Poor, Poor Man

It was an Anglican church in the "Prayer Book Catholic" tradition, and his parents were Nonconformists, but the young Rowan [Williams] asked them to take him back there.

This biographical tidbit is from a Telegraph review of  Rupert Shortt's new book, Rowan's Rule.  It sounds modestly interesting, although we confess that life is far too short for us to consider actually reading it.  (And, only weeks before Christmas, we mean the review).

Two other bits we liked, as we skimmed along:  Williams' academic mentor says that despite his many gifts, Williams has a tendency to "substitute reverie for hard analysis."  We had guessed as much.  And the remark by a former Bishop of Oxford, who told Williams that "God has given you all the gifts and, as your punishment, he has made you Archbishop of Canterbury."  We had guessed that, too.