Harvard Pluralism Project’s Diana Eck retires after decades of research, promoting dialogue

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn(RNS) — Diana Eck, for decades, has been the academician-activist who has delved into the world’s religions and encouraged others to discover and learn about the faiths of their neighbors.Now, 49 years after she arrived as an instructor at Harvard University, the professor of comparative religion finds herself answering the same question she posed to her “Ritual and the Life Cycle” class on its last day in late April.
“What is the hardest thing that you’ve ever encountered and how did you face it?” Eck, 78, asked the class.
Weeks later, in an interview with Religion News Service, she realized it was a good question for her to answer as well.
“I think the hardest thing has been the realization that though we have — I have and my students have — been very involved in trying to lift up the ways in which people in our society are coming together — in interfaith initiatives, interfaith councils, interfaith projects, literally all across America,” she said, “but to realize that despite our vision of how important this is, there are many people today who are still very surprised that all of these strangers are here with us, and, basically, would like them all to go home.”

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