Decoding Roger Williams

Linford D. Fisher is Assistant Professor of History at Brown University. J. Stanley Lemons is Emeritus Professor of History at Rhode Island College and Clerk and Historian of the First Baptist Church in America. Lucas Mason-Brown is a graduate student in mathematics at Trinity College, Dublin.

List of Figures and Maps Acknowledgments Foreword by Ted Widmer A Key into the Language of Roger Williams: Cracking and Interpreting the Roger Williams Code Roger Williams: ""A Brief Reply to a Small Book Written by John Eliot"" (1679-1683) John Norcott, Baptism Discovered Plainly and Faithfully According to the Word of God (1675 [1672]) John Eliot, A Brief Answer to a Small Book Written by John Norcot Against Infant-Baptisme (1679) Further Reading and Research Index

"Decoding Roger Williams revels in the ingenuity of American historical scholarship and renews Williams' fame as early New England's most intriguing and challenging figure." -- Jon Butler, Yale University "A gem of a book and feat of careful scholarship, Decoding Roger Williams illuminates an important aspect of Williams' thinking. It's a very welcome addition to what we know about him." -- David D Hall, Bartlett Research Professor of New England Church History, Harvard Divinity School "Brilliantly transcribed from Roger Williams' shorthand notes, this previously undecoded manuscript demands reconsideration of New England's encounter with Baptist ideas and also of the colonial effort to Christianize native Americans." -- Francis J Bremer, Professor Emeritus, Millersville University of Pennsylvania Decoding Roger Williams provides significant insights into the life of Roger Williams, particularly by examining what is likely his latest extant theological writings and by discussing two subjects rarely touched on in his other texts. It will provide much fodder for future scholars, not only in decoding what remains in the gaps of the document, but also in the implications of a fuller picture of Williams's religious beliefs. -- Alyssa N. Gerhardt -- The Journal of Southern Religion Students of Baptist history and of colonial New England will appreciate this addition to the Roger Williams corpus -- Andrew C. Smith -- American Baptist Quarterly