Joseph A. Johnson Jr.

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 Tyler 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 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][5] 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.[6] In The Soul of the Black Preacher, he argued that Christianity was a liberating factor for African Americans.[7] Johnson worked on a new translation of the New Testament for two decades.[2][4]

Johnson was the second African American to serve board of trust of his alma mater, Vanderbilt University, from 1971 to 1979.[1][8] He also served on the boards of Tyler College and the Iliff School of Theology.[4]

The Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt University.

With his wife Grace, Johnson had two sons and a daughter.[4]

Johnson died on September 29, 1979 in Shreveport, at age 65.[4][5] He was buried in Lincoln Memorial Park, Shreveport.[1][5] In 1984, the Afro House on the campus of Vanderbilt University was renamed in his honor.[6][8] In 2018, his portrait by Simmie Knox was added to Kirkland Hall, the administration building.[9]

• Johnson, Joseph A. Jr. (1971). The Soul of the Black Preacher. Philadelphia: Pilgrim Press. ISBN 9780829801934. OCLC 489898582.
• Johnson, Joseph A. Jr. (1976). The Local Church and Lay Evangelism. Shreveport, Louisiana: Fourth Episcopal District Press. OCLC 7450555.
• Johnson, Joseph A. Jr. (1977). Proclamation Theology. Shreveport, Louisiana: Fourth Episcopal District Press. OCLC 3965982.
• Johnson, Joseph A. (1978). Basic Christian Methodist Beliefs. Shreveport, Louisiana: Fourth Episcopal District Press. OCLC 4570190.