Professor
Emeritus
Dr. William R. Jones
Office - 106 Bellamy Bldg
Phone - (850) 644-5512
Email -
wbilljones@aol.com
Dr. William R. Jones is an internationally-recognized scholar in
the areas of Multiculturalism, Liberation Theology, and Oppression.
He has been a member of the Florida State University faculty since
1977, when he became the first director of African American
Studies and a professor
in the Department of Religion. He teaches Theory and Dynamics of
Oppression, Introduction to the African American Experience, and
special topics in African American Religion, African American participation
in sports, and conflict reduction. He now teaches one semester each
academic year at FSU.
Biography
William R. Jones has devoted his 35-year career as a scholar, educator,
philosopher, and activist to the diagnosis and mapping of oppression
and the development of strategies to correct social inequities. Central,
if not inaugural, to this work has been the investigation of liberation
theology, religious humanism, and theories of culture. Greatly influenced
by the work of W.E.B. Du Bois,
Carter G. Woodson, Frederick
Douglass,
Jean-Paul
Sartre, Albert Camus,
Frantz Fanon, H. Richard Niebuhr , and Peter Berger , Jones's
scholarship and activism have been primarily targeted towards the
intersection of religion, education, empowerment, and social justice.
Much of his recent work has been dedicated to conflict reduction.
Jones has conducted extensive field research on social change
in the Republic of South Africa (with annual research trips since
1990) and has lectured widely on the changing face of apartheid
and the dynamics of liberation movements. He has been invited to
share his research with numerous universities, societies, labor
unions, religious organizations, school systems, and juvenile justice
programs throughout the United States and abroad. Dr. Jones has
presented his research in South Africa, Kenya, Martinique, Ghana,
Korea, Belgium, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, Canada, and Great Britain.
In addition to endowed and major lectures sat such institutions
as Cornell, Union Theological Seminary, Tufts, Vanderbilt, Ohio
State, Tuskegee Institute, and Wesley Theological Seminary, he has
worked with countless grassroots organizations and churches across
America.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky Dr. Jones received his B.A. with
highest honors in philosophy form
Howard University, his M.Div., from
Harvard University,
(W.E. B. DuBois Institute), and his Ph.D., in Religious Studies
from Brown University. Prior to accepting his positions at FSU,
he was a member of the faculty at Yale Divinity School and served
as Coordinator of African American Studies. He has
also held visiting professorships
at Brown University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Union Theological
Seminary, Iliff School of Theology, and the Humanist Institute in
New York.
Although his speaking activities have comprised an important part
of this work, Jones has also made programmatic contributions to
African American graduate education in Florida and the nation. While
he was the Principal Investigator for the Patricia Roberts Harris
Fellowship Program, Florida State University produced 50% of the
nationally earned Ph.Ds in Criminology from 1987-1990. He has developed
several programs to enhance graduate student retention and graduation
rates. Due in large part to these programs, FSU has become a national
leader in the production of African American doctorates across the
disciplines.
Dr. Jones has been the recipient of myriad humanitarian, teaching,
and scholarly awards. Among these are The William R. Jones Most
Valuable Mentor Award-an annual award established by the Florida
Education Fund for Higher Education (first recipient, 1991), the
Martin Luther King, Jr. Distinguished Service Award (1986), the
American Humanist Association Humanist Pioneer of the Year (1992),
the Jim Barrett Social Justice Award (first recipient, 1995), African
American Culture and Philosophy Award (first recipient, 1994), and
the Holmes Weatherly Award (1996). Additionally, FSU students, alumni,
and colleagues established The William R. Jones Enhancement Fund
in 1991.
Jones has served as a member of the board of numerous national
and international institutions, including the Florida Education
Fund , the Florida Humanities
Council , the Unitarian-Universalist Association, the International
Association of Humanist Educators, the African Institute for the
Study of Humanistic Values (Accra, Ghana), the National Council
for African American Studies , and the Starr King School of
Religion. Also
of note, he is a charter member of the Society for the Study of
African American Religion and was the first chair of the
American Philosophical
Association's Committee on Blacks.
Professor Jones has also served on the editorial boards of the
American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, UNIQUEST, the Journal
of Religious Humanism, the Journal of Metaphilosophy, and Kairos.
In addition, he has served on steering, credential, and awards committees
at the Harvard Divinity School, the Union Theological Seminary,
the University of Cincinnati, and the Unitarian Universalist Association.
He is the author of many articles and
chapters on oppression and the role of the church in social
change. His work has been the subject of many articles, dissertations,
newspaper and journal features, as well as several directory listings.
In 1978, Jones co-edited Black Theology II with Calvin E. Bruce.
In December 1997, Beacon Press released Jones's controversial, 1973
work, Is God A White Racist? Prolegomenon
to Black Theology, with a new preface and afterword. He is
currently at work on two books outlining the Jones Analytical Method
and the Jones Oppression Grid: The Mis-Religion of the Negro and
Oppression: The Good That People Do.
Suggested Reading List
