James Howard Hill, Jr.

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. He teaches courses and conducts research in black study, religion and the politics of popular culture in the United States, political theory, black political thought, modernity, ecology, and coloniality, and conceptual methodologies informing the study of religion. Hill, Jr is the author of two forthcoming books under contract: The Haunting King: Religion, Michael Jackson, and the Politics of Black Popular Culture (under contract with The University of Chicago Press Class 200: New Studies in Religion series) and Haunting Joy: Essays on Religion, Black Popular Culture, and Overcoming Childhood Adversity (under contract with Fortress Press).  He is a 2024 inductee into the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College. 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.