Starting in February 2024, Harvard Divinity School's Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) will host the groundbreaking workshop "The Muscle of the Self: Using the Voice to Map Psyche." Led by Scholar in Residence Anne Dorothy Harley of Scripps College, this series of four sessions from February 9 to March 8 is set to be a transformative exploration into the power of voice and its connection to the inner self. 

Harley, known for her deep intersections between music, performance, and spirituality, has designed the workshop to accommodate a small group of...

As part of its broader “Embodied Wisdom” programming, the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) is offering a unique workshop series in winter 2024, titled “Ifa Divination, Pedagogy, and the Cultivation of Wisdom in Modern Settings.” Led by Ayodeji Ogunnaike, Visiting Scholar at the CSWR and Assistant Professor of Afro-Brazilian studies at the University of Virginia, this six-part series will introduce participants to Ifa divination and Yoruba philosophical concepts. Sessions will focus on themes such as embodied wisdom, sacred arts, narrative pedagogy, mnemonics, diversity, and...

January 16 - 19, 2024, William Robert of Syracuse University lead the CSWR Embodied Wisdom Workshop: Studying Religion in Play. The workshop explored the study of religion through the embodied performance of Euripides’s Bakkhai, combining analytical and performative techniques to transform participants' understanding of religion.  

CSWR: What inspired the conception of the Embodied Wisdom Workshop?  

William: The workshop comes out of my long-standing commitment to bringing performance into the classroom...

The CSWR is delighted to announce the launch of the "Thinking with Plants and Fungi" initiative, an 18-month exploration into how cutting-edge science illuminates the nature of mind, matter, and cooperation. We are grateful to the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation for their generous support of this initiative.

Plants and fungi make life possible. Plants cover close to 30% of the Earth’s surface, providing oxygen, food, medicine, and regulating the climate; fungi serve as decomposers, fermenters, and much more....