Biography

Kent Johnson has been a member of the Luther Seminary faculty since 1976, when he was called as assistant professor.  He was promoted to professor in 1985.  He has been acting director of continuing education (1986-87) and chair of the department of pastoral theology and ministry (1982-85).

Johnson started as a teacher in the Hurley (S.D.) public schools in 1955-56.  He moved to a teaching position in Barrow, Alaska.  He returned to South Dakota, where he taught at Augustana Academy in Canton as a seminary intern in 1959-60.

Ordained in 1961, he served as an army chaplain (1961-64) before becoming pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Lynwood, Calif. (1964-66, 70-74).  He returned to South Dakota as assistant professor and dean of men (1966-70) and campus pastor (1974-76) at Augustana College in Sioux Falls.

Johnson earned the B.A. degree at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, in 1955, and the B.D. from Luther Seminary in 1961.  He received both the M.A. and Ed.D. degrees from the University of Wyoming.  He did additional study at Uppsala in Sweden during a sabbatical in 1982.

He is a member of the Religious Education Association.

His books include: War, Depression, Prohibition and Racism: the Response of the Sunday School to an Era of Crisis, 1933-1941 (1992); Why Do People Suffer?  Responding to Evil and Suffering (1992); Growing with God’s Child, Parenting the 20-29-Year-Old (1988); Paul the Teacher (1986); Called to Teach (1984); and Jeremiah, God Calls a Servant, a Bible Study Series (1997).