Roger Williams: The Church and the State [Paperback]

Edmund S. Morgan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 2007

An illuminating portrait of the nation's earliest—and most passionate—advocate for the total separation of church and state.

A classic of its kind, Edmund S. Morgan's Roger Williams skillfully depicts the intellectual life of the man who, after his expulsion in 1635 from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, founded what would become Rhode Island. As Morgan re-creates the evolution of Williams's thoughts on the nature of the church and the state, he captures with characteristic economy and precision the institutions that informed Williams's worldview, from the Protestant church in England to the Massachusetts government in the seventeenth century. In doing so, Morgan reveals the origins of a perennial—and heated—American debate, told through the ideas of one of the most brilliant polemicists on the subject, a man whose mind, as Morgan describes, "drove him to examine accepted ideas and carry them to unacceptable conclusions." Forty years after its first publication, Roger Williams remains essential reading for anyone interested in the church, the state, and the right relation of the two.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Edmund S. Morgan is the Sterling Professor Emeritus at Yale University and the recipient of the National Humanities Medal, the Pulitzer Prize, and the American Academy’s Gold Medal. The author of The Genuine Article; American Slavery, American Freedom; Benjamin Franklin; and American Heroes, among many others, Morgan lives with his wife in New Haven.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (July 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393304035
• ISBN-13: 978-0393304039
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #584,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Uncompromising Puritanism, December 19, 2007

By 

J. Grattan "Ideas can move the world" (Lawrenceville, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Roger Williams: The Church and the State (Paperback)

The book is both an overview of religious developments among the English in the 16th and 17th century and an examination of the extremist thought of Roger Williams, a Separatist-Puritan who came to the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1631. Religion in England had transitioned from Roman Catholicism to the Protestant Church of England to the Puritans by the end of the 16th century. The Separatist-Puritans were unwilling to compromise with elements of the Church of England and were forced to emigrate either to Holland or the New World. Key concerns were the inclusion of both believers and lesser believers and the administration of sacraments to all, as well as a priestly hierarchy.

Williams, in his insistence on enforcing a purist interpretation of Separatist-Puritan principles, incurred the disfavor of all varieties of Puritans in New England and as a consequence was forced to relocate several times before being banned from Massachusetts Bay. He ended up in Rhode Island as a relatively young man, but the author gives no indication of how his life proceeded from that point on.

Williams questioned the legitimacy of self-selected, so-called elected, individuals to form churches and elect ministers. In addition, he disagreed that a civil government formed by a people ruled by divine right. What was the process whereby God extended authorization and legitimacy, he asked. His views undercut the Massachusetts General Court, which took on the responsibility of enforcing religious standards in the colony along with the ministers. According to Williams, a civil government was only about protecting the bodies and property of subjects. While fundamental morality was also of concern to governments in so far as immorality affected community peace, enforcing religion interfered with liberty of conscience concerning religion. In other words, religion could not be coerced. It was these fundamental views as well as his criticisms of practices within churches that exasperated authorities sufficiently to exclude him from the colony.

The author gives high marks to Williams as an uncompromising thinker. But with Williams there seems to be a fine line between intellectual integrity and self-indulgent nit-picking. As a religious man, where was he going with his view that no true churches existed or his idea that ministers could not preach to the unconverted? On the other hand, his ideas of separation of church and state were remarkable for the times. The author perhaps should have paid more attention to the practicalities of Williams' unfettered thinking. In this era of inclusion and acceptance, Puritan exclusiveness and rigidities are hard to grasp. This book helps.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The story of a very important man, March 31, 2004

By 

Thomas Bonar (Cypress, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Roger Williams: The Church and the State (Paperback)

Williams is shown as uncompromising in the pursuit of the correct way to live. Even when it was unpopular (even dangerous) Willams said what he felt was the truth -- and lived up to his own standards. He is too often overlooked and too important not to teach our children about.