George Huntston Williams
Born(1914-04-07)April 7, 1914
Huntsburg, Ohio, US
DiedOctober 6, 2000(2000-10-06) (aged 86)
Spouse
Marjorie Derr
​
(m. 1941)​
Academic background
Alma mater
InfluencesJames Luther Adams
Academic work
DisciplineHistory of Christianity
InstitutionsHarvard University
Main interestsNontrinitarianism, Socinianism, Unitarianism
Notable worksThe Radical Reformation (1962-1995)

George Huntston Williams (April 7, 1914, in Huntsburg – October 6, 2000) was an American academic, historian of Christianity, and professor of Nontrinitarian Christian theology. His works focused on the historical research of Nontrinitarian Christian movements that emerged during the Protestant Reformation, primarily Socinianism and Unitarianism.

Biography

George Pease Williams was born in 1914.[1] His father David Rhys Williams was a Unitarian minister who signed the Humanist Manifesto,[2] while his grandparents were Congregationalists.

Williams changed his middle name as a young man and chose the name of his village, Huntsburg, Ohio.[2] He went to study at St. Lawrence University (graduated 1936) and Meadville Theological School (graduated 1939). After his academic studies in history of Christianity at the European universities of Paris and Strasbourg, he returned to the United States and became assistant minister of a Unitarian church in Rockford, Illinois, where he married his wife Marjorie Derr in 1941.

From 1941 onwards, he taught Church history at the Unitarian-affiliated Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California, and at the nearby Pacific School of Religion, while studying for his Th.D. completed at Union Theological Seminary, New York (1946). From 1947 he taught at Harvard Divinity School, being appointed Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History from 1956 to 1963.

In 1962 he was one of several official Protestant observers who attended the sessions of the Second Vatican Council,[1] where he met the future Pope John Paul II.

He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1953.[3]

In 1981 he was appointed to the Hollis Chair of Divinity.[4][5][6] He was among the original Editorial Advisors of the scholarly journal Dionysius. As an anti-abortion activist, he became the first chairman of the board of Americans United for Life.[7]

Works

Family

Williams was married to Marjorie Derr for 59 years and they had four children.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b First Things website, ‘’A Holy Calling: To Keep Truth Alive’’
  2. ^ a b Harvard Square Library website, Biography of George Huntston Williams
  3. ^ American Academy of Arts and Sciences website, profile page
  4. ^ Memorial Minute for George H. Williams. Harvard Gazette. March 20, 2003. Accessed September 30, 2023.
  5. ^ "George Huntston Williams: Historian of the Christian Church". Archived from the original on 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  6. ^ "Towards a Complete Bibliography of the Writings of George Huntston Williams". The Harvard Theological Review. 67 (2): 139–153. 1974. doi:10.1017/S0017816000003229. JSTOR 1509213. S2CID 248818980.
  7. ^ Carol Mason: Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics. Cornell University Press, Ithaca 2002, ISBN 978-0-8014-3920-9, page 140.
  8. ^ Harvard University, Memorial Minute dated March 2003

External links

Academic offices Preceded byKirsopp Lake Winn Professor ofEcclesiastical History 1956–1963 Succeeded byHeiko Oberman Preceded byAmos Wilder Hollis Chair of Divinity 1963–1980 Succeeded byHarvey Cox
Winn Professorship of Ecclesiastical History
Authority control databases
Categories