Brite Divinity School Grants Tenure and Promotion to the Rev. Dr. Jeremy L. Williams
Rev. Dr. Williams to be Associate Professor of New Testament, continues as Director of the Center for Theology and Justice
FORT WORTH, TX – Brite Divinity School is proud to announce the Rev. Dr. Jeremy L. Williams was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of New Testament. Dr. Williams has been on Brite’s faculty for five years, sharing his exceptional scholarship, leadership, and ministry with the Brite community. He will continue in his role as the inaugural Director of the Center for Theology and Justice (CTJ).
“I am excited to be a part of Brite’s work in preparing students to wield the Bible and other ancient resources responsibly so that they can resist interpretations marked by domination, exploitation and violence impacting lives. I’m grateful for a community of scholars who work toward envisioning an abolitionist otherwise defined by freedom, justice, love, and wholeness,” Dr. Williams said.
Dr. Williams is a global thinker, award-winning teacher, national leader, and ordained Elder in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University, his Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School, and his Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University. He is the author of several publications including Criminalization in Acts of the Apostles: Race, Rhetoric, and the Prosecution of an Early Christian Movement, published by Cambridge University Press; “ “Bible and Racialized Violence,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Bible, Race, and Diaspora; “‘I am a Human’: Racializing Assemblages and Criminalized Egyptianness in Acts 21:31-39,” in Bitter the Chastening Rod: Africana Biblical Interpretation after Stony the Road We Trod in the Age of BLM, SayHerName, and MeToo, and more.
“Dr. Williams is a uniquely creative New Testament scholar whose work invites both church and society to encounter scripture as a resource for liberation, justice, and renewed imagination. He equips students, congregations, and public leaders to engage the text with intellectual rigor and moral courage. Brite is honored to celebrate his well-earned tenure and promotion and the extraordinary contributions he continues to make,” said Rev. Dr. Shonda R. Jones, Brite’s Dean and Executive Vice President.
“In his few years at Brite Divinity School, Dr. Williams has brought a rare and beautiful blend of scholarly brilliance and pastoral imagination. In and out of the classroom, he helps student free themselves from death-dealing interpretations of scripture while providing faithful handholds for its messages of liberation. We are so blessed to have him at Brite,” said Rev. Dr. Stephen Cady, President of Brite Divinity School.
He is currently working on a manuscript entitled: "Abolitionist Acts of the Apostles: Reading with Liberti, a Hermeneutic of Imagination.” And alongside his work at Brite, Williams also teaches widely on biblical interpretation, race, and justice, and brings pastoral experience from CME congregations across the country.
Dr. Williams is married to Kiara, with whom he shares the joy of teaching their three-year-old how to journey life well and dream better dreams.
Read Williams’ full biography here.
About Brite Divinity School
Founded in 1914, Brite Divinity School is one of the premier progressive theological institutions in the Southwest. Located on the Texas Christian University Campus in Fort Worth, Texas; Brite Divinity School prepares leaders by focusing on excellent scholarship, pastoral training, and spiritual development through ministerial and academic programs. Led by a transformative calling, Brite Divinity School seeks to educate and inspire people to serve God’s diverse world as leaders in churches, the academy, and public life.