Anglican clergyman, born in Swansea, SC Wales, UK. He studied theology at Christ's College, Cambridge, and after research at Oxford returned to Cambridge in 1977, where he spent nine years in academic and parochial work. He was professor of divinity at Oxford (198692), and was consecrated Bishop of Monmouth in 1992, becoming Archbishop of Wales in 2000. In 2002 he succeeded George Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury. He has written a number of books on the history of theology and spirituality.
Rowan Douglas Williams, DPhil, DD, FBA, (born 14 June 1950) is the 104th and current Archbishop of Canterbury, metropolitan of the province of Canterbury, Primate of All England and head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Biography
Rowan Williams was born in Swansea, Wales, into a Welsh-speaking family.
He lectured at the College of the Resurrection in Mirfield, Yorkshire for two years. In 1984, he became dean and chaplain of Clare College, Cambridge and in 1986, at the very young age of 36, he was appointed to the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity at Oxford University which meant that he became also a residentiary canon of Christ Church. George Carey, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, asked Dr.Williams to distance himself from his writings sympathetic to the cause of gay rights, but he declined and was not nominated to the post. Then in 1991 he was consecrated Bishop of Monmouth, and in 1999 he was made Archbishop of Wales. In 2002 he was announced as the successor to George Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the Church of England and primus inter pares of the Anglican Communion. Williams was the first Archbishop of Canterbury since the English Reformation to be appointed from a position outside the state Church of England, being at the time a member of the disestablished Anglican Church in Wales. He was enthroned on 27 February 2003 as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury.
Since he become a bishop, several institutions have granted him honorary degrees and fellowships, such as Kent, Cambridge, Oxford and Roehampton universities.
In 2005 he was inaugurated as the first Chancellor of Canterbury Christ Church University.
Dr Williams is a noted poet and translator of poetry.
Dr Williams' summer residence is in the Oxfordshire town of Charlbury and when resident on Sundays he worships at the local church.
Appointment as Archbishop
His appointment was widely predicted. However, the issue had begun to divide the communion, and the Archbishop in his position as nominal 'head' of the Anglican Communion would be bound to have an important role. The Church Times columnist Andrew Brown drew a comparison with his predecessor: 'The trouble with Rowan Williams is that he can never remember that he is Archbishop; the trouble with George Carey was that he could never forget.'
Theological Views
He is a highly respected scholar of the Church Fathers, as well as a historian of Christian spirituality, and his deep engagement with the classical sources of the Church is quite clear throughout his books and sermons. This stance may help to explain both his social radicalism and his view of the importance of the Church, and thus of the holding together of the Anglican communion over matters such as homosexuality: his belief in the idea of the Church is profound.
Consistent with his engaged and searching views, his response to a controversy about the teaching of creationism in privately sponsored academies was that it should not be taught in schools as an alternative to evolution. When asked if he was comfortable with teaching creationism, he said "I think creationism is, in a sense, a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory like other theories ... (full transcript)
Although very much an Anglo-Catholic, his sympathies are broad.
Social Involvements
His interest in and involvement with social issues is longstanding.
He was to repeat his opposition to American action in October 2002 when he signed a petition against the Iraq War as being against UN ethics and Christian teaching, and 'lowering the threshold of war unacceptably'. Again on 30 June 2004, together with the Archbishop of York, David Hope, and on behalf of all 114 Church of England bishops, he wrote to Tony Blair expressing deep concern about UK government policy and criticising the coalition troops' conduct in Iraq. (BBC) (The Scotsman)
He was asked to deliver the 2002 Richard Dimbleby lecture and chose to talk about the problematic nature of the nation state but also of its successors.
His attempts at reconciliation have extended to inter-faith matters.
Homosexuality
Williams' contribution to Anglican views of homosexuality were perceived as markedly liberal before his ordination as Archbishop. These views are evident in a paper written by Williams called 'The Body’s Grace', originally delivered as the 10th Michael Harding Memorial Address in 1989 to the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, and now part of a series of essays collected in the book, "Theology and Sexuality" (ed. In the conclusion of this address, he asserted:
"In a church that accepts the legitimacy of contraception, the absolute condemnation of same-sex relations of intimacy must rely either on an abstract fundamentalist deployment of a number of very ambiguous biblical texts, or on a problematic and nonscriptural theory about natural complementarity, applied narrowly and crudely to physical differentiation without regard to psychological structures."The same year as he made the above comments, and as a practical consequence of the views he expressed, Williams founded the 'Institute for the Study of Christianity and Sexuality' (which in 1996 became the 'Centre for the Study of Christianity and Sexuality') - a group meant to combat homophobia - whilst Professor of Divinity at Oxford University, a fact that had characterised him amongst liberal Anglicans as a significant figure in the effort to make the Anglican Church's moral stance on homosexuality more inclusive.
When he became Archbishop, questions of whether and how Williams would apply his views as Archbishop, specifically as regarded homosexual relationships among the clergy, were put squarely in the spotlight in 2003, through the issue of the proposed consecration of gay priest Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading. Following protest from Anglican bishops in the developing world, Williams asked John to withdraw his candidacy, but then arranged his appointment as Dean of St Albans, one of the oldest Christian sites in England, in a move that was widely seen as a compromise to maintain the latitudinarian unity of the Anglican Communion.
In a September 2006 interview with a Dutch newspaper, Nederlands Dagblad, Williams stated that "in terms of decision-making the American Church has pushed the boundaries" in its policies regarding homosexuality. Denying that the Church had to accept active homosexual relationships, Williams argued that the Church had to be "welcoming", rather than "inclusive", a distinction he characterised by saying: "I don't believe inclusion is a value in itself. Moreover, the Archbishop seemed to distance himself from his more liberal 1989 essay, explaining, "That was when I was a professor, to stimulate debate...
Ecumenism
He did his doctoral work on Vladimir Lossky, the famous Russian Orthodox theologian of the early-mid 20th century, and is currently patron of the Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius, an ecumenical forum for Orthodox and Western - primarily Anglican - theologians. On the death of Pope John Paul II he accepted an invitation to attend his funeral, the first Archbishop of Canterbury to attend a funeral of a Pope since the break under King Henry VIII.
The Anglican Communion
Rowan Williams became Archbishop at a particularly difficult time in the relations of the churches of the Anglican Communion. In an attempt to encourage dialogue in 2003 he appointed Archbishop Robin Eames, the Anglican Primate of All Ireland, as Chairman of the Lambeth Commission on Communion, to examine the challenges to the unity of the Communion, stemming from the consecration of Gene Robinson as the Bishop of New Hampshire, and the blessing of same-sex unions in the Diocese of New Westminster. It recommended solidifying the connection between the churches of the Communion by having each church ratify an "Anglican Covenant" that would commit them to consulting the wider Communion when making major decisions. ("We are troubled by your reluctance to use your moral authority to challenge the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada") The letter acknowledged his eloquence but strongly criticised his reluctance to take sides in the communion's theological crisis and urged him to make explicit threats to those more liberal churches. (Questions were later asked about the authority and provenance of the letter- two additional signatories' names had been added although they had left the meeting before it was produced.) Subsequently the Church of Nigeria appointed an American cleric to deal with US/Nigerian church relations, outside the normal channels;
Most recently, he set up a working party to examine what a 'covenant' between the provinces of the Communion would mean, (in line with the Windsor Report).
Recent Events
Prior to a planned visit to the Vatican on November 21st. He was reported as having said 'I don't think it has transformed or renewed the Church of England in spectacular ways. Equally, I don't think that it has corrupted or ruined the Church of England. His remarks were interpreted as a revision of his former support for the ordination of women which, in a subsequent statement, he refuted saying' I feel nothing less than full support for the decision the Church made in 1992 and appreciation of the priesthood exercised.' There was a certain amount of critical press coverage of his comments in the interview.
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