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American Origins-1850 • Tuesdays, May 12 - June 9/16?, 2015 (5-6 sessions), 7:00 - 8:15 p.m. • Emails: add to list? • Slides: frederickuu.org/UUHistory • $5/session, requested but not required (for UUCF Operating Fund to cover building expenses, childcare, etc. which allow these classes to be offered — not to the instructor.) • Fall 2016? • Banned Questions about the Bible 1 of 4, • CSAI: Wealth Inequality, • Ethics (Peter Singer) Covenant • Use “I” statements: speak from your own experience. • Ask permission before sharing other participants’ stories outside the group. • Step-up, step-back: be conscious of the level of participation that you bring to the conversation. Allow everyone a chance to speak before you speak again. • You always have permission to “pass.” Unitarian Roots in Europe, part 3 (almost done!) 3 Timeline • Origen, On First Principles (230 CE) • Arius vs. Athanasius at the Council of Nicea (325 CE) • [GAP…Desert Ammas/Abbas…Beguines…Franciscans, etc.] • Johannes Gutenberg invents moveable-type printing press (1450); • Gutenberg Bible (1455) • Columbus “discovers” New World (1492) • Martin Luther posts “95 Theses” on church door in Wittenberg, Germany, launching Protestant Reformation (1517) • Miguel/Michael Servetus, On the Errors of the Trinity (1531) • Church of England separates from Rome [Henry VIII] (1534) • Copernicus, On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres (1543) Timeline • Ferenc Dávid (Francis David) preaches first “Unitarian” sermon (1566) • Edict of Torda (1568) — Unitarian King John Sigismund • Martyrdom of Frances Dávid in Prison (1579) [last words, “God is One.”] • Racovian Catechism (1605) • King James Bible (1611) • Beginning of African Slave Trade in the U.S. colonies (1619) • John Biddle, XII Arguments Drawn Out of the Scriptures (1647) • Cambridge Platform (1648) • John Biddle banished to Scilly Isles by Cromwell for rejecting Trinity (1654) Great Britain: Precursors to Unitarianism • John Wycliffe (c. 1330-1384): translated the Vulgate (Latin Bible) into English. Called for the Roman Catholic Church to give away its money/property and require priests to live among the poor. • Lollards (mid-1300s): encouraged individual study of Bible, which led to anti- Trinitarianism. • William Sawtrey (d. 1401) - first person executed for religious beliefs in England was a “Unitarian” and a Lollard. • 1534: Henry VIII leads Church of England to separate from Rome. • John Biddle (1615-1662) - “father of English Unitarianism” • 1662: Beginning of liberal dissent in England, when 2,000 ministers left the Church of England because the Act of Uniformity required all clergy to use the new prayer book. • 1774: organized beginnings of Unitarianism in England with Theophilus Lindsey’s Essex Chapel in London. John Biddle (c. 1616 - 1662) “father of English Unitarianism” • Spent much of the final 17 years of his life in prison for heresy. • Believed one was “obligated to be very Rational” in interpreting scripture [Liberal Turn] • Began to study the Bible on his own, which led him to deny the deity of the Holy Spirit. • 1647: published XII Arguments Drawn Out of Scripture, which extended his incarceration. [Banned Questions about the Bible.] • Published a biography of Faustus Socinus as well as his own catechism based on the Racovian Catechism. • 1655: banished for life to the Scilly Islands. Thomas Emlyn (1663 - 1741) • Published to defend himself against a member of his congregation who — after 11 years of successful ministry — noticed he never mentioned the Trinity. • Arian, not Socinian • [sins of (c)ommission] • Imprisoned for two years. Last dissenter to be imprisoned for anti-Trinitarianism. • First minister willing to take the Unitarian name. 1702 Theophilus Lindsey (1723-1808) [God-lover, Lk 1] [//: James Freeman at King’s Chapel in Boston,1785] • Anglican priest who discovered he no longer believed in the Trinity. [what do you do?!] • Resigned his pastorate, and turned an auction room on Essex Street in London into a chapel. • 1774: Among the 200 people in attendance at the first service were Benjamin Franklin and Joseph Priestley. • Lindsey later published a book questioning historical validity of the Gospels and miracles [//: 19th c. Unitarians and Transcendentalists] • Said that the fully human Jesus was subject to the same frailties and errors as everyone else. • Omitted the Apostle’s Creed from the final version of the liturgy he produced. [comma] American Unitarianism, Origins to 1850: Development, & Early Controversies 10 Timeline • Miguel/Michael Servetus, On the Errors of the Trinity (1531); martyred (1553) • Ferenc Dávid (Francis David) preaches first Unitarian sermon (1566) • Edict of Torda (1568), King János Zsigmond (John Sigismund) • Martyrdom of Frances David (1579) [last words: “God is One”] —————— • Racovian Catechism (1605) • John Biddle, XII Arguments Drawn Out of the Scriptures (1647), banished (1654) • Cambridge Platform (1648) —————— • Theophilus Lindsey’s Essex St. Chapel in London (1774) • James Freeman’s King's Chapel changes prayer book (1785) • Joseph Priestley's library burned in Birmingham, England (1791) Timeline • Second Great Awakening (c. 1790–1840) • Oldest Pilgrim church in America (f. 1620, Plymouth, Massachusetts) becomes Unitarian (1802) • Louisiana Purchase (1803) • Jefferson Bible (1804) • Henry Ware, Sr. appointed Professor of Divinity, Harvard (1805) [Ware Lecture] • Dedham Case (1818) • Channing preaches "Unitarian Christianity," Baltimore, MD (1819) • American Unitarian Association founded at Channing’s Federal Street Church, now Arlington Street UU in Boston (1825) • Ralph Waldo Emerson preaches "Divinity School Address” (1838) • Theodore Parker preaches "Transient and Permanent in Christianity” (1841) • Margaret Fuller, Women in the 19th.century (1845) (d. 1850) • Seneca Falls Convention (1848) Unitarianism in U.S.: “Predecessors” • “We would worship without that Episcopacy, that common-prayer, and those unwarrantable ceremonies, with which the land of our forefathers sepulchers has been defiled; we came because we would have our posterity settled under the pure dispensations of the gospel, defended by rulers that should be of ourselves.” • [Cambridge Platform (1648): autonomous church governance] • [First sentence of Channing’s “Likeness Unto God” (1828): “To promote true religion is the purpose of the Christian ministry” Cotton Mather, Puritan Minister (1663 - 1728) • [TP: “Transient and the Permanent (1841)] Unitarianism in U.S.: Influences • Wave of evangelical pietism • Old Light (anti-revival) - • Arminian emphasis on human reason and God’s love. • Human choice needed to accept salvation. • Against excessive emotionalism of revivals • Concerned that itinerants upset the established order, leaving settled ministers to address fall out. George Whitfield, • New Light (pro-revival) First Great Awakening • reemphasis on Calvinist doctrines. (1730s & 1740s,) • Conversion experiences Unitarianism in U.S.: Predecessors • (1742) Enthusiasm Described and Caution’d Against [responding to Jonathan Edwards] • commitment to logic/reason in theology • Strict biblicism, but with historical- critical analysis • Morality/ethics focus of Christianity • Humans inherently good (contra Calvinism’s total depravity) • Trinity can’t be justified through rational reading of scripture Charles Chauncy (1705 - 1787) leader of the “Old Lights,”anti-revivalists Unitarianism in U.S.: Predecessors • (1743) Seasonable Thoughts on the State of Religion in New-England • Position: state of grace reached gradually not through moment of conversation Anti-revivalists increasing “liberal,” relying on reason and teaching free will. • publicly against Original Sin. • privately explored idea of universal salvation. Anonymously published The Mystery Hid from Ages and Generations (1784) Chales Chauncy (1705 - 1787) leader of the “Old Lights,”anti-revivalists Unitarianism in U.S.: Predecessors • Three Leading Liberals of the time: Charles Chauncy, Jonathan Mayhew, and Ebenezer Gay • 1759 Dudleian Lecture at Harvard on “Natural Religion” - God gave humans reason and ability to discern way to salvation Ebenezer Gay (1696-1787) “father of American Unitarianism” (?) Unitarianism in U.S.: Multiple Origins • Problem: Could no longer in good conscience lead a Trinitarian liturgy • Risk: Preached sermon series on why he had come to disbelieve in the Trinity. • Assumption: would have to resign • Good news: congregation agreed with him and voted to create the Book of Common Prayer According to the Use of King’s Chapel • Classic liberal religious move: reason & experience trump traditional/authority • Story: how “the 1st Episcopal Church in New England became the 1st Unitarian Church in the New World” (1785) James Freeman (1759 - 1835) “first avowed Unitarian minister in U.S.” King’s Chapel, Boston (first declared Unitarian church in the U.S. in 1785) 19 Correction to Single-origin of Unitarianism • Earl Morse Wilbur: uniquely American faith (New England-centric) • Conrad Wright - “indigenous to New England” • David Robinson - “largely a New England affair” with qualification that English Unitarianism “not without its impact” • Robert Schofield - Priestley’s influence was “anticlimax” and left no lasting impact on Unitarianism. Penn State UP, 2007 Joseph Priestley (1733 –1804) • born in 1733 to strict Calvinist family, but by his early twenties already experimenting in theology & science. • Experiment: leave a mint plant sealed in a jar with a candle. When the candle burned out, he knew that no more “wholesome air” would remain.” • Ten days
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