417 Roger Williams, Rogue Puritan

417 Roger Williams, Rogue Puritan

When we think of early American champions of religious liberty, one name often rises above the rest: Roger Williams.

Best known as the founder of Rhode Island and a fierce advocate for the separation of church and state, Williams was a man who defied convention at every turn. He turned down a prestigious post in Boston, challenged Puritan orthodoxy, and was ultimately banished—only to build a new colony rooted in his radical ideas of liberty of conscience and religious toleration.

In this episode, we explore the life and legacy of this “nonconformist among nonconformists” with the co-editors of Reading Roger Williams: Rogue Puritans, Indigenous Nations, and the Founding of America:

  • Linford Fisher, Associate Professor of History at Brown University
  • Sheila McIntyre, Professor of History at SUNY Potsdam
  • Julie Fisher, scholar of Native American history

Together, they help us uncover:

  1. How Williams challenged both church and colonial authority
  2. His relationships with Indigenous communities and his work as a translator
  3. And why his ideas still matter for understanding religious freedom in America today.

Guests' Book


Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/417

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 118: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island
🎧 Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 1
🎧 Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 2
🎧 Episode 356: The Moravian Church in North America
🎧 Episode 373: The Gaspee Affair
🎧 Episode 392: Religion and Race in Early America


SUPPORT OUR WORK
🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s World


REQUEST A TOPIC
📨 Topic Request Form
📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.com


WHEN YOU'RE READY

🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter
👩‍💻 BFW Listener Community
🌍 The History Explorers Club


LISTEN 🎧
🍎 Apple Podcasts
💚 Spotify
🎶 Amazon Music
🛜 Pandora


CONNECT
🦋 Liz on Bluesky
👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn
🛜 Liz’s Website


SAY THANKS
💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
💚 Leave a rating on Spotify


*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(515)

450 Whose Revolution? The Delaware and the War for Independence

450 Whose Revolution? The Delaware and the War for Independence

In December 1776, a Delaware Chief named White Eyes stood before the Second Continental Congress. He had not come to declare himself a revolutionary, nor had he come to pledge his loyalty to King Geor...

1 Sep 1h 8min

BFW Revisited: The Brafferton Indian School, Part 1

BFW Revisited: The Brafferton Indian School, Part 1

In 1723, the College of William & Mary opened the Brafferton building, a permanent home for an Indian School the college had been chartered to run and struggled to fill for its first 30 years. The pre...

25 Aug 1h 23min

449 Stealing America: Indigenous Slavery and the American Revolution

449 Stealing America: Indigenous Slavery and the American Revolution

More than half a million Indigenous people were enslaved within the present-day borders of the United States. Historian Linford Fisher spent fifteen years in archives across North America, the Caribbe...

18 Aug 1h 32min

BFW Revisited: American Expansion & the Political Economy of Plunder

BFW Revisited: American Expansion & the Political Economy of Plunder

The Declaration of Independence proclaimed that all men are endowed with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.But what did liberty and equality mean for the peoples th...

11 Aug 1h 18min

448 The Declaration of Independence as American Scripture

448 The Declaration of Independence as American Scripture

The engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence is on display at the National Archives building in Washington, DC. Millions of visitors flock to see it and the other Charters of Freedom. But how...

4 Aug 45min

BFW Revisited Threads of Power

BFW Revisited Threads of Power

For the Haudenosaunee, the Six Nations People, the American Revolution brought not liberty, but land loss, displacement, and the dismantling of their world. The new United States seized land from Haud...

28 Jul 53min

447 The Other Committee Members: Robert R. Livingston, Roger Sherman, and the Declaration of Independence

447 The Other Committee Members: Robert R. Livingston, Roger Sherman, and the Declaration of Independence

Five men served on the Continental Congress’s Declaration Committee. We know three of them well: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. But who were the other two?In this episode, we exp...

21 Jul 1h 1min

BFW Revisited: A Declaration in Draft, 2026

BFW Revisited: A Declaration in Draft, 2026

Every American knows Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, but was he really its sole architect?In this revisited episode, we sit down with three scholars to pull back the curtain on...

14 Jul 1h 20min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
aftenpodden
giver-og-gjengen-vg
konspirasjonspodden
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
aftenpodden-usa
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
popradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
wolfgang-wee-uncut
grenselos
synnve-og-vanessa
fladseth
rss-espen-lee-usensurert
alt-fortalt
min-barneoppdragelse
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-herrepanelet
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem