Jonathan Walton named dean of Wake Forest School of Divinity
After seven years as Harvard’s Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister of the Memorial Church, Jonathan L. Walton will step down this summer to assume the role of dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Harvard announced today. When he assumed leadership of the Memorial Church in 2012, Walton took over the role held for almost 40 years by Harvard legend Peter J. Gomes, a renowned Baptist preacher and scholar with a fierce wit who challenged intolerance and prejudice from the pulpit. It may have been a daunting task, but Walton made the job his own by simultaneously respecting its long history and his predecessor while expanding efforts to press for social change and inclusion, and further opening up the church to Harvard and the wider community with the sentiment, “Everyone may not belong to Mem Church, but Mem Church belongs to everyone.” “Harvard has been an incredible place...