Editing Rowan Williams (section)

==Theology==
Williams, a scholar of the [[Church Fathers]] and a historian of Christian spirituality, wrote in 1983 that orthodoxy should be seen "as a tool rather than an end in itself..." It is not something which stands still. Thus "old styles come under increasing strain, new speech needs to be generated".<ref>''Essays Catholic and Radical'' (Bowerdean 1983)</ref> He sees orthodoxy as a number of "dialogues": a constant dialogue with Christ, crucified and risen; but also that of the community of faith with the world – "a risky enterprise", as he writes. "We ought to be puzzled", he says, "when the world is not challenged by the gospel." It may mean that Christians have not understood the kinds of bondage to which the gospel is addressed.<ref>''Politics and Theological Identity'' (Jubilee 1984)</ref> He has also written that "orthodoxy is inseparable from sacramental practice... The eucharist is the paradigm of that dialogue which is 'orthodoxy'".<ref>''Essays Catholic and Radical,'' (''Ibid.'')</ref> 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.

[[John Shelby Spong]] once accused Williams of being a "neo-medievalist", preaching orthodoxy to the people in the pew but knowing in private that it is not true.<ref>{{cite news |title=Profile: Rowan Williams |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/10/anglicanism.religion |last=Anthony |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Anthony |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=10 February 2008 |access-date=9 November 2012}}</ref> In an interview with the magazine ''[[Third Way (magazine)|Third Way]]'', Williams responded:
{{blockquote|I am genuinely a lot more conservative than he would like me to be. Take the [[Resurrection]]. I think he has said that of course I know what all the reputable scholars think on the subject and therefore when I talk about the risen body I must mean something other than the empty tomb. But I don't. I don't know how to persuade him, but I really don't.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Williams |first=Rowan |year=2000 |title=Grace under Pressure? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfG242FGuNwC |interviewer-last=Holt |interviewer-first=Douglas |magazine=Third Way |volume=23 |issue=1 |location=London |pages=18–19 |issn=0309-3492 |access-date=13 February 2018}}</ref>}}

Although generally considered an [[Anglo-Catholic]], Williams has broad sympathies. One of his first publications, in the largely evangelical Grove Books series, has the title ''Eucharistic Sacrifice: The Roots of a Metaphor''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://people.bu.edu/joeld/eucharistic-sacrifice.pdf|title=The Roots of a Metaphor|website=People.bu.edu|access-date=23 December 2017|archive-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516132202/http://people.bu.edu/joeld/eucharistic-sacrifice.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Moral theology===
{{Main|Moral theology of Rowan Williams}}
Williams's contributions to [[Anglican views of homosexuality]] were perceived as quite liberal before he became the Archbishop of Canterbury. These views are evident in a paper written by Williams called "The Body's Grace",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.igreens.org.uk/bodys_grace.htm |title=The Body's Grace |website=Igreens.org.uk |access-date=28 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212191035/http://www.igreens.org.uk/bodys_grace.htm |archive-date=12 February 2009 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> which he originally delivered as the 10th Michael Harding Memorial Address in 1989 to the [[Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement]], and which is now part of a series of essays collected in the book ''Theology and Sexuality'' (ed. Eugene Rogers, Blackwells 2002). At the Lambeth Conference in July 1998, then Bishop Rowan Williams of Monmouth abstained and did not vote in favour of the conservative resolution on human sexuality.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bates|first1=Stephen|title=A Church At War: Anglicans And Homosexuality|url=https://archive.org/details/churchatwar00step|url-access=registration|date=2005|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/churchatwar00step/page/176 176]|isbn=9781845110932}}</ref> These actions, combined with his initial support for openly gay Canon [[Jeffrey John]], gained him support among liberals and caused frustration for conservatives.