Fresh year, new minister
Action that defines faith. Belief that encourages discussion. Joyousness that allows for the occasional bout of existential angst. These themes ran through the first service of the fall term under the direction of the Rev. Jonathan L. Walton, the new Pusey Minister of Harvard’s Memorial Church. As sunshine streamed through the windows, Walton, who is also the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and professor of religion and society at Harvard Divinity School, delivered the “Freshman Sunday” sermon. He discussed the writings of the Apostle James and spoke of a faith unbound by church walls, a belief expounded in calls for Christians to tend to the physical, as well as spiritual, needs of their community. “Faith as defined in this epistle is not a mere cognitive assent to a belief in a divine being,” said Walton, who succeeded the late Rev. Peter J. Gomes in the...