The legacy of Rowan Williams to the Church of England
On the evening of 4 January, as the BBC News led with a new “civil partnered bishops” row, Rowan Williams must have powerfully experienced how different life had become after stepping down as Archbishop of Canterbury at the end of 2012. For over 10 years such stories were almost always tied to him and his views on sexuality and his leadership of the Church. Not any longer. Yet the story illustrates how much “unfinished business” remained as he left office and how fragile Anglican unity is. It therefore raises the question as to his legacy.
For the last six months I’ve attempted to look back over his primacy to offer an initial tentative assessment of his tenure and legacy in Rowan Williams: His Legacy (Lion, 2013). It has been a fascinating and challenging task. I thought I had a fairly good idea of his ministry but quickly realised how little I knew and how wide it has been.
The temptation was to start with such headline-catching issues as sexuality and women bishops – another major issue stuck in the “unfinished business” tray for Justin Welby. That is where the media has concentrated and what sadly many Anglicans think of in relation to Rowan’s tenure. Instead the book starts with one of his most significant gifts to the church – leadership in mission. This too is of course “unfinished business” but in a much more positive sense.
Through giving such rapid and strong support to the vision of Mission-Shaped Church, developing Fresh Expressions and introducing Pioneer Ministry and Bishops’ Mission Orders, Rowan has helped change both the culture and the structures of the Church to empower it for mission. He has also offered a pattern of being a missional leader as a bishop through establishing himself as a leading public intellectual speaking from a Christian perspective. Public conversations with a range of leading figures from atheist scientist Richard Dawkins to author Philip Pullman and comedian Frank Skinner have offered a model of gentle evangelism and apologetics through conversation.
This conversational pattern also marks his extensive and significant work in interfaith relationships, particularly with Islam with his great commitment to George Carey’s Building Bridges Seminar among other initiatives.
In addition to such public leadership there has been his extensive personal ministry to individuals. Most of this remains unpublicised but his famous “letter to Lulu”, a five-year-old whose father sent Rowan her letter – “Dear God, who invented you?” – elicited a reply that should put to rest claims that he is always incomprehensible. Justin Welby will approach this in different ways, perhaps offering a more evangelical conversion-focussed appeal. What is not in doubt is that he inherits a way of being Archbishop that has placed leadership in mission central and won the respect of many.
That missional approach also shaped Rowan’s engagement with the public square. Once again the media lens leads most people to think simply of ‘the Sharia lecture’, generally seen as a major mistake. The lecture was, however, widely misunderstood (for reasons in part but not wholly due to Rowan) and makes sense set in the context of his wider Christian social vision of what he called “interactive pluralism”. This vision is now more easily discerned in his recent publication, Faith in the Public Square (Bloomsbury, 2012) which brings together many of his lectures and speeches in this area.
His contributions in other areas, notably responding to the financial and ecological crises we are facing, have also been important but largely un-noticed was his commitment to speaking on behalf of the vulnerable and for those who were without a voice. Almost all his contributions in the House of Lords took this form.
It has been the internal life of the church where Rowan’s legacy is much more disputed. He has prevented major decisive splits in the Church of England and wider Communion but these remain real possibilities and the cracks have increased and widened during his time. His commitment to maintaining unity through civil conversation and helping Christians understand different views has been a hallmark and major strength as has his personal ministry and visits across the Communion. Many, however, wished for more decisive leadership and direction.
In the Communion the Windsor path he hoped would be accepted has failed or at least stalled with moratoria ignored, the future of the Anglican Covenant unclear and many leaders not attending Lambeth 2008 or the last Primates’ Meeting. His articulation of a vision of life in communion as Anglicans remains however a major gift and his support for indaba at Lambeth 2008 and then in the Continuing Indaba Process may have sown seeds that will bring forth some good fruit in the years to come as we address remaining deep divisions.
Across all these areas – and in his work with other churches – Rowan’s ministry has been marked by significant lasting theological contributions and a desire to work for the Church’s unity through encouraging dialogue and interpreting different traditions and perspectives to understand each other. He has sought to serve the Church and enable it to discern the mind of Christ rather than push his own agenda. The reality, however, is that almost all parts of the Church have, at some point, expressed frustration with his approach. He has proved, in his own words, an unreliable ally.
Failure to lead has been a common accusation but those making it are often at loggerheads about what sort of lead he should have given. With greater distance more may be persuaded that, in Tom Wright’s words, he “actually modelled a different, and Christ-like, form of ‘leadership’” and that “among his astonishing array of accomplishments, that may be the most important”. The Rev Canon Dr Andrew Goddard is
Associate Director of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics (KLICE) and
on the Leadership Team of Fulcrum. His book Rowan Williams: His Legacy has just
been published by Lion