Bible "Detox": Re-Examining the Lamb with Jeremy Williams

April 08, 2025, 7:30pm Eastern US Time

Reckoning with and resisting the misuse of the Bible to promote and justify violence and oppression.

As Easter approaches, people of all faiths and backgrounds are invited to join in this deep dive into the biblical imagery of Jesus as the slaughtered lamb. The session will be led by New Testament scholar Jeremy L. Williams who brings an abolitionist, anti-imperial and anti-racist lens to his efforts to unlock the liberating power of scripture for today’s world. Rev. Dr. Williams will unpack how a detailed understanding of the way the early Christian movement was facing off with the Roman imperial religion can help us heal from the confusion of sacrificial, substitutionary theology, and re-center the call to faithful discipleship that is the true message of the Easter story.

PLEASE NOTE: Registration will be open until 7:00pm Eastern US Time on the day of the event.

Image: “The Lamb” by Paul Klee.

Rev. Dr. Jeremy Williams is a scholar of religion who specializes in New Testament and Early Christianity. His 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, myth 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 forthcoming publications including, “Victory Today is Mine: The Present, Power, and Perseverance in Revelation 12:1-12.” Dr. Williams is an ordained elder in full connection in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church with almost two decades of ministerial experience. Read his full bio here.