Separating Church and State

Roger Williams, founder of the colony of Rhode Island, is famous as anapostle of religious tolerance and a foe of religious establishments.In Separating Church and State, Timothy Hall combines impressivehistorical and legal scholarship to explore Williams's theory of religiousliberty and relate it to current debate. Williams's fierce religious dogmaticism,Hall argues, is precisely what led to his religious tolerance, makinghim one of the most articulate champions of the argument for the necessaryseparation of church and state."Both timely and provocative. . . . Offers Williams's largely overlookedbut deeply important perspective on the peaceful coexistence of committedbelievers of diverse faiths. The book also brings into question crucialtenets of the United States Supreme Court's First Amendment religion clausejurisprudence at a time when many are raising questions about it."-- Marci A. Hamilton, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York City"Hall has the entire Williams corpus under his command, and he playsthe relevant texts like a master organist. He also has the legal corpusequally at his fingertips. One of the great strengths of his book is thatit bridges the too often separate fields of history and jurisprudence."-- Edwin Gaustad, author of Liberty of Conscience: Roger Williams in America