Posted January 15, 2014

 

Rev. Dr. Matthew V. Johnson, Sr.
Guest Lecturer

 

"Young philosopher King, penetrating critic of systemic evil, theological lawyer for the morally fatigued". Per Dr. Lawrence Carter, Dean - Morehouse College Chapel, Atlanta, GA during Dr. Johnson's induction into Martin Luther King, Jr. International Board of Preachers (March 2, 1989)

Pastor, preacher, scholar, writer, lecturer, administrator, and servant of the people, Rev. Dr. Matthew V. Johnson, Sr. has been in the ministry for over thirty years.

Born in Hackensack, NJ, Dr. Johnson was reared in both NJ and Lawrenceville, VA. He was licensed to preach in 1979, shortly before he entered Morehouse College where he pursued a double major in Philosophy and History and graduated with honors in l983. He went on to earn the M.A. degree in Religious Studies and a Ph.D. degree in Philosophical Theology from the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. He completed two years of post doctorate work in Psychoanalytic Training at Duke University in conjunction with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and in the Psychotherapy Training Program at the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in Washington, DC.

Dr. Johnson is currently the Founder and Pastor of The Church of the Good Shepherd- Baptist in Atlanta, GA. He is also Visiting Professor of Theology and Ministry at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in New Brighton, Minnesota. 

A widely respected author, Dr. Johnson’s book, The Tragic Vision of African American Religion, published in May 2010 by Palgrave Macmillan Publishing Company, is a cutting edge analysis of African American religion and provides a deeper understanding of the tragic experience and its implications.  Dr. Johnson’s other published books are: The Cicada’s Song: A Novel, The Passion of the Lord: African American Reflections, and Onesimus Our Brother: Reading Race, Religion, and Slavery in Philemon. Additionally, two of his articles “The Middle Passage, Trauma and the Tragic Re-imagination of African American Theology” and “The Poverty of Prosperity Theology and the Spiritual Impoverishment of the Church” have been published in The Journal of Pastoral Psychology.

 

Dr. Johnson is the host of a live talk radio show called Soul AFire with Dr. Matthew V. Johnson which airs Wednesday evenings at 10 p.m. on www.blogtalkradio.com/TruthWorks.

 

Married to Arnetta Nicholson Johnson for over thirty years, Dr. and Mrs. Johnson are the proud parents of five and the grandparents of three.