{{short description|Chaplain, Harvard University}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}} thumb|right|250px|Greg Epstein in 2007 '''Greg M. Epstein''' (born 1977) is an American Humanist chaplain at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is the president of the Harvard Chaplains Organization.<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine|date=2021-09-11|title=Harvard's Atheist-Chaplain Controversy|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/20/harvards-atheist-chaplain-controversy|access-date=2021-09-14|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=An Atheist Is a Perfect Choice to Lead Harvard's Chaplains {{!}} Opinion {{!}} The Harvard Crimson|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/9/9/harvard-chaplain-atheist/|access-date=2021-09-14|website=www.thecrimson.com}}</ref> He is an ordained Humanist rabbi, and has been influential in American humanism as a blogger, spokesperson, adviser and author of the ''New York Times'' bestseller ''Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe''. Epstein was an expert on the first three seasons of the reality show "Married at First Sight."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://harvardhumanist.org/greg-epstein/ |title=Greg Epstein Humanist Chaplain |publisher=Harvard University Humanist Organization |date=January 8, 2014 |access-date=January 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206081016/http://harvardhumanist.org/greg-epstein/|archive-date=February 6, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-m-epstein/ |title=Entries by Greg M. Epstein |publisher=Huffington Post |date=January 8, 2014 }}</ref>
==Early life and education== {{BLP unreferenced section|date=November 2023}} Epstein grew up in Flushing, Queens, New York, as an assimilated and disinterested Reform Jew. He studied Buddhism and Taoism while at Stuyvesant High School in New York City, and, in college, went to Taiwan for a semester aiming to study Chan Buddhism—from which the Zen tradition originated—in its original language and context. Finding that so-called Eastern religions do not necessarily have greater access to truth than Western ones, Epstein returned to the U.S. and shifted his focus to rock music, recording and singing professionally for a year after college. Soon after, he discovered Humanism and considered training as a Humanist rabbi and chaplain.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}
After five years of study in Jerusalem and Michigan, the state in which the Birmingham Temple—the first congregation of the Humanistic Jewish movement—is located,<ref name="v282">{{cite web | last=Falick | first=Jeffrey | title=Birmingham Temple Becomes Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit | website=Society for Humanistic Judaism | date=24 August 2021 | url=https://shj.org/birmingham-temple-becomes-congregation-for-humanistic-judaism-of-metro-detroit/ | access-date=1 January 2025}}</ref> Epstein received ordination (''semikhah'' in Jewish tradition) as a Humanist rabbi from the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism in 2005. Epstein holds a B.A. in religion and Chinese and an M.A. in Judaic studies from the University of Michigan, and an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School.{{cn|date=January 2025}}
== Career ==
=== Humanism at Harvard === Epstein began serving as Humanist Chaplain at Harvard in fall 2005, when the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard's total annual budget was $28,000. In the years since then, he has raised nearly $3 million in gifts and pledges to the organization, while organizing and launching a range of new programs and initiatives, including opening the Humanist Hub, a {{Convert|3200|sqft|adj=on}} "Center for Humanist Life" in Harvard Square, where members are encouraged to "connect with other people, act to make the world better, and evolve as human beings."
While at Harvard, Epstein has blogged for CNN,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/18/my-take-godless-in-boston-mourn-too/ |title=Godless in Boston mourn, too |publisher=CNN |date=18 April 2013 |access-date=January 9, 2014 |archive-date=August 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180824114234/http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/18/my-take-godless-in-boston-mourn-too/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''Newsweek'' and ''The Washington Post''; and his work as a Humanist rabbi and chaplain has been featured by ABC World News with Diane Sawyer. ABC News Network, Al Jazeera and others. He is an adviser to two student groups at Harvard College, the Secular Society and the Interfaith Council, and to the Harvard Humanist Graduate Community. From 2007 to 2010, he chaired the Advisory Board of the national umbrella organization the Secular Student Alliance, joining such renowned nonbelievers as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. In 2011 he lectured at the inaugural event of the group ''Agnostics, Atheists, Humanists, & Secularists'' in Santa Monica, California.<ref name=zuck/>
In an interview, Epstein says that being a Humanist rabbi "means I combine Jewish culture with the belief that this world is all we have". He is not anti-religious and "he is happy to work with the religious left (as he calls it) to help beat off the fundamentalist religious right." ''The Guardian'' compares his influence in American humanism to Richard Dawkins influence in the UK.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/jan/26/humanist-chaplains-universities|title=Humanist chaplains head to the UK|newspaper=Guardian|author=John Crace|date=25 January 2010}}</ref>
In August 2021 Epstein was elected by the members of the Harvard Chaplains Organization as the organization's president, a position that runs normally for two one-year terms.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/september-web-only/atheism-harvard-interfaith-dialogue-why-i-voted-chaplain.html|title=Why I Voted For the Atheist President of Harvard's Chaplain Group|author=Pete Williamson|date=2 September 2021|access-date=11 April 2024|publisher=Christianity Today}}</ref>
=== Humanist Community Project === Epstein led the Boston-based ''Humanist Community Project'', later renamed to ''Humanist Hub'', together with assistant humanist chaplain Vanessa Zoltan.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Atheists: Inside the World of Non-Believers |url=https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/03/17/exp-cnn-creative-marketing-atheists-inside-the-world-of-non-believers.cnn |access-date=April 7, 2019 |series=CNN Special Report |network=CNN |date=March 24, 2015 |minutes=30 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Epstein |first1=Greg |title=2014 Year in review |url=http://harvardhumanist.org/author/greg-epstein/feed/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120820222715/http://harvardhumanist.org/author/greg-epstein/feed/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 20, 2012 |website=Harvard Humanist |accessdate=7 April 2019 }}</ref> The project has several hundred student members and its mission included developing "opportunities for connection, ethical development, and the celebration of life based on human reason, compassion, and creativity, not religious dogma."<ref name="zuck">{{cite book|last1=Zuckerman|first1=Phil|title=Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions|date=2015|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|isbn=9780143127932|pages=127–128|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA127|language=en}}</ref>
=== Ethics of technology at MIT === In 2018 Epstein began serving as humanist chaplain at MIT concurrently with his Harvard post. His role at MIT focuses in large part on the ethics of technology. His duties include encouraging non-religious students to give deep consideration to the societal impact of the entrepreneurial ventures they may go on to launch.<ref name="TheAtlantic_MIT">{{cite web |last1=Fattal |first1=Isabel |title=MIT Now Has a Humanist Chaplain to Help Students With the Ethics of Tech |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/05/mit-now-has-a-humanist-chaplain-to-help-students-with-the-ethics-of-tech/560504/ |website=theatlantic.com |accessdate=30 August 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830161540/https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/05/mit-now-has-a-humanist-chaplain-to-help-students-with-the-ethics-of-tech/560504/ |archivedate=30 August 2018 |date=18 May 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Personal life== In early 2021 Epstein shared his struggles with compulsive smartphone use and addiction to networked technologies.<ref name="BG2021addicted">{{cite news | title=My name is Greg, and I'm addicted to tech |last=Epstein |first=Greg | journal=Boston Globe | date=2021-01-01 | url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/01/opinion/my-name-is-greg-im-addicted-tech/ | access-date=2021-01-03}}</ref>
==References== <references/>
==External links== * [http://chaplains.harvard.edu/people/greg-epstein Mr. Greg Epstein, Humanist Chaplaincy] Harvard University's Chaplains at Harvard profile page for Greg Epstein. * {{IMDb name|6287908}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Epstein, Greg}} Category:American Humanistic Jews Category:Humanistic rabbis Category:Jewish humanists Category:American humanists Category:Jewish American atheists Category:American atheists Category:Harvard Divinity School alumni Category:University and college chaplains in the United States Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:Living people Category:1977 births Category:People from Flushing, Queens Category:American skeptics Category:Secular humanists Category:Harvard University staff Category:Stuyvesant High School alumni Category:Writers about religion and science