معرفی
Wallace D. Best is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Princeton University, with joint appointments in the Department of African American Studies and the Department of Religion. He is also a faculty affiliate in the Department of History and serves as Director of the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies, reflecting his broad interdisciplinary contributions.
His research focuses on African American religious history, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries, with expertise in Pentecostalism, Womanist theology, religion and literature, and the religious cultures of Black urban centers like Chicago and Harlem. His scholarship bridges historical, literary, and theological analysis to illuminate the spiritual dimensions of Black life.
Best’s publications include Passionately Human, No Less Divine (2005), Langston’s Salvation (2017), which won the American Academy of Religion’s Textual Studies award, and a forthcoming work on Harlem’s religious landscape. His recent work explores the enduring significance of religion in shaping Black cultural identity and urban experience.
- Award in Textual Studies, American Academy of Religion (2018)
Best has held fellowships at Princeton’s Center for the Study of Religion and Harvard’s W. E. B. Du Bois Institute. As a senior faculty member and program director, he plays a key role in mentoring students and shaping curricula in African American studies, religion, and gender and sexuality studies. He is actively engaged in public scholarship, contributing reading lists and commentary on Black history and religion.
He is currently working on a book titled The Spiritual Capital of Black America: Harlem’s World of Religion and Churches, examining the centrality of religious institutions in Harlem’s cultural and social life.
