From Freedom, Reason, Tolerance, Right Behavior and Salvation by Character: Toward a Liberal Christian Concept of Man and the World
the Unitarian Universalist School of the Graduate Theological Union From Freedom, Reason, Tolerance, Right Behavior and Salvation by Character: Toward a Liberal Christian Concept of Man and the World George Huntston Williams Williams, a noted historian and liberal scholar, began his teaching career at Starr King School, then moved east in 1949 to become Harvard Divinity School’s Acting Dean and later Hollis Professor of Divinity. “When invited to be the honored scholar of the liberal religious community during the Collegium of the aca- demic year 1978–79, during the course of which year I would turn sixty-five, I was encouraged to reflect on the three marks of liberal religion, set forth by Earl Morse Wilbur (1866–1959) in his two-volume magnum opus, A History of Unitarianism.1 If I were a professor of the comparative study of religion, I might have been asked to reconsider the renowned five points of the American Unitarian James Freeman Clarke (1810–80), whose interfaith and Christian ecumenical spirit renowned in pulpit, practice, and publications, was sustained by a muted Transcendentalism.” -- G.H. Williams (1914-2000) I. INTRODUCTION: FIVE MARKS OF LIBERAL RELIGION When invited to be the honored scholar of the liberal religious community during the Collegium of the academic year 1978/79, during the course of which year I would turn sixty-five, I was encour- aged to reflect on the three marks of liberal religion, set forth by Earl MorseWilbur (1866-1959) in his two-volume magnum opus, A History of Unitarianism.(1) If I were a professor of the compara- tive study of religion, I might have been asked to reconsider the renowned five points of theAmeri - can Unitarian James Freeman Clarke (1810-80), whose interfaith and Christian ecumenical spirit renowned in pulpit, practice, and publications, was sustained by a muted Transcendentalism.
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