What does this say about HDS?

We received a mass email from the Dean of Harvard Divinity School, William A. Graham, today telling us that a total of 5 faculty will be leaving at the end of the year.

Most of the student body as aware that Sarah Coakley was leaving for Cambridge...she really missed England, and who could blame her. But, the other four were a real surprise. They are:

Sarah Coakley, who has been on the HDS faculty since 1993 and our Mallinckrodt Professor of Divinity since 1995, will become the Norris-Hulse Professor at Cambridge University next fall, although she will remain at Harvard for 2007-08 on a visiting appointment to complete her Templeton research project.

Robert Orsi, who has been at Harvard since 2001 as our Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America, and served as the chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion the last two years, is going to Northwestern University as the inaugural Grace Craddock Nagel Professor in Catholic Studies.

Thomas (Tal) Lewis, who has been at Harvard for four years as Assistant Professor of Christian Studies, will become Assistant Professor in Brown University’s Department of Religious Studies.

M. Christian Green, who has been at HDS for three years as Visiting Lecturer on Ethics, will become the Alonzo L. McDonald Family Senior Lecturer at Emory University and Senior Research Fellow in Emory’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion.

Christine Helmer first taught at HDS as a visiting assistant professor in the fall of 2003. She returned to HDS in 2005 from her associate position at her home institution Claremont School of Theology and the School of Religion at Claremont Graduate University, and has taught as Senior Scholar in Theology during the last two years. She will become Professor of Religion at Northwestern University.

What does this turnover in faculty say about life and academia at HDS?

The Beginning of the End!

We begin our spring semester here at Harvard tomorrow! YAY!!! This will be the first day of my final semester here at this crazy, whack job place!

Among the weird things Harvard does differently, because, well, it's Harvard, is we don't actually choose our classes until after classes begin. I know, this sounds crazy...and it is. The idea is that you get to go to a variety of classes the first week (which is called Shopping Period) and learn about them, the requirements, etc. (I could go on a tirade about American Capitalist Consumer Culture, but that would make me sound like a Harvard student...and we can't have that!).

The idea of a Shopping Period sounds good in theory (article: Shopping Frenzy: An Honored Tradition). The problem, though, is that professors begin teaching on the first day of classes. The Shopping Period implies that if there are, say, two classes you are interested in that meet on Monday & Wednesday at 11 you should be able to attend one class on Monday and the other on Tuesday and then make an informed decision...sounds good, right? Well, in actuality, the professors begin teaching from day one...so that means you either miss day one of Class 2 or day two of Class 1 before you figure out which one you want. The system, IMHO, sounds great in theory but falls woefully short in reality.

Anyway, I've already mentioned I'm taking a class at Weston Jesuit School of Theology called Theology of Culture. At Harvard, I'm planning on taking a class on museums called Exhibiting Cultures, which promises trips to museums in New York and Boston (YAY! field trips in grad school!), and then I need two more classes and I'm split between three classes:

• History of Harvard and Its Presidents (which is taught by Rev. Peter Gomes who is a friggin' Rock Star!)
• African American Religious History-Part II (I took the first part last semester and really like the professor, Wallace Best)
• Religion in America from 1865 to the 1970s (which is taught by Robert Orsi who've I've heard nothing but good stuff about)

So, all three of these classes meet tomorrow--amazingly at different times, so I'll actually be able to do the whole shopping thing--which means I should know which two of the three I'll be taking by tomorrow night.

But, by far, the best part of the new semester is that it is my last semester here!

F R E E D O M ! ! ! !

Thanks Be to God and Boomer Sooner
Feast of St. Hyacintha of Mariscotti