James Freeman (theologian)

James Freeman

James Freeman (born April 22, 1759 in Charlestown , † November 14, 1835 in Newton ) was an American theologian and one of the founding figures of North American Unitarianism .

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Freeman was born in Charlestown, not far from Boston , Massachusetts in 1759 . His father was a sea captain who later worked as an entrepreneur. Freeman attended the Boston Latin School as a student and was finally able to study theology at Harvard College , Cambridge between 1773 and 1777, despite the turmoil of the American Revolutionary War . After graduating, Freeman joined the Revolutionary Army . In 1780 he was captured en route to Quebec , where his father was already. After his return to Boston in 1782 he joined the Anglican congregation around the King's Chapel , whose pastor he was to become a year later. Under his influence, the community increasingly turned to Unitarian ideas. Freeman himself was particularly influenced by the English Unitarian theologians Joseph Priestley and Theophilus Lindsey , whose Socinian theology he adopted. He rejected the dogma of the Trinity , as well as the idea of ​​a pre-existence of Christ . Under his influence, the Book of Common Prayer used in the congregation was revised according to Unitarian principles until 1785, and in the spirit of Nonadorantism , prayers were only made to God , but not to Jesus Christ . He found support in the English writer William Hazlitt , who visited Boston in 1784. Although the congregation continued to see itself formally as Anglican, the church leadership under Bishop Samuel Seabury closed itself to a formal ordination of Freemans with reference to his anti-Trinitarian positioning. As a result, Freeman promoted Unitarian activities outside of his community. He supplied libraries with Unitarian literature and helped to build other Unitarian churches. In 1792, another Unitarian congregation came into being in Portland , Maine, USA , founded by his friend and former congregationalist Thomas Oxnard. Freeman was ultimately involved with others in the preparations for the establishment of the American Unitarian Association in 1825.

In addition to his commitment to the Unitarian Church, Freeman also worked in the Massachusetts Historical Society , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected as a member in 1793) and the Massachusetts Peace Society . In 1783 he married Martha Clarke Freeman, who brought a child into the marriage. The later Unitarian preacher and writer James Freeman Clarke became one of his step-grandchildren . In 1811 Harvard University awarded him an honorary doctorate . Until 1824 he worked as pastor of the parish of the Unitarian-Anglican King's Chapel in Boston. After his retirement he went to Newton with his wife , where he had previously lived for part of the year. There he finally died in 1835 at the age of 86.

Web links

• Harvard Square Library
• Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography