Robert Wilson-Black

About Robert Wilson-Black

Chautauqua Institution Director of Religion; University of Lynchburg, Trustee (Chair, Endowment Committee; Member, Presidential Search Committee); Co-Founder, National Museum of American Religion (nmar.org). President and CEO of the Faith & Politics Institute in Washington, DC (faithandpolitics.org) 20••••24, creating the program for and leading the Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage to icon John Lewis\' Alabama. In 2022 Rob finished his 13th year at Sojourners and started his 10th year serving as CEO. Educating the 6 million-plus Sojo.net annual visitors and 30 million individuals who were directly reached by Sojourners through media and resources, Rob was also a liaison to the World Economic Forum, Aspen Institute, and Chautauqua institutions as well as partners Rockefeller, MacArthur, Kellogg, Casey, Kresge, Carnegie, Lilly and Skoll foundations as they supported a staff of over 50 individuals and a budget of nearly $8 million at Sojourners.A graduate of the University of Chicago (PhD, AM) under Martin Marty and the University of Richmond (BA, MH), Rob served as a university & seminary vice president for ten years. He is author of numerous articles, the book \"The End of College\"(Fortress Press, 2021), and was an editor of the Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers. In addition to receiving an honorary doctorate from Franklin College in 2017, he has lectured at Princeton, Duke, UPENN, UC-Berkeley, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, Baylor University, University of Lynchburg (Snidow Lectures), and the University of Cape Town & Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. Dartmouth College invited Rob to give the Orr Lecture in January 2022, delivered previously by René Girard, Martha Nussbaum, Richard Rorty, Robert Bellah, Eddie Glaude, Steven Pinker, James Cone, Wendy Doniger, E.O. Wilson, Mircea Eliade, Karen Armstrong, Elaine Pagels, Amartya Sen, Bruce Lincoln, Judith Butler, Thomas Kuhn, and Paul Ricoeur. He has visited over 80 countries and territories for work, research, or travel. Rob is an elected member of the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC, outgoing Chairman of the University of Chicago Divinity School Alumni Council, and was appointed Clerk (President) of the Sidwell Friends School Parents Association, 20••••20. He lives in Reston, Virginia with his wife of over thirty years, the Reverend Juli Wilson-Black of Fairlington Presbyterian Church; their three children attended the University of Chicago and Occidental College.

Experience

1. Director of Religion

   Chautauqua Institution

   Feb 2026 — Present · US

Education

• University of Richmond

  Master's degree, History, Humanities

• Franklin College

  Honorary Doctorate

• University of Chicago

  PhD, Social Sciences, History, Religion (Div)

  1992 — 2002

• University of Chicago

  Master's degree, History and Religion

• University of Richmond

  Bachelor's degree, Sociology, History, Religion

  1987 — 1990