Rowan Williams

40
Rowan Williams bigraphy, stories - Archbishop of Canterbury (2002–2012)

Rowan Williams : biography

14 June 1950 –

Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is an Anglican bishop, poet and theologian. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England, offices he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Williams was previously Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales, making him the first Archbishop of Canterbury in modern times not to be appointed from within the Church of England. He spent much of his earlier career as an academic at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford successively. Apart from Welsh, he speaks or reads nine other languages. at Magdalene College, Cambridge

Williams’ primacy was marked by speculation that the Anglican Communion (in which the Archbishop of Canterbury is the leading figure) was on the verge of fragmentation and by Williams’ attempts to keep all sides talking to one another. Notable events in his primacy included the rejection by a majority of dioceses of his proposed Anglican Covenant and, in the final General Synod of his tenure, the failure to secure a sufficient majority for a measure to allow the appointment of women as bishops in the Church of England.

Williams stood down as Archbishop of Canterbury on 31 December 2012 and became Master of Magdalene College at Cambridge University in January 2013. Justin Welby was appointed as his successor as Archbishop of Canterbury on 9 November 2012 and was enthroned in March 2013. It was announced by 10 Downing St on 26 December 2012 that Williams was to be created a life peer; (accessed 26 December 2012) his title, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, was created on 8 January and gazetted on 11 January 2013 and he was introduced to the House on 15 January 2013.

Honours and awards

  • Sitara-e-Pakistan, 2012
  • Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), 1990
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL), 2003
  • Membership in the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, 2002
  • Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Francis I, 2004
  • Honorary doctorates: University of Kent, DD, 2003; University of Wales, DD, 2003; Evangelisch-Theologische Fakultät, University of Bonn, Dr. theol. honoris causa, 2004; University of Oxford DCL, 2005; University of Cambridge DD, 2006; Wycliffe College, University of Toronto, DD, 2007; Trinity College, University of Toronto, DD, 2007; Durham University, DD, 2007; St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, DD, 2010; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Retrieved on 15 January 2011. Belgium, DD, 2011; King’s College London DD honoris causa, 2011; Honorary Doctorate Canterbury Christ Church University, 2012; Collegium Augustinianum Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology, DD honoris causa, 2013,http://augustinianum.us/degreeprograms.html University of South Wales, DUniv, 2013
  • Honorary Student of Christ Church, Oxford
  • Honorary Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford
  • Honorary Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge
  • Honorary Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge
  • Order of Friendship (Russia), 2010
  • Founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW), 2010
  • Freedom of the City of Canterbury, Kent
  • Royal Victorian Chain, 2012
  • Life peerage (announced 26 December 2012; created 8 January and gazetted 11 January 2013 as Baron Williams of Oystermouth, of Oystermouth in the City and County of Swansea.

Ecumenism

Williams did his doctoral work on Vladimir Lossky, a prominent Russian Orthodox theologian of the early-mid 20th century. He is currently patron of the Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius, an ecumenical forum for Orthodox and Western (primarily Anglican) Christians. He has expressed his continuing sympathies with Orthodoxy in lectures and writings since that time.

Williams has written on Saint Teresa of Avila, a Spanish Roman Catholic mystic. 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. He also attended the inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI. During the Pope’s state visit to the United Kingdom in September 2010, the two led a service together at Westminster Abbey.