Liberty of Conscience: Roger Williams in America

by Edwin S. Gaustad, Nathan O. Hatch (Foreword)

Gaustad skillfully tells the story of Roger founder of Rhode Island, a defender of religious liberty, and a man of deep religious and political convictions.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, Biography

229 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

A leading scholar of American religious history, Edwin Scott Gaustad was Professor of History at the University of California, Riverside. He earned his B.A. in history from Baylor University (1947), and his M.A. (1948) and Ph.D. (1951) in History of Religions from Brown University.

Reviews

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

someone high school history doesn't teach about

[Denise Kettering · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a very accessible introduction to an early American figure that is not often discussed while also covering a vast historical and philosophical landscape. The book is clear and concise and it sheds a great light on William's influence on the formation of America and in particular his emphasis on the idea of "liberty of conscience" within religious thought, rather than being coerced by more powerful religious groups. The book outlines both Williams' personal theology as well as his important influence on both colonial and modern America.

Roger Williams is best known for founding the colony of Rhode Island. However, his importance in American religious history is much more pronounced. Williams was a seeker, who trained to be a minister in the Puritan movement, but conflict in London led him to come to Massachusetts where he became a pastor in Salem and then Plymouth. He formed relationships with several Native American tribes. He did not support a close relationship between religion and the government, which led to conflicts with the Puritan leadership in Boston, including John Cotton, eventually leading to his banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He left and settled in the area of what is present day Rhode Island, paid the tribes for the land and then headed to London to attempt to gain a charter, which he successfully did. He returned and formed a colony that became a refuge of religious tolerance for those who were not welcomed in other colonies (except the Quakers). His legacy of religious liberty and freedom of conscience became important in the American religious landscape.

[Rendi Hahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though the writing isn't spectacular, Roger Williams was pretty great! Williams founded Rhode Island on the premise that those who lived there could have "liberty of conscience" and could not be forced by civil authorities to conform to a particular religious tradition or to pay obligatory "tithes" to a religious tradition they did not believe in. Having emigrated from a land being torn apart by this very issue, Williams' mission was to provide a place where people of any (or no) faith could live safely without fear of persecution. His writings were foundational to the concept of the separation of church and state, and the founding fathers borrowed heavily from his ideas. Personally, Roger Williams was a cantankerous and verbose debater of those he disagreed with, while at the same time a deeply spiritual man who sacrificed much for his beliefs. The other interesting thing was when he came to the territory of Rhode Island - unlike most other British colonizers, Williams did not believe that the British claim to the land superseded that of the native Americans who lived there. He negotiated and traded for the land on which he settled, and he became an expert in the languages of the surrounding tribes. That peace did not last, unfortunately.

[Hands · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roger Williams has never received the credit he deserves for creating a state in which the state would take no action with respect the the free exercise of conscience of its citizens. The book adequately describes the problems he faces in creating a "working" colony eve under threat from Massachusetts and Connecticut not to mention native tribes (although he tried to smooth relations there when possible).

This is a good general biography of RW - I'm now planning to read Perry Miller's book to see if it will fill in more of the intellectual history of the period. But I highly recommend the book to anyone who wishes to have a better understanding of a man who helped create a concept of freedom of religion and whose ideas are as relevant now in the 21st century as they were in the 17th. Here is a Founding Father we should all know better.

[JW · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gives a good primer of the religious persecution and freedom to worship that lay at the foundation of this nation. Any one instead in discerning the foundations of the ideology of separation between church and state in America may find this fascinating.

[Brad Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent book on one of my all-time favorite people in history.

[Kidbri · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspiration of a man whose message should be heeded today.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whoa.