Harvard Divinity School Celebrates Its 175th Year

The Harvard Divinity School's 175th anniversary celebration tomorrow will promote theological education among professional fields, said one of the event's organizers.

The festivities for the nation's oldest non-sectarian theological school will include a musical convocation, panel discussions and an exhibition of historical religious material.

Plummer Professor of Christian Morals Peter J. Gomes said the event is an opportunity for the Divinity School to showcase itself.

"People have come to think of the Divinity School as some building hidden behind the biology buildings," said Gomes, who is the curator of the celebration's exhibit. "It is time to show what we have got. The anniversary is an excuse to stop daily activity and reflect on the past."

Ceremonies will open tomorrow evening with a convocation featuring a choral and brass ensemble at Memorial Church.

On Friday, there will be four forums on topics such as "The Challenge of Religious Pluralism," "Religion and the Law" and "Religion and the Environment."

The panel discussions, which will feature Divinity School faculty and guest speakers, will run all day at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston. After the discussion, open houses and receptions will follow at Jewett House and the Center for the Study of World Religions.

Divinity School Dean Ronald F. Thiemann will deliver the Sunday sermon at Memorial Church.

The second half of the celebration will commence November 9 with the opening of the exhibition, "Foundations for a Learned Ministry," organized by Gomes.

The exhibition, which took nine months to complete, will showcase a chronological history of the school through books, manuscripts, art objects, and photographs from the Divinity School's collections, University Archives and Houghton Library.

Professor of the History of Christianity MarkU. Edwards Jr. said the exhibition highlights howthe Divinity School has evolved.

"[It] shows the riches of the past and thepromise of the future," said Edwards, who isfaculty liaison to the 175th Anniversarycommittee. "It points in the direction that theDivinity School is heading."

The collection will display the originaledition of the 1640 Massachusetts Bay Psalm Book,the first book printed in English America and acopy of Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1838 Divinity Schooladdress.

Gomes has also compiled an illustrated book tocommemorate the school's anniversary

Professor of the History of Christianity MarkU. Edwards Jr. said the exhibition highlights howthe Divinity School has evolved.

"[It] shows the riches of the past and thepromise of the future," said Edwards, who isfaculty liaison to the 175th Anniversarycommittee. "It points in the direction that theDivinity School is heading."

The collection will display the originaledition of the 1640 Massachusetts Bay Psalm Book,the first book printed in English America and acopy of Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1838 Divinity Schooladdress.

Gomes has also compiled an illustrated book tocommemorate the school's anniversary