Rev. William Barber To Lead Yale’s New Center for Theology and Public Policy
It’s been thirty-five years since Reverend William Barber began preaching at the historic Greenleaf Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Now, the pastor and anti-poverty leader is leaving his position at the historic church, but his life’s work is far from over.
Reverend Barber will head-up the Yale Divinity School’s new Center for Theology and Public Policy, which aims to bring moral teachings into public policy and movement work.
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“I’m excited to move from pastoring that is thirty-five years of pastoral ministry with the congregation,” says Rev. Barber, “to, in a sense, pastoring the movement with this center.”
The goal of the center, which will open in 2023, is to train a new generation of students and movement leaders on the history, philosophy, and practice of transformative social justice movements with a grounding in theology.
“We’re gonna share what I’ve learned to lead research on the deep connection between theology, deepest moral values, constitutional values, and just policies in the present,” explains Rev. Barber.
Centering morality in public policy is essential, says Rev. Barber, who hopes to ground the new generation of leaders in the history of moral movements, whether that’s from a religious lens or not.
“Everything we celebrate today, from social security to the voting rights act, to minimum wage,” says Rev. Barber. “All of these things, women’s suffrage, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, the battle for the environment. If you dig, you will find that there was always a moral critique.”
Rev. Barber isn’t the only new face joining the Yale Divinity School in 2023. “The staff we’re bringing here are deeply rooted in social justice movements,” he explains.
Along with Rev. Barber, Valerie Eguavoen, a social justice movement lawyer, will be joining as associate director. Roz Pelles, a workers’ rights advocate will be starting as assistant director for student engagement and lecturer, and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, an author and preacher, will lead the theological research fellowship program.
Barber wants to extend his work outside the ivory towers of Yale University. “One of the things I said to Yale is if I work with the center at Yale we have to have a liaison relationship with an HBCU in the South,” says Rev. Barber.
The exact details of the relationship is still in the works. But, Barber says that starting in the spring, they’ll announce their partnership which seeks to allow students at Historically Black Colleges in the south to benefit from the work at Yale.
Opening the center is a labor of love for Rev. Barber, who will continue leading the Poor People’s Campaign.
“This work is hard, but it’s worth it,” says Rev. Barber. “I would not want to leave this life and not try in some way to seed what we’ve learned, what we know, what we are yet to know into the veins of this society and into the hearts and minds of generations of leaders that are already here, but also will be here long after many of us.”
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