| Joseph A. Johnson Jr. | |
| Birth Name: | Joseph Andrew Johnson Jr. |
| Birth Date: | 1914 |
| Birth Place: | Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Resting Place: | Lincoln Memorial Park, Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Education: | Monroe Colored High School Vanderbilt University Iliff School of Theology |
| Occupation: | Theologian |
| Spouse: | Grace Johnson |
| Children: | 2 sons, 1 daughter |
Joseph Andrew Johnson Jr. (1914 – September 29, 1979) was an African-American theologian. He was a professor of New Testament at the Interdenominational Theological Center and Fisk University, and a bishop of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Mississippi and Louisiana.
Johnson was born in 1914 in Shreveport, Louisiana.[1] [2] He grew up poor in a shotgun house.[3]
Johnson was educated at the Monroe Colored High School.[3] He attended Texas College in Tyler, Texas, followed by the Iliff School of Theology.[3] He graduated from Vanderbilt University's Divinity School, where he earned a bachelor's degree (B.D.- bachelor of Divinity which today is a Masters of Divinity)in 1954 and a PhD in 1958, at age 44. He was the first African American to graduate from the university.[1] He returned to the Iliff School of Theology, where he earned a master's degree and a second PhD.[1]
Johnson was a professor of New Testament at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia.[1] [2] In 1969, he became a professor of New Testament at Fisk University.[1] [2] He later became a professor and eventually the president of the Phillips School of Theology in Jackson, Tennessee.[1]
Johnson became a bishop of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in 1966.[3] By 1979, he was the presiding bishop of the Fourth Episcopal District in Mississippi and Louisiana.[3] [4] Johnson served on the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches.[1] He was also the chairman of the commission on theology of the National Committee of Black Churchmen and the commission on worship of the Consultation on Church Union.[1]
Johnson authored six books.[5] In The Soul of the Black Preacher, he argued that Christianity was a liberating factor for African Americans.[6] Johnson worked on a new translation of the New Testament for two decades.[2]
Johnson was the second African American to serve board of trust of his alma mater, Vanderbilt University, from 1971 to 1979.[1] [7] He also served on the boards of Tyler College and the Iliff School of Theology.
With his wife Grace, Johnson had two sons and a daughter.[8] One of his sons, Joseph Johnson III, was a physicist and Professor at the Florida A&M University.[9]
Johnson died on September 29, 1979, in Shreveport, at age 65.[8] [4] He was buried in Lincoln Memorial Park, Shreveport.[1] [4] In 1984, the Afro House on the campus of Vanderbilt University was renamed in his honor.[5] [7] In 2018, his portrait by Simmie Knox was added to Kirkland Hall, the administration building.[10]