Rowan Williams

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Rowan Williams is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian, and noted poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from 2002 to 2012. Williams has held a number of faculty posts at universities including University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1990, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2003, and of the Learned Society of Wales in 2010

In 2005 Williams was invited to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II, becoming the first Archbishop of Canterbury to attend a funeral of a Pope since the break under King Henry VIII. In 2013 Williams was admitted as the 35th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge (retired 2020), and was also appointed chancellor of the University of South Wales. In 2017 he was made an honorary Professor of Contemporary Christian Thought by the University of Cambridge.

He is a noted poet and translator of poetry, speaks or reads 10 different languages, and his writings span a wide range of theological, historical, and political themes. Williams holds a doctor of divinity degree from University of Oxford and has received numerous honorary doctorates.