Greg Epstein

Greg M. Epstein serves as the humanist chaplain at Harvard University and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). For more than two decades, he has built a unique career as one of the world’s most prominent humanist chaplains —professionally trained members of the clergy who support the ethical and communal lives of nonreligious people. Described as a “godfather to the [humanist] movement” by The New York Times Magazine, Epstein was also named “one of the top faith and moral leaders in the United States” by Faithful Internet, a project coordinated by the United Church of Christ with assistance from the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society, for his efforts to bring together atheists, agnostics, and allies, as part of an ancient and ever-evolving ethical tradition that can be called humanism. As Greg believes deeply: in a changing world where faith in humankind can be more difficult to maintain, it is more important than ever to fight for our common humanity, and for each other.  

Greg’s New York Times bestselling book, Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe, remains influential years after its initial publication helped popularize the notion that the rapidly growing population of secular people can live lives of deep purpose, compassion, and connection. In 2018 Greg joined MIT alongside his work at Harvard, and in 2019-20 was the first “ethicist in residence” at leading Silicon Valley publication TechCrunch. These and other experiences inspired his new book, Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why it Desperately Needs a Reformation, out on Oct. 29, 2024 from MIT Press, distributed by Penguin Random House. His writing has also appeared in The Boston Globe, MIT Technology Review, CNN.com, The Washington Post, and Religion News Service.