Rowan Williams grew up in South Wales and studied theology at Christ’s College, Cambridge. A strong interest in Russian Christianity led to research at Oxford in the religious thinkers of the Russian emigration – and later to a book on Dostoevsky. Ordained in 1977, he worked in pastoral and academic contexts before becoming Anglican Bishop of Monmouth in 1992, and then Archbishop of Wales in 1999.
From 2002 until 2012, he was Archbishop of Canterbury, continuing to write on theology, philosophy, and contemporary issues, and retired in 2012 to move back to the university as Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Over the years, he has written a number of books, academic and popular, on Christian faith, as well as publishing several collections of poetry and a number of essays on literary themes, including some studies of Shakespeare and a book on tragedy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature as well as of the British Academy.
He now lives in Wales with his wife Jane, also a writer and theologian.
