Dr Benjamin Myers is a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland's Centre for the History of European Discourses, and a Member-in-Residence at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, USA.

• 1. Introduction; 2. Disruptive History: The Language of Orthodoxy; 3. Ray of Darkness: A Spirituality of the Cross. 4. Silent Language: Poetry and Truth; 5. Taking Time: Scripture and Liturgy; 6. Event and Speech: The Language of Doctrine; 7. Anarchic Mercy: Ethics, Politics, Reason; 8. Exemplary Failure: Williams and the Anglican Crisis.

‘Myers' book exhibits many of the traits he describes in the theology of Rowan Williams: an attentiveness and care that makes the familiar strange, a sparse but rich prose that bears re-reading, a seeking always for historical foundations and resources. In fact, this elegant book is a complex intellectual biography that convincingly roots its hero in a series of engagements - the centrality of MacKinnon, Wittgenstein and Hegel in Williams' thought is revealed - but those engagements are then shown to occur within an on-going practice of and reflection on the life of prayer. Throughout the complex paths of Williams' theology are introduced with clarity and verve.' - Lewis O. Ayres, Durham University, UK