Rodman

Williams

J. Rodman Williams (1918–2008), was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina (A.B. degree), of Union Theological Seminary in Virginia (B.D. and Th. M. degrees), and Columbia University in New York (Ph.D. degree in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics). He served as a chaplain in the U.S. Marine Corps, taught philosophy and religion at Beloit College in Wisconsin, pastored the First Presbyterian Church of Rockford, Illinois, taught theology and philosophy of religion at Austin Presbyterian Seminary in Texas, and served as president and professor of theology at Melodyland School of Theology in Anaheim, California. He retired as a professor of theology (Emeritus) from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He was married with three children.

Dr. Williams was the author of Contemporary Existentialism and Christian Faith (1965), The Era of the Spirit (1971), The Pentecostal Reality (1972), Ten Teachings (1974), and The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today (1980), and a three volume work titled Renewal Theology (Vol. 1, God, the World, and Redemption, 1988; Vol. 2, Salvation, the Holy Spirit, and Christian Living, 1990; and Vol. 3, The Church, the Kingdom, and Last Things, 1992). The three volumes were later published as one unabridged volume (Zondervan, 1996) of Renewal Theology.

Dr. Williams was active in the charismatic movement as an early president of the international Presbyterian Charismatic Communion, as a participant for several years in the Vatican-Pentecostal dialogue, and as the organizer and leader of the first European Charismatic Leaders Conferences. He also served as president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies.

An article about Dr. Williams' life and teachings may be found in Handbook of Evangelical Theologians, ed. by Walter A. Elwell, Baker Book House, 1993. A Festschrift entitled Spiritual Renewal: Essays in Honor of J. Rodman Williams, ed. by Mark Wilson, was published in 1994. Further biographical data may be found (under "John Rodman Williams") in the Dictionary of American Scholars (8th edition), Who's Who in American Religion (4th edition), and Who's Who in America (48th edition).

Dr. J. Rodman Williams contributed vast libraries of his theological writings and teachings to the Christian Broadcasting Network.