Academic Lectures and Discussions

Center for the Study of World Religions hosted a talk by Raashid Goyal, who is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tübingen, Germany. In his talk, Goyal proposes that the term a‘rāb signified “Arabs” and not “nomads,” and that the former entity...

Professor Charles Stang, CSWR Director, delivered a lecture entitled, “The Call of the Ancient: Psychedelic Pasts and Futures ” at the "Archives of the Impossible" Conference at Rice University on May 13, 2023. What is at stake in our knowing whether and...

Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor of Comparative Religion at McGill University, discusses the recent tensions between the academic and faith communities. Listen on SoundCloud

On April 14, Professor Vasudha Narayanan gave the Center's first Hindu View of Life Annual Lecture. As previously reported, this lecture evokes the memory of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's book of that title—a fitting connection, since Dr. Radhakrishnan...

On Tuesday, March 8, Donald Baker, Professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, delivered this year's Ahnkook Lecture on Korean Buddhism. This lecture is part of the series "Religious Identities in Asia," co...

Professor Francis X. Clooney, S.J., the director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, continues his exegesis on Islam with a moving discourse on the meaning of compassion and mercy found in the Quran. You can read the second installment in...

On Wednesday, November 14, Mariam Goshadze, a PhD candidate in the Committee on the Study of Religion, delivered a presentation on the politics of religious sound in Ghana's capital, Accra. Mariam's talk covered her pre-dissertation fieldwork in Ghana...

On Monday, November 16, Matthew Potts, Assistant Professor of Ministry Studies at HDS, discussed his recent book, Cormac McCarthy and the Signs of Sacrament: Literature, Theology, and the Moral of Stories, at the Center for the Study of World Religions...

On Thursday, October 1, Steven Kepnes, director of the Chapel House and chair of the Department of Religion at Colgate University, will deliver the Albert and Vera List Fund for Jewish Studies Lecture at the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR)...

The Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) at Harvard Divinity School will soon host a new annual lecture focused on the value of the Hindu view of life. The inaugural lecture took place on April 14, 2016 , and was delivered by Vasudha Narayanan...