Assistant Professor
James Howard Hill, Jr. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at Boston University. He holds a B.A. from Criswell College, an M.T.S. from Southern Methodist University, and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Hill, Jr. teaches courses and conducts research in black study, religion and culture in the United States, cultural criticism and theory, black theologies of liberation, theopoetics, the destructive plundering of the environment, and critical theory. Hill, Jr.’s forthcoming book “The Michael Jackson Cacophony: Religion and the Politics of Black Popular Culture, 1963-1989″ (under contract with University of Chicago Press Class 200: New Studies in Religion series) examines how a critical study of the relationship between Michael Jackson, the entwined management of race and religion in the United States, and the politics of popular culture destabilizes modern notions of the proper location of religion, and religion itself. His scholarship has received recognition and support from The Crossroads Project, The Heidelberg Center for American Studies (Heidelberg, Germany), The Henry Luce Foundation, the Forum for Theological Exploration, The Louisville Institute, Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, Social Science Research Council (SSRC), and the Mellon Cluster Research Fellowship in Comparative Race and Diaspora studies.
His cultural criticism on issues of race, popular music, sports, politics, and religion can be read in Black Agenda Report, The Syndicate, Black Perspectives, and The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, among other outlets.