Embracing varieties of religious experience
In 1816, when Harvard Divinity School (HDS) was established, its founders aimed to ensure that “every encouragement be given to the serious, impartial, and unbiased investigation of Christian truth.” Two hundred years later, HDS has expanded its mission. With more than 30 traditions represented, from Islam to Buddhism to the non-affiliated, the School has become a veritable mosaic of religions that go beyond Christianity. To track the evolution of the School over the past two centuries, the Gazette interviewed Dean David N. Hempton, the Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies and John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity. A Belfast-born social historian of religion, Hempton also talked about the School’s first and recent graduates, changes in the world’s religious landscape, and the role of religious literacy in building peace. GAZETTE: Who were the School’s first graduates? HEMPTON: Most of the graduates from those early years were preachers and religious leaders, but...