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Unitarianism

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This article is about the Christian theological tradition. For the doctrinal position, see Nontrinitarianism. For the liberal religious movement, see Unitarian Universalism. For its British counterpart, see General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. For other uses, see Unitarian.
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Unitarianism (from Latin unitas 'unity, oneness') is a nontrinitarian branch of Christianity.[1] Unitarian Christians affirm the unitary nature of God as the singular and unique creator of the universe,[1] believe that Jesus Christ was inspired by God in his moral teachings and that he is the savior of humankind,[1][2][3] but he is not equal to God himself. Accordingly, Unitarians reject the Ecumenical Councils and ecumenical creeds, and sit outside traditional, mainstream Christianity.[1][2][4]

Unitarianism was established in order to restore "primitive Christianity before later corruptions set in".[5] Likewise, Unitarian Christians generally reject the doctrine of original sin.[6][7] The churchmanship of Unitarianism may include liberal denominations or Unitarian Christian denominations that are more conservative, with the latter being known as biblical Unitarians.[8][9]

The birth of the Unitarian faith is proximate to the Radical Reformation, beginning almost simultaneously among the Protestant[10] Polish Brethren in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and in the Principality of Transylvania in the mid-16th century;[11] the first Unitarian Christian denomination known to have emerged during that time was the Unitarian Church of Transylvania, founded by the Unitarian preacher and theologian Ferenc Dávid (c. 1520–1579).[11] Among its adherents were a significant number of Italians who took refuge in Bohemia, Moravia, Poland, and Transylvania in order to escape from the religious persecution perpetrated against them by the Roman Catholic and Magisterial Protestant churches.[11][12][13][14] In the 17th century, significant repression in Poland led many Unitarians to flee or be killed for their faith.[12] From the 16th to 18th centuries, Unitarians in Britain often faced significant political persecution, including John Biddle, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Theophilus Lindsey. In England, the first Unitarian Church was established in 1774 on Essex Street, London,[15] where today's British Unitarian headquarters is still located.[16]

As is typical of dissenters and nonconformists, Unitarianism does not constitute one single Christian denomination; rather, it refers to a collection of both existing and extinct Christian groups (whether historically related to each other or not) that share a common theological concept of the unitary nature of God. Unitarian Christian communities and churches have developed in Central Europe (mostly Romania and Hungary), Ireland, India, Jamaica, Japan, Canada, Nigeria, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In British America, different schools of Unitarian theology first spread in the New England Colonies and subsequently in the Mid-Atlantic States. The first official acceptance of the Unitarian faith on the part of a congregation in North America was by King's Chapel in Boston, from where James Freeman began teaching Unitarian doctrine in 1784 and was appointed rector. Later in 1785, he created a revised Unitarian Book of Common Prayer based on Lindsey's work.[17]

Terminology

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Unitarianism is a proper noun and follows the same English usage as other Christian theologies that have developed within a religious group or denomination (such as Calvinism, Anabaptism, Adventism, Lutheranism, Wesleyanism, etc.).[18] The term existed shortly before it became the name of a distinct religious tradition, thus occasionally it is used as a common noun to describe any understanding of Jesus Christ that denies the doctrine of the Trinity or affirms the belief that God is only one person. In that case, it would be a Nontrinitarian belief system not necessarily associated with the Unitarian movement.[19][20][21] For example, the Unitarian movement has never accepted the Godhood of Jesus, and therefore does not include those nontrinitarian belief systems that do, such as Oneness Pentecostalism, United Pentecostal Church International, the True Jesus Church, and the writings of Michael Servetus (all of which maintain that Jesus is God as a single person). Recently, some religious groups have adopted the 19th-century term biblical unitarianism to distinguish their theologies from Unitarianism.[22]

Unitarianism is a Christian theology and practice that precedes and is distinct from Unitarian Universalism.[23][24][25][26] In the 1890s the American Unitarian Association began to allow non-Christian and non-theistic churches and individuals to be part of their fellowship.[27] As a result, people who held no Unitarian belief began to be called Unitarians because they were members of churches that belonged to the American Unitarian Association. After several decades, the non-theistic members outnumbered the theological Unitarians.[28]

History

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Main article: History of Unitarianism
Further information: Radical Reformation and Reformation in the Kingdom of Hungary
Ferenc Dávid holding his speech at the Diet of Torda (1568), in the Kingdom of Hungary (today Turda, Romania). Painting by Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch (1896).

Unitarianism, both as a theology and as a denominational family of churches, was defined and developed in Poland, Transylvania, England, Wales, India, Japan, Jamaica, the United States, and beyond in the 16th century through the present.[29][30] Although common beliefs existed among Unitarians in each of these regions, they initially grew independently from each other. Only later did they influence one another and accumulate more similarities.[31]

The Ecclesia minor or Minor Reformed Church of Poland, better known today as the Polish Brethren, was born as the result of a controversy that started on January 22, 1556, when Piotr of Goniądz (Peter Gonesius), a Polish student, spoke out against the doctrine of the Trinity during the general synod of the Reformed (Calvinist) churches of Poland held in the village of Secemin.[32] After nine years of debate, in 1565, the anti-Trinitarians were excluded from the existing synod of the Polish Reformed Church (henceforth the Ecclesia maior) and they began to hold their own synods as the Ecclesia minor. Though frequently called "Arians" by those on the outside, the views of Fausto Sozzini (Faustus Socinus) became the standard in the church, and these doctrines were quite removed from Arianism. So important was Socinus to the formulation of their beliefs that those outside Poland usually referred to them as Socinians.[33] The Polish Brethren were disbanded in 1658 by the Sejm (Polish Parliament). They were ordered to convert to Roman Catholicism or leave Poland. Most of them went to Transylvania or Holland, where they embraced the name "Unitarian". Between 1665 and 1668 a grandson of Socinus, Andrzej Wiszowaty Sr., published Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum quos Unitarios vocant (Library of the Polish Brethren who are called Unitarians 4 vols. 1665–1669).[citation needed]

The Unitarian Church in Transylvania was first recognized by the Edict of Torda, issued by the Transylvanian Diet under Prince John II Sigismund Zápolya (January 1568),[34] and was first led by Ferenc Dávid (a former Calvinist bishop, who had begun preaching the new doctrine in 1566). The term "Unitarian" first appeared as unitaria religio in a document of the Diet of Lécfalva, Transylvania, on 25 October 1600, though it was not widely used in Transylvania until 1638, when the formal recepta Unitaria Religio was published.[citation needed]

The word Unitarian had been circulating in private letters in England, in reference to imported copies of such publications as the Library of the Polish Brethren who are called Unitarians (1665). Henry Hedworth was the first to use the word "Unitarian" in print in English (1673), and the word first appears in a title in Stephen Nye's A Brief History of the Unitarians, called also Socinians (1687). The movement gained popularity in England in the wake of the Enlightenment and began to become a formal denomination in 1774 when Theophilus Lindsey organised meetings with Joseph Priestley, founding the first avowedly Unitarian congregation in the country. This occurred at Essex Street Church in London.[15] Official toleration came in 1813.

The first official acceptance of the Unitarian faith on the part of a congregation in America was by King's Chapel in Boston, which settled James Freeman (1759–1835) in 1782, and revised the Prayer Book into a mild Unitarian liturgy in 1785. In 1800, Joseph Stevens Buckminster became minister of the Brattle Street Church in Boston, where his brilliant sermons, literary activities, and academic attention to the German "New Criticism" helped shape the subsequent growth of Unitarianism in New England. Unitarian Henry Ware (1764–1845) was appointed as the Hollis professor of divinity at Harvard College, in 1805. Harvard Divinity School then shifted from its conservative roots to teach Unitarian theology (see Harvard and Unitarianism). Buckminster's close associate William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) was settled over the Federal Street Church in Boston, 1803, and in a few years he became the leader of the Unitarian movement. A theological battle with the Congregational Churches resulted in the formation of the American Unitarian Association at Boston in 1825. Certainly, the unitarian theology was being "adopted" by the Congregationalists from the 1820s onwards. This movement is also evident in England at this time.[35]

The first school founded by the Unitarians in the United States was the Clinton Liberal Institute, in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, founded in 1831.

Beliefs

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"God is One" (Egy az Isten) stained glass window in a Unitarian church in Budapest, Hungary.

Christology

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Unitarians charge that the Trinity, unlike unitarianism, fails to adhere to strict monotheism. Unitarians maintain that Jesus was a great man and a prophet of God, perhaps even a supernatural being, but not God himself.[2] They believe Jesus did not claim to be God and that his teachings did not suggest the existence of a triune God.

Unitarian Christology can be divided according to whether or not Jesus is believed to have had a pre-human existence. Both forms maintain that God is one being and one person and that Jesus is the (or a) Son of God, but generally not God himself.[36]

In the early 19th century, Unitarian Robert Wallace identified three particular classes of Unitarian doctrines in history:

  • Arian, which believed in a pre-existence of the Logos;
  • Socinian, which denied his pre-existence, but agreed that Christ should be worshipped;
  • "Strict Unitarian", which, believing in an "incommunicable divinity of God", denied the worship of "the man Christ."[37][38]

Unitarianism is considered a factor in the decline of classical deism because there were people who increasingly preferred to identify themselves as Unitarians rather than deists.[39]

Several tenets of Unitarianism overlap with the predominant Muslim view of Jesus and Islamic understanding of monotheism.[40]

"Socinian" Christology

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Main article: Socinianism
Fausto Sozzini was an Italian theologian who helped define Unitarianism and also served the Polish Brethren church.

The Christology commonly called "Socinian" (after Fausto Sozzini, one of the founders of Unitarian theology) refers to the belief that Jesus Christ began his life when he was born as a human. In other words, the teaching that Jesus pre-existed his human body is rejected. There are various views ranging from the belief that Jesus was simply a human (psilanthropism) who, because of his greatness, was adopted by God as his Son (adoptionism) to the belief that Jesus literally became the son of God when he was conceived by the Holy Spirit.[citation needed]

This Christology existed in some form or another prior to Sozzini. Theodotus of Byzantium,[41] Artemon[42] and Paul of Samosata[43] denied the pre-existence of Christ. These ideas were continued by Marcellus of Ancyra and his pupil Photinus in the 4th century AD.[44][45] In the Radical Reformation and Anabaptist movements of the 16th century this idea resurfaced with Sozzini's uncle, Lelio Sozzini. Having influenced the Polish Brethren to a formal declaration of this belief in the Racovian Catechism, Fausto Sozzini involuntarily ended up giving his name to this Christological position,[46] which continued with English Unitarians such as John Biddle, Thomas Belsham, Theophilus Lindsey, and James Martineau. In America, most of the early Unitarians were "Arian" in Christology (see below), but among those who held to a "Socinian" view was James Freeman.[citation needed]

Regarding the virgin birth of Jesus among those who denied the preexistence of Christ, some held to it and others did not. Its denial is sometimes ascribed to the Ebionites; however, Origen (Contra Celsum v.61) and Eusebius (HE iii.27) both indicate that some Ebionites did accept the virgin birth.[47] On the other hand, Theodotus of Byzantium, Artemon, and Paul of Samosata all accepted the virgin birth.[48] In the early days of Unitarianism, the stories of the virgin birth were accepted by most. There were a number of Unitarians who questioned the historical accuracy of the Bible, including Symon Budny, Jacob Palaeologus, Thomas Belsham, and Richard Wright, and this made them question the virgin birth story.[49][50][51][52] Beginning in England and America in the 1830s, and manifesting itself primarily in Transcendentalist Unitarianism, which emerged from the German liberal theology associated primarily with Friedrich Schleiermacher, the psilanthropist view increased in popularity.[53] Its proponents took an intellectual and humanistic approach to religion. They embraced evolutionary concepts, asserted the "inherent goodness of man", and abandoned the doctrine of biblical infallibility, rejecting most of the miraculous events in the Bible (including the virgin birth). Notable examples are James Martineau, Theodore Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Frederic Henry Hedge. Famous American Unitarian William Ellery Channing was a believer in the virgin birth until later in his life, after he had begun his association with the Transcendentalists.[54][55][56]

Arianism

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Constantine I burning Arian books, illustration from a book of canon law, c. 825.

Arianism is often considered a form of Unitarianism.[57]

The Christology of Arianism holds that Jesus, before his human life, existed as the Logos, or the Word, a being begotten or created by God, who dwelt with God in heaven.[citation needed] There are many varieties of this form of Unitarianism, ranging from the belief that the Son was a divine spirit of the same substance (called Subordinationism) or of a similar substance to that of God (called Semi-Arianism) to the belief that he was an angel or other lesser spirit creature of a wholly different nature from God.[citation needed] Not all of these views necessarily were held by Arius, the namesake of this Christology. It is still Nontrinitarian because, according to this belief system, Jesus has always been beneath God, though higher than humans. Arian Christology was not a majority view among Unitarians in Poland, Transylvania or England. It was only with the advent of American Unitarianism that it gained a foothold in the Unitarian movement.[citation needed]

Among early Christian theologians who believed in a pre-existent Jesus who was subordinate to God the Father were Lucian of Antioch, Eusebius of Caesarea, Arius, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Asterius the Sophist, Eunomius, and Ulfilas, as well as Felix, Bishop of Urgell. Proponents of this Christology also associate it (more controversially) with Justin Martyr and Hippolytus of Rome. Antitrinitarian Michael Servetus did not deny the pre-existence of Christ, so he may have believed in it.[58][unreliable source?] (In his "Treatise Concerning the Divine Trinity" Servetus taught that the Logos (Word) was the reflection of Christ, and "that reflection of Christ was 'the Word with God" that consisted of God Himself, shining brightly in heaven, "and it was God Himself"[59] and that "the Word was the very essence of God or the manifestation of God's essence, and there was in God no other substance or hypostasis than His Word, in a bright cloud where God then seemed to subsist. And in that very spot the face and personality of Christ shone bright."[59]) Isaac Newton had Arian beliefs as well.[60][61][62] Famous 19th-century Arian Unitarians include Andrews Norton[63] and William Ellery Channing (in his earlier years).[64]

Other beliefs

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Although there is no specific authority on convictions of Unitarian belief aside from rejection of the Trinity, the following beliefs are generally accepted:[65][66][67][68][69][70]

  • One God and the oneness or unity of God.
  • The life and teachings of Jesus Christ constitute the exemplary model for living one's own life.
  • Reason, rational thought, science, and philosophy coexist with faith in God.
  • Humans have the ability to exercise free will in a responsible, constructive and ethical manner with the assistance of religion.
  • Human nature in its present condition is neither inherently corrupt nor depraved (see original sin) but capable of both good and evil, as God intended.
  • No religion can claim an absolute monopoly on the Holy Spirit or theological truth.
  • Though the authors of the Bible were inspired by God, they were humans and therefore subject to human error.
  • The traditional doctrines of predestination, eternal damnation, and the vicarious sacrifice and satisfaction theories of the Atonement are invalid because they malign God's character and veil the true nature and mission of Jesus Christ.[71]

In 1938, The Christian Leader attributed "the religion of Jesus, not a religion about Jesus" to Unitarians,[72] though the phrase was used earlier by Congregationalist Rollin Lynde Hartt in 1924.[73]

Worship

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Worship within the Unitarian tradition accommodates a wide range of understandings of God, while the focus of the service may be simply the celebration of life itself. Each Unitarian congregation is at liberty to devise its own form of worship, though commonly, Unitarians will light their chalice (symbol of faith), have a story for all ages; and include sermons, prayers, hymns and songs. Some will allow attendees to publicly share their recent joys or concerns.[74]

Modern Christian Unitarian organizations

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Main article: History of Unitarianism
First Unitarian Meeting House in Madison, Wisconsin, designed by Unitarian Frank Lloyd Wright

This section relates to Unitarian churches and organizations today which are still specifically Christian, whether within or outside Unitarian Universalism. Unitarian Universalism, conversely, refers to the embracing of non-Christian religions.

International groups

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See also: International Council of Unitarians and Universalists

Some Unitarian Christian groups are affiliated with the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU), founded in 1995.[75] The ICUU has "full member" groups in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, EUU, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland,[76] Romania, South Africa, Spain. Sri Lanka and the United States. Brazil is a Provisional Member.[77]

The ICUU includes small "Associate Groups", including Congregazione Italiana Cristiano Unitariana, Turin (founded in 2004)[78][79] and the Bét Dávid Unitarian Association, Oslo (founded 2005).[80]

Transylvania (Romania)

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The Dârjiu fortified church, a 13th-century fortified church belonging to the Unitarian Church of Transylvania. This is the only Unitarian fortified church in Transylvania which is on the UNESCO's World Heritage List.

The largest Unitarian denomination worldwide today is also the oldest Unitarian denomination (since 1565, first use of the term "Unitarian" 1600):[81] the Unitarian Church of Transylvania (in Romania, which is in union with the Unitarian Church in Hungary). The church in Transylvania still looks to the statement of faith, the Summa Universae Theologiae Christianae secundum Unitarios (1787), though today assent to this is not required. The modern Unitarian Church in Hungary (25,000 members) and the Transylvanian Unitarian Church (75,000 members) are affiliated with the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU) and claim continuity with the historical Unitarian Christian tradition established by Ferenc Dávid in 1565 in Transylvania under John II Sigismund Zápolya. The Unitarian churches in Hungary and Transylvania are structured and organized along a church hierarchy that includes the election by the synod of a national bishop who serves as superintendent of the Church. Many Hungarian Unitarians embrace the principles of rationalist Unitarianism.[82] Unitarian high schools exist only in Transylvania (Romania), including the John Sigismund Unitarian Academy in Cluj-Napoca, the Protestant Theological Institute of Cluj, and the Berde Mózes Unitárius Gimnázium in Cristuru Secuiesc; both teach Rationalist Unitarianism.[citation needed]

United Kingdom

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Newington Green Unitarian Church in London, England. Built in 1708, this is the oldest nonconformist church in London still in use.

The Unitarian Christian Association (UCA) was founded in the United Kingdom in 1991 by Rev. Lancelot Garrard (1904–93)[83] and others to promote specifically Christian ideas within the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (GAUFCC), the national Unitarian body in the UK. Just as the UUCF and ICUU maintain formal links with the Unitarian Universalist Association in the US, so the UCA is an affiliate body of the GAUFCC in the UK.[citation needed]

The majority of Unitarian Christian publications are sponsored by an organization and published specifically for their membership. Generally, they do not serve as a tool for missionary work or encouraging conversions.[citation needed]

India

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In India, three different schools of Unitarian thought influenced varying movements, including the Brahmo Samaj, the Unitarian Church of the Khasi Hills,[84] and the Unitarian Christian Church of Chennai, in Madras, founded in 1795.[85] As of 2011, "Thirty-five congregations and eight fellowships comprising almost 10,000 Unitarians now form the Unitarian Union of North East India."[86]

United States

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The American Unitarian Conference (AUC) was formed in 2000 and stands between UUA and ICUU in attachment to the Christian element of modern Unitarianism. The American Unitarian Conference is open to non-Christian Unitarians, being particularly popular with non-Christian theists and deists.[87] As of 2009, The AUC has three congregations in the United States.[88]

Unitarian Christian Ministries International was a Unitarian ministry incorporated in South Carolina until its dissolution in 2013 when it merged with the Unitarian Christian Emerging Church. The Unitarian Christian Emerging Church has recently undergone reorganization and today is known as the Unitarian Christian Church of America. In addition, the Unitarian Universalist Faith Alliance and Ministries follow a Progressive Christian format honoring Sacred Space and Creation Spirituality. [89]

The Unitarian Christian Church of America (UCCA) was formed on 1 October 2016 through the merging of the Unitarian Christian Emerging Church and the Unitarian Christian Conference. The church's current ministry in on-line and through local fellowship gatherings. The current senior pastor and current president of the UCCA is the Reverend Dr. Shannon Rogers. The UCCA has both ordained and lay members.[90]

Australia and New Zealand

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Further information: Australia and New Zealand Unitarian Universalist Association

The first Unitarian Church in Australia was built in 1854 in Melbourne and was followed soon afterwards by chapels in Sydney and Adelaide, and later regional centres including Ballarat.[91][92] The modern church, no longer unitarian Christian, retains properties in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, and smaller congregations elsewhere in Australia and New Zealand.[93]

South Africa

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The Unitarian movement in South Africa was founded in 1867 by David Faure,[94] member of a well-known Cape family. He encountered advanced liberal religious thought while completing his studies at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands for the ministry of the Dutch Reformed Church in Cape Town.

Ireland

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There are two active Unitarian churches in Ireland, one in Dublin and the other in Cork. Both are member churches of the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland.

Denmark

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Unitarianism was a latecomer to Denmark. Some of the inspiration came from Norway and England – family members of the founders, and the wife of Edward Grieg. 1900–1918 the society priest was Uffe Birkedal, who had previously been a Lutheran priest. He held the first worship 18 February 1900. A founding general assembly 18 May 1900 elected Mary Bess Westenholz as the first chairman of the Society. The Society newsletter was named 'Protestantisk Tidende' 1904–1993, and then renamed 'Unitaren', reflecting a gradually changing perception of being part of the Danish Lutheran Church, to one where this was no longer assumed ([95]).

Biblical Unitarians

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Main article: Biblical Unitarianism

Biblical Unitarianism identifies the Christian belief that the Bible teaches that God the Father is one singular being, and that Jesus Christ is a distinct being, his son, but not divine.[96] A few denominations use this term to describe themselves, clarifying the distinction between them and those churches which, from the late 19th century, evolved into modern British Unitarianism and, primarily in the United States, Unitarian Universalism.[96] In 16th-century Italy, Biblical Unitarianism was powered by the ideas of the Non-trinitarian theologians Lelio and Fausto Sozzini, founders of Socinianism;[97] their doctrine was embraced and further developed by the Unitarian Church of Transylvania during the 16th and 17th centuries.[98] Today, it's represented by the churches associated with the Christian Church in Italy.[99]

Notable Unitarians

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Main article: List of Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists
Isaac Newton held Arian views

Notable Unitarians include classical composers Edvard Grieg and Béla Bartók; Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Parker, Yveon Seon and Thomas Lamb Eliot in theology and ministry; Oliver Heaviside, Erasmus Darwin, Joseph Priestley, John Archibald Wheeler, Linus Pauling, Sir Isaac Newton[100] and inventor Sir Francis Ronalds[101][102] in science; George Boole in mathematics; Susan B. Anthony in civil government; Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Whitney Young of the National Urban League, and Florence Nightingale in humanitarianism and social justice; John Bowring, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Elizabeth Gaskell in literature; Frank Lloyd Wright in the arts; Josiah Wedgwood, Richard Peacock[103] and Samuel Carter MP[104] in industry; Thomas Starr King in ministry and politics; and Charles William Eliot in education. Julia Ward Howe was a leader in the woman suffrage movement, the first ever woman to be elected to the Academy of Arts and Letters, and author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", volumes of poetry, and other writing. Although raised a Quaker, Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, attended the Unitarian church and was one of the founders of Ithaca's First Unitarian Church. Eramus Darwin Shattuck, a signatory to the Oregon State Constitution, founded the first Unitarian church in Oregon in 1865.[105]

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was an abolitionist, journalist, and suffragist associated with both American Unitarianism and the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Eleven Nobel Prizes have been awarded to Unitarians: Robert Millikan[106] and John Bardeen (twice) in physics; Emily Green Balch, Albert Schweitzer and Linus Pauling for peace; George Wald and David H. Hubel in medicine; Linus Pauling in chemistry; and Herbert A. Simon in economics.[citation needed]

Four presidents of the United States were Unitarians: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, and William Howard Taft.[107] Adlai Stevenson II, the Democratic presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956, was a Unitarian; he was the last Unitarian to be nominated by a major party for president as of 2024.[citation needed] Although a self-styled materialist, Thomas Jefferson was pro-Unitarian to the extent of suggesting that it would become the predominant religion in the United States.[108]

In the United Kingdom, although Unitarianism was the religion of only a small minority of the population, its practitioners had an enormous impact on Victorian politics, not only in the larger cities – Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool – but in smaller communities such as Leicester, where there were so many Unitarian mayors that the Unitarian Chapel was known as the "Mayors' Nest".[109] Numerous Unitarian families were highly significant in the social and political life of Britain from Victorian times to the middle of the 20th century. They included the Nettlefolds, Martineaus, Luptons, Kitsons, Chamberlains and Kenricks.[110][111] In Birmingham, England, a Unitarian church – the Church of the Messiah – was opened in 1862. It became a cultural and intellectual centre of a whole society, a place where ideas about society were openly and critically discussed.[note 1]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Henry W. Crosskey's congregation included Joseph Chamberlain, father of British prime minister Neville Chamberlain[109] and Arthur, his younger brother, who was married to Louisa Kenrick; William Kenrick, his brother-in-law, who was married to Mary Chamberlain; and Sir Thomas Martineau, who was the nephew of Harriet Martineau, another outspoken public figure and author. Sir Thomas Martineau (died 1893) was related to the Chamberlain family by marriage; Sir Thomas had married Emily Kenrick, the sister of Florence Chamberlain, née Kenrick.[112] In Lambeth, South London, another two members of the Martineau family, Caroline and Constance, worked at Morley College, the former acting as (unpaid) principal for over 11 years. Several other prominent Unitarians were involved in the development of this liberal arts college, which was founded by actors at the Old Vic theatre.[113]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d Bremer, Thomas S. (2015). "Transcendentalism". Formed From This Soil: An Introduction to the Diverse History of Religion in America. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 235. doi:10.1002/9781394260959. ISBN 978-1-4051-8927-9. LCCN 2014030507. S2CID 127980793. Archived from the original on 2023-01-13. Retrieved 2023-01-13. Unitarian theology, which developed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, included a critique of the traditional Christian theology of the Trinity, which regarded God as three distinct but unified beings—transcendent Creator God, human Savior God (i.e., Jesus Christ), and immanent Spiritual God (i.e., the Holy Spirit). Unitarians viewed this understanding of God as a later theological corruption, and they embraced a view of God as a singular, unified entity; in most Unitarian theological interpretations, Jesus Christ retains highest respect as a spiritual and moral teacher of unparalleled insight and sensitivity, but he is not regarded as divine, or at least his divine nature is not on the same level as the singular and unique Creator God.
  2. ^ a b c Miano, David (2003), An Explanation of Unitarian Christianity, AUC, p. 15, archived from the original on 2019-05-21, retrieved 2012-10-01.
  3. ^ Drzymala, Daren. 2002. Biblical Christianity. Xulon press. p. 122: "Classically, Unitarian Universalist Christians [and Unitarian Christians] have understood Jesus as a Savior because he was a God-filled human being, not a supernatural being."
  4. ^ "Jesus Christ: Incarnated or Created? – Was he actually born?". BiblicalUnitarian.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  5. ^ Joseph Priestley, one of the founders of the Unitarian movement, defined Unitarianism as the belief of primitive Christianity before later corruptions set in. Among these corruptions, he included not only the doctrine of the Trinity, but also various other orthodox doctrines and usages (Earl Morse Wilbur, A History of Unitarianism, Harvard University Press 1952, pp. 302–303).
  6. ^ From The Catechism of the Hungarian Unitarian Church in Transylvanian Romania: "Unitarians do not teach original sin. We do not believe that through the sin of the first human couple we all became corrupted. It would contradict the love and justice of God to attribute to us the sin of others, because sin is one's own personal action" (Ferencz Jozsef, 20th ed., 1991. Translated from Hungarian by Gyorgy Andrasi, published in The Unitarian Universalist Christian, Fall/Winter, 1994, Volume 49, Nos. 3–4; VII:107).
  7. ^ In his history of the Unitarians, David Robinson writes: "At their inception, both Unitarians and Universalists shared a common theological enemy: Calvinism." He explains that they "consistently attacked Calvinism on the related issues of original sin and election to salvation, doctrines that in their view undermined human moral exertion." (D. Robinson, The Unitarians and the Universalists, Greenwood Press, 1985, pp. 3, 17).
  8. ^ Larsen, Timothy (27 January 2011). A People of One Book: The Bible and the Victorians. Oxford University Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-19-161433-0. Biblical Unitarians are standardly portrayed as denouncing liberal Unitarians
  9. ^ Mandelbrote, Scott; Ledger-Lomas, Michael (October 2013). Dissent and the Bible in Britain, C.1650–1950. Oxford University Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-19-960841-6. Although a biblical Unitarian, Mary Carpenter was lifelong friends with James Martineau, the pioneer of English liberal Unitarianism.
  10. ^ Lerski, Jerzy Jan; Lerski, George J.; Lerski, Halina T. (1996). Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966–1945. Greenwood Publishing. ISBN 978-0313260070. Archived from the original on 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
  11. ^ a b c Williams, George Huntston (1995). "Chapter 28: The Rise of Unitarianism in the Magyar Reformed Synod in Transylvania". The Radical Reformation (3rd ed.). University Park, Pennsylvania: Penn State University Press. pp. 1099–1133. ISBN 978-0-943549-83-5. Archived from the original on 2023-01-13. Retrieved 2023-01-13.
  12. ^ a b Luszczynska, Magdalena (2018). "Introduction". Politics of Polemics: Marcin Czechowic on the Jews. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 1–26. doi:10.1515/9783110586565-001. ISBN 9783110586565. S2CID 158456664. Archived from the original on 2023-02-10. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  13. ^ James Hastings Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics: Algonquins-Art p. 785 – 2001 "The first Unitarians were Italians, and the majority took refuge in Poland, where the laxity of the laws and the independence of the nobility secured for them a toleration which would have been denied to their views in other countries."
  14. ^ The encyclopedia of Protestantism 137 Hans Joachim Hillerbrand – 2004 "The so-called Golden Age of Unitarianism in Transylvania (1540–1571) resulted in a rich production of works both in Hungarian and Latin".
  15. ^ a b Schofield, Robert E. (2010). The Enlightened Joseph Priestley: A Study of His Life and Work from 1773 to 1804. Penn State Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-271-04624-2. Archived from the original on 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
  16. ^ Erwin Fahlbusch The encyclopedia of Christianity 5 603 2008 "Lindsey attempted but failed to gain legal relief for Anglican Unitarians, so in 1774 he opened his own distinctly Unitarian church on Essex Street, London, where today's British Unitarian headquarters are still located."
  17. ^ American Unitarianism: or, A Brief history of "The progress and State of the Unitarian Churches in America, third edition, 1815 "So early as the year 1786, Dr. Freeman had persuaded his church to adopt a liturgy, which the Rev. ... Thus much for the history of Unitarianism at the Stone Chapel."
  18. ^ L. Sue Baugh, Essentials of English Grammar: A Practical Guide to the Mastery of English (ISBN 978-0844258218). Second Edition 1994, p. 59: "Religious Names and Terms: The names of all religions, denominations, and local groups are capitalized."
  19. ^ J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedia of Protestantism, 2005, p. 543: "Unitarianism – The word unitarian [italics] means one who believes in the oneness of God; historically it refers to those in the Christian community who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity (one God expressed in three persons). Non-Trinitarian Protestant churches emerged in the 16th century in ITALY, POLAND, and TRANSYLVANIA."
  20. ^ Letter from Matthew F. Smith to Editor World faiths Encounter, 7–12 World Congress of Faiths – 1994 – "In an otherwise excellent article by Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, 'Sikh Spirit in an Age of Plurality' (No. 6, November 1993), the writer makes a number of pejorative remarks about 'unitarianism', associating the term with a striving for a monolithic polity and reductionism to a common denominator. This is a very unfortunate misuse of the word. A correct definition of 'unitarianism' (small 'u') is the mono-hypo-static belief system of someone not directly associated with the Unitarian movement, almost always applied to a person from the Christian tradition, as the word was coined in distinction to the orthodox 'Trinitarian' doctrine of Christianity. 'Unitarians' (capital 'U') are, of course, those who follow the Unitarian approach to religion and are formally associated with the movement. In neither case can it be claimed that there is an underlying agenda towards reductionism and uniformity. Quite the reverse, in fact. Modern Unitarianism is remarkable among religions in not only welcoming the variety of faiths that there are to be found but also, as a creedless church, welcoming and encouraging acceptance of the same. We readily accept that not all our members are 'realist' theists, for example. Our long-standing commitment to interfaith understanding, evident in our practical support of the International Association for Religious Freedom, the World Congress of Faiths and the newly established International Interfaith centre in Oxford cannot be taken to mean that Unitarians are seeking the creation of a single world religion out of the old. I do not know a single Unitarian who believes or seeks that. On the contrary, we reject uniformity and cherish instead the highest degree of spiritual integrity, both of the existing religious traditions of the world and of religious persons as unique, thinking individuals. Matthew F Smith, Information Officer" (Essex Street Chapel, Unitarian Church headquarters, UK)
  21. ^ "The name originated at the time of the great dispute at Gyulafehérvár in 1568, in the course of which Mélius quite often concluded his argument by saying, Ergo Deus est trinitarius.... Hence his party naturally came to be called Trinitarians and their opponents would naturally be called Unitarians. The name seems thus to have come into general use only gradually and it was long before it was employed in the formal proclamations of their Superintendents.... It is not found in print as the denomination of the church until 1600, when the unitaria religio is named as one of the four received religions in a decree of the Diet of Léczfalva (cf. Magyar Emlékek, iv, 551) in the extreme southeastern part of Transylvania. The name was never used by the Socinians in Poland; but late in the seventeenth century Transylvanian Unitarian students made it well-known in Holland, where the Socinians in exile, who had never adopted Socinian as the name of their movement and were more and more objecting to it, welcomed it as distinguishing them from Trinitarians. It thus gradually superseded the term Socinian, and spread to England and America." Earl Morse Wilbur, A History of Unitarianism, vol. 2, pp. 47–48.
  22. ^ Tuggy, Dale, (2009). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy[permanent dead link‍].
  23. ^ Robinson, The Unitarians and the Universalists, pp. 159–184.
  24. ^ AW Gomes, EC Beisner, and RM Bowman, Unitarian Universalism (Zondervan, 1998), pp. 30–79.
  25. ^ American Unitarian association, 1886. The Unitarian Register. American Unitarian Association. p. 563
  26. ^ Rationalist Press Association Limited, 1957. Humanist, Volume 72. p. III
  27. ^ George Willis Cooke, Unitarianism in America (AUA, 1902), pp. 224–230.
  28. ^ Engaging Our Theological Diversity (PDF), UUA, pp. 70–72, archived (PDF) from the original on 2010-06-15, retrieved 2011-01-02
  29. ^ "Book Talk with Michel Mohr "Unitarianism in Japan: Unravelling Its Saga through the UUA Archives"". library.hds.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 2021-07-31. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
  30. ^ "Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists Around the World | International Unitarian Universalism | UUA.org". www.uua.org. Archived from the original on 2021-04-11. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
  31. ^ "The religious movement whose history we are endeavoring to trace...became fully developed in thought and polity in only four countries, one after another, namely Poland, Transylvania, England and America, but in each of these it showed, along with certain individual characteristics, a general spirit, a common point of view, and a doctrinal pattern that tempt one to regard them as all outgrowths of a single movement which passed from one to another; for nothing could be more natural than to presume that these common features implied a common ancestry. Yet such is not the fact, for in each of these four lands the movement, instead of having originated elsewhere, and been translated only after attaining mature growth, appears to have sprung independently and directly from its own native roots, and to have been influenced by other and similar movements only after it had already developed an independent life and character of its own." Earl Morse Wilbur, A History of Unitarianism, vol. 2 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1952), p. 166.
  32. ^ Hewett, Racovia, pp. 20–21.
  33. ^ Livingstone, B. A. (2014). "Unitarianism". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191744303. Archived from the original on 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2022-09-17. Poland, where Faustus Socinus was their leader from 1579 until his death.
  34. ^ Earl A. Pope, "Protestantism in Romania", in Sabrina Petra Ramet (ed.), Protestantism and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia: The Communist and Postcommunist Eras, Duke University Press, Durham, 1992, p. 160. ISBN 0-8223-1241-7.
  35. ^ Bowers, J. (2010). Joseph Priestley and English Unitarianism in America. Penn State Press. p. 245. ISBN 978-0271045818. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 21 July 2020. ...Before 1819, American Unitarians followed the teachings of [England's] Priestly...[in the next few decades] the liberal Congregationalists adopted their Unitarian theology.
  36. ^ Hastings, James, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. 2, p. 785, Unitarianism started, on the other hand, with the denial of the pre-existence... These opinions, however, must be considered apart from Arianism proper.
  37. ^ Wallace, Robert. 1819. A Plain Statement and Scriptural Defence of the Leading Doctrines of Unitarianism Archived 2023-03-26 at the Wayback Machine. "Statement of The Peculiar Doctrines of Unitarians": pp. 7–10
  38. ^ See also Socinianism, Arianism and Unitarianism Archived 2015-01-20 at the Wayback Machine, by Christian Churches of God, Wade Cox, Summary No. 185z
  39. ^ Mossner, Ernest Campbell (1967). "Deism". Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2. Collier-MacMillan. pp. 326–336.
  40. ^ Setton, Kenneth (1969). A History of the Crusades. p. 466. ISBN 978-0299048341.
  41. ^ Hoben, Allan (1903), The Virgin Birth, Of the above-stated beliefs that of Theodotus of Byzantium is perhaps the most striking, in that, while it admits the virgin birth, it denies the deductions commonly made therefrom, attributing to Christ only pre-eminent righteousness.
  42. ^ Bright, William, Some Aspects of Primitive Church Life, p. 127, His original view was put into more definite form by Artemon, who regarded Jesus Christ as distinguished from prophets by (1) virgin-birth, (a) superior virtue.
  43. ^ Charles, Tutorial Prayer Book, p. 599.
  44. ^ Houdt, Toon, Self-Presentation and Social Identification, p. 238, Christian apologists traced the origin of Socinianism to the doctrine of Photinus (4th century), who according to St. Augustine denied the pre-existence of Christ.
  45. ^ R. P. C. Hanson (1916–1988), Lightfoot Professor of Divinity The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318–381 (9780801031465): 1973 "Photinus' doctrine appears to have been a form of what might be called middle Marcellism, i.e. what Marcellus originally taught before his vicissitudes caused him to temper the edge of his doctrine and take account of the criticisms of his friends as well as of his enemies, a little more moderated."
  46. ^ Watson, R., A Biblical and Theological Dictionary, p. 999.
  47. ^ Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (1982), International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. E–J, p. 9, Origen was the first to distinguish between two types of Ebionites theologically: those who believed in the Virgin Birth and those who rejected it.
  48. ^ Stead, Christopher (1996), Philosophy in Christian Antiquity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 189, ISBN 978-0-521-46955-5.
  49. ^ Webb, R. K. (2007), "Miracles in English Unitarian Thought", in Micale, Mark S.; Dietle, Robert L; Gay, Peter (eds.), Enlightenment, Passion, Modernity: Historical Essays in European Thought and Culture, p. 120.
  50. ^ Belsham (1806), "Remarks on Mr. Proud's Pamphlet", Monthly Repository, p. 423.
  51. ^ Wright, Richard (1808), An Essay on the Miraculous Conception of Jesus Christ, London.
  52. ^ Wright, R, A Review of the Missionary Life and Labors of Richard Wright, p. 68, After they were excited to think freely, some gave up the doctrine of the miraculous conception, from reading the scriptures only, and observing certain things there with which it could not be reconciled.
  53. ^ Gura, Philip F. American Transcendentalism: A History. New York: Hill and Wang, 2007: 7–8. ISBN 0-8090-3477-8.
  54. ^ Placher, William Carl (1983), A History of Christian Theology: An Introduction, p. 265, Rationalist Unitarians like William Ellery Channing had argued from the Bible and the evidence of its miracles.
  55. ^ Chadwick, John White, William Ellery Channing: Minister of Religion, p. 440.
  56. ^ Mendelsohn, Jack (1971), Channing, the Reluctant Radical: A Biography, A Suffolk County grand jury indicted him on three charges of blasphemy and obscenity: (1) he had quoted a scurrilous passage by Voltaire disparaging the virgin birth of Jesus.
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  58. ^ Odhner, CT (1910), Michael Servetus, His Life and Teachings, p. 77, It will be seen from these extracts how completely without foundation is the assertion that Servetus denied the eternal pre-existence of Christ.
  59. ^ a b Servetus, Michael (1553). The Restoration of Christianity – An English Translation of Christianismi restitutio, 1553, Translated by Christopher A. Hoffman and Marian Hillar. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-7734-5520-7.
  60. ^ Pfizenmaier, Thomas C. (1997), "Was Isaac Newton an Arian?", Journal of the History of Ideas, pp. 57–80, Among contemporary scholars, the consensus is that Newton was an Arian.
  61. ^ Wiles, Maurice F (1996), Archetypal Heresy: Arianism Through the Centuries, p. 133, Modern Unitarianism emerged after Newton's death.
  62. ^ Nicholls, David (1995), God and Government in an 'age of Reason', p. 44, Unitarianism ideas emerged after Newton's death.
  63. ^ A Statement of Reasons for Not Believing the Doctrines of Trinitarians, 1859.
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  72. ^ An esteemed Unitarian minister (1938), "2", The Christian Leader, vol. 120, p. 1034, This view finds pat expression in the dictum that Christianity is the religion of Jesus, not a religion about Jesus.
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  81. ^ a the Diet of Lécfalva 1600, in Gordon A. Heads of Unitarian History
  82. ^ Keyes, David (1999), Most Like An Arch, p. 106, And for those [UUs] who take the time to understand Transylvanian Unitarian beliefs, there may be some surprising discoveries to be made. They are humanists! Their Unitarian Christianity is steeped in rationalism, is heavily influenced by judaism
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  96. ^ a b Tuggy, Dale (Winter 2020). "Trinity – Unitariansm". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University. ISSN 1095-5054. OCLC 643092515. Archived from the original on 11 March 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2021. There are presently a number of small Christian groups calling themselves "biblical unitarians" (or: Christian monotheists or one God believers) to distinguish themselves from late 19th to 21st century Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists. Their arguments draw on early modern unitarian sources, while eschewing some of the idiosyncrasies of Socinus's theology and most of the extra revisions of the Priestley-derived stream of unitarians. Like late 18th to early 19th century unitarians, they argue at length that trinitarianism has no biblical foundation, and is inconsistent with its clear teachings. They also reject trinitarianism as contradictory or unintelligible, as involving idolatry, and as having been, as it were, illegally imported from Platonic philosophy [...]. On some issues they draw support from recent biblical scholarship, for example, the point that talk of "generation" and "procession" in the Gospel of John doesn't support later claims about inter-trinitarian relations [...]. Although this literature points out real tensions within contemporary theology (between text-oriented commentators and systematic theologians) it is widely ignored in academic theology and philosophy, and its adherents are generally excluded from the institutions of mainstream Christianity.
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Sources

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Bibliography

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  • Buzzard, A. and Hunting, C. (1998). The Doctrine of the Trinity: Christianity's Self-Inflicted Wound. International Scholars Publications. ISBN 1-57309-309-2.
  • Lloyd, Walter (1899). The Story of Protestant Dissent and English Unitarianism. London: P. Green.
  • Rowe, Mortimer (1959). The Story of Essex Hall Archived 2017-01-10 at the Wayback Machine. London: Lindsey Press.

Further reading

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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Unitarianism".
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