Eric Williams
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Eric Lewis Williams

2009-2011 Faculty Fellow in Theology and Homiletics

B.A., University of Illinois at Chicago

M.A., McCormick Theological Seminary

M.Div.,The Divinity School, Duke University

Ph.D. Cand., University of Birmingham, U.K.

"Working as a Christian theologian with a view towards homiletics and cultural criticism, I see the sermon and other cultural productions (art, literature, poetry, film and music) as critical sites for theological engagement. Helping students listen with discernment to the Scriptures as the source and norm of Christian preaching as well as reading with students what one scholar has referred to as the often “hidden but powerfully present footprints of God in the affairs of humankind and nations” is for me the greatest joy of teaching."

    • CM101 Introduction to Preaching
        First-year students explore and grasp a biblical and Reformed vision of preaching. Includes a sermon preparation workshop and a "lab" in which written and preached sermons are carefully analyzed by faculty and peers. Significant homiletical concerns are presented, discussed, clarified, and applied to the task of preaching.
    • TF596 The Roots and Routes of Modern Black Theology
        Explores the historical roots of African-American moral thinking and the numerous ways in which religious belief and spiritual practices continue to shape African-Americans' moral thinking, political aspirations and social engagement. Attention will be given to James Cone as founding patriarch and principal architect of Modern Black Theology. Serious attention will be given to theological trajectories abounding within the broader African-American theological tradition (e.g. Womanism, Black Philosophical theologies, the Black Humanist tradition, Afro-Pentecostal thought, Black pastoral/practical theologies and human sciences approaches)

Biography

Professor Eric Williams was the Faculty Fellow at Western Theological Seminary from 2009-2011, teaching in the areas of theology and homiletics. An ordained minister of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), Williams holds a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from the McCormick Theological Seminary and the Master of Divinity degree from The Divinity School, Duke University. While teaching at Western, he was also a doctoral candidate in the Graduate Institute of Religion at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Professor Williams’ studies and ministry have taken him to the continents of Africa, South America, Europe, extensively throughout the continental United States and to several Islands of the Caribbean. His research and writing interests include urban ministry and evangelism, preaching as theological discourse, Black sacred rhetoric, contemporary theologies of the Holy Spirit, religion and cultural criticism and African-American political theologies.

In addition to his formal theological studies, Williams has served congregations within the states of Illinois, New York, Connecticut and North Carolina as well as in the United Kingdom. Williams wants to work bi-vocationally as a parish minister and Christian theologian within the academy.