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{{Short description|American professor and historian of Christianity (1914–2000)}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = George Huntston Williams
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| era =
| discipline = History
| sub_discipline = [[History of Christianity]]
| workplaces = [[Harvard University]]
| doctoral_students = <!--only those with WP articles-->
| notable_students = <!--only those with WP articles-->
| main_interests = {{hlist | [[Socinianism]] | [[Unitarianism]]}}
| notable_works = {{nowrap|''The Radical Reformation'' (1962)}}
| notable_ideas =
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| signature_alt =
}}
'''George Huntston Williams''' (April 7, 1914, in [[Huntsburg]] – October 6, 2000) was an American academic, [[historian of Christianity]], and professor of [[nontrinitarianism|nontrinitarian]] [[Christian theology]]. His works focused on the historical research of nontrinitarian Christian movements that emerged during the [[Protestant Reformation]], primarily [[Socinianism]] and [[Unitarianism]].
Williams' father was a Unitarian minister in Ohio. Williams studied at [[St. Lawrence University]] (graduated 1936), and [[Meadville Theological School]] (graduated 1939). After studies in Paris and Strasbourg he became assistant minister of a Unitarian church in [[Rockford, Illinois]], where he married. From 1941 he taught church history at the Unitarian-affiliated [[Starr King School for the Ministry]] in Berkeley, CA, and at the nearby [[Pacific School of Religion]], while studying for his [[Th.D.]] completed at [[Union Theological Seminary, New York]] (1946). From 1947 he taught at [[Harvard Divinity School]], being appointed [[Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History]] from 1956 to 1963. In 1981 he was appointed to the [[Hollis Chair of Divinity]].<ref>[https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2003/03/memorial-minute-for-george-h-williams/ Memorial Minute for George H. Williams. Harvard Gazette. March 20, 2003. Accessed September 8, 2021.</ref><ref>http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/williams.html</ref><ref>{{cite journal |jstor=1509213|title=Towards a Complete Bibliography of the Writings of George Huntston Williams|journal=The Harvard Theological Review|year=1974|volume=67|issue=2|pages=139–153|doi=10.1017/S0017816000003229}}</ref> He was among the original Editorial Advisors of the scholarly journal ''[[Dionysius (journal)|Dionysius]]''. As a [[pro-life]] activist, he became the first chairman of the board of [[Americans United for Life]].<ref>Carol Mason: [https://books.google.ca/books?id=UZDxyVcLKh4C&pg=PA140 ''Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics'']. Cornell University Press, Ithaca 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-8014-3920-9}}, page 140.</ref>▼
==Biography==
George Pease Williams was born in 1914.<ref name=FT>[https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/03/a-holy-calling-to-keep-truth-alive First Things website, ‘’A Holy Calling: To Keep Truth Alive’’]</ref> His father David Rhys Williams was a [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]] who signed the [[Humanist Manifesto]],<ref name=HSL>[https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/george-huntston-williams/ Harvard Square Library website, Biography of George Huntston Williams]</ref> while his grandparents were Congregationalists.
Williams changed his middle name as a young man and chose the name of his village, Huntsburg, Ohio.<ref name=HSL /> He went to study at [[St. Lawrence University]] (graduated 1936) and [[Meadville Theological School]] (graduated 1939). After his academic studies in [[history of Christianity]] at the European universities of [[University of Paris|Paris]] and [[University of Strasbourg|Strasbourg]], he returned to the United States and became assistant minister of a Unitarian church in [[Rockford, Illinois]], where he married his wife Marjorie Derr in 1941.
From 1941 onwards, he taught [[Church history]] at the Unitarian-affiliated [[Starr King School for the Ministry]] in [[Berkeley, California]], and at the nearby [[Pacific School of Religion]], while studying for his [[Th.D.]] completed at [[Union Theological Seminary, New York]] (1946). From 1947 he taught at [[Harvard Divinity School]], being appointed [[Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History]] from 1956 to 1963.
In 1962 he was one of several official Protestant observers who attended the sessions of the [[Second Vatican Council]],<ref name=FT /> where he met the future Pope [[John Paul II]].
He was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1953.<ref>[https://www.amacad.org/person/george-huntston-williams American Academy of Arts and Sciences website, profile page]</ref>
▲
A [[Festschrift]] was published in his honor in 1999 titled ''The Contentious Triangle: Church, State, and University''. Contributors included [[Jaroslav Pelikan]], [[Timothy George]] and [[Harold O. J. Brown]], among others.
==Works==
* ''Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers: Documents Illustrative of the Radical Reformation,'' 1957
* ''The Radical Reformation'', 1962 {{ISBN|0-940474-15-8}}.
* ''The Polish Brethren * ''The
* ''Unterschiede zwischen dem polnischen und dem siebenbürgisch-ungarischen Unitarismus und ihre Ursachen,'' in: Wolfgang Deppert/Werner Erdt/Aart de Groot (Hrsg.): ''Der Einfluß der Unitarier auf die europäisch-amerikanische Geistesgeschichte'', Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main/Bern/New York/Paris 1990, ISSN 0930-4118, {{ISBN|3-631-41859-0}}, S. 33-57.
* Article ''The Attitude of Liberals in New England toward Non-Christian Religions,
==Family==
Williams was married to Marjorie Derr for 59 years and they had four children.<ref>[https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2003/03/memorial-minute-for-george-h-williams/ Harvard University, Memorial Minute dated March 2003]</ref>
==References==
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==External links==
* [http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:DIV.LIB:div00404 A collection of papers] on
{{s-start}}
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[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American academics]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American historians]]
[[Category:21st-century American academics]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American historians]]
[[Category:American anti-abortion activists]]
[[Category:American expatriate academics]]
[[Category:American expatriates in France]]
[[Category:American expatriates in West Germany]]
[[Category:American historians of religion]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
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[[Category:Harvard Divinity School faculty]]
[[Category:Historians from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Historians of Protestantism]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Society of Church History]]
[[Category:Reformation historians]]
[[Category:St. Lawrence University alumni]]
[[Category:Union Theological Seminary
[[Category:Unitarian Universalist clergy]]
[[Category:United Church of Christ ministers]]
[[Category:
[[Category:University of Strasbourg alumni]]
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