Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. XII, 1954 Protestantism Figures

Williams, Roger

Italian original Cite

WILLIAMS, ROGER. - English Protestant polemicist and colonizer, founder of the State of Rhode Island, b. in London in 1603, d. at Providence in 1683. He studied law at Cambridge and took Holy Orders in the Anglican Church in 1629.

Having moved to Massachusetts, he was minister of the Church of Salem, upholding principles even more democratic than those of the levellers, the most radical among the dissenters. He was in fact banished from it and, on a long and extremely uncomfortable journey, moved to Providence (1636) among the Indians, whose language he learned, compiling a grammar of it entitled A key into the language of America (1643). He subsequently became a Baptist and a seeker, that is, opposed to every established creed, while still maintaining the basis of Christian ethics, thus in some way anticipating the transcendentalism of Emerson and the unitarianism of Channing. He was for the separation of State from Church, for

About this entry

Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII (1954), coll. 1686–1687.

Cite this article

Chicago

“Williams, roger.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, coll. 1686–1687. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954. https://azioneromana.com/article/williams-roger.

MLA

“Williams, roger.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954, coll. 1686–1687. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/williams-roger.

BibTeX

@incollection{ec12_williams_roger,
  author    = {Redazione},
  title     = {Williams, roger},
  booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
  volume    = {XII},
  pages     = {1686--1687},
  note      = {Cited by column},
  publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
  address   = {Città del Vaticano},
  year      = {1954},
  url       = {https://azioneromana.com/article/williams-roger}
}

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.