World Religions Cafe Series

"When I first visited CSWR in April 2015, I was invaded by its peaceful presence. Looking around me to find the source or the hidden traces of this serenity, I thought I was doing the wrong thing—which is looking. I should be hearing, listening. Listening...

On April 5th, ThD student and CSWR resident, Munjed M. Murad, delivered a presentation on the findings of his research at Harvard as they pertain to the topic of beauty and religion. A summary of which follows: This lecture explored the concept of beauty...

On March 29th, CSWR resident Nariman Aavani presented his work on self-identity in the poetry of Rumi. A summary of his talk can be found below. As human beings who live in the modern world, our identity is defined to a great extent through the particular...

On March 8 th, Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) resident and MDiv candidate at Harvard Divinity School (HDS), Melissa Lago, gave a presentation entitled, “Embodied Practices and Poetry.” She began by sharing what led her to her interest in...

On March 1st, CSWR resident Nina Bryce led a workshop entitled “Peace in Myself, Peace in the World.” Nina began by framing this workshop within her work in the field of youth development and within her studies at HDS. Having been a full time youth worker...

On February 8th, CSWR resident Danny Kraft gave a presentation titled “Life, Death, and Spiritual Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto.” Danny framed his talk with an introduction to scholarly and popular perceptions about Jewish resistance during the...

On February 1, CSWR resident Rob MacSwain presented on his sabbatical research project dealing with the idea of saints as evidence for God. He began by introducing the traditional tendency of Western Christian philosophy and theology to offer arguments...

On November 9th, CSWR resident Ching-ning Wang (Chang Shen), a research fellow and visiting faculty of the Women's Studies in Religion program and a Buddhist nun from Taiwan, gave a talk about her journey to become a nun, and she also discussed training...

On October 26th, CSWR resident Laura Thompson presented on archival research relating to her larger dissertation project, which looks at a series of blasphemy cases in post-Arab-Spring Tunisia (2011-2013). Laura framed her talk by asking residents to...

On Wednesday, November 3, a resident of the Center, Mariam Goshadze, gave a talk on the role of the Orthodox Church in Post-Soviet Georgia. Although Mariam is a PhD Candidate in African Religions, she was born and raised in the Republic of Georgia and her...