 Born a Jew, Wilson performs speaking and leadership roles in the Unification Church's Middle East Peace Initiative, with a focus on Christian–Jewish reconciliation.He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1971, and later obtained an M.T.S from Harvard Divinity School and Ph.D. from Harvard.Wilson was subject to a forced deprogramming attempt in 1975, and in late 1980 protested a Harvard talk on the subject by cult critic Margaret Thaler Singer.