HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL

From Philosopedia

HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL

The Harvard Divinity School, which has a long-standing association with the Unitarian movement, is at 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.

In 1636, when it was established by a vote of the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Harvard began a history of educating religious leaders The Hollis Professorship of Divinity, which was endowed in 1721, is the oldest in the country. In 1811, it was the first to have a graduate program for ministerial candidates. In 1816, it became the first non-sectarian theological school in the country.

The curriculum is organized into three Areas:

• Area I: Scripture and Interpretation focuses on the nature and interpretation of scripture, especially the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Intensive study of language, biblical interpretation, and historical-critical analysis provide a solid foundation in those formative traditions to which all post-biblical generations have appealed, and develop the ability to understand the role of scripture in religious traditions grounded in the biblical witness.

• Area II: Christianity and Culture includes courses in theology, ethics, the history of Christianity, and the social sciences. Its focus is historical and systematic study of Christian traditions in Western and third-world cultures. Such study develops the capacity for thinking theologically about human life and for bringing the resources of Christianity to bear on contemporary personal, social, and cultural problems.

• Area III: Religions of the World places Christianity in the context of human religious life as a whole through the historical and comparative study of world religions. This Area is concerned with developing sympathetic understanding of significant religious traditions other than Christianity, and with the challenges and resources these traditions offer contemporary Christian thought and practice.

Its Andover-Harvard Theological Library serves as a national repository and library of record for the Unitarian Universalist tradition.

In 2006, according to ithe school's website then, a student at the nonsectarian Harvard Divinity School student who is unitarian or Unitarian or non-Christian would do research - as noted in the above three areas of the curriculum - mainly in terms of a Christian (as distinguished from a secularist or humanist or philosophic naturalist ) overview.