Jonathan Lee Walton became president of Princeton Theological Seminary in 2023. The Seminary celebrated his official inauguration and installation on October 13, 2023. Watch the ceremony here.

Dr. Walton is trained as a social ethicist whose scholarship focuses on the intersection of evangelical Christianity, mass media, and political culture. He is the author of two books: Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism (NYU Press, 2009) and A Lens of Love: Reading the Bible in Its World for Our World (Westminster John Knox Press, 2018).

Walton has published widely across various academic journals, books, magazines, and newspapers. His insights have been featured in the New York Times, CNN, Time Magazine, and PBS. Walton is a member of the Humanities Advancement Council at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

Walton earned his Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Divinity degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary. Prior to his appointment at Princeton Theological Seminary, he served as dean of Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity where he occupied the Presidential Chair in Religion & Society, and as the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard University.

Walton is married to the former Cecily Cline — a children’s book author — and they are the parents of three children, Zora Neale, Elijah Mays, and Baldwin Cline.