It has occurred to me that there the many contributors in this subforum present an international tapestry and so I thought I would make use of it to ask people, particularly those outside of England and the UK, what they thought of Rowan Williams.
You see, coming from England, the nominal head of the Church of England is very much a public figure. Not only are his opinions widely reported in the press (and often lambasted, his subtle train of thought never really fitting easily with the soundbite era where papers usually want to reduce things to a simple black/white binary) but he has a very public presence at State occasions; Rememberance Day, Royal Weddings and so on. He is in fact the most important person in England and Wales after the Royal Family in the order of precedence, outranking even the PM. His various merits and demerits do in fact feature as a legitimate conversation topic revolving around current affairs, for those of any religious affiliation and none. It is fair to say that he attracts a lot of respect from thoughtful non-anglicans, and a lot censure from the more opinionated ones.
More than that, for me he is my Archbishop, not only do I fall under his province, he is also (somewhat betraying my age) the first (and therefore only) Archbishop of Canterbury that I have clear memories of, not being much interested in the particulars of my church hierarchy as a child. Finally he was the first public theologian that I ever really read and grappled with, and he remains a constant influence, either directly (I find his opininos very helpful in the study of both Patristic doctrine and Spirituality) or indirectly (my parish priest, and John Milbank, who I have started reaidng seriously, partly because I'm friends with his daughter, who can hopefully explain it all to me, studied under him). I continue to find his ideas compelling, even though they baffle a lot of liberal and conservative christians, because he cuts very deftly across that particular dividing line. When I feel decidedly uncertain about Anglicanism as a whole, I am always able to think 'well at least there's Rowan'.
But that's me, I wondered how he was portrayed/received in other places?
You see, coming from England, the nominal head of the Church of England is very much a public figure. Not only are his opinions widely reported in the press (and often lambasted, his subtle train of thought never really fitting easily with the soundbite era where papers usually want to reduce things to a simple black/white binary) but he has a very public presence at State occasions; Rememberance Day, Royal Weddings and so on. He is in fact the most important person in England and Wales after the Royal Family in the order of precedence, outranking even the PM. His various merits and demerits do in fact feature as a legitimate conversation topic revolving around current affairs, for those of any religious affiliation and none. It is fair to say that he attracts a lot of respect from thoughtful non-anglicans, and a lot censure from the more opinionated ones.
More than that, for me he is my Archbishop, not only do I fall under his province, he is also (somewhat betraying my age) the first (and therefore only) Archbishop of Canterbury that I have clear memories of, not being much interested in the particulars of my church hierarchy as a child. Finally he was the first public theologian that I ever really read and grappled with, and he remains a constant influence, either directly (I find his opininos very helpful in the study of both Patristic doctrine and Spirituality) or indirectly (my parish priest, and John Milbank, who I have started reaidng seriously, partly because I'm friends with his daughter, who can hopefully explain it all to me, studied under him). I continue to find his ideas compelling, even though they baffle a lot of liberal and conservative christians, because he cuts very deftly across that particular dividing line. When I feel decidedly uncertain about Anglicanism as a whole, I am always able to think 'well at least there's Rowan'.
But that's me, I wondered how he was portrayed/received in other places?