I have only read the barest scraps of Rowan Williams’s writings – though these and the odd sermon have suggested a recurring theme or two. Mike Higton (son of Tony, of the Church’s Ministry among Jewish People), who lectures in theology at the University of Exeter, has done us the service of setting out the principal themes and emphases of the archbishop’s work to date, providing us with a complement to (and something more substantial than) the biographical introduction to the archbishop and his thought published by the journalist Rupert Shortt in 2003.
Higton has approached his task with modesty (he offers little critique), thoughtfulness (he gives some helpful mental illustrations), and thoroughness (he draws on a full range of the archbishop’s books, articles, reviews, and online sermons and addresses). While the denseness of the archbishop’s writing is sometimes reflected in Higton’s own, Higton shows how the archbishop’s ‘gospel’ is indeed ‘difficult’, on account of the depth of its challenge.
The result is an extremely useful tool and an essential starting-point for getting to grips with the archbishop’s theology, and we can be very grateful to Higton for providing it. It made me, for one, all the more grateful to God for the archbishop and the blessing which he and his perception are for the Church. He is, quite simply, amazing. Forgive the pun, but something greater than the Temple (and the Ramsey) is here!
Michael Brierley is chaplain to the Bishop of Oxford.
Difficult Gospel: The Theology of Rowan Williams by Mike Higton is published by SCM Press and priced at £14.99
