Creating New Knowledge

Like many students who find their way to divinity school, Terrence Johnson, MDiv ’00, Charles G. Adams Professor of African American Religious Studies, was moved by his faith, his community, and his curiosity. After earning his undergraduate degree in English from Morehouse College, Johnson began a career as a reporter. He was covering the business beat by day and reading books like Ari Goldman’s The Search for God at Harvard at night.

Johnson recalls the moment when he realized he was ready for a change. “I finished Goldman’s book and thought, I need to go on a spiritual retreat! Mind you, I wasn’t quite sure what that meant or how to find one, but I had an instinct that I might want to shift my focus as a reporter from business to religion.”

Thankfully, he knew just who to ask. “My Godmother, Aunt Juanita, is a Catholic nun. When I asked her about how to find a retreat, she took me to a Benedictine monastery down the street, where Brother Ignatius greeted me.” After a weekend at the monastery, Johnson decided to apply to HDS and was accepted into the MDiv program.
 

A Life-Changing Recommendation

Johnson describes his idea of what he thought divinity school would be like as an “extended retreat.” He originally planned to take classes across the University, graduate, and go back to his life as a reporter. Referring to his time as an HDS student as one of the best experiences of his life, he vividly remembers the “sense of creativity and wonder” experienced while choosing courses and engaging with the intellectual community. Ultimately, his love for the academy ran so deep, he decided to forgo returning to his previous career.

Now on the other side of the classroom as a professor, Johnson hopes his students feel that same sense of creativity guided by curiosity. He encourages those who take his classes to engage as conversation partners, as taught in the Quaker tradition. And his goal is to help students expand their perception of what is possible through education.

That perspective was instilled in him by Karen King, Hollis Research Professor of Divinity, who, when advising Johnson as he prepared to apply to PhD programs, said she knew Johnson could become a good teacher—but that she was writing his recommendation letter because of her faith that he could create new knowledge. “Her words have stayed with me my entire career—the idea of creating new knowledge,” Johnson explains. “I’m so grateful for that moment with Professor King, because she helped shape who I am as a professor and how I teach the next generation of scholars.”
 

Pluralism in Theory and in Practice

Johnson’s research interests include African American political thought, ethics, American religions, and the role of religion in public life. With an interdisciplinary approach grounded in history and political thought, he explores the intersections of religion, democracy, ethics, liberalism, justice, and freedom.

While Johnson’s scholarship does focus on religion and politics, he notes that his courses do not tend to emerge from current events or the latest headlines.

Thoughtfully, he observes: “When one is in the heat of the moment, it naturally can become more difficult to think critically about tense topics. My inclination is to think about religion and politics from a more theoretical perspective, while also thinking through historically what led us to a certain point.” This affinity for historical context can be seen in his award-winning book, Blacks and Jews in America: An Invitation to Dialogue, written with Jacques Berlinerblau.

“I hope that my classroom is a place that comes alive—where we can be conversation partners, as taught in the Quaker tradition. And my goal is to help students see that they have the potential to create new knowledge with their education.” 

With his new course this fall, “Blacks, Jews, and Palestinians,” Johnson says he is going to follow the multifaceted pedagogy he always has—a pedagogy inspired by the role of the preacher, especially those in the Black church tradition.

“The preacher’s aim is in some ways to cajole and in some ways to reaffirm . . . to let people know that the preacher has an awareness of the struggle. And, yet, even with that understanding of the struggle, there is hope that we can find the clarity and the strength to push through the walls right there in front of us,” Johnson shares.

Continuing with the metaphor, he adds, “What’s great about Black preaching is that you never know if you’re going to resonate; it always depends on the audience’s response. You can have a brilliant sermon, but if no one responds, the lesson is lost. So, part of how I see myself in the classroom is to help push my students, not to believe what I believe necessarily, but rather to hear their own critique. I want to hear their challenges because that energy gives life to the materials I bring to class. Whether it’s Nietzsche or Audre Lorde or St. Augustine—we have to engage these scholars in ways that keep them alive for new moments of learning in the present tense.”

In the spirit of pushing and facilitating challenging conversations, Johnson and Rabbi Shaul Magid, Visiting Professor of Modern Jewish Studies at HDS, convened the conference “Jews and Black Theory: Conceptualizing Otherness in the Twenty-First Century” in May 2024. The conference was held at Cornell University in previous years. For this next iteration, Johnson and Magid wanted to bring the event to Harvard.

“We started planning the conference in August, well before the events of October 7. I was fearful the whole year because of what was happening on the ground. Yet, we knew that the conversations that were going to take place were even more important given the moment we were in,” Johnson says.

The conference featured powerful discussions by leading scholars from across the country, including NYU professor Fred Moten, an American cultural theorist and poet, and Dartmouth professor Susannah Heschel, who asked: “How do we get past not only disagreement, but what happens when someone says something that is egregious and then apologizes? Are we willing to accept the apology?”

When asked how he and organizers were able to ensure conference participants were engaging in respectful dialogue, Johnson said that it took a lot of trust—and prayer.

“I prayed a lot,” Johnson says. “We invited people we knew who wanted to have the difficult, nuanced conversations. You can never control these things, but the spirit of the conference was always collegial.”

Johnson says he feels grateful that conference participants were able to engage in a true, rigorous exchange of ideas to help advance much-needed dialogue across difference. He also appreciates the vulnerability scholars arrived with, noting: “People came in not knowing all the answers—and we left knowing that it was okay not to know all the answers, but we were able to connect. There was something remarkable about that alone.”
 

On Intellectual Openness

From an auspicious retreat to a recommendation letter that changed the course of his career, Johnson has followed his natural curiosity to deepen his understanding of religion. Though his path may have been unexpected, there has been a common theme throughout Johnson’s time at HDS as both a student and a professor: his capacity for, and fostering of, intellectual openness.

“What is so rich about Harvard Divinity School is that there’s this great possibility . . . a kind of capaciousness without feeling as if we are in this vast sea drifting without a sense of direction,” he says. “We have this openness, and yet there are thick traditions that we’re trying to orient ourselves around even as we create possibilities for inviting others in and for engaging with different ideas about what faith may mean to different people.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: In July 2025, Terrence L. Johnson, MDiv ’00, will become the director of Religion and Public Life at HDS. His leadership will follow the retirement of Diane L. Moore, MDiv ’80, who has led the program since its establishment in 2020. Follow HDS news and visit the Religion and Public Life website to learn more.

—By Jonathan Beasley & Amie Montemurro