Unitarianism in the USA

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The Unitarianism in the United States grew substantially as in England. The starting point was the establishment of an anti-Trinitarian theology that had spread under the influence of socinianism and rationalism since the Enlightenment . During the course of the 19th century, parts of Unitarianism began to open up under the influence of Idealism and Transcendentalism , so that part of North American Unitarianism broke away from Christianity . The inclusion of the results of comparative religious studies played an essential role here . The main focus of American Unitarianism in the early 18th century was New England .

In the second half of the 20th century, the Unitarian Church of North America united with the universalist; since then it has acted as the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The Unitarian Universalists (UU) no longer necessarily see themselves as Christian, without, however, completely excluding Christian approaches. Many of today's Unitarians are therefore no longer Unitarian in the theological sense. More recent counter-movements, on the other hand, again emphasize the Christian element of both unitarianism and universalism.

history

The development of North American Unitarianism can be roughly divided into four phases. In the first phase up to around 1782/1800 the first anti-Trinitarian / Unitarian approaches emerged. In the second phase, from around 1782/1800 to 1835, a number of Unitarian parishes emerged. This time was mainly characterized by a turn to anti-Trinitarianism, philanthropy , practical Christianity as well as Christian rationalism and supranaturalism . Unitarianism was heavily influenced by English philosophy. A prominent representative of this phase was William Ellery Channing . In the third phase from around 1835 to 1885, the influence of transcendentalism became particularly noticeable, which at times led to a polarization between a more interreligious-rationalist and a Christian-anti-Trinitarian position. The fourth phase began around 1885 and was characterized by a consolidation of the church fellowship, but also by an opening to non-Christian content that continues to this day, especially after the merger with the American universalists.

Anti-Trinitarianism and early Unitarianism

There were isolated cases of anti-Trinitarianism even before the War of Independence . Deism , which emerged from the French Enlightenment , also spread. However, there was not yet a fixed organizational structure. But as early as the middle of the 18th century, numerous theologians in New England adopted an essentially Antitrinitarian-Unitarian positioning. The most prominent representative was Jonathan Mayhew (1720-1766), who served from 1747 to 1766 as a pastor at the West Church in Boston . He proclaimed the strict unity of God, the subordination of Christ to the Father, and salvation through the Scriptures.

Charles Chauncy (1705–1787), pastor of the First Church from 1727 until his death and chief opponent of the Reformed preacher Jonathan Edwards in the Great Awakening , was both a Unitarian and a universalist . Other Unitarians were Ebenezer Gay (1698–1787) in Hingham , Samuel West (1730–1807) in New Bedford , Thomas Barnard (1748–1814) in Newbury , John Prince (1751–1836) and William Bentley (1758–1819) in Salem and Aaron Bancroft (1755-1836) in Worcester .

Confession formation

The first formal Unitarian congregation in North America was not formed until 1782 in Boston, when the up to then Anglican congregation of the King's Chapel under the influence of James Freeman (1759-1835) took over an anti-Trinitarian / Unitarian congregation order and the Anglican Book of Common used until then Prayer until 1785 was revised according to Unitarian criteria. William Hazlitt , who traveled to the United States from 1783–1785, then reported on several Unitarian congregations in Philadelphia , Boston, Charleston , Pittsburgh , Hallowell and Cape Cod, among others .

In 1792, Unitarian churches were founded in Portland and Saco by Thomas Oxnard ; In 1801 the First Parish Church in Plymouth, founded by the Reformed / Congregational Pilgrim Fathers , also converted to Unitarianism. Joseph Priestley , who immigrated to the United States in 1794 , founded a Unitarian Church in Northumberland, Pennsylvania , in the same year and in Philadelphia in 1796. His writings were of considerable effectiveness for the further development of North American Unitarianism. The founding of Unitarian congregations was an expression of a social turn to tolerance and rationalism in the years from about 1725 to 1825, which was also evident at Harvard College . The ordination of Henry Ware (1764-1845) as Professor of Divinity at Harvard College in 1805 left the first visible traces of this change .

Theological specialist literature also took on Unitarianism. In 1805, Unitarian books by John Sherman (1772–1828) and Hosea Ballou (1771–1852) were published; 1810 by Noah Worcester (1758-1837). At the beginning of the 19th century - with one exception - all Boston preaching positions were occupied by Unitarians and a number of Unitarian magazines and organizations published their views there. At the same time, larger Unitarian churches were built, including in New York City , Baltimore , Washington, DC and Charleston.

In 1800 Joseph Stevens Buckminster became pastor of Brattle Street Church in Boston. Through his brilliant sermons, his literary work and academic promotion of German New Criticism, he helped Unitarianism in New England to grow further. Buckminster was in close contact with William Ellery Channing (1780–1842), who came to Boston in 1803 and soon became a leader of the Unitarian movement. Initially more mystical than rationalistic, he turned to the "Catholic Christians" - as they called themselves - who strived for a harmonious unification of Christianity with the advancement of time. His essays The System of Exclusion and Denunciation in Religion (1815) and Objections to Unitarian Christianity - Unitarians. Viewed critically (1819) made him an apologist for Unitarianism. His sermon on Unitarian Christianity , delivered in Baltimore for the ordination of Jared Sparks in 1819 , and his 1821 New York treatise Why Unitarian Christianity is Most Beneficial for Piety made him its leading interpreter. As a result, there was a split within the congregational church families as numerous congregations turned to Unitarianism. In 1825, the American Unitarian Association (AUA) was founded in Boston . This step was taken in order to “spread the knowledge and interests of pure Christianity” and promote it. Numerous tracts and books were published, needy congregations supported, missionaries sent, and new Unitarian congregations established in nearly every state.

The AUA missionary activities encouraged the further spread of Unitarianism throughout the United States. However, the influences from culture and literature were much stronger for the development of Unitarianism. Many Unitarian clergy were from other denominations; however, the Harvard Divinity School was by definition and fundamentally Unitarian from 1816 to 1870 until it became an integrated department of the university in 1870. The Meadville (Pa.) Theological School was founded in 1844, In 1904, the Unitarian Theological School at Berkeley ( California ).

Influence of idealism and transcendentalism

The third phase (1835–1885) was significantly influenced by German idealism ( see Transcendentalism ), increasingly rationalistic, although its theology also showed large proportions of mysticism . During this time, the first Unitarians broke away from their Christian roots. The National Unitarian Conference founded in 1865, however, affirmed clear Christian principles and stated that its members were "disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ". Thereupon the rationalistic minority formed a free religious association ( Free Religious Association ), "to stimulate the scientific study of theology and to promote the community in the spirit". The Western Unitarian Association took this position and established a "community without dogmatic trials" but with a sincere desire to "spread truth, righteousness and love in the world."

This period of controversy and active theological formation ended soon after 1885. Its end was confirmed by the 1894 national conference in Saratoga , where it was unanimously decided: “These churches adhere to the religion of Jesus, in accordance with his teachings, that the practical religion expresses itself in the love for God and man. The conference recognizes the fact that its constitution is on the community in tradition and present. Hence, she declares that nothing in this Constitution should be considered an authoritarian test; and we cordially invite those into our community who differ from us in faith or who have a general sympathy for our purpose and practical goals. ”The Saratoga resolution with its confession of Christianity was to remain in force until 1959. The leaders of this period were Ralph Waldo Emerson with his idealism and Theodore Parker with his view of Christianity as an absolute religion.

Turning towards rationalism

The fourth phase began around 1885 as a period of rationalism , which was no longer understood solely from the Christian point of view. A majority of the American Unitarians increasingly broke away from a purely Christian-anti-Trinitarian understanding and instead saw themselves more as a universal religion, but with the ethical claim to realize the higher goals of Christianity. It was characterized by unity, growth in the number of churches, and growing communion with other like-minded movements.

This phase found its shape in the establishment of the International Council of Unitarian and Other Free Religious Thinkers and Workers in Boston on May 25, 1900, “to establish a connection with the people of all countries who strive to embrace pure religion with perfect freedom unite, and foster fellowship and collaboration. ”This council met every two years in London, Amsterdam, Geneva and Boston. After 1885, as Emerson's influence grew, Unitarianism was shaped by the more positivism-oriented views of Minot Judson Savage and found its leaders in Darwin and Spencer . Nevertheless, Savage continued to see himself as Christian and had also signed the Saratoga resolution.

The number of Unitarian churches in the USA was 461 in 1909, with 541 clergy and church membership of around 100,000. The magazines were: The Christian Register , Weekly, Boston; Unity , Weekly, Chicago; The Unitarian , Monthly, New York; Old and New , Monthly, Des Moines; Pacific Unitarian , San Francisco. The community achieved recognition beyond its own borders through the publications of Henry Whitney Bellows , Edward Everett Hales , the influential James Freeman Clarke and the popularity of Robert Collyer .

Association with the universalists

In 1961, the American Unitarian Association merged with the Universalist Church of America to form the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA). The UUA no longer sees itself as a genuinely Christian, but as a religious community open to all people. Even before the American Unitarians and Universalists merged, the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship (UUCF) was founded in 1945 , which has set itself the task of looking after the remaining Christians among the Unitarian universalists. The Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship (UUBF), which was founded at the beginning of the 1990s and looks after the Buddhists among the Unitarian Universists, has similar goals.

In 2004 the Red River Unitarian Universalist Church in Denison, Texas was denied state tax exemption because the church allegedly had "no belief system". This case, which is probably unique in the history of the United States, when a Unitarian church was denied this status because of questions of faith, was later reversed.

Start-ups

In 2002 the American Unitarian Conference (AUC) was finally founded with the aim of “renewing the historical Unitarian faith”. It represents a bundle of God-centered (= theistic) basic religious rules, but - like Unitarian universalism - it dispenses with a binding creed of its members.

The Unitarian Christian Church of America (UCCA), which sees itself as a genuinely Christian church, takes a different position . It has made it its task to network Christian-anti-Trinitarian Unitarians in one organization. It was founded in 2016 from the merger of the Unitarian Christian Emerging Church (UCEC) and the Unitarian Christian Conference USA (UCC).

literature

  • George Willis Cooke : Unitarianism in America. A History of its Origin and Development. Outlook Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2018, ISBN 978-3-73402-169-5 ( reading sample ).
  • Wolfgang Deppert , Werner Erdt, Aart de Groot (eds.): The influence of the Unitarians on the European-American intellectual history. Lectures at the first German scientific conference on Unitarianism research from 13-14 June 1985 in Hamburg. In: Unitarismusforschung , Volume 1, Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISSN  0930-4118 , ISBN 3-631-41859-0 .
  • Kathryn Gleadle: The Early Feminists. Radical Unitarians and the Emergence of the Women's Rights Movements, 1831-51. Macmillan, Basingstoke 1995, ISBN 0-333-63382-2 .
  • Andrea Greenwood, Mark W. Harris: An Introduction to the Unitarian and Universalist Traditions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge u. a. 2011, ISBN 978-0-521-70771-8 ( reading sample ).
  • Andrew M. Hill: Unitarians. In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie  34, 2002, pp. 332–339.
  • Friedrich Schrader : Robert College, in North and South, November 1919, pp 165-169 (describing the role of the Unitarians and their good relationship with local dervish orden in Konstantin Opel in the founding of Robert College 1860).
  • Earl Morse Wilbur: A History of Unitarianism - In Transylvania, England, and America. Beacon Press Boston 1977, ISBN 0-8070-1386-2 .
  • Conrad Wright: The Unitarian Controversy. Essays on American Unitarian History. Skinner, Boston 1994, ISBN 1-55896-284-0 (English).

Web links

Commons : Unitarian Universalists  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ George Willis Cooke: Unitarianism in America. A History of its Origin and Development. Outlook Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2018, ISBN 978-3-73402-169-5 , p. 162. Wording of the preamble: “The Conference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches was formed in the year 1865, with the purpose of strengthening the churches and societies which should unite in it for more and better work for the kingdom of God. These churches accept the religion of Jesus, holding, in accordance with his teaching, that practical religion is summed up in love to Got 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. "
  2. ^ Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, accessed December 27, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Welcome to the home page of the Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship! (No longer available online.) Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship, archived from the original on December 28, 2013 ; Retrieved December 27, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www25.uua.org
  4. ↑ Welcome Unitarians! American Unitarian Conference, accessed December 27, 2013 .
  5. ^ Unitarian Christian Church of America. Unitarian Christian Church of America, accessed February 26, 2017 .