Rev. Dr. Jason Carson Wilson

Rev. Dr. Jason Carson Wilson lectures on the intersections of faith, politics, race, LGBTQIA+ liberation, journalism, and social justice. His areas of expertise include Black queer theology, womanist theology, public theology, liberation theology, Christian nationalism, religious influence on American democracy, LGBTQIA+ inclusion in religious institutions, and the role of faith communities in movements for social change. He also lectures on chosen family systems theory and chosen family theology, original frameworks he developed through lived experience, academic scholarship, and observations during his chaplain residency in a forensic psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C. Additional topics include congregational leadership in politically polarized communities, disability justice, spiritual care, trauma-informed ministry, advocacy and organizing, nonprofit leadership, and the power of journalism and storytelling to challenge injustice and hold institutions accountable.

Rev. Dr. Wilson brings together formal theological education, nearly three decades of journalism experience, pastoral ministry, public policy advocacy, organizational leadership, and spiritual care. He holds a Bachelor of Science in print journalism from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a Master of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of New Theology from The New Theology School, where Wilson developed Chosen Family Systems Theory and Chosen Family Theology. He is also a Doctor of Ministry candidate at Pacific School of Religion, where his focus is the intersection of journalism and public theology as tools for social change. Wilson has spent more than three years in the classroom, including serving as a graduate teaching assistant. His professional experience includes serving as a Justice and Peace Policy Fellow in the United Church of Christ’s Washington, D.C., office; founding the Bayard Rustin Liberation Initiative; serving as a minister of social justice education and advocacy; and working as a chaplain resident at St. Elizabeths Hospital, where he completed four units of clinical pastoral education. He also served as an inaugural Bayard Rustin Fellow with Community Renewal Society and founded Liberating Strategies LLC, through which he provides strategic consulting, training, and coaching to progressive organizations and faith communities. These experiences inform his approach to teaching by connecting theological and theoretical frameworks with practical applications in ministry, journalism, community organizing, public policy, and institutional transformation.

Rev. Dr. Wilson is passionate about making scholarship accessible, relevant, and transformative. He is particularly interested in helping students and audiences critically examine how religion intersects with systems of power, identity, public policy, and everyday life. His work centers the intellectual and spiritual contributions of Black, queer, womanist, and other historically marginalized communities while challenging dominant narratives that use religion to justify exclusion, oppression, or political authoritarianism. His lecturing style is engaging, conversational, interdisciplinary, and grounded in real-world experience. He combines rigorous research, theological analysis, historical context, journalism, personal reflection, and contemporary case studies to help audiences connect complex ideas with practical questions. He encourages critical thinking, respectful disagreement, active participation, and honest engagement with difficult subjects. Rather than treating education as the passive transfer of information, he views teaching as a collaborative process that equips learners to question assumptions, recognize injustice, imagine alternatives, and translate knowledge into meaningful action. His ultimate goal is to cultivate informed, compassionate, and courageous leaders who understand that intellectual inquiry and spiritual reflection carry responsibilities beyond the classroom.