Faith in the counsel of history
During the first Morning Prayers of the new academic term, Harvard President Drew Faust outlined her hopes for the future by turning her eye to the past and calling on her listeners to do the same. “A concern for the future requires us all to commit to exploring the past — to in some measure be historians,” Faust said Wednesday morning. In keeping with tradition, Faust delivered her comments at the opening service of the year, a daily ritual of reflection, prayer, scripture, and song on Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters. At the dais, Faust stepped back from her role as president, instead speaking as a scholar of the past. Professor Jonathan Walton and President Drew Faust follow the procession into Holden Chapel. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer Studying history has made her a better leader, said Faust. She called her academic work “in many ways the ideal training for leadership,”...