Overview
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.
Full Product Details
Author: Rupert Shortt
Publisher: John Murray Press
Imprint: Hodder Faith
Dimensions:
Width: 12.90cm
, Height: 3.90cm
, Length: 19.70cm
Weight: 0.422kg
ISBN: 9781444787436
ISBN 10: 1444787438
Pages: 624
Publication Date: 17 July 2014
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
He's freer to express his opinions than when he was as the Archibishop of Canterbury. -- Jumoke Fashola BBC Radio London
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 Times He's freer to express his opinions than when he was as the Archibishop of Canterbury. -- Jumoke Fashola BBC Radio London 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 Daily Telegraph It's an interesting 580-page book, especially for those with a curiosity about theology. -- Terry Sutton The Dover Express & Folkstone Herald The lasting memory of Williams may be of a great public intellectual who made Christianity sound exciting and credible -- Mark Chapman The Tablet In his own defence of theism, Williams appeals to the imagination as putting human life in a fresh perspective. The Telegraph Online 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. -- John Theaker Together Magazine
Author Information
Rupert Shortt is religion editor of The Times Literary Supplement and a former Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford. He writes for The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and the London Evening Standard. His books include Benedict XVI (2005), Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack (2012), Rowan's Rule: The Biography of the Archbishop (2014) and God Is No Thing: Coherent Christianity (2016).
