Jonathan Lee Walton, has been named the eighth president of the Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. He will begin his new duties on January 1.
“Theological education is at an inflection point,” says Dr. Walton. “The church is changing. Society is changing. So we need clear-minded, faith-informed professionals who can speak hope, equity, and healing in all fields of human endeavor.”
Princeton Theological Seminary enrolls just over 330 students, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education. African Americans are 11 percent of the student body.
Dr. Walton has been serving as dean of the School of Divinity at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He also holds the Presidential Chair of Religion and Society at the divinity school and is dean of Wait Chapel on campus. Before coming to Wake Forest in 2020, Dr. Walton was the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the University’s Memorial Church at Harvard University.
Dr. Walton is trained as a social ethicist whose scholarship focuses on the intersection of evangelical Christianity, mass media, and political culture. He is the author of two books: Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism (New York University Press, 2009) and A Lens of Love: Reading the Bible in Its World for Our World (Westminster John Knox Press, 2018).
Professor Walton earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Morehouse College in Atlanta. He holds a master of divinity degree and a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary.
“This feels like a glorious homecoming showered with grace. For over two decades, Princeton Seminary and the precious people that I’ve been blessed to know have enriched my intellectual and spiritual life,” said Dr. Walton.
