How African-American Faith Groups Affect Media and Culture

Jonathan L. Walton is fascinated by the ways African-American faith groups helped draw the United States closer to its promise of equality. It's a big part of why he became a religion scholar and social ethicist. Part of his work in his new job at Harvard Divinity School is to figure out "in what ways, right now, even unrecognizable ways, is this still going on, and/or where we're falling short."

Mr. Walton recently became an assistant professor of African-American religions at the divinity school, accepting the second of two such positions the school sought to fill at the same time, in part, to offer better resources to its Ph.D. students.

The field of African-American religious studies has traditionally focused on black-liberation theology, which argues that justice for the poor and oppressed is at the core of the gospel message. But the field has expanded to include religions besides Christianity and the beliefs of the descendants of Africans dispersed to countries beyond the United States. At Harvard Divinity School, the study of African-American religions is an important part of the study of American religions over all, one of the school's longtime strengths.

Ann D. Braude, a senior lecturer on American religious history, attended the campus interviews of candidates for the position, though she was not on the search committee. When it came to Mr. Walton, "I was very impressed by his feel for the black church in combination with his critical approach to ethics and popular culture," she says.

Before joining Harvard, Mr. Walton, 37, was an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of California at Riverside. He earned his Ph.D. and master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, and his bachelor's from Morehouse College. His research is on the intersection of religion, media, and culture, and his first book, published last year, explored televangelism in the black church. Traditionally, black-liberation theologians have been dismissive of televangelists, Mr. Walton says. He wanted to look at how the televangelists use and don't use liberation theology, based on their understanding of what it means.

At Riverside, Mr. Walton worked primarily with undergraduates; at Harvard, he will mostly work with graduate students. It's a change he's excited about: "Working with students who have backgrounds in the field of American religions will allow me to focus my teaching in particular sorts of ways that will be beneficial to my research."

The divinity school offers several courses of study. There are two main master's programs, one geared more toward students who will go on to become scholars and the other more for those preparing for careers in ministry. Mr. Walton is especially looking forward to teaching that last group, he says. "To be in conversation and in some ways train persons who are preparing to go out and serve their communities, I find that to be a very rewarding aspect of the job." That way, Mr. Walton says, he feels he is contributing to the groups he studies, instead of "just taking."