Terrence L. Johnson begins tenure as director of Religion and Public Life

As of July 1, Terrence L. Johnson, M.Div. ’00, has assumed the role of director of Religion and Public Life (RPL) at Harvard Divinity School (HDS), a program that promotes the public understanding of religion. 

“I’m deeply honored to lead Religion and Public Life at this pivotal moment,” said Johnson. “This is a unique opportunity to bring rigorous scholarship, moral imagination, and difficult but necessary conversations from a range of perspectives to address the challenges of our time.”

RPL engages pressing ethical, social, and political issues through an interdisciplinary lens, fostering collaboration among scholars, practitioners, and students. The program explores how religion shapes — and is shaped by — public life, both locally and globally. 

“As RPL director, Professor Johnson will build upon RPL’s mission while steering it into its exciting new chapter,” said HDS Dean Marla F. Frederick. “We are incredibly fortunate to have him leading RPL at this time in the program’s evolution, and I am deeply grateful for his vision, energy, and commitment to shaping its future.” 

Johnson is the Charles G. Adams Professor of African American Religious Studies at HDS and a professor of African and African American Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. A teacher, author, and public intellectual, Johnson’s scholarship challenges conventional narratives and opens imaginative possibilities for addressing the urgent moral challenges of our time. His interdisciplinary work weaves together African American religious thought, political theory, and American history to reimagine justice, democracy, and the role of religion in public discourse.