When Kristen Deede Johnson assumes her role as the 11th principal of Wycliffe College, an evangelical Anglican theological school embedded at the University of Toronto, it will represent a kind of ecclesial homecoming to her Anglican roots.
Johnson has been with Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, since 2013, initially as a professor of theology and Christian formation and more recently as dean and vice president of academic affairs for the ecumenical seminary with ties to the Reformed Church in America.
But her roots are in the Episcopal Church, specifically at The Falls Church, a historic parish located near Washington, D.C. Johnson spent several stints overseas because of her father’s government job, but the D.C. area remained the family’s home base throughout her childhood.
“I came to faith through the Episcopal Church in freshman year of high school at The Falls Church Episcopal, so that was very shaping for my faith and my vocational discernment,” Johnson said.
Through her involvement in youth group and later campus ministry at the University of Virginia, Johnson began exploring with like-minded friends the idea of vocation, and questions related to the integration of faith, life, and work began animating her studies.
“The language of ‘vocation’ was not widespread then. [It was] before the proliferation of vocation and faith-and-work movements,” she said. “But there seemed to be a gap between our profession of faith and how we could integrate that into our lives.”
During her studies at UVA, the field of sociology began unlocking some key discoveries related to culture, society, and discipleship. She cited Dr. James Davison Hunter, a sociologist whose book Culture Wars: The Struggle to Control the Family, Art, Education, Law, and Politics in America (1991) spread a popular phrase in American life, as a major influence on her academic pursuits.
“It was really significant in understanding that there was this layer of culture that we inhabit that shapes us, that shapes our ways of thinking and believing without us realizing it,” she said. “It’s not that culture is bad or the enemy. It’s just a sociological reality. And trying to be attentive to it as a person of faith seemed really significant and a new category for me as a Christian.”
Johnson sensed she might be called into ministry, perhaps working with teens, but felt compelled to continue exploring the questions that energized her studies.
“I was aware that there was a gap between the academy and the church, and I was discovering all these things through sociology that seem to have real bearing on ministry in my own life as a disciple, so maybe my role is to be a bridge between these worlds,” she said.
Meanwhile, around the same time, her ties to Anglicanism deepened through an unexpected encounter. When Johnson found herself hospitalized with a minor kidney infection, her friend brought her two books—one by P.G. Wodehouse and another on the history of the English Reformation.
“Through reading that history, I suddenly understood a lot more about the tradition. Even though I had come to faith in an Episcopal Church, I hadn’t taken it in at that point—where the Book of Common Prayer came from, for example. The martyrdom was quite striking to me, that people gave their lives so that I could have these forms of prayer and liturgy. And that coincided with my studies because I was asking more and more questions about the intersection of culture and Christianity, and forms of worship ended up becoming a significant part of that questioning.”
The Episcopal Church became fertile ground for a burgeoning academic. Christ Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, where she worshiped at the time, counted several scholars among its parishioners.
“That was a very life-giving interaction where we could really wrestle as Christians with these big questions, as well as our own lives of faith,” she said.
Johnson pursued a Ph.D. in Theology at St. Mary’s College of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. It was her first foray into theological studies.
“I was shaped quite a bit by Karl Barth and the Torrance family [Scottish theologians]; I was shaped by Reformed themes of covenant and grace,” she said of her studies.
In her third year at St. Andrews, she met her future husband, Tryg, who is ordained in the Reformed Church in America.
Johnson was hired in 2005 as an assistant professor of political science at Hope College, the liberal arts college out of which Western Theological Seminary was born, and later became the director of its Center for Ministry Studies. In 2013, she moved across the street to join the faculty of Western, teaching courses related to theology and Christian formation. She has served as the lead academic administrator at the seminary since 2019, overseeing the faculty and degree programs. Western serves just under 400 seminarians, according to the Association of Theological Schools.
She published her first book, Theology, Political Theory, and Pluralism: Beyond Tolerance and Difference, with Cambridge University Press, and later wrote The Justice Calling: Where Passion Meets Perseverance (2016) with Bethany H. Hoang, which Christianity Today named as a book of the year in politics and public life.
Johnson says she hasn’t felt a specific call to administrative leadership, but she’s attempted to take faithful next steps as those opportunities have come her way. That was the case when she was approached with the opportunity to lead Wycliffe.
“It was Wycliffe’s connection to the evangelical Anglican tradition that really seemed significant within my own story of faith,” she said. “The sense I had when I returned to the Episcopal Church in my 20s was that that would be an enduring part of my calling. I just wasn’t sure what that would look like.
“I think I have at times said [I’ve been on] a long sojourn in the Reformed tradition, but it was a home too. But I do feel a sense of homecoming in returning to the Anglican tradition,” she said.
She will become principal of Wycliffe in July, succeeding the Rt. Rev. Dr. Stephen Andrews, who has led the college since 2016. In the school’s announcement of Johnson’s selection last fall, Andrews praised her “love for the church and a passion for discipleship formation.”
Johnson’s preparing for her new role has included visits to Toronto, assisting the school with a grant application, and attending Communion Partners’ annual meeting earlier this year.
Johnson anticipates a lot of time listening and learning as she steps into the new role. One of the central questions facing institutions like Wycliffe is how to honor its eccesial tradition while opening the doors to those coming from other traditions, she said.
“Questions about identity are very significant within this moment, probably within all of theological education, in a largely post-denominational context for seminaries and theological colleges that have deep denominational roots,” she said.
“The rhythms of [Wycliffe] College are largely oriented around Morning and Evening Prayer and this beautiful history of being Anglican, which we all want to preserve, while acknowledging that, for other students, that’s not part of their tradition of practice,” she said.
Johnson also acknowledges the significant challenges facing theological education. As a growing number of seminaries consolidate or close altogether, stewardship of the institution will be a top priority.
“Seminaries have gone through hard times before, as has the church, and Christ is Lord, and by God’s grace, institutions can survive hard times,” she said. “And Wycliffe is thankfully in a good place, but the whole enterprise is in a time of challenge. So we really want to think and need to think about the financial model and how to sustain and build on the important work we’ve been doing.”
Lauren Anderson-Cripps is a domestic correspondent for TLC.
