Encyclopedia
Historic
Unitarianism believed in the oneness of
God and not the
Christian doctrine of the
Trinity proclaimed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. Historic Unitarians believed in the moral authority, but not the deity, of
Jesus. Unitarians are characterized by some as being identified through history as
free thinkers and dissenters, evolving their beliefs in the direction of rationalism and
humanism.
Throughout the world, many Unitarian congregations and associations belong to the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists. In the United States and Canada many Unitarians are
Unitarian Universalist or UU, reflecting an institutional consolidation between Unitarianism and Universalism. Today, most Unitarian Universalists do not consider themselves Christians, even if they share some beliefs quite similar to those of mainstream Christians. There is a small percentage of Unitarian Universalists who have a Christian-centric belief system.
Forms of Unitarianism
There are four distinct schools of Unitarian thought :
- 'Biblical Unitarianism'—God is one being who consists of one "person"—the Father. Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God, but generally not God himself; the Son may be a pre-existent being , the result of the union between the Divine Logos and the human being Jesus, by which Jesus became God himself , or Jesus after being filled with the Holy Spirit . Biblical Unitarianism remains as the only or main theology among Unitarians in Transylvania, Hungary, France, and several countries in Africa. Famous Biblical Unitarians include Michael Servetus, Faustus Socinus, and Isaac Newton.
- 'Rational Unitarianism'—God is one being who consists of one "person"—the Father. Jesus is not the Son of God, but merely a good and wise man who taught others how to lead a better life. Rational Unitarianism emerged from the German Rationalism and the liberal theology of the 19th century
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. Its proponents took a highly intellectual approach to religion, rejecting most of the miraculous events in the Bible They embraced evolutionary concepts, asserted the "inherent goodness of man" and abandoned many principles of Christianity. Rationalist Unitarianism is distinguished from
Deism by their belief in a personal deity who directly acts on creation, while Deists see God as an impersonal force which remains aloof from creation. Notable Rational Unitarianists include William Ellery Channing,
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Andrews Norton in theology and ministry,
Joseph Priestley and
Linus Pauling in science,
Susan B. Anthony and
Florence Nightingale in humanitarianism and social justice,
Charles Dickens in literature, and
Frank Lloyd Wright in arts. Many Hungarian Unitarians embrace the principles of Rationalist Unitarianism--the only Unitarian high school in the world, John Sigismund Unitarian Academy in
Cluj Napoca ,
Romania, teaches Rational Unitarianism.
- 'Unitarian Universalism'—There is no formal creed or set of beliefs required to join a Unitarian Universalist congregation, reflecting an institutional consolidation between Unitarianism and Universalism in 1961 in the United States and Canada. Today, many Unitarian Universalists no longer consider themselves to be Christians . Of those who do, there is no requirement of unitarian or trinitarian belief other than what the individual concludes on his/her own, although the Trinity itself, being a dogma, is generally rejected as such by this anti-dogmatic denomination. Unitarian Universalists promote a set of Principles and Purposes rather than a doctrine as their bond of union. Notable Unitarian Universalists are Tim Berners-Lee , Pete Seeger, Kurt Vonnegut and Christopher Reeve.
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, several Evangelical or Revivalist movements adopted a unitarian theology. Theologies among Evangelical Unitarians range from varieties of Socinianism , to Sabellianism . Evangelical Unitarians share their strict adherence to
sola scriptura and their belief that Scripture is both inspired and inerrant. Christadelphians and the Churches of God are Evangelical Unitarians. Other modern non-trinitarian churches, such as the Filipino-based
Iglesia ni Cristo, may also be included, although they reject the "unitarian" name to avoid confusion.
Jehovah's Witnesses also have a unitarian theology with specific traits.
The development of the various forms of Unitarianism is intermingled. Unitarian Universalism is the most recent form, while Biblical Unitarianism is the oldest. Modern Unitarians in
Europe are primarily Biblical or Rational Unitarians, while Unitarian Universalism is the predominant form of Unitarianism in the United States and
Canada. Most Evangelical Unitarians are found in the
USA and the
UK. The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists includes among its members groups from all theological persuasions except Evangelical Unitarians.
History
Early origins
Unitarianism as a system of Christian thought and religious observance has its basis, as opposed to that of orthodox
Trinitarianism, in the of the Christian Godhead, i.e. in the idea that the Godhead exists in the person of the Father alone. Unitarians trace their history back to the
Apostolic age, claim for their doctrine a prevalence during the ante-
Nicene period, and by help of Arian communities and individual thinkers trace a continuity of their views to the present time. Whatever the accuracy of this lineage, the
Protestant Reformation of the 16th century saw in many European countries an outbreak, more or less serious, of anti-Trinitarian opinion.
Suppressed as a rule in individual cases, this type of doctrine ultimately became the badge of separate religious communities, in
Poland ,
Hungary and, at a much later date, in
England. Compare to Sabellianism.
Along with the fundamental doctrine, certain characteristics have always marked those who profess unitarianism: a large degree of
tolerance, a minimizing of essentials, a repugnance to formulated creed and an historical study of
scripture.
Martin Cellarius , a friend of
Luther, usually appears as the first literary pioneer of the movement; the anti-Trinitarian position of Ludwig Haetzer did not become public until after his execution for
anabaptism.
Michael Servetus stimulated thought in this direction and heavily influenced other reformers both by his writings and by his death at the stake. In 1531 he had published his theological treatise
De Trinitatis Erroribus , in which he rejected the Nicene dogma of the
Trinity and proposed that the Son was the union of the divine Logos with the man
Jesus, miraculously born from the Virgin Mary through the intervention of God's spirit. This was generally interpreted as a denial of the Trinitarian dogma . Servetus expanded his ideas on the nature of God and Christ 20 years later in his major work,
Christianismi Restitutio , which caused his burning at the stake in Calvin's
Geneva in 1553. Nowadays most Unitarians see
Servetus as their pioneer and first martyr, even though his views on Jesus Christ are quite different from what Unitarians generally believe today.
The
Dialogues of
Bernardino Ochino, while defending the Trinity, stated objections and difficulties with a force which captivated many. In his 27th Dialogue Ochino points to Hungary as a possible home of religious liberty. And in Poland and Hungary definitely anti-Trinitarian religious communities first formed and were tolerated.
Poland
Scattered expressions of anti-Trinitarian opinion appear here early. At the age of 80, Catherine, wife of Melchior Vogel or Weygel, was burned at
Cracow for
apostasy; whether her views embraced more than
deism is not clear. The first synod of the Reformed Church took place in 1555; the second Synod faced the theological challenges of Gregory Pauli and Peter Gonesius , who were aware of the works of Servetus and of Italian antitrinitarians such as Mateo Gribaldi. The arrival of Blandrata in 1558 furnished the party with a temporary leader.
In 1565, the Diet of Piotrkow excluded anti-Trinitarians from the existing synod; henceforward they held their own synods as the Minor Church. Known by various other names , at no time in its history did this body adopt for itself any designation save "Christian". Originally Arian and
Anabaptist, the Minor Church was brought round to the views of Fausto Sozzini, who had settled in Poland in 1579 .
In 1602 James Sienynski established at Raków a college and a printing-press, from which the Racovian Catechism was issued in 1605. In 1610 a Catholic reaction began, led by Jesuits. The establishment at Raków was suppressed in 1638, after two boys pelted a crucifix outside the town.
When twenty years' public opinion widely considered them as
Swedish collaborators during The Deluge, the
Polish Diet gave anti-Trinitarians the option of conformity or exile. The Minor Church included many Polish magnates, but their adoption of the views of Sozzini, which precluded Christians from magisterial office, rendered them politically powerless.
The execution of the decree, hastened by a year, took place in 1660. Some conformed; a large number made their way to the
Netherlands , while others went to the German frontier. A contingent settled in
Transylvania, not joining the Unitarian Church, but maintaining a distinct organization at
Cluj until 1793.
The refugees who reached
Amsterdam published the
Bibliotheca fratrum polonorum , embracing the works of Hans Krell , their leading theologian, Jonas Schlichting , their chief commentator, Sozzini and Johann Ludwig Wolzogen. The title-page of this collection, bearing the words
quos Unitarios vocant, introduced this term to Western Europe.
Transylvania and Hungary
No distinct trace of anti-Trinitarian opinion precedes the appearance of Biandrata at the Transylvanian court in 1563. His influence was exerted on Ferenc Dávid , who was successively Catholic,
Lutheran,
Calvinist and anti-Trinitarian.
In 1564 Dávid was elected by the Calvinists as "bishop of the Hungarian churches in Transylvania," and appointed court preacher to John Sigismund, prince of Transylvania. His discussion of the Trinity began with doubts of the personality of the Holy Ghost.
His antagonist in public disputations was the Calvinist leader, Peter Juhász ; his supporter was Blandrata. John Sigismund, adopting his court-preacher's views, issued an edict of religious liberty at the Torda Diet, which allowed David to transfer his episcopate from the Calvinists to the anti-Trinitarians,
Kolozsvár being evacuated by all but his followers.
In 1571 John Sigismund was succeeded by
Stephen Báthory, a Catholic, and trouble began. Under the influence of John Sommer, rector of the Kolozsvár gymnasium, David abandoned the worship of Christ. The attempted accommodation by Sozzini only precipitated matters; tried as an innovator, Dávid died in prison at Déva . The cultus of Christ became an established usage of the Church; it is recognized in the 1837 edition of the official hymnal, but removed in later editions.
On the other hand, in 1621 a new sect arose, the Sabbatarii, with strong Judaic tendencies; though excluded from toleration they maintained an existence till 1848. The term
unitarius makes its first documentary appearance in a decree of the Lécsfalva Diet ; it was not officially adopted by the Church until 1638.
Of the line of twenty-three bishops the most distinguished were György Enyedi , whose
Explicationes obtained European vogue, and Mihály Lombard de Szentabrahám , who rallied the forces of his Church, broken by persecution and deprivation of property, and gave them their existing constitution. His
Summa universae theologiae secundum Unitarios , Socinian with Arminian modifications, was accepted by Joseph II as the official manifesto of doctrine, and so remains, though no subscription to it has ever been required.
The official title in Hungary is the Hungarian Unitarian Church, with a membership of about 25,000 members, whereas in Romania there is a separate church with the name of Transylvanian Unitarian Church and about 65,000 members, especially among the
Székely population. In the past, the Unitarian bishop had a seat in the Hungarian parliament. The principal college of both churches is located at
Cluj , which is also the seat of the Transylvanian consistory; there were others at
Turda and at Székelykeresztúr.
Until 1818 the continued existence of this body was unknown to English Unitarians; relations subsequently became intimate. After 1860 a succession of students finished their theological education at
Manchester College,
Oxford; others at the Unitarian Home Missionary College.
England
Between 1548 and 1612 we find few anti-Trinitarians, most of whom were either executed or saved by recantation. Those burned included George van Parris. , Flemish surgeon; Patrick Pakingham , fellmonger; Matthew Hamont , ploughwright; John Lewes ; Peter Cole , tanner; Francis Kett , physician and author; Bartholomew Legate , cloth-dealer, last of the Smithfield victims; and the twice-burned fanatic Edward Wightman . In all these cases the anti-Trinitarian sentiments seem to have come from Holland; the last two executions followed the rash dedication to
James I of the Latin version of the Racovian Catechism .
The vogue of Socinian views, which for a time affected men like Falkland and Chillingworth, led to the abortive fourth canon of 1640 against Socinian books. The ordinance of 1648 made denial of the Trinity a capital offence, but it remained a dead letter,
Cromwell intervening in the cases of Paul Best and John Biddle .
In 1650 John Knowles was an Arian lay preacher at
Chester.
In 1652-1654 and 1658-1662 Biddle held a Socinian conventicle in London; in addition to his own writings he reprinted and translated the Racovian Catechism, and the
Life of Socinus . His disciple Thomas Firmin , mercer and philanthropist, and friend of Tillotson, was weaned to Sabellian views by Stephen Nye , a clergyman. Firmin promoted a remarkable series of controversial tracts .
The term "Unitarian" first emerges in 1682, and appears in the title of the
Brief History . It was construed in a broad sense to cover all who, with whatever differences, held to the unipersonality of the Divine Being. Firmin later had a project of Unitarian societies "within the Church". The first preacher to describe himself as Unitarian was Thomas Emlyn who gathered a London congregation in 1705. This was contrary to the Toleration Act of 1689, which excluded all who should preach or write against the Trinity.
In England the Socinian controversy, initiated by Biddle, preceded the Arian controversy initiated by
Samuel Clarke's
Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity . Arian or semi-Arian views had much vogue during the 18th century, both in the Church and in dissent.
The free atmosphere of dissenting academies favoured new ideas. The effect of the Salters' Hall conference , called for by the alleged heresy of James Peirce of
Exeter, was to leave dissenting congregations to determine their own orthodoxy; the General Baptists had already condoned defections from the common doctrine.
Isaac Newton was an anti-Trinitarian, and possibly a Unitarian.
In 1689
Presbyterians and Independents had coalesced, agreeing to drop both names and to support a common fund. The union in the London fund was ruptured in 1693; in course of time differences in the administration of the two funds led to the attaching of the Presbyterian name to theological liberals, though many of the older Unitarian chapels were Independent foundations, and at least half of the Presbyterian chapels came into the hands of Congregationalists.
Leaders in the advocacy of a purely humanitarian christology came largely from the Independents, such as Nathaniel Lardner , Caleb Fleming ,
Joseph Priestley and Thomas Bebham .
The formation of a distinct Unitarian denomination dates from the secession of Theophilus Lindsey from the
Anglican Church, on the failure of the Feathers petition to parliament for relief from subscription. Lindsey's secession had been preceded in Ireland by that of William Robertson D.D. , who has been called "the father of Unitarian nonconformity".
It was followed by other clerical secessions, mostly of men who left the ministry, and Lindsey's hope of a Unitarian movement from the Anglican Church was disappointed. By degrees his type of theology superseded Arianism in a considerable number of dissenting congregations.
The Toleration Act was amended by substituting belief in Scripture for belief in the Anglican articles. In 1813 the penal acts against deniers of the Trinity were repealed. In 1825 the British and Foreign Unitarian Association was formed as an amalgamation of three older societies, for literature , mission work and civil rights .
Attacks were made on properties held by Unitarians, but created prior to 1813. The Wolverhampton Chapel case began in 1817, the more important Hewley Fund case in 1830; both were decided against the Unitarians in 1842.
Appeal to
parliament resulted in the Dissenters' Chapels Act , which secured that, so far as trusts did not specify doctrines, twenty-five years tenure legitimated existing usage.
The drier Priestley-Belsham type of Unitarianism, bound up with a determinist philosophy, was gradually modified by the influence of Channing , whose works were reprinted in numerous editions and owed a wide circulation to the efforts of Robert Spears .
Another American influence, potent in reducing the rigid though limited supernaturalism of Belsham and his successors, was that of
Theodore Parker . At home the teaching of James Martineau , resisted at first, was at length powerfully felt, seconded as it was by the influence of John James Tayler and of John Hamilton Thom .
English Unitarianism produced some remarkable scholars, e.g. John Kenrick , James Yates ,
Samuel Sharpe , but few very popular preachers, though George Harris is an exception.
For the education of its ministry it supported
Manchester College at
Oxford , the Unitarian Home Missionary College , and the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen. It also produced the notable Chamberlain family of politicians:
Joseph Chamberlain,
Austen Chamberlain, and
Neville Chamberlain, and the Courtauld industrialist dynasty.
English Unitarian periodical literature begins with Priestley's
Theological Repository , and includes the
Monthly Repository ,
The Christian Reformer , the
Prospective Review , the
National Review , the
Theological Review , and
The Hibbert Journal, one of the enterprises of the Hibbert Trust, founded by Robert Hibbert and originally designated the Anti-Trinitarian Fund. This came into operation in 1853, awarded scholarships and fellowships, supported an annual lectureship , and maintained a chair of ecclesiastical history at
Manchester College.
Scotland
Much has been made of the execution at
Edinburgh of the student Thomas Aikenhead, convicted of blaspheming the Trinity. The works of John Taylor, D.D. on original sin and atonement had much influence in the east of
Scotland, as we learn from
Robert Burns; and such men as William Dalrymple, D.D. and William M'Gill, D.D. , along with other "moderates", were under suspicion of similar heresies. Overt Unitarianism has never had much vogue in Scotland. The only congregation of old foundation is at Edinburgh, founded in 1776 by a secession from one of the "fellowship societies" formed by James Fraser, of Brea . The mission enterprises of Richard Wright and George Harris produced results of no great permanence.
The Scottish Unitarian Association was founded in 1813, mainly by Thomas Southwood Smith, M.D., the sanitary reformer. The McQuaker Trust was founded for propagandist purposes.
Ireland
Controversy respecting the Trinity was excited in Ireland by the prosecution at Dublin of Thomas Emlyn , resulting in fine and imprisonment, for rejecting the deity of Christ. In 1705 the Belfast Society was founded for theological discussion by Presbyterian ministers in the north, with the result of creating a body of opinion adverse to subscription to the Westminster standards. Toleration of dissent, withheld in Ireland till 1719, was then granted without the requirement of any doctrinal subscription. Next year a movement against subscription was begun in the General Synod of Ulster, culminating in the placing of the advocates of non-subscription, headed by John Abernethy, D.D., of Antrim into a presbytery by themselves. This Antrim presbytery was excluded from jurisdiction, though not from communion. During the next hundred years its members exercised great influence on their brethren of the synod; but the counterinfluence of the mission of the Scottish Seceders produced a reaction. The Antrim Presbytery gradually became Arian; the same type of theology affected more or less the Southern Association, known since 1806 as the Synod of Munster. From 1783 ten of the fourteen presbyteries in the General Synod had made subscription optional; the synod's code of 1824 left "soundness in the faith" to be ascertained by subscription or by examination. Against this compromise Henry Cooke, D.D. , directed all his powers, and was ultimately successful in defeating his Arian opponent, Henry Montgomery, LL.D. . Montgomery led a secession which formed the Remonstrant Synod, comprising three presbyteries.
In 1910 the Antrim Presbytery, Remonstrant Synod and Synod of Munster united as the General Synod of the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland, with 38 congregations and some mission stations. Till 1889 they maintained two theological chairs in Belfast, where John Scott Porter pioneered biblical criticism; they afterwards sent their students to England for their theological education, though in certain respects their views and practices remained more conservative than those of their English brethren.
Irish Unitarian periodical literature began in 1832 with the
Bible Christian, followed by the
Irish Unitarian Magazine, the
Christian Unitarian, the
Disciple and the
Non-subscribing Presbyterian.
See generally R. Wallace's
Antitrinitarian Biog. ; G. BonetMaury's
Early Sources of Eng. Unit. Christianity, trans. E. P. Hall ; A. Gordon's
Heads of Eng. Unit. Hist. .
United States
Unitarianism in the
United States followed essentially the same development as in England, and passed through the stages of
Arminianism, Arianism, anti-tritheism, to rationalism and a
modernism based on a large-minded acceptance of the results of the comparative study of all religions.
In the early 18th century Arminianism presented itself in
New England, and sporadically elsewhere. This tendency was largely accelerated by the reaction from the excesses of the "Great Awakening" under
Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.
Before the
War of Independence Arianism showed itself in individual instances, and French influences were widespread in the direction of deism, though they were not organized into any definite utterance by religious bodies.
As early as the middle of the 18th century
Harvard College represented the most advanced thought of the time, and a score or more of clergymen in New England preached what was essentially Unitarianism. The most prominent of these men was Jonathan Mayhew , pastor of the West Church in
Boston, Massachusetts from 1747 to 1766. He preached the strict unity of God, the subordinate nature of Christ, and salvation by character.
Charles Chauncy , pastor of the First Church from 1727 until his death, the chief opponent of Edwards in the great revival, was both a Unitarian and a Universalist. Other Unitarians included Ebenezer Gay of
Hingham, Samuel West of
New Bedford, Thomas Barnard of
Newbury, John Prince and William Bentley of
Salem, Aaron Bancroft of
Worcester, and several others.
The first official acceptance of the Unitarian faith on the part of a congregation was by
King's Chapel in Boston, which settled
James Freeman in 1782, and revised the Prayer Book into a mild Unitarian liturgy in 1785. The Rev. William Hazlitt , visiting the United States in 1783–1785, published the fact that there were Unitarians in
Philadelphia, Boston,
Charleston,
Pittsburgh, Hallowell, on
Cape Cod, and elsewhere.
Unitarian congregations were organized at
Portland and
Saco in 1792 by Thomas Oxnard; in 1800 the First Church in Plymouth--the congregation founded by the Pilgrims in 1620--accepted the more liberal faith.
Joseph Priestley immigrated to the United States in 1794, and organized a Unitarian Church at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, the same year and one at Philadelphia in 1796. His writings had a considerable influence.
Thus from 1725 to 1825, a more tolerant and rational belief was developing in New England, and to some extent elsewhere. The first distinctive manifestation of the change was the inauguration of Henry Ware as professor of divinity at Harvard College, in 1805.
In the same year appeared Unitarian books by John Sherman and
Hosea Ballou , and another in 1810 by Noah Worcester . At the opening of the 19th century, with one exception, all the churches of Boston were occupied by Unitarian preachers, and various periodicals and organizations expressed their opinions. Churches were established in
New York,
Baltimore,
Washington, Charleston, and elsewhere during this period.
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.
Buckminster's close associate William Ellery Channing was settled over the Federal Street Congregational Church, Boston, 1803; and in a few years he became the leader of the Unitarian movement. At first mystical rather than rationalistic in his theology, he took part with the "Catholic Christians", as they called themselves, who aimed at bringing Christianity into harmony with the progressive spirit of the time. His essays on
The System of Exclusion and Denunciation in Religion , and
Objections to Unitarian Christianity Considered , made him a defender of Unitarianism. His sermon on "Unitarian Christianity", preached at Baltimore in 1819, at the ordination of
Jared Sparks, and that at New York in 1821, on "Unitarian Christianity most favourable to Piety" made him its interpreter.
The result was a growing division in the Congregational churches, which was emphasized in 1825 by the formation of the American Unitarian Association at Boston. It was organized "to diffuse the knowledge and promote the interests of pure Christianity" and it published tracts and books, supported poor churches, sent out missionaries into every part of the country, and established new churches in nearly all the states.
Essentially non-sectarian, with little missionary zeal, the Unitarian movement has grown slowly; and its influence has chiefly operated through general culture and the literature of the country. Many of its clergymen have been trained in other denominations; but the
Harvard Divinity School was distinctly Unitarian from its formation, in 1816, to 1870, when it became a non-sectarian department of the university. The Meadville Lombard Theological School was founded at Meadville, Pennsylvania in 1844 and the Starr King School for the Ministry at
Berkeley, California in 1904.
Unitarian thought in the United States has passed through three periods. The first, from 1800 to 1835, was formative, mainly influenced by English philosophy, semi-supernatural, imperfectly rationalistic, devoted to philanthropy and practical Christianity. Dr. Channing was its distinguished exponent.
The second , from 1835 to 1885, profoundly influenced by German idealism, was increasingly rationalistic, though its theology was largely flavoured by
mysticism. In 1865 the National Unitarian Conference was organized, and adopted a distinctly Christian platform, affirming that its members were "disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ".
The more rationalistic minority thereupon formed the Free Religious Association, "to encourage the scientific study of theology and to increase fellowship in the spirit." The Western Unitarian Association accepted the same position, and based its "fellowship on no dogmatic tests, but affirmed a desire "to establish truth, righteousness and love in the world."
This period of controversy and of vigorous theological development practically came to an end soon after 1885. Its cessation was assured by the action of the national conference at
Saratoga, New York in 1894, when it was affirmed by a nearly unanimous vote that: "These churches accept the religion of Jesus, holding, in accordance with his teaching, that practical religion is summed up in love to God and love to man. The conference recognizes the fact that its constituency is Congregational in tradition and polity. Therefore it declares that nothing in this constitution is to be construed as an authoritative test; and we cordially invite to our working fellowship any who, while differing from us in belief, are in general sympathy with our spirit and our practical aims." The leaders of this period were
Ralph Waldo Emerson with his idealism and
Theodore Parker with his acceptance of Christianity as absolute religion.
The third period, beginning about 1885, has been one of rationalism, recognition of universal religion, large acceptance of the scientific method and ideas and an ethical attempt to realize what was perceived as to be the higher affirmations of Christianity. It has been marked by a general harmony and unity, by steady growth in the number of churches and by a widening fellowship with all other similarly minded movements.
This phase was shown in the organization of The International Council of Unitarian and other Liberal Religious Thinkers and Workers at Boston on 25 May 1900, "to open communication with those in all lands who are striving to unite pure religion and perfect liberty, and to increase fellowship and co-operation among them." This council has held biennial sessions in London, Amsterdam, Geneva and Boston. During the period after 1885 the influence of Emerson became predominant, modified by the more scientific preaching of Minot J. Savage, who found his guides in
Darwin and Spencer.
Beyond its own borders the body obtained recognition through the public work of such men as Henry Whitney Bellows and
Edward Everett Hale, the remarkable influence of James Freeman Clarke and the popular power of Robert Collyer. The number of Unitarian churches in the United States in 1909 was 461, with 541 ministers. The church membership then, really nominal, may be estimated at 100,000. The periodicals were
The Christian Register, weekly, Boston;
Unity, weekly, Chicago;
The Unitarian, monthly, New York;
Old and New, monthly, Des Moines;
Pacific Unitarian, San Francisco.
In 1961, the American Unitarian Association merged with the Universalist Church of America, forming the
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations .
The American Unitarian Conference was founded in 2000. Its mission is "renewal of the historic Unitarian faith". It promotes a set of God-centered religious principles, but like Unitarian Universalism, it does not impose a creed on its members.
Canada
Unitarianism arrived in Canada from Iceland and Britain. Some Canadian congregations had services in Icelandic into living memory. The first Unitarian service in Canada was held in 1832 by a minister from England, Rev, David Hughes, in a school owned by the Workman family, who were Unitarians from Belfast. The Montreal congregation, founded in 1842, called their first permanent minister, the Rev. John Cordner, of the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster; he arrived in 1843 and served as their minister for thiry-six years. A few years later, a congregation in Toronto was founded whose first minister, William Adam, was a Scottish Baptist missionary who had served in India. Congregations formed in Ottawa and Hamilton in the late 19th century and continued westward. In 1891 the First Icelandic Unitarian Church was formed in Winnipeg. Congregations in Vancouver and Victoria followed. Individual Canadian congregations had ties to the British association until they were disrupted by World War II, when relations to Unitarians in the United States became stronger.
Universalism found its way to Canada during the 1800s, for the most part, though not entirely, brought by settlers from the United States. The Universalist concepts of universal salvation, a loving and forgiving God, and the brother/sisterhood of all people, were welcomed by those for whom the partialist view or predestination were no longer acceptable. Universalist congregations formed, with the exception of the congregation in Halifax, mostly in rural towns and villages in lower Quebec and the Maritimes, and in southern Ontario. Univeralism in Canada followed a corresponding decline as in the United States, and today the three remaining congregations at Olinda in Ontario, North Hatley in Quebec, and Halifax, Nova Scotia have since the 1960s been part of the Canadian Unitarian Council.
The Canadian Unitarian Council was formed in advance of the Unitarian Universalist Association in the United States, but the two functioned in close association until money exchange and other complications led to greater independence, with the CUC assuming the direct delivery of services to Canadian congregations formerly extended by the UUA in Boston, Massachusetts. The two organizations continue collaboration in the credentialling of ministers, and in youth/young adult programs and services.
The Unitarian Service Committee, established during World War II as an overseas emergency relief agency, began under the capable direction of Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova and initially supported largely by Unitarians, now continues as a separate agency, drawing support throughout Canada for its humanitarian work in many parts of the world.
The first ordination of a Canadian Unitarian minister after the organizational separation of the CUC and the UUA was held at the First Unitarian Church of Victoria, British Columbia, in 2002. Rev. Brian Kiely, who was to give the ordination sermon, was told he must define Canadian Unitarianism, as Rev. Channing had at that New England ordination sermon of 1819. The simile Rev. Kiely chose was that Canadian Unitarianism is like a Tim Horton's doughnut, the richness is in the circle of fellowship, not a creedal centre.
Germany
There are currently three unaffiliated groups of Unitarians in Germany:
- The Religionsgemeinschaft Freier Protestanten was formed in 1876 in Germany's Rheinhessen region. in 1911 their newspaper took on the subtitle "deutsch-unitarische Blätter" as leader Rudolf Walbaum wanted to connect to American Unitarians. In 1950 the Free Protestants changed their name to Deutsche Unitarier Religionsgemeinschaft . It is the only Unitarian group in Germany to belong to the ICUU
- The was founded by Hansgeorg Remus in 1948.
Denmark
In 1900 Det fri Kirkesamfund was founded by a group of liberal Christians in Copenhagen. Since 1908, the church is outside the Folkekirke . In Aarhus, another Unitarian congregation was founded at this time by the Norwegian Unitarian pastor and writer Kristofer Janson ; it has since closed.
Sweden
Inspired by the writings of Theodore Parker the Swedish writer Klas Pontus Arnoldson founded in Gothenburg in 1871 the Unitarian association Sanningssökarna – later also found in Stockholm. This association also published the periodical Sanningsökaren . Two other Unitarian associations were founded in 1882 . In 1888 Unitarians asked the Swedish King for permission to establish yet another Unitarian association in Gothenburg but was turned down because Unitarianism was not regarded as a Christian religion. Later many Unitarians turned to theosophy. Reports indicate that there to day 2006 again exists a Unitarian church with about 50 members and one ordained Unitarian pastor.
Norway
In 1892 and 1893 the Norwegian Unitarian ministers Hans Tambs Lyche and Kristofer Janson returned from America and at once started independently of each other to introduce Unitarianism. In 1894 Tambs Lyche failed to organize a Unitarian Church in Oslo but managed to publish Norway’s first Unitarian periodical . In January 1895 Kristofer Janson founded The Church of Brotherhood in Oslo which was to be the first Unitarian church – where he stayed as the congregation’s pastor only for 3 years. In 1904 Herman Haugerud was to return to Norway from America and to become the last Unitarian pastor to The Unitarian Society . Pastor Haugerud died in 1937 and the Unitarian church ceased to exist shortly thereafter. Between 1986 and 2003 different Unitarian groups were active in Oslo. In 2004 these merged into The Unitarian Association which registered as religious society according to Norwegian law on April 20 2005 under the name The Unitarian Association . Later “Bét Dávid” has been added to the name: . The church is akin to both Transylvanian Unitarianism and Judaism. In 2006 this church was associated with the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists .
Spain
See Unitarian Universalist Religious Society of Spain.
Impact and opposition
The adoption of unitarian belief almost always entails severance of identification with Christianity as it is understood by the Nicene-Chalcedonian churches . Unitarianism is outside of the fellowship of these traditions; it has a tradition of its own, parallel to trinitarianism. Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants of various stripes insist on trinitarian belief as an essential of Christianity, and basic to a group's continuity of identity with the historical Christian faith.
Occasionally, especially in Protestant history, traditionally trinitarian groups grow friendly to or incorporate unitarianism. Friendliness toward unitarianism has sometimes gone hand-in-hand with anti-Catholicism. In some cases non-trinitarian or unitarian belief has been adopted by some, and tolerated in Christian churches as a "non-essential". This was the case in the English Presbyterian Church, and in the Congregational Church in New England late in the 18th century. The Restoration Movement also attempted to forge a compatible relation between trinitarians and unitarians, as did the Seventh Day Baptists and various Adventists. The unitarian tendency in these last-mentioned groups is probably due to the in-built skepticism about Catholic history as a reliable guide to the Christian tradition of interpretation.
In other cases, this openness to unitarianism within traditionally trinitarian churches has been inspired by a very broad ecumenical motive. Modern liberal Protestant denominations are often accused by trinitarians within their ranks, and critics outside, of being indifferent to the doctrine, and therefore self-isolated from their respective trinitarian pasts and heritage. In some cases, it is charged that these trinitarian denominations are no longer Christian, because of their toleration of unitarian belief among their teachers, and in their seminaries.
See also
- Unitarian Universalism
- Unitarian Christianity
- American Unitarian Conference
- International Council of Unitarians and Universalists
- General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches
- List of Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists
- Nontrinitarianism
- Arian Catholicism
- Arianism
- Deism
- Divine simplicity
- Polish Brethren
- History of philosophy in Pol
