RPL Annual Report 2021-22 Introduction
It has been an astonishing year of many firsts for us at Religion and Public Life (RPL). Our programming rests on two central pillars: the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative (RLPI), and the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative (RCPI). RPL supports a broad range of programming within and beyond Harvard Divinity School, inspiring fresh approaches to conflict transformation, education, and a range of other fields. As we settled into and celebrated our new physical office in Divinity Hall, we collectively witnessed the power of convening scholars, students, and activists who share an unshakable lifelong commitment to the process of just peacebuilding.
One major undertaking this year was the establishment of a stakeholder-led strategic planning process to map out the vision and goals of Religion and Public Life. Our ambitious plan, Religion and Public Life Forward, highlights our central commitments across four core areas over the course of the next two years:
- Strengthen RPL Foundations
- Build the RPL Community
- Influence the Public Realm
- Build a Sustainable Program
We invite you to explore the full strategic plan.
Among other highlights this year, 11 remarkable Master of Religion and Public Life degree candidates each held a public presentation to showcase their thinking and application of religious literacy and just peace principles in their area of expertise. We are honored to celebrate their achievements as the first graduating cohort of the first new academic degree program at Harvard Divinity School in over 50 years.
The Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative supported the second year of 10 resident and nonresident fellows, culminating in the powerful series on cultural activism. The team shifted the traditional January term course to a spring-semester experience, concluding in the first experiential learning trip in two years, with eight students remaining in Israel/Palestine in supported internships this summer.
We continue to be moved by the power of the application of religious literacy in professional fields. RPL and HDS alumni relations colleagues sponsored two events with distinguished alumnx panelists in the fields of humanitarian action and the journalism. Both events illuminated the power of an HDS degree. We will continue our partnership with alumni relations and will host additional events for other highlighted professions in the fall. We are especially excited to report that our first group of 25 Certificate in Religion and Public Life students will embark on summer internships in diverse settings, serving 280 hours each as part of the certificate requirements.
We are approaching a staggering reach of nearly one million participants in the HarvardX Massive Open Online Courses. The team revamped the courses and relaunched them in the fall, supported by a group of graduate teaching assistants guiding online discussions with students across the globe.
It is the wise counsel and support of RPL’s generous donors that makes this work possible. To say we are grateful to them, and to the many, many students, staff, fellows, faculty, and stakeholders who have made this inaugural year possible, is an understatement. Our ongoing cross-disciplinary collaborations have enormous potential to shift individual and interpersonal approaches while centering structural justice. We are eager to see what blooms in the years ahead.
Diane L. Moore,
Faculty Director, Religion and Public Life
July 2022