The Right Rev. Robert Christopher Wright is the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. He was elected on June 2, 2012 and his ordination and consecration as a bishop took place on Saturday, October 13th of that year in a special worship service at Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel on the campus of Morehouse College. He is the first African-American to become bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta which is comprised of 117 worshipping communities throughout middle and north Georgia.
Wright was born in a Roman Catholic orphanage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and adopted at the age of nine months. Upon graduating from high school he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served as helicopter crew-chief and search and rescue diver before attending Howard University in Washington DC. Wright graduated with a degree in history and political science and began working for the Children’s Defense Fund and later for two mayors of Washington DC as a child advocate.
He holds a master of divinity degree from the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria and was ordained a deacon in June of 1998 at the Washington National Cathedral and priest in February of 1999 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. He holds certificates from Ridley Hall Cambridge University, Oxford University and The Harvard Kennedy School of Public Policy. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from Virginia Theological Seminary, the School of Theology at Sewanee: The University of the South and the General Theological Seminary. At the time of his election as bishop he was rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Georgia, where he had served 10 years.
He was appointed by the Georgia Supreme Court to a committee that reviews law and policies facing the youth of the state of Georgia. Wright is an adjunct teacher at the Candler School of Theology, the chair of the board of The General Theological Seminary and serves on the boards of Habitat for Humanity International and The Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School.
Starting in 2020, Bishop Wright’s podcast, For People, has listeners in 100 countries and over 4,000 cities.
Wright has been named among the 100 most influential Georgians by Georgia Trend magazine and among the 500 most powerful leaders in Atlanta by Atlanta magazine.
He is married to Beth Sarah-Wright, Ph.D., an inspirational speaker and author, and mother to their five children: Jordan, Emmanuel, Selah, Noah and MosesDaniel. Originally from Jamaica, she has lived and studied worldwide. In her speaking and writing, she tackles issues of faith and depression, the stigmas of mental illness and the role telling your story plays in healing. Dr. Wright holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from New York University, a BA (magna cum laude) from Princeton University in Sociology and Afro-American Studies, and an MPhil in Anthropology from Cambridge University. A former professor at New York University and Spelman College, she currently serves an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Emory School of Medicine. She is the author of three books. For speaking requests and to view her blog, click here.