# 2025 Conference Abstracts and Biographies Building upon themes from past conferences, our **2025 Conference: Spirituality and the Arts** examined the dynamic relationship between alternative spirituality and artistic practice. Grounding questions explored how emerging, alternative, and Indigenous spiritualities find expression through visual, musical, performing, and literary arts. We also wove in past conference themes by engaging spiritual and artistic practices that intersect with broader social dynamics, such as power, coloniality, and ecological concerns. Scroll down on this page to read the abstracts and biographies of this year's conference presenters. When you click on the title of your chosen abstract, it will take you to a page with both the abstract and biography for that presentation. If you are having difficulty finding a specific presentation abstract or biography, please utilize the "search" tool at the top right of this website to conduct a thorough search. Once you’ve begun your search, you may wish to select a filter for the 2025 conference. ## 2025 Conference Abstracts and Biographies Download 202 citations download- [BibTeX](/bibcite/export?pager_style=show_more&number_of_items=12&sort_field=title--asc&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_conference%5D%5B0%5D%5Btarget_id%5D=179516&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_topicsforabstracts%5D&&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%5B0%5D=conference_paper&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Boperator%5D=IN&format=bibtex) - [EndNote X3 XML](/bibcite/export?pager_style=show_more&number_of_items=12&sort_field=title--asc&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_conference%5D%5B0%5D%5Btarget_id%5D=179516&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_topicsforabstracts%5D&&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%5B0%5D=conference_paper&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Boperator%5D=IN&format=endnote8) - [EndNote 7 XML](/bibcite/export?pager_style=show_more&number_of_items=12&sort_field=title--asc&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_conference%5D%5B0%5D%5Btarget_id%5D=179516&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_topicsforabstracts%5D&&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%5B0%5D=conference_paper&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Boperator%5D=IN&format=endnote7) - [Endnote tagged](/bibcite/export?pager_style=show_more&number_of_items=12&sort_field=title--asc&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_conference%5D%5B0%5D%5Btarget_id%5D=179516&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_topicsforabstracts%5D&&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%5B0%5D=conference_paper&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Boperator%5D=IN&format=tagged) - [Marc](/bibcite/export?pager_style=show_more&number_of_items=12&sort_field=title--asc&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_conference%5D%5B0%5D%5Btarget_id%5D=179516&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_topicsforabstracts%5D&&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%5B0%5D=conference_paper&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Boperator%5D=IN&format=marc) - [PubMedId](/bibcite/export?pager_style=show_more&number_of_items=12&sort_field=title--asc&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_conference%5D%5B0%5D%5Btarget_id%5D=179516&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_topicsforabstracts%5D&&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%5B0%5D=conference_paper&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Boperator%5D=IN&format=pubmed_id) - [RIS](/bibcite/export?pager_style=show_more&number_of_items=12&sort_field=title--asc&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_conference%5D%5B0%5D%5Btarget_id%5D=179516&taxonomy_filters%5Bfield_hwp_c_topicsforabstracts%5D&&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%5B0%5D=conference_paper&additional_filters%5Btype%5D%5B0%5D%5Boperator%5D=IN&format=ris) Sams, Harriet. 2025. “[A Sense of the Divine at Complex Human Heritage Sites: Earth-Based Spirituality, Cultural Heritage, and Challenging Landscape Legacies](/publication/sense-divine-complex-human-heritage-sites-earth-based-spirituality-cultural-heritage).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. Sams, Harriet. 2025. “[A Sense of the Divine at Complex Human Heritage Sites: Earth-Based Spirituality, Cultural Heritage, and Challenging Landscape Legacies](/publication/sense-divine-complex-human-heritage-sites-earth-based-spirituality-cultural-heritage).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. - add\_circle\_outline do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract Modern Earth-based spiritual paths encourage direct encounters with the natural world. However, many people live in significantly altered and damaged landscapes. Can a sense of the Divine still be found in such places? In this paper I explore a case study... Smit, Stephanie. 2025. “[A Soul’s Journey](/publication/souls-journey).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. Smit, Stephanie. 2025. “[A Soul’s Journey](/publication/souls-journey).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. - add\_circle\_outline do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract **Performance:** "A Soul's Journey" is a hybrid esoteric performance that blends classical, theatrical, and experimental music with poetic storytelling to explore the colonization of the soul and the emergence of a New World. Filmed in sacred spaces, this... Howe, Laura Paulsen. 2025. “[Aboriginal Australian Art and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints](/publication/aboriginal-australian-art-and-church-jesus-christ-latter-day-saints).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. Howe, Laura Paulsen. 2025. “[Aboriginal Australian Art and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints](/publication/aboriginal-australian-art-and-church-jesus-christ-latter-day-saints).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. - add\_circle\_outline do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract Aboriginal Australian Dreaming sagas that describe the pathways of ancestral beings who moved through and created the Australian landscape. Aboriginals recreate these ancestral wanderings when they performatively commemorate their ancestors. Since the... Goldberg, Philip. 2025. “[ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: How The Beatles Transformed the Spiritual Landscape](/publication/across-universe-how-beatles-transformed-spiritual-landscape).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. Goldberg, Philip. 2025. “[ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: How The Beatles Transformed the Spiritual Landscape](/publication/across-universe-how-beatles-transformed-spiritual-landscape).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. - add\_circle\_outline do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract The Beatles 1968 retreat in an ashram on the banks of the Ganges was a watershed moment in the transmission of Eastern spirituality to the West. With the help of images and selected songs, this presentation will describe the circumstances that brought the... Ortiz, Paula, and Anne Dorothy Harley. 2025. “[Activating Inner and Collective Resonance: Participative Sound Baths As Artistic and Spiritual Practices](/publication/activating-inner-and-collective-resonance-participative-sound-baths-artistic-and).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. Ortiz, Paula, and Anne Dorothy Harley. 2025. “[Activating Inner and Collective Resonance: Participative Sound Baths As Artistic and Spiritual Practices](/publication/activating-inner-and-collective-resonance-participative-sound-baths-artistic-and).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. - add\_circle\_outline do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract **Workshop:** In this presentation and interactive workshop, will explore the intersections of sound, resonance, spirituality and embodiment in a participative sound bath using Deep Listening (Pauline Oliveros) and individual and communal voice activation. We... MacDonald, Melissa, and Kean Haunt. 2025. “[Adoring the Unknown: Laboratory Theatre As Worship](/publication/adoring-unknown-laboratory-theatre-worship).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. MacDonald, Melissa, and Kean Haunt. 2025. “[Adoring the Unknown: Laboratory Theatre As Worship](/publication/adoring-unknown-laboratory-theatre-worship).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. - add\_circle\_outline do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract **Workshop:** This workshop applies training methods of laboratory theatres to create forms, gestures, and questions for practices of worship. Focused on the value(s) of “not knowing”, this process uses a research-creation methodology to experiment with non... Gellizeau, Simone Small. 2025. “[Adorning the Spirit: Reclaiming the Divine Image through Afrocentric Aesthetics](/publication/adorning-spirit-reclaiming-divine-image-through-afrocentric-aesthetics).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. Gellizeau, Simone Small. 2025. “[Adorning the Spirit: Reclaiming the Divine Image through Afrocentric Aesthetics](/publication/adorning-spirit-reclaiming-divine-image-through-afrocentric-aesthetics).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. - add\_circle\_outline do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract **Artist Talk:** When depictions of the sacred seldom mirror our own image, how do we come to recognize ourselves in the divine? This poetic, participatory workshop explores the impact of colonized religious imagery on Black spiritual identity—and offers... Gardner, Theresa. 2025. “[African-American Spirituals and Social Transformation Through Relational Transcendence](/publication/african-american-spirituals-and-social-transformation-through-relational-transcendence).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. Gardner, Theresa. 2025. “[African-American Spirituals and Social Transformation Through Relational Transcendence](/publication/african-american-spirituals-and-social-transformation-through-relational-transcendence).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. - add\_circle\_outline do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract In her book The Touch of Transcendence: A Postcolonial Theology of God, Mayra Rivera critiques traditional notions of transcendence that position it as separate from the material world, often perpetuating patriarchal and imperialistic ideas of the Divine... Borges, Katiushka. 2025. “[ANCESTRAL HEARTBEAT](/publication/ancestral-heartbeat).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. Borges, Katiushka. 2025. “[ANCESTRAL HEARTBEAT](/publication/ancestral-heartbeat).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. - add\_circle\_outline do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract **Performance:** Ancestral Heartbeat is an immersive, multisensory installation that breathes life into Mexican oral traditions through the voices of esteemed elders, inspiring new generations to cherish ancestral wisdom. This spiritual journey merges culture... Dao, Swan. 2025. “[Applied Theatre: Making Sense of Spiritual Experience](/publication/applied-theatre-making-sense-spiritual-experience-0).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. Dao, Swan. 2025. “[Applied Theatre: Making Sense of Spiritual Experience](/publication/applied-theatre-making-sense-spiritual-experience-0).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. - add\_circle\_outline do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract Discover the transformative power of Playback Theatre in making sense of spiritual experiences. This interactive workshop offers a safe, creative space to share and reflect on moments of transcendence, connection, or insight. Guided by a director, your... Williams, Keith, and Lucy Sollitt. 2025. “[Approaches to Interspecies Communication: Between the Synthetic Sacred and the Technological Bypass](/publication/approaches-interspecies-communication-between-synthetic-sacred-and-technological-bypass).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. Williams, Keith, and Lucy Sollitt. 2025. “[Approaches to Interspecies Communication: Between the Synthetic Sacred and the Technological Bypass](/publication/approaches-interspecies-communication-between-synthetic-sacred-and-technological-bypass).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. - add\_circle\_outline do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract The sixth extinction entails the loss of more-than-human (MTH) relationships that compose our collective identities. Interspecies communication is one way to reconnect. Yet, the dominant scientific approach uses technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence... Tarwater, Bonnie. 2025. “[Art Ministry As Prayer at Church for Our Common Home](/publication/art-ministry-prayer-church-our-common-home).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. Tarwater, Bonnie. 2025. “[Art Ministry As Prayer at Church for Our Common Home](/publication/art-ministry-prayer-church-our-common-home).” in *Spirituality and the Arts*. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality. - add\_circle\_outline do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract **Artist Talk:** This paper discusses the Arts Ministry of Church for Our Common Home, a transdisciplinary Christina Unitarian Universalist untraditional church. Worship in the barn with the animals, counseling and retreat center, biodynamic farm, named... Show morerefresh [ View All arrow\_circle\_right ](https://pes.hds.harvard.edu/conference-papers?f%5B0%5D=bibcite_reference_hwp_c_conference%3A179516)