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Convocation of Harvard

at the Opening of the 205th year

Thursday, September 3, 2020 4 PM

Link: HDS website, HDS page

PROGRAM

MUSIC Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, Harvard Divinity School, piano

WELCOME David N. Hempton, Dean of the Faculty of Divinity, Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies, and John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity

READING John 18: 1-11 New Revised Standard Version Eboni Nash, Masters of Theological Studies Candidate ‘21

INTRODUCTION OF PROFESSOR BROOKS Janet Gyatso, Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs, Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies

ADDRESS GEORGE AND JESUS: POLICING AN INSURRECTION OF HOPE

Cornel William Brooks, Hauser Professor of the Practice of Nonprofit Organizations; Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership and Social Justice (KSG), Visiting Professor of the Practice of Prophetic Religion and Public Leadership (HDS)

DISMISSAL

Dean David N. Hempton

David N. Hempton Dean of the Faculty of Divinity, Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies, and John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity He was appointed Dean of Harvard Divinity School in July 2012. Before joining the Faculty of Divinity in spring 2007, he was University Professor and Professor of the at University; and prior to that appointment, he was Professor of Modern History and director of the School of History in Queen’s University Belfast. Dean Hempton is a social historian of religion with particular expertise in populist traditions of in Europe, North America, and beyond. He is a of the Royal Historical Society. In recent years, he has delivered the F.D. Maurice Lectures at King’s London, held a fellowship of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and was HDS’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 2008. Dean Hempton’s most recent book is Secularization and Religious in the North Atlantic World (Oxford, 2017).

Eboni Nash Masters of Theological Studies Candidate ‘21 Eboni was born and raised on the Southeastern plains of Colorado. Identifying as both Black American and Native American, descendent of the Muscogee Creek Tribe, Eboni remembered fully stepping into her identity through instances of racial tension and injustices throughout her childhood. She went on to receive her bachelors degree at Hastings College, triple majoring in criminology, psychology, and religion. It was there that she had focused her passion on social justice and prison abolition, transitioning her into an undergraduate thesis researching Black liberation and how it intersects with mass criminalization. During her undergraduate experience, Eboni was also able to serve three years as the director of a nonprofit called Food4Thought that provides food for low-income families located in the middle of a city-wide food desert. Currently, Eboni is serving as Harvard Divinity School’s Social Justice Chair and is also a Graduate Assistant for the Office of Student Life focusing on Diversity and Inclusion. She is an active member of the HDS’s Prison Project and the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign. Outside of HDS, Eboni also holds positions on the Fully Free campaign based out of Chicago as well as interning with a large nonprofit called DenverWorks. She has spent the summer working alongside faculty and staff at HDS as well as Radcliffe, to discuss ways social justice can be fully present on campus and within . Eboni is dedicated to community building, local government organizing, and empowering individuals through mentorship and resources. She looks forward to a career of prison transformation and advocacy.

Janet Gyatso Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs and Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies Dean Gyatso is a specialist in Buddhist studies with a concentration on Tibetan and South Asian cultural and intellectual history. Her most recent book, Being Human in a Buddhist World: An Intellectual History of Medicine in Early Modern Tibet ( Press, 2015), focuses on alternative early modernities and the conjunctions and disjunctures between religious and scientific epistemologies in Tibetan medicine in the sixteenth–eighteenth centuries. Gyatso was president of the International Association of Tibetan Studies from 2000 to 2006, and co-chair of the Section of the American Academy of Religion from 2004 to 2010. She is a member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' Committee on the Study of Religion, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and Committee on Inner Asian and Altaic Studies, and is an active participant in the Harvard Buddhist Studies Forum. Cornell William Brooks is Hauser Professor of the Practice of Nonprofit Organizations and Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership and Social Justice at the . He is also Director of The Collaborative for Social Justice at the School’s Center for Public Leadership, and Visiting Professor of the Practice of Prophetic Religion and Public Leadership at Harvard Divinity School. Brooks is the former president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights attorney, and an ordained minister Brooks was most recently visiting professor of social ethics, law, and justice movements at ’s School of Law and School of Theology. He was a visiting fellow and director of the Campaign and Advocacy Program at the Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics in 2017. Brooks served as the 18th president of the NAACP from 2014 to 2017. Under his leadership, the NAACP secured 12 significant legal victories, including laying the groundwork for the first statewide legal challenge to prison-based gerrymandering. He also reinvigorated the activist social justice heritage of the NAACP, dramatically increasing membership, particularly online and among . Among the many demonstrations from Ferguson to Flint during his tenure, he conceived and led “America’s Journey for Justice” march from Selma, Alabama to Washington, D.C., over 40 days and 1000 miles. Prior to leading the NAACP, Brooks was president and CEO of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, where he led the passage of pioneering criminal justice reform and housing legislation, six bills in less than five years. He also served as senior counsel and acting director of the Office of Communications Business Opportunities at the Federal Communications Commission, executive director of the Fair Housing Council of Greater Washington, and a trial attorney at both the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the U.S. Department of Justice. Brooks served as judicial clerk for the Chief Judge Sam J. Ervin, III, on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Brooks holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was a senior editor of the Yale Law Journal and member of the Yale Law and Policy Review, and a of Divinity from Boston University’s School of Theology, where he was a Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholar. Brooks has a B.A. from Jackson State University. He is the recipient of several honorary including: Boston University, Drexel University, Saint Peter’s University and Payne Theological as well as the highest alumni awards from Boston University and Boston University School of Theology. Brooks is a fourth-generation ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

FACULTY OF DIVINITY Lawrence S. Bacow, President David N. Hempton, Dean of the Faculty of Divinity, Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies, and John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity Giovanni Bazzana, Professor of Ann D. Braude, Senior Lecturer on American Religious History and Director of the Women’s Studies in Religion Program , Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America and Chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion (FAS) Davíd Carrasco, Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of America, with a joint appointment with the Department of Anthropology (FAS) Emily Click, Assistant Dean for Ministry Studies and Field Education, and Lecturer on Ministry Francis X. Clooney, S.J., Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology Diana L. Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, Fredric Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society (FAS), and Member of the Faculty of Divinity Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, Charles Chauncey Stillman Professor of Roman Catholic Theological Studies Cheryl A. Giles, Francis Greenwood Peabody Senior Lecturer on Pastoral Care and Counseling Janet Gyatso, Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies and Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs , Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures David F. Holland, John A. Bartlett Professor of Church History Amy Hollywood, Elizabeth H. Monrad Professor of Christian Studies Michael D. Jackson, Distinguished Visiting Professor of World Religions Mark D. Jordan, Richard Professor of Divinity Ousmane Oumar Kane, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society, Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS), and Counselor to Muslim Students Karen L. King, Hollis Professor of Divinity David C. Lamberth, Professor of Philosophy and Theology Jon D. Levenson, Albert A. List Professor of Kevin J. Madigan, Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History Dan McKanan, Unitarian Universalist Association Senior Lecturer in Divinity Diane L. Moore, Director of the Religious Literacy Project, Lecturer in Religion, Conflict, and Peace, and Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions Jacob K. Olupona, Professor of African Religious Traditions, with a joint appointment as Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS) Kimberley C. Patton, Professor of the Comparative and Historical Study of Religion Stephanie Paulsell, Susan Shallcross Swartz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies Matthew L. Potts, Associate Professor of Religion and Literature and of Ministry Studies Mayra Rivera Rivera, Professor of Religion and Latinx Studies Dudley C. Rose, Associate Dean for Ministry Studies and Lecturer on Ministry Michelle C. Sanchez, Associate Professor of Theology Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Professor of Divinity Terenjit Sevea, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies Charles M. Stang, Professor of Early Christian Thought and Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions D. Andrew Teeter, Professor of / Todne Thomas, Assistant Professor of African American Religions and Suzanne Young Murray Assistant Professor (Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study) Cornel R. West, Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy, with a joint appointment in FAS

MEMBERS OF THE FACULTY EMERITUS AND RESEARCH PROFESSORS , Victor S. Thomas Research Professor of Divinity John Braisted Carman, Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Religion, Emeritus Harvey G. Cox, Jr., Hollis Professor of Divinity, Emeritus Arthur J. Dyck, Professor of Ethics, Emeritus and Mary B. Saltonstall Professor of Population Ethics in the School of Public Health, Emeritus (HSPH) William A. Graham, Murray A. Albertson Research Professor of (FAS) and Dean of Harvard Divinity School (2002–12), Emeritus David D. Hall, Bartlett Professor of New England Church History, Emeritus Paul D. Hanson, Professor of Divinity, Emeritus Baber Johansen, Research Professor of Islamic Peter Machinist, Hancock Research Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages (FAS) Ralph Benajah Potter, Jr., Professor of Social Ethics, Emeritus Preston N. Williams, Houghton Professor of Theology and Contemporary Change, Emeritus

OTHERS OFFERING INSTRUCTION Khalil Abdur-Rashid, Muslim Chaplain (Harvard) and Lecturer on Ministry Studies (HDS) Nour Barmada Abida, Preceptor in Arabic (FAS) Irit Aharony, Senior Preceptor in Modern Hebrew (FAS) Ali S. Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures (FAS) Mariam Ayad, Visiting Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and Near Eastern Religions, Women’s Studies in Religion Program Research Associate 2020-21 Melissa Bartholomew, Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging and Instructor in Ministry Jeremy Battle, Instructor in Baptist Church Polity, Counselor to Baptist Students Chris Berlin, Instructor in Ministry and Pastoral Counseling, Counselor to Buddhist Students Chance Bonar, Instructor on Coptic Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Lecturer on Hindu Traditions Nicholas Boylston, Lecturer on the Study of Religion Cornell William Brooks, Visiting Professor of the Practice of Prophetic Religion and Public Leadership (HDS), Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership and Social Justice (HKS) Alexis Bader Brown, Instructor on Elementary Pali John P. Brown, Practitioner in Residence in Religion, , and the Economic Order Jocelyne Cesari, T.J. Dermot Dunphy Visiting Professor of Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding , Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs (HKS), Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallack Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies Beatrice Chrystall, Lecturer on Pali Shaye J.D. Cohen, Nathan Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy (FAS) Manuela Coppola, Lecturer Richard Cozzens, Preceptor in Arabic (FAS) Brandon Thomas Crowley, Instructor in Ministry Studies E.J. Dionne, Visiting Professor in Religion and Political Culture Michael Ennis, Instructor on Advanced Greek Yasir Fahmy, Instructor on Muslim Studies William L. Fash, Jr., Charles P. Bowditch Professor of Central American and Mexican Archaeology and Ethnology (FAS) Amy L. Fisher, Counselor to Methodist Students, Instructor in United Methodist Polity Gail Forsyth-Vail, Instructor in Church Polity Jay L. Garfield, Visiting Professor of Buddhist Philosophy K. Healan Gaston, Lecturer in American Religious History and Ethics Reebee Kavich Girash, Instructor in Polity and Counselor to United Church of Christ Students Luis M. Girón Negrón, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of Comparative Literature (FAS) Elon Goldstein, Lecturer on Tibetan Buddhist Studies Geraldine Grimm, Lecturer on German Karin Grundler-Whitacre, Assistant Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs, Director of the Summer Language Program, and Lecturer on German Catherine Morgan Guild, Ministry Program Creative Writing Fellow 2020-21 Haci Osman Gunduz, Summer Language Program Instructor in Classical Arabic Muhammad Habib, Preceptor in Arabic (FAS) Judy Haley, Summer Language Program Lecturer in Intermediate New Testament Greek Helen Hardacre, Reischauer Institute Professor of Japanese Religions and Society (FAS) J. Bryan Hehir, Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life (HKS) Samuel B. Hogan, Sr., Instructor in Pentecostal Church Polity, Counselor to Pentecostal Students Christopher Hossfeld, Instructor in Sacred Music and Director of Music and Ritual Andrew S. Jacobs, Lecturer on Advanced Greek Vivian L. Johnson, Summer Language Program Lecturer in Elementary Hebrew , Visiting Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and African-American Religions, Women’s Studies in Religion Program Research Associate 2020-21 Lauren R. Kerby, Education Specialist, Religious Literacy Project, Lecturer on Religious Studies Joseph Kimmel, Instructor on Graeca , Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology (FAS), Professor of Medical Anthropology in and Social Medicine (HMS), Professor of Psychiatry (HMS) James T. Kloppenberg, Charles Warren Professor of American History (FAS) Yunus Kumek, Lecturer on Muslim Ministry and Spiritual Care Courtney Bickel Lamberth, Lecturer on the Study of Religion (FAS) Justine Landau, Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (FAS) Georgette Ledgister, Visiting Lecturer on Women’s Studies and African Religions, Women’s Studies in Religion Program Research Associate 2020-21 Judith M. Lieu, Frothingham Visiting Professor in New Testament and Early Christianity Rachel Love, Assistant Professor of the Classics (FAS) Robin Lutjohann, Instructor on Lutheran Polity Kerry Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life, and Instructor in Ministry Studies Peter Der Manuelian, Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology (FAS) Jonathan Mason-Wolfe, Summer Language Program Instructor on Intermediate Biblical Hebrew Lana Jaffe Neufeld, Instructor in Advanced Spanish Translation Eileen Mary O’Connor, Summer Language Program Instructor in Spanish and Instructor in Spanish Alissa Oleson, Instructor in Lutheran Polity Giovanna Parmigiani, Lecturer on Religion and Cultural Anthropology John R. Peteet, Associate Professor of Psychiatry (HMS) Ute Possekel, Lecturer on Syriac Michael Puett, Walter C. Klein Professor Chinese History and Professor of Anthropology (FAS) James Robson, James C. Kralik and Yunli Lou Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations (FAS), Professor Cathy Seggel, Instructor in Church Polity Jeffrey R. Seul, Lecturer Nahid Siamdoust, Visiting Lecturer on Women’s Studies and Anthropology of Religion, Women’s Studies in Religion Program Research Associate 2020-21 Patricia Simpson, Instructor in Ministry Studies, Counselor to Roman Catholic Students James C. Skedros, Lecturer on Elementary Greek, and Summer Language Program Lecturer in Elementary New Testament Greek Daniel Albert Smith, Lecturer on Ministry Studies Gary E. Smith, Lecturer on Ministry Studies Burns Stanfield, Instructor in Presbyterian Church Polity, Counselor to Presbyterian Students Piotr Steinkeller, Professor of Assyriology (FAS) David Stern, Harry Starr Professor of Classical and Modern Jewish and Hebrew Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature (FAS) Liza Stern, Instructor in Jewish Polity, Counselor to Jewish Students Craig Tichelkamp, Summer Language Program Lecturer on Christian Latin and Lecturer on Latin Pascale C. Torracinta, Summer Language Program Instructor on French and Instructor on French Adam Trettel, College Fellow in Medieval Latin (FAS) Laura Tuach, Assistant Director of Field Education and Instructor in Ministry Studies Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Roscoe Pound Professor of Law (HLS) Regina Walton, Lecturer on Anglican Church Polity, Counselor to Episcopal/Anglican Students Gloria White-Hammond, Swartz Resident Practitioner in Ministry Studies Preston Williams, Houghton Professor of Theology and Contemporary Change, Emeritus Terry Tempest Williams, Writer-In-Residence Meryl Winick, Visiting Lecturer in Women’s Studies and Religion and Society, Women’s Studies in Religion Program Research Associate 2020-21

DENOMINATIONAL COUNSELORS Jeremy Battle, Counselor to Baptist Students Chris Berlin, Instructor in Ministry and Pastoral Counseling, Counselor to Buddhist Students Amy L. Fisher, Counselor to Methodist Students Reebee Kavich Girash, Instructor in United Church of Christ Polity, Counselor to United Church of Christ Students Samuel B. Hogan, Sr., Instructor in Pentecostal Church Polity, Counselor to Pentecostal Students Ousmane Oumar Kane, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society, Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS), and Counselor to Muslim Students Patricia Simpson, Instructor in Ministry Studies, Counselor to Roman Catholic Students Burns Stanfield, Instructor in Presbyterian Church Polity, Counselor to Presbyterian Students Tim Stein, Counselor to Lutheran Students Liza Stern, Instructor in Jewish Polity, Counselor to Jewish Students Regina Walton, Lecturer on Anglican Polity, Liturgical Theology, Devotional Poetry in English, and Spiritual Formation in Community, Counselor to Episcopal/Anglican Students Rali M. Weaver, Counselor to Unitarian Universalist Student