To commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Ohio Northern University, professor Jonathon L. Walton will speak on “The Intersection of Religion and Social Justice” in the English Chapel on Tuesday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m.

This event, sponsored by the ONU Office of Multicultural Development, is free and open to the public.

A social ethicist and scholar of American religions, Walton is the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard University and Pusey Minister in Harvard’s Memorial Church. He is also a professor of religion and society on the faculty of divinity. Walton’s research addresses the intersections of religion, politics and media culture.

Walton has published widely in scholarly journals such as Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation and Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. His book, “Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism” disrupts commonly held assumptions that associate evangelical broadcasting with white, conservative evangelical communities, while illuminating the ways televangelists’ professed aims are frustrated by their hyper-mediated methods.

Walton’s work and insights have been featured in several national and international news outlets, including The New York Times, CNN and the BBC. Walton earned his Ph.D. and Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. The Atlanta native graduated from Morehouse College with a B.A. in political science. Walton was an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of California, Riverside prior to joining the faculty of Harvard Divinity School.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at ONU on Jan. 11, 1968, in one of his final appearances on a college campus before being assassinated in April later that year.