Vladimir Putin's invasion and war on Ukraine is a crisis. It's a crisis that is unfolding before our very eyes across social media and cable and online news, and it's more than just a political crisis, though that's likely what most of us are hearing about. Putin's war is crisis of humanity. It's a crisis of conscience … and it's a crisis with deep religious ties.

I'm Jonathan Beasley, and in today's episode of the Harvard Religion Beat, I'm speaking with Sean Eriksen about the religious connection to Putin's war on Ukraine. Sean is a graduate student at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, specializing in contemporary Russian national identity and regime ideology. Sean is originally from Australia. He holds degrees in law and international relations, and he's lived in Kyiv, Ukraine, and has travelled throughout the former Soviet Union.

Full episode transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2022/03/10/putin-unholy-war

Putin's Unholy War

This Leading Toward Justice webinar features panel discussions spotlighting alumni impact in the world and the ways alumni leverage their HDS training while working in secular or public professions. This session will discuss the critical importance of ethical practices and religious literacy in government and public service fields. Moderated by Susan O. Hayward, MDiv ’07, associate director for the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative (RLPI) at Harvard Divinity School
 
Panelists:
Gary Burrill, MDiv ’91: Parliamentary Member, Nova Scotia House of Assembly
Jacqueline Y. Collins, MPA ’01, MTS ’03: State Senator of Illinois, Assistant Majority Leader
Usra Ghazi, MTS ’15: Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Department of State
Kelly Raths, MDiv '05: Former Assistant Director, Oregon Department of Corrections

This event took place on October 3, 2022

Learn more: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/leading-toward-justice-hds-alums-discuss-intersections-religion-ethics-and-government

Full transcript: https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2022/12/1/video-leading-towards-justice-intersections-religion-ethics-and-government

Leading Towards Justice: Intersections of Religion, Ethics, and Government

Black Studies and Critical Race Theory constitute some of the most theoretically sophisticated conversations in the Humanities today on issues of individual and collective identities. The results have not yet been brought to bear on Jewish Studies, in general, or research on antisemitism, in particular. This talk, delivered by Shaul Magid and part of the Albert & Vera List Fund for Jewish Studies Lecture Series at the Center for the Study of World Religions, makes the case that antisemitism can be better theorized through engagement with theories of anti-Blackness, particularly Afropessimism. It focuses on how Jews write about antisemitism, how it is perceived in contemporary America, and how this discussion relates to race and Jewish identity. 

This event took place on April 3, 2023

Learn more: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/

Full transcript: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2023/4/18/video-judeopessimism-antisemitism-history-and-critical-race-theory-shaul-magid

Judeopessimism: Antisemitism, History, and Critical Race Theory with Shaul Magid

Full Title: Black Religion and Mental Health Symposium Keynote, "Black Freedom and the Racialization of Religious Excitement in American Psychiatry” by Dr. Judith Weisenfeld

Professor Ahmad Greene-Hayes (Harvard Divinity School) and Professor George Aumoithe (FAS, History and African and African American Studies) proposed this two-day interdisciplinary symposium, integrating mind, brain, and behavior insights into the exploration of Black religious practices and their impact on mental health. They questioned how Black religious spaces can enhance mental health outcomes, considering their dual role as sanctuaries and potential impediments to open discourse.

The symposium brought together experts from history, public health, psychiatry, African American studies, religious studies, and civic society, focusing on understanding the neurobiological and socio-behavioral dynamics contributing to mental health stigmatization within Black communities. The symposium aimed to illuminate how societal stressors, such as racism, influence brain function and behavior, thereby affecting mental health, while also exploring resilience mechanisms among Black religious communities. This project aligns with the Harvard Mind Brain Behavior Interfaculty Initiative’s mission of facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration to address complex issues, contributing to a broader understanding of the interplay between mind, brain, and behavior in the context of Black mental health. 

This event took place on February 29, 2024.

For more information: https://hds.harvard.edu

Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/02/29/video-black-religion-and-mental-health-symposium-keynote-black-freedom-and-racialization

Black Religion and Mental Health Symposium Opening Keynote

For our eighth episode, CSWR Research Associate and Pop Apocalypse host Matthew J. Dillon welcomes author Eric Wargo to the show. 

Eric is perhaps the world’s foremost expert on precognition. His most recent book, "From Nowhere," examines precognition in its relationship to creativity in the lives of major authors and artists. They discuss the nature of time, dreamwork, memories from the future, and the four-dimensional brain. Along the way, they discuss figures like Virginia Woolf, Philip K. Dick, Andrei Tarkovsky, Sigmund Freud, and the sculptor, Michael Richards. 

Eric Wargo has a PhD in anthropology from Emory University and works
as a professional science writer and editor in Washington, D.C. He is
the author of three books on precognition: "From Nowhere," "Precognitive
Dreamwork and the Long Self," and the acclaimed "Time Loops." In his
spare time, Wargo writes about science fiction, consciousness, and
parapsychology at his popular blog, "The Nightshirt."

Full transcript forthcoming.

Pop Apocalypse: Dreams, Creativity, and Precognition–a Talk with Eric Wargo

For episode nine, we welcome to the show Diana Pasulka, professor of Religious Studies at UNC – Wilmington. Her books American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology and Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences are both classics in the field of Religion and Technology studies. We discuss how Pasulka’s early work on Catholic purgatory led her to the study of UFOs, the spiritual practices of experiencers, and the role of government (dis)information and popular culture in the rise of UFO religion. On the way, we touch on A.I., revelations, St. Teresa of Avila, sleep paralysis, and the perils and possibilities of new technologies.

Full transcript forthcoming.

Religion, Technology, and Extraterrestrial Intelligences – A Talk with Diana Pasulka

In our second episode of Praxis, we meet Marisol Andrade Muñoz, a Master of Theological Studies student, graphic designer, and historian, whose archival research looks at the relationship between time and people in Central Mexico.

Join us as we look deeper into the student experience at Harvard Divinity School.

Full transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/11/20/from-visual-storytelling-to-historical-imagination-featuring-marisol-andrade-munoz

From Visual Storytelling to Historical Imagination: A Praxis Podcast featuring Marisol Andrade Muñoz

On October 1, 2024, HDS hosted a celebration of "Hindu and Catholic, Priest and Scholar: A Love Story," the new memoir from HDS Professor Francis X. Clooney, S.J. Joining Prof. Clooney on a panel of respondents were: Rajeev Persaud, MTS ’24, Andrea Bischoff, MTS ’24, and Jonathan Makransky, multireligious ministry initiatives coordinator at HDS. The event was introduced by Kerry Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life. 

Sponsored by the Office of the Chaplain and Religious and Spiritual Life and by the Office of Ministry Studies. 

Full transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/10/01/video-hindu-and-catholic-priest-and-scholar-love-story.

Hindu and Catholic, Priest and Scholar: A Love Story

David Holden, MDiv '24, came to HDS after a career in politics in search of ways to help others heal as a hospital chaplain. 

Transcript forthcoming.

Hospital Chaplaincy: A Praxis Podcast featuring David Holden, MDiv '24

For episode 14 of Pop Apocalypse, we welcome the linguist and philosopher Wouter Kusters. Kusters is the author of Pure Madness (2004) and A Philosophy of Madness (2014), both of which won the Dutch Socrates Award for best philosophy book of the year. We discuss how the experience of psychotic thinking challenges and illuminates our notions of language, philosophy, and mysticism. Along the way, we touch on the similarities between mystical and mad experiences, apophatic and psychotic uses of language, the phenomenology of time, and the impact of Kusters’ books on mental health specialists.

Madness, Mysticism, and Philosophy – A Talk with Wouter Kusters

For episode 15 of Pop Apocalypse, we welcome Fryderyk Kwiatkowski, Assistant Professor at the University of Krakow, on to discuss the relationship between ancient Gnostic myth and modern cinema. Fryderyk takes us through the impact European intellectuals Carl Jung, Hans Jonas, and Eric Voegelin on popular conceptions of Gnosticism. Then we dive into analyses of the Gnostic elements in films like the Matrix, Dark City, Truman Show, and more recent cinema like Free Guy, Chappie, and the television series Silo.

Gnostic Myth in Film: A Talk with Fryderyk Kwiatkowski

Do we live inside a Matrix-like simulation? For Episode 17 of Pop Apocalypse, we welcome one of the leading theorists behind the simulation hypothesis, Rizwan Virk, to discuss that question. Virk is an entrepreneur, videogame pioneer, and academic author of two major works on simulation theory: The Simulation Hypothesis (Tarcher, 2025) and The Simulated Multiverse (Bayview Books, 2021). In the interview, we discuss the technologies necessary to make a Matrix-like simulation possible and how close we are to achieving them. Then we turn to the religious and mystical dimensions of simulation theory, exploring reincarnation, out-of-body experiences, UAPs, angels, and the anthropocentrism and ethical pitfalls of simulation theory.
 
Rizwan Virk bio
 
A graduate of MIT and Stanford University,  Rizwan Virk, PhD, is a successful entrepreneur, video game pioneer, film producer, venture capitalist, professor, and bestselling author of The Simulation Hypothesis (Tarcher, 2025), Wisdom of a Yogi (Bayview Books, 2023), and The Simulated Multiverse (Bayview Books, 2021). Virk’s video games, including Tap Fish and Penny Dreadful: Demimonde, have been played by millions. He is the founder and executive director of Play Labs @ MIT, a video game accelerator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and currently teaches at Arizona State University.

Mysticism and the Simulation Hypothesis – A Talk with Rizwan Virk

On this episode of the Hope Podcast, we hear from first year MDiv student Audrey Zhou on open question of home, the clarity of coming to a resolution, different ways of asking why, and many, many other things.

Transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2025/10/22/hope-podcast-featuring-audrey-zhou-mdiv-candidate

Hope Podcast: Featuring Audrey Zhou, MDiv Candidate

On this episode of the Hope Podcast, we hear from Rob Anderson, a first-year MDiv candidate, about falling apart and coming back together again, about a multitude of ways to offer ministry, and about trying to be curious before we get furious.

Transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2025/11/06/hope-podcast-featuring-rob-anderson-mdiv-candidate

Hope Podcast: Featuring Rob Anderson, MDiv Candidate

What does it really mean to “love your enemies”? In this episode of the Harvard Religion Beat, host Jonathan Beasley talks with Rev. Matthew Potts—Professor of Religion and Literature at Harvard Divinity School and Pusey Minister at Harvard’s Memorial Church—about forgiveness, anger, and living with harm without letting it define us.

Edited by Eden Olayiwole.
Sermon audio courtesy of the Memorial Church of Harvard University.
Intro and outro music: “How Did This Happen,” courtesy of Extreme Music (Art House 3).

Full episode transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2025/11/25/learning-love-your-enemies-matthew-potts

Learning to Love Your Enemies: A Conversation with Rev. Matthew Potts

On this episode of the Hope Podcast, we hear from MTS candidate Michelle Millben about family, spiritual math, and the substance of things hoped for.

Transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2025/12/01/hope-podcast-featuring-michelle-millben-mts-candidate.

Hope Podcast: Featuring Michelle Millben, MTS '26

For episode 18 of the Pop Apocalypse, we welcome theologian, author, and Episcopal priest, Cynthia Bourgeault. Cynthia is the author of numerous books, including Eye of the Heart: A Spiritual Journey into the Imaginal Realm and The Heart of Centering Prayer: Nondual Christianity in Theory and Practice. Her work brings the Christian contemplative and wisdom traditions, ‘The Work’ of GI Gurdjieff, and the philosophy of Henry Corbin into a lived mystical theology. Over the course of the episode, we discuss Cynthia’s religious upbringing and early mystical awakening, her academic training in Medieval sacred drama, and how she came to the priesthood. Then we do a deep dive into Bourgeault’s relationship to the practice and theory of The Work and how she came to integrate them with the Christian wisdom tradition. As the interview comes to a close, we discuss the benefits of life as a hermit, the impact of the Gospel of Thomas, and how contemplative Christianity speaks to the spiritual concerns of so many in the early 21st century. 
 
BIO
Cynthia Bourgeault is a modern-day mystic, Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader. She divides her time between solitude and sailing the waters around her seaside hermitage in Maine and a demanding schedule traveling globally to teach and spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative and Wisdom paths.


Integrating Wisdom Christianity and ‘The Work’ of G.I. Gurdjieff: A Talk with Cynthia Bourgeault

This week we're joined by Austin Ball (MDiv 1). We talk about the difficulty learning and growing that comes with leaving home, about navigating multiple religious belongings, about the unexpected intersections of intellectual and spiritual life, and more.

Transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2025/12/11/hope-podcast-featuring-austin-ball-mdiv-candidate.

Hope Podcast: Featuring Austin Ball, MDiv Candidate

This week we're joined by Hannah Snyder (MTS 1). We discuss the sense of imposter syndrome she felt within her own religious community, the complications and pressures she felt as a religious community leader, and about the sense of fulfillment she eventually found as a participating member of religious community life, and more!

Transcript: https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2025/12/11/hope-podcast-featuring-hannah-snyder-mts-candidate

Hope Podcast: Featuring Hannah Snyder, MTS Candidate

Meaning Makers of HDS is a new podcast by the Harvard Divinity School Office of Communications that explores the many dimensions of human meaning making. In interviews with HDS alumni, faculty, and others, this podcast showcases how members of the HDS community create meaningful lives—through religion, spirituality, faith, and beyond. Each episode features conversations that highlight the deeply personal and diverse ways people wrestle with life’s biggest questions. 

In the first episode of Meaning Makers of HDS, we spoke with two HDS alumni serving their communities as chaplains: Maytal Saltiel, MDiv '12, and Ailya Vajid, MTS '11. Throughout the conversation, Saltiel and Vajid discussed their respective understandings of the chaplain's role, how through the chaplain's sacred work of presence they help others find meaning across the spectrum of life experiences, and how they personally make meaning in their own lives.

Meaning Makers of HDS: The Sacred Work of Presence

In Pop Apocalypse, Ep. 19, we welcome author and musician, Gary Lachman, to the show. Lachman was the original bassist for the seminal new wave band, Blondie. He later became an intellectual historian; to date, Lachman has published twenty-six books, most recently a memoir, Touched by the Presence: From Blondie’s Bowery and Rock and Roll to Magic and the Occult (Inner Traditions, 2025). In this wide-ranging chat, we discuss how Lachman’s reading of comics and Lovecraft inspired a lifelong interest in the occult, his early days in Blondie, and how he came to Crowleyan magick. Then we turn to Lachman’s time practicing “The Work” of Gurdjieff, his relationship with the author Colin Wilson, and how keeping a dream journal can change our view of the nature of time.

Gary Lachman Bio

Gary Lachman is an author and lecturer on consciousness, counterculture, and the Western esoteric tradition. His works include Dark Star Rising (Tarcher, 2018), Beyond the Robot (Tarcher Perigee, 2016), and The Secret Teachers of the Western World (Tarcher, 2015). A founding member of the rock band Blondie, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. He lives in London.


From Rock Star to Occult Historian - A Talk with Gary Lachman

In this long read from Harvard Divinity Bulletin, author and educator Sarabinh Levy-Brightman starts treating sleep as worthy of attention and cultivation as any other soulful domain. As a result, she experiences shifting energies and curious moments of insight.

This special audio version of "Sacred Sleep of the Wandering Fool" is narrated by Sarabinh Levy-Brightman and appears in the Autumn/Winter 2025 issue of Harvard Divinity Bulletin.

Read or follow along on the Harvard Divinity Bulletin website: https://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/sacred-sleep-of-the-wandering-fool/

Bulletin Long Read: Sacred Sleep of the Wandering Fool

This week we sat down with fellow second year MDiv candidate Julia Jackson to talk about the ways hope and mortality are tied together, about the power of reading, and about the promise of otherwise.

Hope Podcast: Featuring Julia Jackson, MDiv Candidate

This week we're joined by Jamie Feinberg, MDiv candidate, for a conversation about surrendering to the pursuit of our passions, finding systems of faith that work for and challenge us, and the continual process of becoming our most authentic selves.

Hope Podcast: Featuring Jamie Feinberg, MDiv Candidate

For Pop Apocalypse Episode 20, Host Matthew Dillon welcomes actress, writer, producer, and activist Amy Brenneman. After earning her BA in the Comparative Study of Religion at Harvard, Amy went on to a successful acting career, with star turns in the film Heat and in television shows including The Leftovers, The Old Man, and Judging Amy (which she also wrote and produced). In this wide-ranging conversation, Amy and Matthew explore how the craft of acting, the study of religion, the practice of Jungian dreamwork, and decades of practicing active imagination have enriched one another throughout her career. They discuss the similarities between ritual and acting and how a background in comparative religion helped Amy write, build, and inhabit characters. Amy also shares what helped bring a mythic and numinous dimension to roles like Laurie Garvey in The Leftovers. They conclude by discussing Amy’s current experience as a master’s student at Harvard Divinity School and her research into the politics and possibilities of the Trickster.
 
BIO: 
 
Amy Brenneman is an American actress, producer, writer, and political activist. She is known for multiple award-winning television roles, including Judging Amy (which she wrote and produced), NYPD Blue, Frasier, Heartbeat (executive producer), VEEP, and The Leftovers, as well as movie roles in Heat, Casper, Friends and Neighbors, and The Jane Austen Book Club. She was a founding member of the social justice-focused Cornerstone Theater Company and has performed in many notable theaters around the country. She starred in the world premieres of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Rapture Blister Burn and Fake It Until You Make It, and starred in The Sound Inside, which the Los Angeles Times named one of the year’s best performances. Amy has been honored by multiple activist organizations and currently serves on the Creative Council for the Center for Reproductive Rights. Amy earned a BA in the Comparative Study of Religion at Harvard University and is currently pursuing an MDiv at Harvard, researching the role of the Trickster archetype in ritual and activism.


Acting, Dreamwork, and the Study of Religion – A Talk with Amy Brenneman

This week we spoke with MDiv candidate Leah Gawel about the intersections of the arts, religious trauma, and the healing and empowering transformations we can bear witness to.

Hope Podcast: Featuring Leah Gawel, MDiv Candidate

This week we sat down with MRPL candidate Amy Brenneman to talk about her coming back to Harvard, writing the unknowns in a creative life, and hope in action.

Hope Podcast: Featuring Amy Brenneman, MRPL Candidate

What does it mean to live out faith in a moment when human dignity feels under pressure? In this episode of the Harvard Religion Beat, host Jonathan Beasley speaks with the Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas—Episcopal priest, author, and professor at Harvard Divinity School—about moral imagination, sacred dignity, and the role of faith in public life. Drawing on her scholarship and ministry, Douglas reflects on justice, hope, and why she believes "hope is not a noun—it’s a verb."

The Role of Faith in Social Movements: A Conversation with Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas

"Forests think." Eduardo Kohn, author of the book How Forests Think, discusses a kind of thinking, which he calls “sylvan," that is manifested by tropical forests and those that live with them. This mode of thought can provide an ethical orientation in these times of planetary human-driven ecological devastation that some call the “Anthropocene." He presents his work as “cosmic diplomacy."

How Forests Think, which has been translated into several languages, won the 2014 Gregory Bateson Prize and is short-listed for the upcoming 2018 Prix littéraire François Sommer. Eduardo Kohn's research continues to be concerned with capacitating sylvan thinking in its many forms. He teaches Anthropology at McGill University.

Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Anthropology as Cosmic Diplomacy: Toward an Ecological Ethics for the Anthropocene

Anna Sun, 2018–19 WSRP Visiting Associate Professor, delivers the lecture "Turning Ghosts into Ancestors: Ritual, Gender, and the Afterlife in Contemporary Urban China."

Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Turning Ghosts into Ancestors: Ritual, Gender, and the Afterlife in Contemporary Urban China

Expand your understanding of the ways religion shapes the world with lectures, interviews, and reflections from Harvard Divinity School.

Harvard Divinity School

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