Universalism (denomination)
The universalism is a Christian denomination , the theologically on the Apokatastasis founded. This is supported by the general reconciliation of people with God.
Universalistic approaches can already be found in Clemens of Alexandria and Origen . There were also universalist positions in the Anabaptist movement and in Pietism , as in Hans Denck , Christian Gottlob Pregizer and Michael Hahn . As a denominational grouping, however, universalism did not appear in North America until the 18th and 19th centuries . It developed in a predominantly Protestant environment. The early universalists accordingly consisted of Pietists , Moravians , Anabaptists and liberal Quakers , among others . Leading representatives of North American universalism were Hosea Ballou , John Murray and George de Benneville . The American mid-Atlantic states formed a first regional center . The first universalist church was organized in Gloucester , Massachusetts in 1779 . Two years later, Elhanan Winchester organized a Universal Baptist Church in Philadelphia . Benjamin Rush , one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence, was among its members . In 1863, the universalist Olympia Brown was the first woman elected to a ministry in North America. In 1856 the universalist side founded St. Lawrence University .
In 1866 the Universalist Church of America was founded (initially under the name Universalist General Convention ) as the common umbrella organization of the universalist congregations. As a result, the universalist church came closer and closer to the North American Unitarians , who, like the universalists, represented more liberal positions. In 1961, the Universalist Church finally merged with the American Unitarian Association to form the Unitarian Universalist Association . However, the new common unitarian-universalist church increasingly opened up to non-Christian views. Today the Christian Universalist Association, founded in 2007, represents a genuinely Christian universalism . For example, the Universalist National Memorial Church is a member of both the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Christian Universalist Association .
Literature / sources
- Ann Lee Bressler: The Universalist Movement in America 1770-1880. Oxford 2011, ISBN 9780195129861 .
- Christian Universalist Association: The History of Universalism
- Unitarian Universalist Association: Unitarian Universalist Origins: Our Historic Faith
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Helen Rappaport: Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers , Santa Barbara 2001, p. 114