Roger Williams (theologian) - Tributes and Memorials

Tributes and Memorials

Moore (1963) traces the 'negative' approach of the orthodox Puritan writers (Bradford, Winthrop, Morton, Cotton Mather, Hutchinson, Winsor, and Dexter), the 'romantic' approach (George Bancroft, Vernon Parrington, Ernst, and Brockunier) and the 'realistic' approach (Backus, H. Richard Niebuhr, Roland Bainton, and Hudson), and regards the work of Mauro Calamandrei, who was followed by Perry Miller and Ola Winslow, as crucial. The realistic writers created a synthesis of the earlier interpretations.

Williams has been considered an American hero ever since the Puritans of his own day stopped dominating historical interpretations. His defense of Native Americans, accusations that Puritans had reproduced the "evils" of the Anglican Church, and denial that the king had authority to grant charters for colonies put him at the center of nearly every political debate during his life. By the time of American independence, however, he was considered a defender of religious freedom and has continued to be praised by generations of historians who have often altered their interpretation of his period as a whole. Historians have been able to appropriate Williams because he was unusual, prolific, and vague.

• Roger Williams Cenotaph in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, Kings County, N.Y.
• Roger Williams National Memorial, established in 1965, is a park in downtown Providence.
• Roger Williams Park, Providence, Rhode Island, and the Roger Williams Park Zoo within it are named in his honor.
• Roger Williams University, in Bristol, Rhode Island, is named in his honor.
• Roger Williams Dining Hall, at the University of Rhode Island, was named after the co-founder of Rhode Island. Today, it is fondly referred to as "Rojo's."
• The Green Lake Conference Center (American Baptists), founded in 1943, in Green Lake, Wisconsin, has dedicated its main lodge as the "Roger Williams Inn".
• Roger Williams was selected in 1872 to represent Rhode Island in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol.
• Roger Williams is depicted, with other prominent reformers, on the International Monument to the Reformation in Geneva, Switzerland.
• An album The Bloudy Tenent Truth Peace by Slim Cessna's Auto Club makes an allusion to Roger William's 1644 book, The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience and features He, Roger Williams. A song dedicated to him as being the founder of the first Baptist church in America.
• Williams is honored with Anne Hutchinson with a feast day on the liturgical of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America on February 5.