Dr. Reggie Williams Shares His Studies on the Road
09-25-2013
By B. Vaughan
McCormick faculty member, Dr. Reggie Williams is committed to sharing his knowledge and insight in the communities outside the walls of McCormick Seminary.
Dr. Williams will be participating in two conferences in the next few weeks.
This Friday, September 27, 2013, he will be participating in a Symposium on the Theological Interpretation of Scripture at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. Dr. Williams will be responding to a paper presented by Amy Laura Hall, of Duke Divinity School, entitled “No Shortcut to the Promised Land: The Fosdick Brothers, Scientific Faith, and the Glittering Allure of Leadership.” To attend, visit http://www.northpark.edu/Seminary/About-the-Seminary/Symposium.
In October, Dr. Williams will be attending the PC(USA)’s Synod Committee on Representation training event in Rosemont, Illinois, October 24-26, 2013. He will be speaking at the third plenary session on “Martin Luther King, Jr. Confronting the Viral Narrative of Race” on Friday, October 25 at 10:30 a.m. Later that day, Dr. Williams will be hosting a worship at 3:00 p.m. on “Bonhoeffer and the Harlem Renaissance.”
Dr. Reggie Williams joined the McCormick faculty as Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics in July of 2012. Before coming to McCormick, Reggie taught ethics at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and Practical Theology at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California.
Dr. Williams’ research interests are primarily focused on Christological hermeneutics, and Christian morality. He has a particular interest in how the Western-world understanding of Christian has been calibrated to a false ideal that corresponds with racialized interpretations of humanity, morality, and Jesus. His current projects include an analysis of the developments within Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology and ethics, as a result of his experience in the Harlem Renaissance, 1930-31.
Dr. Williams received his Ph.D. in Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2011. His dissertation was entitled: “Christ-Centered Empathic Resistance: The Influence of Harlem Renaissance Theology on the Incarnational Ethic of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.” He earned a Master’s degree in Theology from Fuller in 2006 and a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies from Westmont College in 1995. He was a Dissertation Fellow with the Fund for Theological education, and is a member of the American Academy of Religion and the Society for Christian Ethics.
Dr. Williams’ current book project is titled Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an ethic of Resistance (forthcoming from Baylor University Press).
About McCormick Theological Seminary
McCormick is one of 12 schools related to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and is an accredited member of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) and is affiliated with the University of Chicago, the Hyde Park Cluster of Theological Schools and the Association of Chicago Theological Schools (ACTS). As one of the nation’s most respected seminaries, it celebrates and prepares women and men from all denominations and backgrounds for Christian ministry and service in the year 2040 and beyond, advancing a model of education that is cross-cultural, urban, Reformed and ecumenical.
