Research Activities

Religion and Politics > 2008-2009 Schedule

New Time: Mondays from 12-2pm.

Fall Location: CGIS knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, WCFIA, Bowie-Vernon Room (K262)

Spring Location: Belfer Center Library (Littauer 369), Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street.

The online schedule will be updated as new information becomes available.


Fall 2008

Fall Location: Bowie-Vernon Room (K262) at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge St., unless otherwise indicated.

October 6
“Region, Religion, and the 2008 Presidential Campaign”
Mark Silk, Director, Leonard E. Greenberg Center and Professor of Religion and Public life at Trinity College, Hartford

October 27
“Does It Matter What Religion Is?” Notre Dame Law Review, forthcoming
Christopher Eisgruber, Provost and Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Public Affairs, Princeton University
Discussant: Prof. Mark Tushnet, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Download Paper PDF: 109KB

November 10
“Separation of Church and State in American History and Today: Facts, Fictions, and Future Challenges.”
John Witte, Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University.
Discussant: Rene Reyes, Lecturer, Harvard Law School

November 17
“The Global Pentecostal Explosion.”
Peter Berger, Professor of Religion, Sociology and Theology and Director, Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University
Discussant: Eric Kaufmann, Fellow, Initiative on Religion in International Affairs, Belfer Center, Harvard University

December 1
“Islamism Revisited”
Maha Azzam-Nusseibeh, Associate Fellow, Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs (London)
Discussant: Thomas Hegghammer, Fellow, Initiative of Religion in International Affairs, Belfer Center, Harvard University
Download Paper PDF: 94KB

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Spring 2009

Spring Location: Belfer Center Library (Littauer 369), Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street.

January 26
“Public Religions Revisited: A Global Comparative Perspective”
José Casanova, Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University
Discussant: Nellie Lahoud, Fellow, Initiative of Religion in International Affairs, Belfer Center, Harvard University
Download Paper PDF: 186KB

February 2
“The Evolution of the Secular State in Spain: Recent History and Current Issues”
Javier Martínez-Torrón, Professor of Law at Complutense University (Madrid)
Discussant: Ragnhild Nordas, Fellow, Initiative of Religion in International Affairs, Belfer Center, Harvard University
Download Paper PDF: 122KB
Download "Religious Freedom and Democratic Change in Spain" by Javier Martínez-Torrón PDF: 251KB

February 23
NOTE: This event has been canceled

John Diulio, Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion, and Civil Society at the University of Pennsylvania

March 9
“Are the Culture Wars Over? Religion, the 2008 Election and the New Quest for Community”
E.J. Dionne, Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution
Discussant: Richard Parker, Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Download Paper PDF: 211KB

March 16
“Religiously Based Judgments and Religious Discourse in American Political Life”
Kent Greenawalt, University Professor, Columbia Law School
Discussant: Noah Feldman, Prof. of Law, Harvard Law School
Download Paper PDF: 168KB
Note: This seminar will be held in the Kalb Seminar Room, located at the Taubman Building, Room 275, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street.

May 11
Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy: Understanding and Engagement with Orthodox Christianity in Russia, the Middle East, and Europe
Elizabeth Prodromou, Assistant Prof. of International Relations, Boston University
Discussant: Monica Duffy Toft, Associate Prof. of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.

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