Joseph A. Johnson Jr.

Joseph Andrew Johnson Jr. (1914 – September 29, 1979) was an African-American theologian. He was a professor of New Testament at the Interdenominational Theological Center and Fisk University, and a bishop of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Early life Johnson was born in 1914 in Shreveport, Louisiana. He grew up poor in a shotgun house.

Johnson was educated at the Monroe Colored High School. Johnson served on the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. In The Soul of the Black Preacher, he argued that Christianity was a liberating factor for African Americans. Johnson worked on a new translation of the New Testament for two decades. He also served on the boards of Tyler College and the Iliff School of Theology. One of his sons, Joseph Johnson III, was a physicist and Professor at the Florida A&M University.

Johnson died on September 29, 1979, in Shreveport, at age 65.

Selected works