Mariam I. Williams
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The Pursuit of Wholeness

The Pursuit of Wholeness

#BlackChurchSex, Best Of, Love Single Life and Marriage, Pleasure, Religion Faith and Spirituality, Sex, Womanism

In 2015, I had a farewell dinner with a friend a few nights before I left Louisville. As we sat inside a dark restaurant filled with families but better suited for couples, awaiting our order of Indo-Chinese fusion dishes we had never heard of, my friend asked,...
The Complexities of Black Christianity

The Complexities of Black Christianity

Black Diaspora, Religion Faith and Spirituality, Research and Scholarship, Respectability, The Bible

I recently attended Ira Dworkin’s talk about his book, “Congo Love Song: African American Culture and the Crisis of the Colonial State.” In the Q&A, I asked: How did Sheppard and Brown see their identity in relation to Africa and their responsibility to the...
For the Fairytale

For the Fairytale

#BlackChurchSex, Black Love, Gender, Love Single Life and Marriage, Pop Culture, Race, Religion Faith and Spirituality

Over the past week or so, as “For the D” and “For the P” challenges have overtaken attention spans, Christians have stepped in with remixes espousing what they would do “For the D [after a ring],” “For My Jesus,” “For My God,” and “For My Husband.” At least, Black...
Radical Self-Love: Writing Intimate Spaces in the Age of Tyranny

Radical Self-Love: Writing Intimate Spaces in the Age of Tyranny

Best Of, Black Love, Feminism, History, In the News, Pleasure, Race, Religion Faith and Spirituality, Sex, Social Justice, Tyranny, Writing Intimacy

For two weeks after the election, I wrote nothing. I was enrolled in two writing workshops for my MFA, and I wrote nothing. I submitted a poem I had written over the summer and didn’t bother to revise for my poetry workshop that week. The following week, I skipped my...
Daring to Conceive of Women’s Agency as Biblical Truth

Daring to Conceive of Women’s Agency as Biblical Truth

Feminism, Gender, Religion Faith and Spirituality, Reproductive Justice, Sex, The Bible

In my early and mid-twenties, I wrote several drafts of a screenplay in which a modern-day Virgin Mary who received word the second coming of Christ would happen through an immaculate conception in her womb essentially says, “No thanks. Find someone else.” I wrote the...
The Ruth-Boaz Myth and the Gospel of Sexual Freedom (#SFS17 Day 2)

The Ruth-Boaz Myth and the Gospel of Sexual Freedom (#SFS17 Day 2)

Best Of, Black Love, Feminism, Pleasure, Religion Faith and Spirituality, Sex

I attended a conference session called, “Defusing the Power of Toxic Religion for Sexual Advocacy,” because I’m writing a memoir about intersections of faith, family, and feminism in my life and of my experience with black female sexuality within the context of the...
The Gospel of Reproductive Justice

The Gospel of Reproductive Justice

Best Of, Feminism, Religion Faith and Spirituality, Reproductive Justice, Social Justice

  At a table on the quiet side of the room, five black women are talking. Sex. Helping a friend buy her first vibrator. Midwifery. Crunk Feminist Collective. Sexual health education. A sexual health education session in an AME church. The girls asked the sex...
Why Being Single Often Feels Like Punishment for Black Church Girls

Why Being Single Often Feels Like Punishment for Black Church Girls

Best Of, Black Love, Pleasure, Religion Faith and Spirituality, Sex

How is a church like prison and being incarcerated like belonging to a church? Both have a way of asking, “How do you plan to handle potentially lifelong, involuntary celibacy?”  Read more. ← On my bicycle, at the intersection of blackness and...
Recovering from Spiritual Perfectionism, Searching for Divine Guidance

Recovering from Spiritual Perfectionism, Searching for Divine Guidance

Best Of, Religion Faith and Spirituality

Originally published Sept. 1, 2015 In my last column for NCR, I wrote about my somewhat surprising desire to find a church home in my new city. I said there that I’m looking for a way to connect with people socially and politically, but there is a third aspect...
I Know I’ve Been Changed (or How Jesus Became My Stalker Ex-Boyfriend)

I Know I’ve Been Changed (or How Jesus Became My Stalker Ex-Boyfriend)

#BlackChurchSex, Best Of, Love Single Life and Marriage, Religion Faith and Spirituality, Sex

Originally published Dec. 22, 2014 “A Southern Baptism,” Detroit Publishing Co., ca 1900. Library of Congress. One of the reasons I stopped working on my memoir was because when an agent strongly suggested I adapt my essay collection into a linear...
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Recent Posts

  • What’s self-love got to do with it right now?
  • The Pursuit of Wholeness
  • My Price for Black Feminism
  • The Complexities of Black Christianity
  • 12 (or so) Questions I have After Talking to a Black Man About #SurvivingRKelly

Recent Comments

  • Ms. Mariam W on Radical Self-Love: Writing Intimate Spaces in the Age of Tyranny
  • Fr. Joseph Oneal McGowan, SJ on Radical Self-Love: Writing Intimate Spaces in the Age of Tyranny
  • Ms. Mariam W on The Role of the [Unknown] Artist
  • John Randolph on The Role of the [Unknown] Artist
  • Ms. Mariam W on The Role of the [Unknown] Artist

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