Jeremy L. Williams
The Rev. Jeremy L. Williams, Ph.D. is a nationally sought-out thinker, preacher, leader, and
author. He hails from Rocket City, USA—Huntsville, Alabama. As a scholar of religion who specializes in
New Testament and Early Christianity, Dr. Williams earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University.
He is an Assistant Professor of New Testament at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University.
At Harvard, he obtained a Masters on the way to the doctorate and has
taught four classes as a Teaching Fellow. Prior to attending Harvard, Dr. Williams graduated
Salutatorian from Lee High School and with Highest Honors in Religious Studies and Economics
from Vanderbilt University. He earned the M.Div. degree from Yale Divinity School where he was
awarded the Henry Hallam Tweedy Prize, which is the highest award presented to graduates. He
has done archaeology restoration at Madgala, Israel, and he has presented work in Germany at the
Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies. Dr. Williams has read Biblical Hebrew in Jerusalem, the
Greek New Testament in Athens, and Classical Latin in Rome.
Dr. Williams' research involves studying biblical passages, especially in Acts, where imperial and local officials criminalize the Jesus following movement. His approach involves using Roman legal studies, critical race theory, Black studies, womanist cultural criticism, and material culture to assess how ancient texts crafted narratives to racialize, criminalize, and victimize individuals and groups of people. Conscious of the role that the Bible plays in public policy, he is invested in developing strategies for reading biblical texts in ways that expose the logics that fuel mass incarceration, over-policing, and discriminatory practices in Western judicial systems. Jeremy has a number of academic publications including, "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, edited by Mitzi Smith, Angela Parker, and Ericka Dunbar Hill.
Rev. Williams received his ordinations in the North Central Alabama Region of the
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church as a member of Acklin CME Church in Berkley, AL. He has
had the opportunity to preach, present, and teach at some of the denomination’s largest gatherings
including the Connectional Youth and Young Adult Conference, the Pastors’ Conference at Phillips
School of Theology, the Unity Summit, and multiple annual and district conferences. He has
received appointments in Gurley, Alabama; Nashville, Tennessee; Bridgeport and Hartford, Connecticut.
Dr. Williams is a non-profit leader. He currently chairs the Board of
FaithActs for Education (a $2 million+ organization), which is based in Bridgeport, CT. He worked at the
corporate office of the Boys & Girls Clubs of North Alabama, where in one year he secured over
$600,000 in grants for the organization. He served his honorable fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, as the
National Second Vice President (Junior Grand Vice Polemarch), which is one of the top four leaders
of the organization who composed the executive committee that directly oversaw the operations of
over $5 million in assets. He also served as vice president of the national Kappa Foundation.
Rev. Williams has written two books and authored numerous publications. His most
recent congregational resource book Wireless Discipleship: Investing in a Strong Connection to the Source of Everything is a manual on
discipleship that has been used across the country and in at least one nation in Africa. He is a
frequent contributor to Sunday School volumes and to periodicals around the world.
Jeremy is married to the former Kiara. J. Boone. He is a dog dad to Kali.
And he works everyday is to inspire people to “dream better dreams.”
