Julia Berger is a scholar, educator, and community leader whose work bridges the fields of religion, education, human rights, and social transformation. She holds a Ph.D. in Theology and Religious Studies, a Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Curriculum Design, and a Bachelor of Arts in Cross-Cultural Psychology, an academic background that reflects her lifelong commitment to understanding and advancing the relationship between culture, spirituality, and human development.
Julia’s professional career spans both academia and the international policy arena. She has served as Principal Researcher on Human Rights and Gender Equality at the Bahá’í International Community’s United Nations Office, where she contributed to global initiatives promoting justice and equality, and as a Research Associate at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where she engaged in policy-relevant scholarship on religion and governance. Her research and analysis in these areas culminated in her acclaimed book, Rethinking Religion and Politics in a Plural World: The Bahá’í International Community and the United Nations (Bloomsbury, 2021).
As an educator, Julia has taught across multiple levels, from middle schools to higher education. She currently teaches in the Department of Religion at Montclair State University, where she brings her interdisciplinary expertise to bear in fostering inclusive and critical approaches to religious studies.
Deeply committed to service and interfaith collaboration, Julia is a Trustee of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, one of the world’s leading platforms for dialogue and cooperation across faith traditions. Locally, she co-founded the Montclair Race Amity Initiative, which advances community-based efforts to build unity and racial justice.
Her primary interests focus on community-based collaboration rooted in a framework for action that emphasizes unity and justice, coherence between the spiritual and material dimensions of life, capacity-building, universal participation, and learning as a mode of operation. Whether in scholarship, teaching, or grassroots initiatives, Julia’s work reflects a consistent vision: harnessing the power of knowledge, spirituality, and collaboration to create more equitable and harmonious communities.