This major new edition of Rupert Shortt’s acclaimed biography of Rowan Williams provides fresh insight into the life and thought of perhaps the most gifted Christian leader of our time. Unburdened by national office, the former Archbishop has spoken more candidly than ever about the multiple conflicts – over gay clergy, women bishops and the place of faith in the public square – that rocked the Anglican Church and wider society during his decade at the helm.
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Reviews
He's freer to express his opinions than when he was as the Archibishop of Canterbury.
It's an interesting 580-page book, especially for those with a curiosity about theology.
In an updated version of his biography, Rowan's Rule, to be released next week, Lord Williams is asked by the author Rupert Shortt whether the church's current position needs to change . . . The biography also reveals that Lord Wililams, who is now master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, feared that his opposition to gay rights while in office could jeopardise his attempts at securing work afterwards . . . The extent of the despair Lord Williams felt in office is revealed in Rowan's Rule, including his telling a colleague after a bishops' meeting: 'I can't tell you how much I hate this job.'
The job of Archbishop of Canterbury - pope-like in its trappings, but without the commensurate authority to impose doctrine - is simply undoable. Which is, by and large what this thorough, readable biography demonstrates - undoable certainly by a man of Rowan Williams' gifts and character. Short, the religion editor of the TLS, and no slouch himself as a theologian, is unashamedly as fan of his subject and of Williams' efforts 'to evoke the transcendent in a secular climate' . . . Shortt gives us much to admire about Williams . . . This, though is no hagiography, and so weaknesses as well as strengths are confronted unflinchingly. Overall, it provides an intriguing picture of a complex man.
The lasting memory of Williams may be of a great public intellectual who made Christianity sound exciting and credible
In his own defence of theism, Williams appeals to the imagination as putting human life in a fresh perspective.
With the fully revised and updated edition Rupert Shortt should be commended for his work in writing a biography of the complex, thoughtful and deeply spiritual man that is Rowan Williams.
This is a beautifully crafted, 500-page plus biography of the man who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012.. . . If the subject interests you, investment of time in this tome will serve you well.
[An] excellent, newly updated biography
through it shines the warmth and breadth of Rowan's personality . . . A man of very many parts who will continue to enrich us all - ad so well worth taking time to read about