Writer and Journalist Mark Oppenheimer to join Danforth Center on Religion and Politics
The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis is pleased to welcome Mark Oppenheimer, who will join the Center as Professor of Practice and Executive Editor of Religion & Politics.
Oppenheimer will join the Center on May 28, 2024, and will restart the Center’s online journal, which went on hiatus in May 2023. Religion & Politics was founded in 2012 as a public project of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. Oppenheimer will also participate in a range of Center events, as well as teach courses on journalism and religion for Washington University undergraduate students.
“Among well-known writers who cover religion in America today, Mark Oppenheimer has stood out for his eloquence, intelligence, and empathy,” noted Mark Valeri, the Rev. Priscilla Wood Neaves Professor of Religion and Politics and Director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics. “We are delighted that he will join our Center, and look forward to working with him as he shapes Religion & Politics, teaches our undergraduates, and helps us to expand the public-facing dimensions of our scholarship.”
Mark Oppenheimer holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Yale, and has taught at Stanford, Wesleyan, Wellesley, NYU, Boston College, and Yale, where he was the founding director of the Yale Journalism Initiative. From 2010 to 2016, he wrote the “Beliefs” column, about religion, for The New York Times, and he has also written for publications including The New Yorker, The Nation, GQ, Slate, The Wall Street Journal, and many more. He created Unorthodox, the world’s most popular podcast about Jewish life and culture, with over 7 million downloads to date. More recently, he hosted an eight-part podcast called Gatecrashers, about the history of Jews and antisemitism at Ivy League schools. He is the author of five books, including The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia and, most recently, Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood. He is currently working on a biography of children’s author Judy Blume.
“In its decade of publishing, Religion & Politics became the go-to source for thoughtful commentary and reporting about American religious and political life. The chance to bring it back from hiatus, and continue the great tradition its editors started, is too good to pass up—as is the chance to work with, and learn from, WashU’s amazingly talented faculty and students. I am really thrilled,” said Oppenheimer.
The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics was established in 2010 at Washington University in St. Louis. The Center serves as an open venue for fostering rigorous scholarship and informing broad academic and public communities about the intersections of religion and U.S. politics. The Center offers undergraduate courses and a minor in religion and politics, as well as a vibrant public event program.
For more information about the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, visit the website at http://rap.wustl.edu or contact Debra Kennard at 314-935-7790.