James G. Williams

I received a Master of Divinity degree from Perkins School of Theology(SMU) in 1962 and a Ph.D. from Hebrew Union College-JIR in Hebrew Bible and Cognate Studies in 1966. During this time of formal study I also served as pastor Methodist churches in Oklahoma and Illinois and a Congregational church in Ohio. In 1993 I became a Roma Catholic. From 1966 to 1998 I taught at Syracuse University. During that period I headed, at various times, graduate studies in religion and Jewish studies, and I served on the college promotion and tenures committees for ten years. In 1985 I had the good fortune to come upon the work of René Girard and eventually we became close friends. I was the the primary organizer of a Girardian organization, the Colloquium on Violence and Religion, which was started in1990; it took on a constitution and a slate of officers in 1991.

I have authored five books, including The Bible, Violence, and the Sacred and Girardians: The Collloquium on Violence and Religion 1990-2010, and I have edited or coedited seven others, including The Girard Reader.

My wife Yvonne and I have been married for 64 years. We have three children, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. After retirement we moved back to Oklahoma, our native state, taking residence in the growing small city of Edmond.