Joel Edward Goza is a leading expert at the intersection of race, religion, and politics. 

He served as a professor of ethics at the HBCU Simmons College of Kentucky and has taught extensively in Kentucky prisons. Joel also actively engages reparations organizations and initiatives across the nation.

His first book “America’s Unholy Ghosts: The Racist Roots of Our Faith and Politics” received a Publishers Weekly Starred Review. His second book, “Rebirth of a Nation: Reparations and Remaking America” was a Forward Indies finalist. Joel’s current project is tentatively entitled from “From Dust to Dust: Meditations on Striving, and Surviving.” 

His writing has appeared in numerous national outlets including the Los Angeles Times, The Houston Chronicle, The Hill, Religion News Service, Salon, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Before focusing on writing and teaching, Joel worked in urban redevelopment and community activism for over a decade. Joel is a graduate of Wheaton College and received his Master's of Divinity from Duke University and a master’s in public affairs from the LBJ School of Public Policy at the University of Texas.