The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes is an American Baptist minister ordained to the Christian Ministry by The First Baptist Church of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Since 1970 he has served in The Memorial Church, Harvard University; and since 1974 as Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church. A member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and of the Faculty of Divinity of Harvard University, Professor Gomes holds degrees from Bates College (A.B., 1965), and from the Harvard Divinity School (S.T.B.,1968); and thirty-six honorary degrees.

Widely regarded as one of America’s most distinguished preachers, Professor Gomes fulfills preaching and lecturing engagements throughout America and the British Isles. In 2007 he preached at the Inauguration of Deval L. Patrick as Governor of Massachusetts; in 2005 he presented a series of sermons in St. Edmundsbury Cathedral, England, in the presence of Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall; in 2000 he delivered The University Sermon before The University of Cambridge, England, and The Millennial Sermon in Canterbury Cathedral, England; and in 1998 he presented The Beecher Lectures on Preaching, in Yale Divinity School. Named Clergy of the Year in 1998 by Religion in American Life, Professor Gomes participated in the presidential inaugurations of Ronald Wilson Reagan and of George Herbert Walker Bush. His New York Times best-selling books, The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart (1996); and Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living (1998), were published by William Morrow and Company, Inc.; The Good Life: Truths That Last in Times of Need was published in 2002 by HarperSanFrancisco, which published Strength for the Journey: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living in spring 2003. In 2005, The Backward Glance and the Forward Look was published by WordTech. He has also published ten volumes of sermons as well as numerous articles and papers.