David R. Williams, renowned social scientist and Andrews alumnus, returned to campus in early February for the launch of Black History Month, sharing messages extolling unity, faith and excellence.
Williams, the Norman Professor of Public Health at Harvard University and professor of African and African American history, presented speeches at both the Seminary and main campus chapel talks on Tuesday, Feb. 3, and Thursday, Feb. 5, respectively. From his humble roots in Aruba, Williams has an incredibly impressive list of accomplishments, including teaching in the sociology and public health departments of Yale University and the University of Michigan. He has given a prestigious TED Talk, been featured in many mainstream media news outlets, and was the second Seventh-day Adventist elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Before his remarks during seminary chapel, Williams lauded the master’s of divinity program as “the most intellectually stimulating academic program” he has been in. In his talk, “That They All May Be One,” he said that the unity of God’s followers was meant to show the power of God to an unbelieving world. However, the scourge of division and segregation within the Christian church has hindered that work. He cited examples of Seventh-day Adventist conferences advocating separation along ethnic lines in Europe and South Africa. He also addressed the establishment of regional conferences within the church here in the United States, including what he said was a widely held myth that Black Adventists demanded the arrangement. Instead, he took listeners through a brief recap of resistance to Edson White’s mission work to southern Blacks in the late 1800s and troubling incidents in the mid-1900s that led to outcry from Black Adventists; citing historical accounts, he shared that the regional conferences were a concession from GC officials unwilling to acquiesce to demands for integration and equal treatment.
Though he addressed disturbing parts of Adventist history and sobering recent research trends linking fundamentalist religious orientation to higher levels of prejudice, he ended with a resounding message imploring listeners to remember Jesus’ prayer in John 17 and to strive for humility and unity.
“I want us to [go] back to what God is calling us to do: That we would be one,” he said. “That the world may believe that we, all His children, would be one so that [they] would know that He was sent into the world.”
In his Thursday chapel address, entitled “Exceedingly Abundantly Above What You Could Ask or Think,” Williams highlighted how when we always try our best, and trust God for the outcomes, great (and even impossible) things are possible. When his mother was pregnant in Aruba, doctors pressured her to get an abortion as they said her baby would almost certainly grow up to be mentally deficient. But she chose life, and Williams' life story has proved those doctors wrong at every turn. From poverty in the Caribbean to struggling as a literature evangelist in Canada to pay for his tuition at Andrews, Williams benefited from both his own effort and God’s providence.
After recounting the trials and barriers that he overcame, Williams used his many achievements to extol the goodness and faithfulness of God. He urged the student body to always strive for excellence, remembering that we are all miracles of God and that God has plans to prosper us and to give us a future and hope.
Williams’ talk highlighted the role that mentors, professors, and self-sacrificing others played in his own life, starting with his own Christian mother, who chose life when medical professionals told her it was a risk. Though he faced immigration hurdles, setbacks and financial struggles, he persisted and overcame to rise to the highest levels of academic and professional achievement.
– With additional reporting by Kaara Harris
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.