study how this framework can enable a deeper understanding of the practical issues affecting the lives of Muslims. We will have expert guest speakers from different disciplines such as pastoral care/chaplaincy (ministry), poetry & literature, counseling, psychology, education, social work, and medicine throughout the semester. These specialists will give us perspectives and practical tips on how prophetic traditions are applied in a Muslim’s life. This course will provide a basic understanding of the Islamic religion through the eyes of Muslims, while providing an in-depth understanding of the various dimensions of Islamic practices. Students from different backgrounds, with or without prior experience with Islam, will find much enrichment in this course diving into the practice through the lenses of prophetic traditions.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Kumek
M
12:00pm-01:59pm
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3118
American Heretics
BTI Category
Semester
Church History/History of Religions
FA26
This course explores the rise and role "irreligion" and "irreligious" or "heretical" ideas and thinkers in American religious/irreligious history, including proponents of Deism, Freethinkers, Transcendentalism, and Spiritualism and extending forward into the present day to include the New Atheists, Secular Humanists, Spiritual-But-Not-Religious, “Nones,” and others who do not identify with traditional religious institutions. The course uncovers on the interactions of these groups with 1) their more religiously traditional neighbors, including Catholics, Mainline and Evangelical Protestants, Jews, etc. and 2) the government of the United States and various state laws and institutions. This course explores the history of anti-religious, a-religious, and multi-religious movements and their influence in American society today, including as a form of social critique within the abolitionist, suffragist, civil rights, feminist, and womanist movements. "Heretical" ideas often later become religiously normative (such as ordaining women), while others remain irreligious, and this course explores reasons for each. This course includes exploration of 'primary texts' from heretical authors and secondary academic historical analysis to create a portrait of a diverse and ongoing thread in American intellectual history.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Sanford
R
03:00pm-04:59pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
This is a limited enrollment course. Interested students should attend the first course meeting. If the course is overenrolled, a selection procedure will be described at that first meeting. Selected students will then be invited to enroll in the course by the second meeting day.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3154
Religion in Mesoamerica: Codices, Colonialisms, and Cosmovision
BTI Category
Semester
Church History/History of Religions
FA26
This seminar is a deep dive into the history and study of religious expression in the cultural area known as Mesoamerica from prehispanic times to the present. Utilizing a diverse array of primary and secondary materials with special use of pictorial and alphabetic codices (some found in Tozzer Library), we will examine the themes of cosmovision, miracles, the human body, gender, death, and the soul in Mesoamerican cultures. The course will focus on the development of beliefs, practices, and religious structures (in Mexica, Maya, and other cultures) such as ceremonial centers, spiritual geography, sacred architecture, divination and the ritual calendar, sacrifice, and imperial ideologies, in light of a range of interpretive approaches to the study of myth, sacred time and space, ritual performance, syncretism, and transculturation. Particular attention will also be given to regional and cultural variations, continuities and changes over time, and the impact and implications of conquest, colonialism, and the advance of modernity. Students will leave the course with a solid grasp of primary and secondary sources for understanding religion in Mesoamerica as well as the ability to contribute to the organization of new knowledge about codices, colonialisms, and cosmovision. Students should bring some working knowledge of Mesoamerican religions into the course. We will utilize the methods and theories developed by Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, Elizabeth Boone, Charles H. Long, Marcel Mauss, Mircea Eliade, Barbara Munday, J.Z. Smith, Alfredo López Austin, Paul Wheatley, William B. Taylor, Max Weber, Doris Heyden, among others. Among the codices to be examined are Florentine Codex, Mapa de Cuauhtinchan #2, Codex Mendoza, Borgia Codex, Durán Codex. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Anthropology 2317.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Carrasco
W
03:00pm-05:45pm
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Students should bring some working knowledge of Mesoamerican religions into the course.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3166
Ecotheology
BTI Category
Semester
Systematic Theology & Philosophy (Western)
FA26
This course will survey constructive religious reflection that is informed by an ecological worldview and accountable to various forms of environmental activism. Readings will be drawn from a variety of religious and spiritual traditions, among them Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Paganism, religious naturalism, and Indigenous spirituality. We will pay special attention to the interplay between ecotheology and various theologies of liberation. Students will be invited to develop their own constructive theological or atheological proposals in dialogue with the assigned readings. Throughout the semester, we will use optional book groups to explore additional ecotheological texts. All students are expected to complete one or more group projects and to provide oral and written feedback on one another’s work. Students will have the option of completing a major research paper. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1577.
Professor
Class Day & Time
McKanan
MW
09:00am-10:15am
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3216
Reading Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Today, Here
BTI Category
Semester
Buddhist Studies
FA26
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was a key political leader and thinker as well as a religious leader and thinker in twentieth century India. Dr. Ambedkar is remembered as a political thinker for his central role in crafting the Constitution of the Republic of India while he is remembered as a religious leader for his conversion to Buddhism in 1956 together with more than 350,000 followers, marking a public rejection by Dalits of continuing caste discrimination in independent India. Dr. Ambedkar’s political and religious thought is subtle and manifold and, centrally concerned with rethinking the place of religion in multireligious societies, it goes far beyond what these two memories, on their own, might suggest. Rejecting any reduction of religion to identity, Dr. Ambedkar combined criticism of religion with a deep sympathy and appreciation of it. He especially helps us to develop critiques and understandings of religion as a political phenomenon in multireligious societies. This colloquium will explore Dr. Ambedkar as a political and religious thinker who can be a teacher to us today, here.Enrollment for this course is limited. Students who want to take the course should send an email to the instructors saying why they want to take the course. Students will be notified of permission to take the course before the Crimson Cart deadline.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Hallisey
T
09:00am-10:59am
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
Enrollment for this course is limited. Students who want to take the course should send an email to the instructors saying why they want to take the course. Students will be notified of permission to take the course before the Crimson Cart deadline. BTI students should contact HDS Xreg
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3254A
Sacrifice: Theory and Praxis I
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA26
A comparative examination of the paradoxical ritual of sacrifice in a range of religious traditions where it is featured, rejected, or sublimated.We will consider types of sacrifice, blood and bloodless offerings, and recurrent religious concepts: e.g., cosmogony, consecration, thanksgiving, communion, reciprocity, substitution, efficacy, violence, transgression, expiation, catharsis, human and divine hierarchy, gendered and racialized dimensions, and sacerdotal authority. We will also consider leading theories of sacrifice. In the first semester, cases will be drawn from Mesoamerican, Incan, Vedic and Hindu, Celtic, West African and diasporic traditions. Students will be encouraged to develop their own research and understanding.Jointly offered with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as RELIGION 1032A.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Patton
R
03:00pm-05:00pm
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3751
Who Needs God? Rethinking God in Light of Hindu and Christian Wisdom
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA26
This course reflects on God reconsidered in light of modern and postmodern doubts about the very idea of “God,” in cultures where belief in God, and even understanding of God, is waning. What does needing God mean, for whom? The questions are raised in light of Hindu and Christian scriptures, from philosophical and theological perspectives, and with reference to spiritual paths to union with God in these great traditions. What is missing, if God is missing? Readings, subject to revision, will include some of these: 19th and 20th century essays on theism and atheism; selected scriptural texts in the Vedic and Biblical traditions; mystical texts by medieval poet thinkers, Sri Śaṃkara's Goddess hymn, Ocean of Beauty (8th century) and St. Gertud of Helfta’s “Mystical Union” chapter of her Spiritual Exercises (13th century); the 19th century mystics Ramakrishna and Térèse of Lisieux; 20th century prophets of compassion and justice, Mohandas K. Gandhi and Dorothy Day. Comparing Hindu and Christian traditions on God challenge 21st century ideas of God, religion, self, but the course strongly welcomes insights from other traditions ancient and modern. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Science as Religion 1059.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Clooney
MW
10:30am-11:45am
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3956
Buddhist Stories: Narrative, Narrative Ethics, and Moral Anthropology
BTI Category
Semester
Buddhist Studies
FA26
This course is a practicum on reading Buddhist stories, learning from them, and living with them. We will engage some exemplary Buddhist stories from three orientations: how to read them well using resources of Narratology; how to use them in moral reflection and ethical understanding; and how they can illuminate who we are as moral beings and help us develop richer lives. We will also explore the connection between narrative ethics and other forms of ethical reflection as well as the relevance of recent cognitive studies about "the moral brain."The Buddhist stories will be selected from across the Buddhist world and from different time periods.No previous study of Buddhism is expected.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Hallisey
R
09:00am-10:59am
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 4054
Intermediate Pali I
BTI Category
Semester
Languages
FA26
This course is the third part of a two-year program designed to allow the student to read Buddhist canonical materials in Pali independently. The readings are taken from the canonical collections and are chosen and arranged thematically, exposing the student to key aspects of the teachings of Theravada Buddhism. The course readings are chosen to enrich the student's understanding of these teachings, at the same time as strengthening language skills. Prerequisites: Elementary Pali II or equivalent (with permission of the instructor). Note: Auditors not allowed. Limited enrollment course. Enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants.
Professor
Class Day & Time
TBD
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Note: Auditors not allowed. Limited enrollment course. Enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 4102A
Elementary Syriac
BTI Category
Semester
Languages
FA26
Syriac is the Aramaic dialect that became the principal language of Near Eastern Christians in antiquity. It was widely spoken and written in Mesopotamia, Persia, and beyond, and a vast corpus of Syriac Christian literature survives. This full-year course offers a thorough introduction to Classical Syriac. Readings will include passages from the New Testament and early Christian literature. The course will also introduce important themes and figures from the Syriac tradition. This is an indivisible year-long course. Students must complete both terms of this course (parts A and B) within the same academic year in order to receive credit. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Art and Sciences as Syriac AA.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Possekel
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
NOTE: This is an indivisible year-long course. Students must complete both terms of this course (parts A and B) within the same academic year in order to receive credit. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Art and Sciences as Syriac AA.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 4220
Intermediate Greek I
BTI Category
Semester
Languages
FA26
Review of grammar and syntax. Special attention given to increasing facility in reading and interpreting the Greek New Testament. Selected readings from the gospels and epistles with occasional readings from LXX or early Christian writers. Prerequisite: Elementary Greek or the equivalent. Limited enrollment course. Enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants.
Professor
Class Day & Time
TBD
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Prerequisite: Elementary Greek or the equivalent. Limited enrollment course. Enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 4320
Readings in Christian Latin
BTI Category
Semester
Languages
FA26
This course is intended to hone reading and translation skills in Latin by introducing students to the writings of the fourth-century, North African bishop Augustine. The primary purpose is to increase facility and familiarity with the Latin language, developing skills begun in previous coursework conducted in either classical or Christian Latin. The secondary purpose is to be introduced to the study of Christian Latin literature, as well as the resources scholars use to study it. Special attention will be paid to Augustine’s theology, scriptural interpretation, preaching, and literary pursuits. Some attention will be paid to Augustine’s afterlife in Christian cultures, especially by encountering manuscripts, art, and other materials at Harvard's libraries and museums. Prerequisite: one year of college-level Latin or the HDS summer Latin course. Limited enrollment course. Enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Craig Tichelkamp
R
9-11:45a
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Prerequisite: one year of college-level Latin or the HDS summer Latin course. Limited enrollment course. Enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 4451
Elementary French for Reading
BTI Category
Semester
Languages
FA26
An introduction to French grammar, syntax, vocabulary and translation, with reading selections at an elementary level related to theological and religious studies. Limited enrollment course. Enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants.
Professor
Class Day & Time
TBD
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
Limited enrollment course. Enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 1202
Introduction to the New Testament
BTI Category
Semester
Scripture & Biblical Studies
FA26
This course will provide a basic historical introduction to critical issues in the study of the New Testament. What are the contents of these texts that make up the second portion of the Christian Bible? In what ways do they reflect the major issues, concerns, and struggles that were taking place among the earliest Christ-followers? How did they get to be grouped together in a single book called the "New Testament"? In addition to these historical questions, we will also attend to the New Testament's ongoing role as Christian scripture to consider the following: what does it mean to study a religious text critically? How might the study of the New Testament's social and historical context relate to its ongoing role as sacred and/or authoritative in the Christian tradition? And what are some of the diverse ways that contemporary readers bridge the gap between the New Testament's ancient Greco-Roman context and their own interpretation and application? We will explore these questions through careful study of the New Testament texts themselves, while also attending to issues of historical context, methodology, and hermeneutics. No previous study in religion or ancient history is assumed, and there are no prerequisites for enrolling in the course. For a final assignment. Students will have the option of writing a final research paper or to complete a series of shorter writing assignments at set times during the semester. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1400.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Bazzana
R
12:00pm-02:29pm
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 1417
Genesis: Narrative Artistry and Theological Meanings
BTI Category
Semester
Scripture & Biblical Studies
FA26
A close critical reading in English of the Book of Genesis with an eye both to the storytellers' techniques and to the theological dimension of the text. Primary emphasis will be given to literary and religious rather than historical and editorial issues. No prerequisites, though an introductory course in critical biblical studies would be useful. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1134.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Levenson
TR
10:30am-11:45am
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
No prerequisites, though an introductory course in critical biblical studies would be useful.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 1538
Greek Exegesis of John
BTI Category
Semester
Scripture & Biblical Studies
FA26
The course will be devoted to a close reading and interpretation of the Gospel of John. The Greek text will be discussed with specific attention paid to literary structures, textual critical issues, historical context, and history of interpretation. Students seeking admission to the course should email the instructor at gbazzana@hds.harvard.edu by April 15th and indicate, in two brief paragraphs, the reasons of their interest in the course and their background in New Testament studies.At least two semesters of Greek are required; the course might fulfill the requirement for a fourth semester of Greek.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Bazzana
W
03:00pm-04:59pm
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Students seeking admission to the course should email the instructor at gbazzana@hds.harvard.edu by April 15th and indicate, in two brief paragraphs, the reasons of their interest in the course and their background in New Testament studies. At least two semesters of Greek are required; the course might fulfill the requirement for a fourth semester of Greek.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 1625
Rapid Reading Classical Hebrew I: Samuel-Kings
BTI Category
Semester
Languages
FA26
This course is a close and rapid reading of the books of Samuel and Kings. It is designed to help students increase their speed and fluency in reading biblical prose (plus some poetry). Special attention will be given to expanding Hebrew vocabulary, strengthening command of verbal and nominal morphology, and mastering key aspects of Hebrew syntax. Students will also learn how to navigate and interpret the Masora and critical apparatus in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Along the way, students will develop familiarity with the contents and literary structure of these books. Depending on students’ interests, the course will also offer opportunities to a) deepen their knowledge of Hebrew historical linguistics; b) explore how the Book of Chronicles engages with the narratives of Samuel and Kings; c) interact with current scholarly discussions on Samuel-Kings.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rhyder
R
12:00pm-01:59pm
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Prerequisites: Classical Hebrew AA/AB sequence, CH 120a, and 120b, or equivalent to two years of academic study of Classical Hebrew.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 1780
Infancy and Childhood in Ancient Greek Religion
BTI Category
Semester
Church History/History of Religions
FA26
As in all ancient societies, infants and children in ancient Greece were both uniquely vulnerable to early death and valuable as social beings. Children represented the future of family, polis, military, economy, and the worship of the gods. The survival of the culture depended on their religious protection and social incorporation. What do we know of ancient Greek ritual responses to this stage of life? What special roles did children play in cult? What space was created for children’s toys, games, beloved animals, and emotions? How do infants and children appear in art? What were the roles of gender, ethnicity, class, and caste? What did ancient Greek philosophers think of the first years of human life? How were young bodies buried, and early deaths commemorated? Through primary sources, including literature, iconography, and the archaeological record, as well as recent scholarship, we will consider how infants and children were nurtured, socialized, and initiated, with attention to themes of their liminality and mediating power. How should we read the many myths of abandonment, killing, consumption, or sacrifice of infants and children at the hands of adults, often at the gods’ demand? We will also consider Roman and other ancient Mediterranean religions. Students will have an opportunity to develop their own research projects. Please write to Prof. Patton to express your interest: kpatton@hds.harvard.edu. Jointly offered with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as RELIGION 1323.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Patton
W
03:00pm-04:59pm
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
Please write to Prof. Patton to express your interest: kpatton@hds.harvard.edu.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2038
Liturgical Theology
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
FA26
"Liturgy is the faith of the Church in motion." - Aidan Kavanagh. In this course, students will learn to think theologically about worship and liturgy in the Christian tradition. We will read classic texts by Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Reformed Protestant authors (Schmemann, Lathrop, Wainwright, Kavanagh, and others), alongside recent theological work in response to the liturgical upheaval of COVID-19. We will also consider topics such as the worship of the early church, the profound impact of the liturgical movement of the twentieth century across Christian traditions, and liturgy as Christian formation. Final projects will engage students’ specific research interests, traditions, and professional aspirations. This course counts as Anglican/Episcopal polity.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Walton
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2121
Trends in World Christianity, 1900–2050
BTI Category
Semester
Church History/History of Religions
FA26
In 1900, 82% of all Christians in the world lived in Europe and North America (defined by the United Nations as the "global North") and 18% of Christians lived in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania ("global South"). However, by 2020, only 33% of Christians lived in the global North, and 67% lived in the global South. As a result, a "typical" Christian today is a woman of color living in the global South with lower-than-average socioeconomic status and physical safety. This represents a vastly different typical Christian than that of 100 years ago, who would have been a White affluent European. The demographic shift of World Christianity is poised to continue and has brought to the surface many long-standing tensions in Christian communities related to power, money, interpretation, and influence.This course covers past (twentieth century) and present (twenty-first century) trends in World Christianity from historical and social scientific perspectives. It explores many of the tensions in World Christianity today related to, for example, colonial/post-colonial realities, contextual theologies, race/racism, and global issues such as the climate crisis and religious freedom. This course has a particular focus on gender in World Christianity, where women make up the vast majority of churches worldwide yet are often denied leadership roles and decision-making opportunities. The course addresses topics unique to each continent (with a global South focus) as well as major Christian traditions -- Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Independents, Evangelicals, and Pentecostals/Charismatics. Students will interact with relevant literature, debates, methods, and conversations in World Christianity studies and have the opportunity to write a research paper on a topic of their choice with professor approval.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Zurlo
M
03:00pm-05:45pm
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2187
Evangelicalism in America
BTI Category
Semester
Church History/History of Religions
FA26
This course focuses on the American evangelical movement from the 1740s to the present. Beginning with the rise of transatlantic evangelicalism in the eighteenth century, we will explore the role of evangelicals in the American Revolution, the revivals of the Second Great Awakening, the crisis caused by slavery, the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy in the early twentieth century, the emergence of Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Movement, the controversies created by neo-evangelicalism in the 1940s, the relationship between evangelicalism and the civil rights movement, the political activism of the Christian Right, and contemporary evangelical attitudes toward gender and sexuality. Readings will introduce students to both evangelical ideas and practices. Throughout the course, we will focus on the historical development of evangelicalism and the relationship between evangelicals and American culture. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1497.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Brekus
TR
01:30pm-02:45pm
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2360
Alternative Spiritualities in the United States
BTI Category
Semester
Sociology/Ethnography/Research Methods
FA26
This course surveys spiritual practices and movements that have been labeled as metaphysical, esoteric, pagan, occult, harmonial, and New Age. We will begin with a historical survey of esoteric spirituality from colonial-era astrology and alchemy to New Age and neopagan traditions, then consider some leading constructive thinkers within alternative spiritual traditions, such as Starhawk and Joanna Macy. The course will also feature field trips to a variety of spiritual organizations and communities. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1562.
Professor
Class Day & Time
McKanan
T
03:00pm-05:45pm
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2431
Nineteenth-Century Religious Thought: Theology, Critique and the Philosophy of Religion
BTI Category
Semester
Church History/History of Religions
FA26
The nineteenth century formulated many of the questions and frameworks that continue to dominate religious reflection in the West. This course considers the developing interplay between modern Christian theology (largely continental) and key philosophical and social critiques and constructions of religion in the nineteenth century. Topics include human nature, religion, the divine-human relationship, religious knowledge, the social, and historicity. Readings from Lessing, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Emerson, Feuerbach, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Mueller, Peirce and others. Taught in seminar format, enrollment limited. See Canvas site for application instructions; applications due the Friday before classes begin. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1543.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Lamberth
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
See Canvas site for application instructions; applications due the Friday before classes begin. BTI students contact HDS Xreg
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2566
Disobedience: The Defiance of Genre in Contemporary English Language Poetry
BTI Category
Semester
Sociology/Ethnography/Research Methods
FA26
Although herself a poet, and describing poetry as the site of contemporary writing's most intense creativity, Eileen Myles argues that "a lot of things that people like are beginning to need to happen in the same pieces of writing and those things may be gossip, theory, sexual description, or simply an implication that it's there or just happened (art)." We will explore this principled disobedience -- an aesthetic, philosophical, and perhaps also a theological act -- through the reading of important pieces by contemporary writers whose work is often classified more by the demands of the publishing industry than anything intrinsic to the texts themselves. Particular attention will be given to the work of Claudia Rankine, Maggie Nelson, Bhanu Kapil, and Kate Zambreno. The last weeks of the course will be spent on student projects leading to a substantial research paper. Enrollment will be limited to twelve students. I will ask for a written statement of your interest in the course by the beginning of the fall term in order to decide enrollment. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 2492.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Hollywood
M
03:45pm-05:45pm
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
Enrollment will be limited to twelve students. I will ask for a written statement of your interest in the course by the beginning of the fall term in order to decide enrollment
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2925
Administration and Leadership
BTI Category
Semester
Leadership Formation & Ministry Skills
FA26
This course aims to build skills for imaginative and shared leadership in religious, not-for-profit, and academic institutions. Students will develop skills within three areas: managing self-awareness for leadership, developing strategic approaches to complex situations, and interpreting meaning. At the heart of each class session will be interactive learning experiences that include case studies, role-play, debating, and team-based interviewing of a wide range of administrators and leaders. Because many HDS MDiv and MTS graduates are contributors to communities that encounter complex problems, students will be taught how to shepherd meaning through shared communal processing. This course teaches students how to develop contextual and communal approaches to leadership and administration as opposed to dictatorial forms of leadership. Students will learn that ethical leadership and moral administration begins with humility, keen listening, compassionate engagement (to self and others as well as to new information), and the interrogation and evaluation of their own moral compasses, values, strengths, and immunities to certain forms of change. This course will pay close attention to the complex layers of communal conflict and/or challenges by distinguishing between technical and adaptive challenges. Students will be taught to attend to what matters most in each situation and how to motivate substantive and sustainable responses to adaptive problems. Additionally, the course also shows leaders how to do more than “solve problems”. It teaches students how to forge a more productive understanding of the human interactions, motivations, and fears that play crucial roles in the development of a community’s capacity for change and courageous action.
Professor
Class Day & Time
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2980
Presbyterian Polity
BTI Category
Semester
Church Polity/Canon Law
FA26
This course is designed to establish and develop the student's working knowledge of the constitutional structure of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The primary focus is on current Presbyterian polity and programs, with attention to the denomination's roots in Reformed theology and tradition. A thorough reading of the Confessions and The Book of Order will serve as a basis for discussion of cases that illuminate the implications of reformed theology and polity in the praxis of the church. Offered every other year.
Professor
Class Day & Time
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3117
Animals, Trees, and the Unseen
BTI Category
Semester
Sociology/Ethnography/Research Methods
FA26
This course considers how we can write histories of religious animals and the Unseen. Students will be introduced to academic literature that has criticized scholarly and popular conceptions of humans having a special status, and assumptions that the religious sentience of non-human animals and the materiality of spirits cannot be studied academically. Students will then be introduced to a variety of sources containing rich information on religious animals and the supernatural from Islamic societies of the globe. In doing so, the course pays particular attention to how human and non-human animals were understood to be religious beings whose bodies and activities were always tethered to the Unseen. Students will be encouraged to explore how the divide between human and non-human animals might not have been evident in societies of the past and the present. Students will moreover be encouraged to engage how these sources may prompt us to remember, or rather realize, that all aspects of material life, including animals' bodies, physical resources and technologies, were inextricably linked to the imagined non-material realms of the Unseen. On the whole, this seminar class takes steps towards recounting histories of religious animals and the Unseen. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1014TS.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Sevea
M
09:00am-11:45am
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3142
Coming of Age: American Religious History through the Novel
BTI Category
Semester
Church History/History of Religions
FA26
This course surveys American religious history, using a series of coming-of-age novels as its primary sources. It begins with Catharine Sedgewick's Unitarian take on Puritanism in Hope Leslie, and moves through Harriet Wilson's tale of an indentured Black girlhood in Our N--, Harold Frederic's narrative of a Methodist fall from grace in The Damnation of Theron Ware, James Baldwin's Pentecostal wrestle in Go Tell It on the Mountain, Rudolfo Anaya's borderland intertwining of Indigenous spirituality and Catholicism in Bless Me, Ultima, Chaim Potok's classic exploration of Jewish identity in The Chosen, and Ayad Akhtar's portrait of a midwestern Muslim boyhood in American Dervish. Students will situate these novels as artifacts of their time and place, consider their capacity to illustrate both historical phenomena and authorial perspective, and critically engage their artistic expression of religious experience. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 2468.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Holland
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3160
Religious Dimensions in Human Experience: Apocalypse, Sports, Music, Home, Sacrifice, Medicine
BTI Category
Semester
Sociology/Ethnography/Research Methods
FA26
What is Religion? Why does it show up everywhere? Using archaeology, religious studies and social thought, this course will study the major themes in the history of religions including 'encountering the holy', sports' and ritual', 'crossing borders', 'sacrifice as creation', 'pilgrimage and sacred place', 'suffering and quest for wisdom', 'music and social change', 'violence and cosmic law'. Readings from Native American, African American, Latinx/+, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu traditions. Focus on the tension between individual encounters with the holy and the social construction of religion. Readings from Gloria Anzaldua, Toni Morrison, Judith Sherman, Arthur Kleinman, Popul Vuj, Mircea Eliade, Michael D. Jackson. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Anthropology 1475 and Religion 16.
Professor
Class Day & Time
TR
10:30am-11:45am
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3175
Indian Ocean Islam: African-Asian Connected Histories
BTI Category
Semester
Islamic Studies
FA26
Does thinking oceanically influence the study of Islam? Can we remember a people’s history of the Indian Ocean world? This course considers these questions and others as it focuses on religious worlds within port cities and the networks of Indian Ocean Islam. The course examines how religion in port cities and islands was centered upon a plethora of saints, missionaries, divinities and other agents of Islam, who have been marginalized in academic literature on the Indian Ocean. It simultaneously examines how oceanic religion was intimately connected to economic, political and technological developments. Students will be introduced to scholarship on oceanic Islam and monsoon Islam, before they are introduced to a variety of sources on transregional Islamic networks and agents of Islam, including biographies, hagiographies, travelogues, novels, poems and ethnographic accounts. Students will, moreover, be encouraged to consider ways in which approaches to studying Islam could be enhanced by a focus on religious economies and networks, as well as the lives of ‘subalterns’ who crossed the porous borders of the Indian Ocean world and shaped its religious worlds. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1821 and Islamic Civilizations 136.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Sevea
F
09:00am-11:45am
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3247
Animals in a Posthuman World: A New Buddhist Ethics
BTI Category
Semester
Buddhist Studies
FA26
This course will explore the grounds for compassion, ethical commitment, and kinds of human self-restraint in light of an increasing appreciation for the value of animal life. The course will work through new adaptations of Buddhist attention and meditation techniques to elevate our affective connection with — and moral obligation to — our animal kin on planet Earth. This will entail close scrutiny of some amazing animal videos in class, as well as outdoor attention assignments. Also contributing to our deliberations will be robust discussion of human-animal living conditions and human exploitation of animal resources. All along the way, we will reflect on readings in Western philosophical ethics, critical theory, and anthropology as they intersect, or not, with the Buddhist metaphysics of interdependence and the phenomenology of compassion.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Gyatso
TR
01:30pm-02:45pm
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3280
Spiritual Care for Nones
BTI Category
Semester
Practical/Pastoral Theology
FA26
This course is designed for people training to be chaplains in situations in which they might serve nonreligious folks. We will be discussing what chaplaincy and/or ministry is when practiced outside of traditional religion. We will also be learning practical skills in order to build out your spiritual care toolkit for serving religious nones.For the bulk of the course we will be using novels to suss out what we think chaplaincy for non-religious people can mean and what it can look like. We will also use these texts in order to practice using secular texts as if they were sacred ones; one of the spiritual tools we will be practicing.In this course we all talk about storytelling, nail-painting, tarot and tea reading, eye contact, listening to music and other activities as sacred. Students should leave this class with an idea of what their chaplaincy is and with a firm idea of several tools that they can use in order to do that work.
Professor
Class Day & Time
TBD
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
This is a limited enrollment course and will use a waitlist. Students can add themselves to the waitlist by adding the course to their Crimson Cart and using the "enroll" button. The course will then appear in the "Waitlist" portion of the Crimson Cart. Near the start of the term, the instructor will review and approve students from the waitlist. BTI students should contact HDS xreg
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3931
The Yoga Sutras: Text, Meaning, Purpose
BTI Category
Semester
Hinduism Studies
FA26
The brief Yoga Sutras (only 195 sutras) of Patanjali (c 100 BCE-100 CE) is a vastly influential and fundamental text of yoga. It is the focus of the course, along with its primary commentary (Vyasa's Bhasya) in several translations, and with the 20th century commentator of Swami Hariharananda, a mystic practitioner. What was Patanjali up to? What are the Sutras for? What do the Sutras tell us about the meaning and purpose of yoga then and now? We will both stress the importance of the Yoga Sutras and be mindful that the Sutras are not the only normative authority regarding yoga. Though not a course about the practice of yoga or yoga in the modern world, it is always attentive to the implications for practice, and thus potentially of great use for practitioners and teachers today. Apt comparisons will be made with ancient Hindu and Buddhist parallels, other syntheses of yoga, Al-Biruni's 11th c. Arabic translation, and modern Christian interpretations of the Sutras. Weekly written responses, plus two twelve-page course papers. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1661.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Clooney
T
03:00pm-05:45pm
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 4052
Elementary Pali I
BTI Category
Semester
Languages
FA26
The first in a two-year program of courses designed to enable the student to read Buddhist canonical materials in Pali independently. In addition to giving the student a comprehensive understanding of all grammatical forms found in the texts, the program will also equip them with a range of interpretive techniques to help them draw out as fully as possible the meanings of the texts. This course introduces students to major elements of grammar found in Pali. It also introduces the language patterns found in standard prose works to facilitate independent reading. The course is geared toward getting the student to read canonical Pali texts as quickly as possible, and readings in the textbook are taken from key canonical texts. The student is thus engaging with key canonical materials from the very beginning of the course. Prerequisite: None. Auditors not allowed. Limited enrollment course. Enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants.
Professor
Class Day & Time
TBD
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
Prerequisite: None. Auditors not allowed. Limited enrollment course. Enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 4056
Reading Post-Canonical Pali I
BTI Category
Semester
Languages
FA26
This course is a continuation of HDS course offerings in Pali (Elementary Pali and Intermediate Pali) and focuses especially on the reading and interpretation of Theravada Buddhist commentarial texts composed in Pali. Course will include learning how to read Pali texts printed in non-Roman scripts; in the fall term, some texts will be read in Thai script. Prerequisite: Intermediate Pali II or equivalent (with instructor's permission).
Professor
Class Day & Time
Hallisey
MWF
09:00am-10:15am
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Prerequisite: Intermediate Pali II or equivalent (with instructor's permission).
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 4211
Elementary Greek I
BTI Category
Semester
Languages
FA26
Introduction to ancient Greek emphasizing the grammar and vocabulary of the New Testament. Course has additional section hour to be arranged. Enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants. Permission to enroll in the course will be granted as petitions are received.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Skedros
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
Enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants. Permission to enroll in the course will be granted as petitions are received. BTI students should contact HDS Xreg
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 4245
Advanced Greek I: Topics
BTI Category
Semester
Languages
FA26
This course aims to move students from an intermediate to advanced proficiency with Greek by studying select Christian, pagan, and Jewish texts primarily from late antiquity. A primary purpose is to increase reading comprehension through prepared readings (with review of grammar when necessary).
Professor
Class Day & Time
Bazzana
TR
09:00am-10:15am
Grading Option
Letter, P/F
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Two years of Koine, Classical, or Byzantine Greek or equivalent is recommended.
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 4412
German for Reading
BTI Category
Semester
Languages
FA26
An introduction to German grammar, syntax, vocabulary and translation with reading selections at an elementary level related to theological and religious studies. No prior knowledge of German is expected or required.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Grundler-Whitacre
W
09:00am-11:00am
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 4460
Elementary Spanish for Reading
BTI Category
Semester
Languages
FA26
This course introduces students to Spanish grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and translation with the goal of developing students’ vocabulary and reading comprehension skills. Students will read and translate selections related to theological and religious studies from across time periods, traditions, and genres. In addition to the course readings, students will have the opportunity to work with and translate a text of their choice from their own research discipline. Limited enrollment course. In the case of over-enrollment, enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants.
Professor
Class Day & Time
TBD
TBD
TBD
Grading Option
HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
Credits
4
Online?
N
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
Limited enrollment course. In the case of over-enrollment, enrollment priority given to HDS students and other Harvard faculty cross-registrants.
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