‘Taking time’ and ‘making sense’: R owan W illiams on the Habits of Theological Imagination

This article argues that R owan W illiams' methodology cannot be fruitfully employed by others without grasping his intellectual habits and the depth of his engagement with C hristian tradition. The argument is centred on the themes of ‘taking time’ and ‘making sense’, which run throughout W illiams' work, and proceeds in three sections. First, ‘taking time’ implies an attitude of patient humility that frames engagement with all W illiams' interlocutors. Second, ‘making sense’, as the primary work of the theologian, depends upon ‘taking time’. Third, W illiams' theological style cannot be imitated without the conversion of desire that characterizes C hristian discipleship as he describes it.