Peter Gomes

Peter Gomes

Professor, Harvard Divinity School; Reverend, The Memorial Church at Harvard

Peter Gomes is an American Baptist minister who has served in The Memorial Church at Harvard University since 1970. Gomes is also the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and is the Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church. Gomes is commonly regarded as one of the most distinguished preachers in America. He was named Clergy of the Year in 1998 by Religion in American Life and offered prayers in the inaugurations of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

Educated at Bates College and the Harvard Divinity School, Revered Gomes alsoholds thirty-six honorary degrees. He is the author of numerous books on the Bible, including the national best-sellers TheGood Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart and Sermons:Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living. 

1 min
“He made us think” would be a very nice epitaph.
1 min
How a “literate preacher” crafts his sermons.
4 min
“Well I had grown up with everybody else’s expectations. And so when you reach a certain age, you decide whether you own those expectations or you reject them.”
6 min
“Most of the black people that I knew growing up looked and sounded and talked just as I do.”
2 min
Peter Gomes distinguishes between hope (a long view) from optimism (the short view).
9 min
No matter where they go after college, young people discover there’s no there there.