Harvard Divinity School Dean Announces Hindu, Muslim Ministry Initiatives During Asia Trip

Harvard Divinity School Dean Marla F. Frederick said the school is developing new Hindu and Muslim ministry initiatives during a visit to the Divinity School of Chung Chi College at The Chinese University of Hong Kong last month, as part of a broader push to expand ministerial training.

The announcement came during Frederick’s Asia trip alongside several senior HDS administrators, where she met with alumni and institutional partners in Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan.

According to a recording of the event obtained by The Crimson, Frederick said the initiatives are intended to address longstanding gaps in religious leadership education.

“We're working to develop a Muslim Ministry Initiative and the Hindu Ministry Initiative,” she said.

Frederick framed the effort as a response to structural limitations in how ministerial education has historically been delivered at Harvard and beyond.

“Historically, people who wanted to serve a ministry in a mosque have had to be trained through Christian ministry in order to do ministry in the mosque,” she said, pointing to a lack of direct pathways for non-Christian ministerial training.

Frederick said the school’s Buddhist Ministry Initiative — launched in 2012 with support from The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation — could serve as a model for the expansion. The program trains Buddhist religious leaders through coursework and field placements.

A HDS spokesperson declined to comment further for this article.

The planned initiatives build on priorities outlined in the Divinity School’s strategic planning process, launched in fall 2024 under Frederick’s leadership. The plan incorporated feedback from more than 200 faculty members, students, alumni, and peer institutions.

That process identified a growing need to prepare students for leadership in an increasingly multireligious world, with a particular emphasis on expanding ministerial studies. One of the plan’s central priorities calls for developing spiritual life and leadership initiatives across Hindu, Islamic, and Jewish traditions.

At the talk, Frederick said the school’s academic model already encourages students to engage across traditions, even as it works to strengthen training within specific ministerial paths.

“Students can come to HDS to study a particular tradition,” she said. “But one of the things we’re trying to make sure of is that as they’re studying their own particular tradition, they’re required to take courses in other traditions to learn something about another tradition.”

She acknowledged, however, that the school has historically been stronger in the academic study of religion than in preparing students for ministry roles.

“What we have had, as I said, a historical trend, is in the study of religion, not necessarily in the preparation of people going into ministry,” Frederick said. “And so that’s a part of our big work now, building out our Jewish Leadership Initiative, building our Muslim Ministry Initiative.”

For some HDS affiliates, the expansion is long overdue.

Lizzy Lincoln, a 2025 graduate of the school’s Master of Divinity program, said she was “thrilled” to hear about the initiatives.

“Historically, for a very long time at HDS, despite being a pluralist school, there have not been sufficient resources to support Muslim or Hindu students pursuing ministerial paths,” Lincoln said. “So I am genuinely tickled as an alum of the program to hear that this is happening.”

Current student Caleb J. Brantley said the initiatives align with the school’s broader mission.

“We’ve had significant changes in how we've seen these proposed initiatives being advanced,” Brantley said. “You’re seeing more of a pluralistic environment. And of course, that’s the mission of HDS is to advance pluralism, religious pluralism at that.”

“I haven’t seen moments where that wasn’t the case,” he added.

—Staff writer Andrew R. Levy can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @andrewlevy312.

—Staff writer Alexandria J. Villasenor can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ajv.03.