Georgetown Awards Honorary Degree to Former Archbishop Rowan Williams

On Oct. 20, Georgetown University awarded its highest academic honor, the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, to former Archbishop of Canterbury Rev. Rowan Williams in Gaston Hall, georgetown.edu reported. The university recognized his global contributions to interreligious dialogue, theology, and the common good.

Williams delivered the 2026 James M. and Margaret H. Costan Lecture in Early Christianity on Tuesday, October 20th. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, opened the event with a prayer alongside Georgetown President Eduardo Peñalver.

Georgetown University confers honorary degree on Rowan Williams

Julia Lamm read the citation for the award: For his deep commitment to the integration of faith and the common good, his profound contributions to the spiritual and intellectual life of the global Church, and his lifetime of engagement with communities across different cultures and beliefs, Georgetown University is honored to confer upon The Right Rev. Rowan Williams the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, Lamm said. Lamm also added, His contributions as a scholar and theologian, a poet and a religious leader reflect his deep conviction that each person we encounter has, in his words, some ‘divine secret to disclose’ – some new perspective that can help us better understand God and each other. The Costan Lecture series regularly invites leading scholars of early Christianity to the university.

Decade of Collaboration with Georgetown

Williams served as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. During his tenure, he forged a close institutional partnership with Georgetown by inviting the university to lead the Building Bridges Seminar in 2012.

The seminar convenes international Muslim and Christian scholars annually to examine and discuss theological texts. President Peñalver noted in his remarks that Williams provided an extraordinary model for growing in faith through open dialogue across human differences, stating, In his writings and ministry, the Right Rev. Rowan Williams has given us an extraordinary model of how to grow as people of faith through our dialogue with one another across our human differences. Peñalver further noted, In his writings and ministry, the Right Rev. Rowan Williams has given us an extraordinary model of how to grow as people of faith through our dialogue with one another across our human differences. He’s taught us that when we engage with one another with openness and without judgment, we become more fully human. And he’s shown us how that engagement enables us a greater understanding of ourselves and a deeper relationship with God.

Rowan Williams holds academic roles and publishes scholarly work

His recent academic roles include chancellor of the University of South Wales and honorary professor of contemporary Christian thought at the University of Cambridge.

Williams is also an accomplished poet and playwright. His scholarly publications examine the early Church fathers, interreligious relations, and the literary imagination of Russian Orthodoxy.