When Susie Hayward, associate director of the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative, came to Harvard Divinity School as a student, she knew that she wanted to pursue a career in foreign policy, peacebuilding, and diplomacy.

“I wanted to bring an understanding of religion into those spaces where a lack of it was preventing progress,” she says. “But I quickly learned that I would have to forge my own way at HDS to develop the relationships and pragmatic skills needed to work in policymaking and diplomacy post-graduation.”

Hayward is one of decades of HDS students who have wanted to pursue vocations outside the two defined dimensions of HDS programs—academia and traditional forms of ministry. When Religion and Public Life (RPL) was created, it responded to this student need with one of its two curricular components, the Certificate in Religion and Public Life (CRPL).... Read more about An Anchor and a Path: Student Reflections on the Certificate in Religion and Public Life

“Part of our work around solving or responding to the environmental crisis we're facing is understanding the assumptions and the stories that we carry into it,” says Lara Freeman, religious studies teacher at Westtown School outside Philadelphia. Freeman, MTS ‘06, is a former student of Religion and Public Life (RPL) Associate Dean for Religion and Public Life Diane L. Moore and has long incorporated into her classroom the religious literacy method advocated by RPL. 

This year, Freeman was inspired by RPL’s religious literacy and climate resources for educators and is adapting and expanding her environmental justice course to incorporate RPL’s learning tools. This is the fourth iteration of Freeman’s course and demonstrates the collaborative potential between educators and RPL in which RPL and educators learn from each other, building, refining, and improving teaching materials based on mutual expertise.... Read more about Religious Literacy Belongs in the Climate Justice Classroom: HDS Alum and Educator Empowers Students by Bringing RPL Frameworks to Life

What’s the recipe for nuanced attention to complex issues like Israel/Palestine? For two Harvard Divinity School students (one who graduated last spring), it’s a strategy of consistent content on a newly launched TikTok account that surpassed half a million views in its first two weeks.

“How can we make it so that when people hear ‘Palestine’ they know, yes, tragic things are happening but there’s also so much joy in this community?” asks Ciara Moezidis, master of theological studies (MTS) ‘24 and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy student. “Hospitality, generosity, care for one another and for those who visit [Palestine]… it’s hard to even grasp. We’re trying to capture that disorientation of joy and tragedy of what it’s like to visit and what it’s like to be Palestinian.”... Read more about Two Gals in Pal: Leveraging TikTok to Bring Stories from Palestine to Americans

Through a photo documentation project in the complex area of the South Hebron Hills in Area C of the West Bank, two Harvard Divinity School fellows uncovered layered Jewish identities of activists in solidarity with Palestinians, including within themselves. 

“I did not initially intend for this project to have a first-person narrative come into it, but it did,” said Mati Milstein, a seasoned photojournalist. “There are a lot of similarities and parallels with the communities that I’ve documented over the past few years. I grew up in an American-Jewish community with certain preconceptions and socialization regarding Israel/Palestine. It led me to a place where the work I did on this project was less and less journalism and more about solutions.” 

Milstein and Oriel Eisner met through the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative (RCPI) fellowship.... Read more about Sustaining and Documenting Co-Resistance: A Conversation between RCPI Fellows Mati Milstein and Oriel Eisner

On May 8, 2023, Religion and Public Life program at Harvard Divinity School hosted a conversation with Professor Aprilfaye Manalang of Norfolk State University to learn about her ongoing research on religious identity, grief, and COVID with Filipina-American nurses, as well as Jeanne Shin-Cooper of Buffalo Grove High School in Illinois whose students are taking part in this critical interview project. Prof. Manalang discussed her pedagogical practice of promoting Asian-American understanding at a Historically Black University, and the process of communicating this research to a public audience via podcast.... Read more about Video: Educator Webinar: Religious Literacy and Nurses' Stories in the Age of COVID and Anti-Asian Hate

On April 14, 2023, Religion and Public Life Fellows with expertise in policy, environmental science, Native and Indigenous rights, and education discussed the ways religious and spiritual literacy can enhance policy and scientific efforts to understand the drivers of climate collapse and advance climate justice. The panel featured Cythia Wilson, RPL Native and Indigenous Rights Fellow; Teresa Cavazos Cohn, RPL Climate Justice Fellow; and Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart, RPL Government Fellow. Sarabinh Levy-Brightman, RPL Education Fellow, acted as moderator.... Read more about Video: Religious Literacy and Climate Justice