How Christianity Got Jesus Wrong with Reggie Williams

Join us Tuesday, February 3rd, at 7 p.m. ET for a Center for Christogenesis webinar with Reggie Williams.

Throughout history, shifting social, political, and economic circumstances have brought new interests and anxieties to the surface, shaping the questions each era brings to the story of Jesus. Yet these shifts have rarely been harmless. This ongoing process of adaptation has repeatedly remade Jesus into an ideological avatar, depicting him as one who sanctifies injury and harm—clothing violence in the garments of devotion to God. So deeply has Christianity been entangled with destructive political and cultural projects that confronting harmful ideologies is often perceived as an attack on the faith itself. To break this destructive pattern, we must ask with seriousness: how have Christians come to misunderstand Jesus so profoundly?

About Reggie Williams

Reggie Williams is Associate Professor of Black Theology and African American Studies at St Louis University in St Louis, Missouri. He is the author of Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance, which was selected as a Choice Outstanding Title in theology, in 2014 (revised edition, 2021). The book examines the impact of exposure to theology in the Harlem Renaissance on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was killed by the Nazis in 1945 for his resistance. Dr. Williams is currently work includes a story of a complicated Christian response to fascism, and a study of ethics for better response to social injustice. Dr. Williams’ research interests include Black Theology, Black Studies, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Studies, and Christian ethics. Dr. Williams is a board member of the English Language section of the International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society, former board member of the Society for the Study of Black Religion, and the Society for Christian Ethics. Dr. Williams and his wife Stacy are the parents of a son, Darion, and a daughter, Simone.