13 Facts About William Stringfellow

Frank William Stringfellow was an American lay theologian, lawyer and social activist who was active mostly during the 1960s and 1970s.

William Stringfellow managed to obtain several scholarships and entered Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, at the age of fifteen.

William Stringfellow later earned a scholarship to the London School of Economics and served in the US 2nd Armored Division.

Just a few years later, Stringfellow gained a reputation as a strident critic of the social, military and economic policies of the US and as a tireless advocate for racial and social justice.

William Stringfellow proclaimed that being a faithful follower of Jesus means to declare oneself free from all spiritual forces of death and destruction and to submit oneself single-heartedly to the power of life.

In contrast to most younger liberal Protestant theologians of his time, William Stringfellow insisted on the primacy of the Bible for Christians as they undertook such precarious and inherently dangerous work.

Although, to be clear, William Stringfellow himself was ultimately critical of any self-described political theology that would allow itself to function as a closed ideology.

William Stringfellow dealt with both every day in Harlem as he represented victimized tenants, accused persons who would otherwise have inadequate counsel in the courts, and impoverished African Americans who were largely excluded from public services like hospitals and government offices.

William Stringfellow later became deeply immersed in the World Council of Churches, as well as his native denomination, the Episcopal Church, where he supported the ordination of women.

William Stringfellow was involved with the Sojourners Community in Washington, DC.

William Stringfellow harbored at his Block Island home the Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan, who went underground after fleeing from federal authorities for acts of civil disobedience.

William Stringfellow has influenced later Roman Catholics, including John Dear and journalist Nathan Schneider, as well as evangelical social activists, Jim Wallis and Shane Claiborne, and biblical scholar, Wes Howard Brook.

William Stringfellow had a longtime relationship with the Methodist poet Anthony Towne from the 1960s until Anthony died in 1980.