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Profile of Rowan Williams

Dr Rowan Williams ©

Dr Rowan Williams was nominated as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury in July 2002 and officially confirmed in the post at a ceremony in St Paul's Cathedral in London on 2nd December 2002.

Rowan Williams was born in 1950 and was brought up in Swansea, where his father was a mining engineer. His academic ability became apparent at an early age, and he went from grammar school to Cambridge, and then to Oxford for his doctorate. He then went to lecture at Mirfield Theological College near Leeds, before returning to Cambridge and Oxford. First he was Dean and Chaplain of Clare College, and then, aged 36, he become the youngest professor at Oxford. Seven years earlier his first book had been published.

In 1992 he surprised colleagues by accepting the post of Bishop of Monmouth, seen as a backwater by the Oxford elite. The post spoke to his pastoral calling, and his Welsh roots. Plus it was a good place for Rowan Williams and his wife, Jane, a lecturer in theology, whom he met while living and working in Cambridge, to bring up their daughter Rhiannon and son Pip.

In 1997, Dr Williams came close to be offered the post of Bishop of Southwark. There were fierce wrangles at the time between anti and pro-gay lobbies in the diocese. When George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, asked Rowan Williams to distance himself from his pro-gay writings on the subject, he declined. In 2000 he was enthroned as Archbishop of Wales.

Rowan Williams is regarded as a liberal, even a radical. But in general, his theology is orthodox. It's been nurtured by Anglo-Catholicism, Russian mysticism, and scores of encounters with other traditions. Many of his ethical positions are orthodox too. For example he is opposed to abortion and believes consumerism exploits, corrupts and causes a premature sexualisation of children.

Dr Rowan Williams ©

Homosexuality has been the cause of recent criticism by fellow priests. Several years ago he employed a priest he knew to be living in a homosexual relationship. It is this, coupled with his conviction that the Church should reassess its approach to faithful gay partnerships that has alarmed conservative evangelicals. However, many groups think he will modernise, or certainly bring a new face to the Church of England.

He is sympathetic to the proposal that the Church of England should lose its established status and become a church on an equal footing with the Catholics, the free churches and all the other Christian denominations. This is not a view likely to endear him to traditionalists.

Rowan Williams is expected to be a formidable presence on the political stage too. Before very long in office he had already spoken out against war with Iraq, critcised military action in Afghanistan as "morally tainted" and challenged the Government's asylum policy.

He is a fan of the television programme Father Ted and is the first Archbishop for many generations to have children of school age.

10 things you didn't know about Rowan Williams

• Rowan Williams is unable to drive. His chaplain used to drive him everywhere, so the chauffeur-driven world of Lambeth must have come naturally
• He is hard of hearing in one of his ears
• He was a keen actor at Oxford, starring as Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons
• He learnt Russian in six months. He speaks seven languages, including Welsh
• He has had curious fashion tastes with a particular fondness for black berets
• He insists on always travelling second-class
• He is married to the daughter of the the Rt Rev Geoffrey Paul. Jane Williams' father is the former Bishop of Bradford and a highly respected evangelical leader
• Although he taught at a number of theological colleges, he is the only bishop never to have gone through training for ordination
• At school, he had a permanent note excusing him from sports
• He is very fond of classical music, particularly Renaissance Baroque and Bach