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AUA origins
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Messages: 1 - 2 (2 total)
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gailwardlaw
4/17/2001 3:46 PM
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This document was presented on an AUA forum. I thought some of you might find it to be of interest:
From: Mead, Frank S., “Unitarian Universalist Association,” Handbook of Denominations in the United States. Revised by Samuel S. Hill Ninth Edition. Nashville: Abingdon, 1990. 231-232
Unitarians often claimed that their thought reaches back into the early Christian centuries, before the concept of Trinitarianism developed. Unitarianism as we know it today, however, began with the Protestant Reformation, among Anti-Trinitarians and Socinians. The movement spread from independent thinkers and Anabaptists in Switzerland, Hungary, Transylvania, Holland, Poland, and Italy to England. There it found champions in such leaders as Newton, Locke, and Milton, but no attempt was made to organize the movement until late in the eighteenth century.
American Unitarianism, however, developed independently, when members of the liberal wing of the Congregational Church in eastern Massachusetts, who asked that they not be required to subscribe to a creed, were branded as Unitarian. The first organized church to turn to Unitarianism as a body, however, was not a Congregational church, but the Espicopal King’s Chapel in Boston in 1785.
In the second half of the eighteenth century many older and larger Congregational churches which moved toward Unitarianism were known as Liberal Christian. The split within Congregationalism came into the open in 1805 with the appointment of Henry Ware as professor of theology at Harvard; it was confirmed in 1819 when William Ellery Channing of Boston preached his famous Baltimore sermon outlining the Unitarian view. Channing defined the true church in these words:
By his Church our Savior does not mean a party bearing the name of a human leader, distinguished by a form or opinion, and on the ground of this distinction, denying the name and character of Christians to all but themselves…These are the church—men made better, holy, virtuous by his religion—men who, hoping in his promises, keep his commands.
(Cont)
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gailwardlaw
4/17/2001 3:47 PM
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2 out of 2 |
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In Channing’s sermon, the liberals had their platform, and the name Unitarian was finally accepted. A missionary and publication society known as the American Unitarian Association was formed in 1825, and with it began activity to prepare for the formation f a separate denomination. A national conference was established in 1865.
Unitarians have no creed; the constitution states: “These churches accept the religion of Jesus, holding in accordance with his teaching that practical religion is summed up in the love to God and love to man.” Main points in their doctrinal attitudes are the oneness of God (Trinitarianism is rejected as unscriptural); the strict humanity of Jesus, although all persons, as children of God, are divine; the perfectibility of human character (the doctrine of total depravity is denied); and the ultimate salvation of all souls. Salvation is by character; character is not an end but a means, and salvation lies in being saved from sin here, not from punishment hereafter. Hell and eternal punishment are held to be inconsistent with the concept of a loving and all powerful God. Heaven is a state, not a place. Unitarians do not accept the infallibility of the Bible; they believe the Bible is not a book, but a library of books, all of which cannot be accepted as of equal value and importance.
Within this ideological framework, the widest possible freedom is encouraged in personal interpretation and belief; even students and teachers in Unitarian theological schools re not required to subscribe to any dogmatic teaching or doctrinal tests. Emphasis upon democratic principles, hospitality to the methods of science in seeking truth, and less concern with traditional doctrinal matters characterize the Unitarian movement.
In accordance with its charter, the American Unitarian Association (1825-1961) considered itself devoted to certain moral, religious, educational, and charitable purposes, which may be as enlightening to the non-Unitarian as an analysis of its religious or doctrinal statements:
1. Diffuse the knowledge and promote the interests of religion that Jesus taught as love to God and love to man;
2. Strengthen the churches and fellowships that unite in the association for more and better work for the kingdom of God;
3. Organize new churches and fellowships for the extension of Unitarianism in our own countries and other lands; and
4. Encourage sympathy and cooperation among religious liberals at home and abroad.
Organization has always been liberally congregational; independent local churches were grouped in local, county, district, state, and regional conferences, and united in an international association for purposes of fellowship, counsel, and promotion of mutual interests.
At the time of the merger, there were four Unitarian seminaries, two preparatory schools, 386 churches, and approximately 115,000 members. Foreign work is now conducted through the International Association for Religious Freedom, with headquarters at Frankfurt, West Germany the International Association has correspondents in 65 countries.
Gail
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