Ruth Okediji preaches the gospel of learning

Ruth Okediji grew up in a household surrounded by books, with parents who were both academics and Christians. With her father, she often debated the question: What does it mean to be a person of faith in an academic environment? Attending both public and later private schools, all faith-based, she wondered whether educational institutions can combine both faith and academic rigor.
Okediji, professor at Harvard Law School and leading intellectual property law scholar, continued to explore this relationship between faith and intellectual pursuits throughout her life. She dove into the readings of C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Søren Kierkegaard.
“I began to not only prayerfully pursue my academics, but to interrogate my academics through the lens of Scripture,” Okediji told students at an event hosted by The Harvard Law Latter-day Saints chapter of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society.
The growing separation between the private and public spheres has made it more challenging to live out your faith in public as a “fully integrated” person, Okediji told students at another event at Brigham Young University earlier this year. But Okediji believes that exploring faith through public discourse and dialectic is essential to spiritual growth.
“As we study religious truths, biblical truths, we ought to have a place where we can perform better, where we can look more like Christ, where we can engage as a leader,” Okediji concluded. “And that place is the public sphere, not the private sphere.”
Okediji sees faith and biblical teachings as practical tools for addressing the complex challenges facing our society today. “If we are serious about faith, if we think that faith is important to cultivating virtuous citizens, if we think faith has application to poverty, to injustice, to unfairness, to environmental issues — you name the social problem … we must be bold about faith in academic institutions.”
Okediji, who is also the founder and faculty director of the Program on Biblical Law and Christian Legal Studies, is open about her faith at Harvard. She’s spoken about praying for the well-being of her students and their academic and personal growth. She’s also prayed to bring more Christians to Harvard.
In her parting lecture to the graduating law class of 2020, she challenged students to examine what they believe in. “Have faith … because if you don’t have a faith, you should seek one and find one, and make it your faith,” she said, “anchor your life in some immutable truths and some unshakeable convictions.”
For Okediji, faith that is integrated in academic pursuits is a powerful motivator for excellence. “Whether I’m teaching, working on my scholarship, talking to or encouraging my students: Give your best, not because it’s your best, but because it’s an act of worship,” she told Harvard students.
A faith-filled perspective can also shape a more meaningful and balanced view on work, one that moves beyond idolizing efficiency, financial rewards and status. “It needs believers to say: ‘That is not what God created you for, you are not a machine,’” she said.
In April, during her last legal ethics class at Harvard, students discussed whether judges should be elected and if their tenure should have term limits. At the conclusion of the class, Okediji distributed a list of over a hundred values like “balance,” “grace,” “open-mindedness” and “trustworthiness” and asked students to circle 10 values that resonated most with them. She thanked them for the chance to teach the class and said she had written an individual note for each of them.
One of her former students, Nathan Bartholomew, said Okediji challenged the prevailing narratives about the law and reckoned with difficult ethical scenarios in class. Her openness about her values has inspired him to be more confident sharing his own beliefs in public settings.
“She’s somebody who is willing to be bold and courageous in living her faith, which is rare at an institution like Harvard,” said Bartholomew. But the public expression of Okediji’s beliefs is not imposing or self-righteous, he said. It’s an “authentic” and “undeniable” part of who she is within the classroom and beyond.
“She’s always been one to deliver her faith loudly, so that other people can see,” he said.
For Okediji, bringing faith into the public realm is about acknowledging — and honoring — the whole person, no matter the context.
“The dignity of our person is affected by all of the spheres of life, whether you’re at work, whether we’re having fun, whether we are in school learning, whether we’re worshiping in church, whether our worship is internal or external,” Okediji said at BYU. “We are fully integrated across all spheres.”
This story appears in the September 2024 issue of Deseret Magazine. Learn more about how to subscribe.