Black History Profile

03 Feb 06 12:00 AM EST

 

Peter Gomes:

Profiles in Courage for Black History Month

 

Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1942, Rev. Peter Gomes is the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard University. He has degrees from Bates College and Harvard Divinity School, and he has honorary degrees from nine American colleges.

 

Rev. Gomes, who is openly gay is a prolific scholar, his best known book is “The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart”.

 

Rev. Gomes shocked the university and many in the Harvard Community when he "came out of the closet" and openly acknowledged that he is gay. He is one of the most published gay authors in America.

 

Named Clergy of the Year in 1998 by Religion in American Life, Professor Gomes participated in the presidential inaugurations of Ronald Wilson Reagan and of George Herbert Walker Bush and presented the Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching, in Yale Divinity School.

 

His New York Times and national best-selling books, The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart, (1996) and Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living (1998) were published by William Morrow and Company, Inc; and he has published seven additional volumes of sermons as well as numerous articles and papers.

 

In 2000, he delivered The University Sermon before The University of Cambridge, England, and preached The Millennial Sermon in Canterbury Cathedral, England.  In 2001, he served as Missioner to Oxford University, preaching a series of talks in the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin.