The Primates of the Anglican Communion

The Most Revd Rowan Douglas Williams
Archbishop of Canterbury

Basic Details

Date of Birth: 1950

Ordained: 1977

Priest: 1978

Consecrated: 1992

Education:

Christ's College, Cambridge. 1971-1974 BA
Christ's College, Cambridge. 1975. MA
Wadham College Oxford. 1975. DPhil
Wadham College, Oxford. 1989. DD

Positions:

College of the Resurrection Mirfield. 1975
Tutor, Westcott House, Cambridge. 1977-1980
Honorary Curate, Chesterton St George, Ely. 1980-1983
Lecturer in Divinity, Cambridge. 1980-1986
Dean and Chaplain, Clare College, Cambridge. 1984-1986
Canon Theologian, Leicester Cathedral. 1981-1982
Canon Residentiary, Christ Church, Oxford. 1986-1992
Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, Oxford. 1986-1992
Bishop of Monmouth 1991-2003
Archbishop of Wales. 1999-2003
Archbishop of Canterbury. 2003 - present

Notes:

Rowan Williams was born in Swansea in 1950 in a Welsh-speaking family from the Swansea Valley. He was educated at Dynevor Secondary School, then at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he studied Theology. After research in Oxford (on Russian Christianity), he spent two years at Mirfield before returning to Cambridge in 1977, where he spent nine years in academic and parochial work. He and Jane Paul were married in 1981, and have two children, Rhiannon (born 1988) and Pip (born 1996). Jane now teaches at Trinity College, Bristol.

From 1986 - 1992, Rowan Williams was Professor of Theology at Oxford. During the 80's Rowan and Jane were able to spend brief periods teaching theology and travelling in India (where Jane grew up) and Southern Africa. Rowan has written a number of books on the history of theology and spirituality and published collections of articles and sermons - as well as a book of poems in 1994. He has been involved in various commissions on theology and theological education, the Dearing Working Party on Church Schools, and chaired the group that produced the report 'Wales: a Moral Society?' in 1996.

Here is an short bibliography of some of the works of Dr Williams has written:

The Wound of Knowledge : Christian Spirituality from the New Testament to St. John of the Cross (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1979)
Resurrection: Interpreting the Easter Gospel (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1982)
The Truce of God (London: Fount, 1983)
Arius: Heresy and Tradition (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1987; 2nd edn SCM Press, 2001)
Teresa of Avila (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1991)
Open to Judgement: Sermons and Addresses (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1994, repr. 1996, 2001, 2002)
Christ on Trial: How the Gospel Unsettles Our Judgement (London: Fount, 2000)
Lost Icons: Reflection on Cultural Bereavement (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000, repr. 2001, 2002)
On Christian Theology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000)
Ponder These Things: Praying With Icons of the Virgin (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2002)
Writing in the Dust: Reflections on 11th September and Its Aftermath (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2002)
Poems of Rowan Williams (Perpetua Press, 2002)
Anglican Identities (London: Dartman, Longman and Todd, 2004)