![]() ![]() Wood also doubts that Edward Coke and Francis Bacon had significant influence on the development of Williams’s ideas on separating church and state, religious freedom, and his then-revolutionary assertion that governments “have no more power, nor for longer time, than the…people consenting shall betrust them with.” He hardly sounded dismissive in crediting Williams with “the most important contribution made during the century” to religious liberty or concluding that Williams had “a greater genius and a larger view,” and, “No contemporary figure could command such attention as this remarkable and accomplished leader.” ![]() In fact, those selected quotes do not accurately represent Jordan’s assessment. ![]() Jordan, author of The Development of Religious Toleration in England. Wood believes Williams had less impact than do I, and for support quotes dismissive comments by W.K. Nonetheless, his review of my book Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty requires a response. It is certainly flattering to be called “one of the most talented of the distinguished nonacademic historians writing today” by such a distinguished academic historian as Gordon Wood. ![]()
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