Albert J. Raboteau

Early life and education Raboteau was born into a Catholic family in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, three months after his father, Albert Jordy Raboteau Sr. (1899–1943), was killed there by a white man. The killer claimed self-defense and was never prosecuted. Raboteau was named for his late father, who was of African and French Creole descent. His widowed mother moved the family from Mississippi, where she was a teacher, to find a better place in the North for her children to grow up. Raboteau was accepted into college at the age of 16. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Loyola University in Los Angeles, California in 1964 and a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley. Around this time, Raboteau married and started a family. Career Princeton University hired Raboteau in 1982, eventually appointing him Henry W. Putnam Professor of Religion in 1992. His research and teaching focus on American Catholic history, African-American religions, and religion and immigration issues. He chaired the Department of Religion (1987–92) and also served as dean of the Graduate School (1992–93). During his professorship, he trained as graduate students Michael Eric Dyson, Eddie Glaude, and Judith Weisenfeld. The Christian Century called Raboteau the "godfather of Afro-religious studies". He died on September 18, 2021, in Princeton, New Jersey, aged 78, due to Lewy body dementia. ==Personal life==

In the late 20th century, Raboteau converted to Eastern Orthodoxy at a time of personal crisis and divorce from his first wife. As of 2002, he served as lay coordinator of Mother of God Joy of All Who Sorrow Orthodox Mission in Rocky Hill, New Jersey. He was married three times and had four children: Albert III, Charles, Martin, and Emily. ==Honors==

• He was the first recipient of the J.W.C. Pennington Award from the University of Heidelberg. • In 2013 The Journal of Africana Religions established the annual Albert J. Raboteau Book Prize, awarded by a five-member committee to a book that" exemplifies the ethos and mission" of the journal. It is an international prize awarded to books by academic publishers. • In 2015 he gave the Stone Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary. ==Books==

• • A Fire in the Bones: Reflections on African-American Religious History, Boston: Beacon Press, 1995. . • African American Religion: Interpretive Essays in History and Culture, New York: Routledge, 1997. . Co-edited with Timothy E. Fulop. • Canaan Land: A Religious History of African Americans. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. . • A Sorrowful Joy: A Spiritual Journey of an African-American Man in Late Twentieth-Century America, New York: Paulist Press, 2002. . • Immigration and Religion in America: Comparative and Historical Perspectives, co-edited with Richard Alba and Josh DeWind; New York: New York University Press, 2008 • American Prophets: Seven Religious Radicals and Their Struggle for Social and Political Justice, Princeton University Press: 2016 ==Further reading==