Unitarianism as a
theology
is the
belief in the single personality of
God, in contrast to the
doctrine of the
Trinity
(three persons in one God).
Unitarianism as a movement is based on this belief, and, according to its proponents, is the original God-concept of Christianity.
Beliefs
The unitarians believe in the teachings of
Jesus
Christ as found in the
New
Testament and other
Early
Christian writings. Adhering to strict
monotheism, they maintain that Jesus was a great
man and a
prophet of God, perhaps even a
supernatural being, but not God
himself. They believe Jesus did not claim to be God, nor did his
teachings hint at the existence of a
triune
God. These unitarians believe in the moral authority, but not
necessarily the
divinity, of Jesus. Their
theology is thus distinguishable from the
trinitarian theology of most
Christian denominations, which hold
the idea of a triune God as a core belief.
The term "Unitarian" (with an upper case "U") usually refers to the
liberal branch of this theology, but the term "unitarian" (lower
case "u") is sometimes used descriptively to refer to anyone
adhering to the teaching of the single personhood of God.
Conservative (Biblical or Evangelical) unitarians strictly adhere
to the principle of
sola
scriptura and believe that the Bible is both inspired and
inerrant and upholds the "fundamentals" of belief. They generally
hold similar beliefs to most other evangelical Christians, apart
from their rejection of the Trinity doctrine. This version of
unitarianism is more commonly called
Nontrinitarianism, rather than
Unitarianism. There are some
nontrinitarians who, while holding God to
be a single person, perceive Jesus to be God himself, and therefore
they do not fall into the "unitarian" category at all, which
rejects the idea of Jesus as God. Instead see:
Sabellianism,
Oneness theology,
Oneness Pentecostalism,
Monarchianism,
Binitarianism,
The
New Church.
With regard to Unitarianism proper (the liberal variety), there are
common traits to be found, apart from the rejection of the Trinity
doctrine. Although there is no specific authority on these
convictions, the following represent the most generally
accepted:
- the belief in One God and the oneness or unity of God.
- the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as the exemplar model
for living one's own life.
- that reason, rational thought, science, and philosophy coexist
with faith in God.
- that man has the ability to exercise free
will in a responsible, constructive and ethical manner with the
assistance of religion.
- the belief that human nature in its
present condition is neither inherently corrupt nor depraved (see
Original Sin), but capable of both good
and evil, as God intended.
- the conviction that no religion can claim an absolute monopoly
on the Holy Spirit or theological
truth.
- the belief that, though the authors of the Bible were inspired
by God, they were humans and therefore subject to human error.
- the rejection of traditional doctrines
that they believe malign God's character or veil the true nature
and mission of Jesus Christ, such as the doctrines of predestination, eternal damnation, and the
vicarious sacrifice or satisfaction theory of the Atonement.
Unitarians sum up their faith as "
the religion
of
Jesus, not
a religion
about Jesus." Historically,
they have encouraged unorthodox
views
of God, Jesus, the
world and
purpose of life as revealed through
reason,
scholarship,
science,
philosophy,
scripture and other prophets and
religions. They believe that reason and belief are
complementary and that
religion and
science can co-exist and guide them in their understanding of
nature and God. They also do not enforce
belief in
creeds or
dogmatic formulas. Although there is flexibility in
the
nuances of
belief
or basic
truths for the individual Unitarian
Christian, general principles of faith
have been recognized as a way to bind the group in some
commonality. Adherents generally accept
religious pluralism and find value in
all teachings, but remain committed to their core belief in
Christ's teachings. Liberal Unitarians value
a
secular society in
which
government stays out of religious
affairs. Most contemporary Unitarian Christians believe that one's
personal moral convictions guide one's political activities, and
that a secular society is the most viable, just, and fair
society.
Unitarian Christians generally do not believe that Jesus was
conceived in the womb of a virgin or performed
miracles to the extent reported in the
Gospels. In theological Unitarianism, the most
weight regarding the accounts of Jesus, his character, and his life
is given to the four
canonical Gospels
(Mark, Mathew, Luke, and John). Other sources of information about
Jesus including newly discovered Gospels that were not included in
the original canon of the Bible (e.g.
Nag Hammadi Library) are also generally
accepted.
Unitarian Christians reject the doctrine of some Christian
denominations that God chooses to
redeem or save only those certain
individuals that accept the creeds of, or affiliate with a specific
Church or religion, from a common ruin or corruption of the mass of
humanity. They believe that righteous acts are necessary for
redemption, not only faith.
Unitarians are not to be confused with members of the
United Church of Christ, the
Unity Church, the
Universal Life Church, the
Unification Church, the
Unity Church, the
United Church of Canada, or the
Uniting Church in
Australia. In the United States, "Unitarian" is sometimes used
as a shortened way of referring to present-day adherents of
Unitarian Universalism.
However, not all members of the
Unitarian Universalist
Association are theological Unitarians (explanation
below.)
Distinction between theological and denominational
Unitarians
The term "Unitarian" has been applied both to those who hold a
Unitarian theological belief and to those who belong to a Unitarian
church. A hundred years ago, this would not have made much of a
difference, but today it is a distinction that needs to be made. In
this article, Unitarianism as a theology is referred to as simply
Unitarianism, while those who belong to a Unitarian Church (and
most specificially, a church that is a member of the
Unitarian Universalist
Association) are referred to as
Unitarian Universalists.
Unitarian theology is distinguishable from the belief system of
modern Unitarian and
Unitarian
Universalist churches and fellowships in several countries.
This is because over time, some Unitarians and many Unitarian
Universalists have moved away from the traditional Christian roots
of Unitarianism. For example, in the 1890s the American Unitarian
Association began to allow non-Christian and non-theistic churches
and individuals to be part of their fellowship.
As a result, people who held no Unitarian belief began to be called
"Unitarians," simply because they were members of churches that
belonged to the American Unitarian Association. After several
decades, the non-theistic members outnumbered the theological
Unitarians. A similar, though proportionally much smaller,
phenomenon has taken place in the Unitarian churches in the United
Kingdom, Canada, and other countries, which remain more
theistically based.
The remainder of this article includes information about
Unitarianism as a theology and about the development of
theologically Unitarian churches in several countries around the
world. For a more specific discussion of Unitarianism as it evolved
into a pluralistic liberal religious movement in the United States
and elsewhere in more recent times, see
Unitarian Universalism,
Unitarian Universalist
Association,
Canadian
Unitarian Council,
General
Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, and
International
Council of Unitarians and Universalists.
Forms
Unitarianism can very loosely be divided into two categories. Both
maintain that
God is one being and one
"person"—the one Jesus called "Our Father". Jesus is the (or a)
Son of God, but generally not God
himself. However, they differ as to particulars.
Jesus existed as a person before his human life
The Son of God is a preexistent being, the
Logos who dwelt with God in the beginning and then was
born as the man Jesus. However, he is not eternal, but had a
beginning of existence. This theology is commonly called
Arianism, but there are many varieties of this form
of Unitarianism, ranging from the belief that the Son, before he
came to earth, was a divine spirit of the same nature as God to the
belief that he was an angel or other lesser spirit creature of a
wholly different nature from God, and
Arius'
views represent only one variation of this theology.
Whatever the case, in this belief system, Jesus is beneath God, but
higher than humans (and has always been so). This concept could be
referred to as "elevated subordinationism." It is associated with
early church figures such as
Justin
Martyr,
Lucian of Antioch,
Eusebius of Caesarea, Arius,
Eusebius of Nicomedia,
Asterius the Sophist,
Eunomius, and
Ulfilas, as
well as
Felix, Bishop of
Urgel and others who believed that Jesus was God in his divine
nature but his divinity in his human nature was through
adoption.
Arian ideas persist among Unitarians in
Transylvania, Hungary
, France
, and several
countries in Africa. Famous 19th
century Arian Unitarians include
Andrews
Norton and Dr.
William
Ellery Channing.
19th century Unitarians often claimed
Isaac
Newton, but his Arian ideas predate Unitarianism.
Since the 19th century, several
Evangelical or Revivalist movements adopted
an elevated
subordinationist
theology (best described as Nontrinitarianism, rather than
Unitarianism). Important figures include
Barton W. Stone and
Charles Taze Russell. Theologies among
Evangelical Unitarians are sometimes classed as Arian, and
sometimes Sabellian (Jesus is God in the flesh, the manifestation
of God, who exists as a single person) and the Chinese based
sabbatarian True Jesus Church. Other modern non-trinitarian
churches, such as the Filipino-based
Iglesia ni Cristo, may also be included,
although they reject the "unitarian" name to avoid confusion.
Jehovah's Witnesses also have a
nontrinitarian theology with specific traits. The Christian
Churches of God (CCG) is another Unitarian Church with a World
Conference. It has extensive material on Unitarian theology and
history and holds the doctrine of the Pre-existence of Jesus Christ
(see www.ccg.org). CCG like other Sabbatarian Churches of God trace
their ancestry back to the early church and follow biblical law.
The CCG and Sabbatarians are sometimes erroneously called Arians
due to the pejorative Trinitarian use of that term and also that of
Subordinationists (see Bibliography).
Jesus did not exist as a person before his human life
This theology ranges from the belief that Jesus was a great man
filled with the
Holy Spirit (sometimes
called
Psilanthropism or, more
commonly,
Socinianism) to the belief
that he is the incarnation of God's
impersonal Logos. It
is associated with early church figures like the
Ebionites,
Theodotus of Byzantium,
Artemon, and
Paul of
Samosata in the early Church,
Marcellus of Ancyra and his pupil
Photinus in the 4th century AD, and
Michael Servetus,
Ferenc Dávid and
Faustus Socinus in the Protestant
Reformation. It is from the latter that we get the word
"Socinianism," but the teaching of Socinus is unique in more than
just its Christology, and so the name is best not used as merely a
Christological term.
In modern times we see the psilanthropist view manifested in
Rationalist Unitarianism, which emerged from the German Rationalism
and the liberal theology of the 19th century. Its proponents took a
highly intellectual and humanistic approach to religion, rejecting
most of the miraculous events in the Bible (including the virgin
birth.) They embraced evolutionary concepts, asserted the "inherent
goodness of man" and abandoned the doctrine of biblical
infallibility. Rationalist Unitarianism is distinguished from
Deism (with which it nevertheless shares many
features) by its belief in a personal deity who directly acts on
creation, while Deists see God as holding aloof from
creation.
Notable Rationalist Unitarians include
Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Theodore Parker in theology and ministry,
Joseph Priestley and
Linus Pauling in science,
Susan B. Anthony and
Florence Nightingale in humanitarianism
and social justice,
Charles Dickens
in literature, and
Frank Lloyd
Wright in arts.
Many Hungarian Unitarians embrace the
principles of Rationalist Unitarianism—the only Unitarian high
school in the world, John Sigismund Unitarian Academy in Cluj Napoca
(Kolozsvár, Klausenburg), Romania
, teaches
Rationalist Unitarianism. The psilanthropist concept of the
nature of Jesus is similar to the
viewpoint held by the Islamic faith,
which regards Jesus as a non-divine and human
Prophet. The
Christadelphians, the
Church of God of the
Abrahamic Faith and the
Biblical
Unitarians have a psilanthropist theology but are evangelical
unitarians.
History
Unitarianism, both as a theology and as a denominational family of
churches, was first defined and developed within the
Protestant Reformation, although
theological ancestors may be found back in the early days of
Christianity.
Unitarian Christian groups and publications
Organizations of Unitarian Christians
There are
a number of associations, congregations and publications that can
be considered as actively involved in the preservation and
development of the distinct tradition known as Unitarian
Christianity - started by Dávid
Ferenc in 1565 in the remaining Hungary (Transylvania) of John II Sigismund Zápolya
(later also Unitarian).
Many American Unitarian Christians identify primarily with the
Unitarian
Universalist Christian Fellowship, a sub-group of the
Unitarian Universalist
Association, which is the result of the consolidation of the
American Unitarian Association and the
Universalist Church of
America, and is located in the United States. In addition many
Unitarian Christian groups are affiliated with the International
Council of Unitarians and Universalists.
Some organizations, such as the
American Unitarian Conference,
are independent of the UUA and are not members of the ICUU. Others,
such as
Bét
Dávid Unitarian Association, have recently become associated
with the ICUU. They tend to contain a majority membership who
express specifically Unitarian Christian beliefs, rather than the
religious pluralism of the UUA - nevertheless they remain liberal,
open-minded and inclusive communities.
The
Unitarian Christian
Association (UK) and Unitarian Universalist Christian
Fellowship (USA) maintain formal links with their national
movements and the majority of their membership describe themselves
as Christian. There are also numerous local British Unitarian and
UUA affiliated congregations which have a Christian majority.
A final point to note is the
Unitarian Church in Hungary and
the
Transylvanian
Unitarian Church are affiliated with the ICUU and continue with
the historical Unitarian Christian tradition established by Dávid
Ferenc (aka Francis David). The Unitarian churches in Hungary and
Transylvania are structured and organized along a church hierarchy
that includes the election by the Synod of a national Bishop who
serves as superintendent of the Church.
The majority of Unitarian Christian publications are sponsored by
an organization and published specifically for their membership.
They generally do not serve as a tool for missionary work or
encouraging conversions.
Development in the 21st Century
In recent years there has been a relatively small, yet significant,
growth in groups with a specifically Unitarian Christian outlook
and ethos. The
Congregazione
Italiana Cristiana Unitariana (Italy) and Bét Dávid Unitarian
Association (Norway) are two examples of this trend. There are also
reports of the development of Unitarian Christian groups in African
countries such as Burundi. Some of these groups are joining the
International Council of Unitarians and Universalists, either as
Emerging Groups or as Associates, as they gain a solid
organizational structure.
There is a noticeable presence of Unitarian Christians on the
internet, such as the
Restoration Fellowship and
Unitarian
Ministries. Online networks have been growing steadily for some
time attracting members from across the world. Many Unitarian
Christians who join these networks do not have a congregation in
their locality and so rely on the internet as the main contact with
their fellow believers.
Ecclesiology
When
Unitarianism developed in the 1600s during the Protestant era of
the evolution of Christianity, the strongholds in Transylvania,
Poland, and eventually Britain
and the North Eastern parts of the United States
were firmly in the congregational tradition in the
English-speaking countries. In the Hungarian-speaking
territories it adopted a governance system that combined the
Synodal and Episcopal models.
For those churches under the congregational model, each church
governed itself independently of a hierarchical authority. These
small
congregations did
belong, however, to more formal associations of churches. The
American Unitarian Association, formed in 1825, was one of these.
Later, in 1961, the American Unitarian Association and the
Universalist Church of America merged to form the Unitarian
Universalist Association (UUA), which is the largest organization
of Unitarians in the US. The UUA is no longer an explicitly
Christian organization and does not focus exclusively on the core
teachings of Jesus Christ or Christianity.
Several Unitarian organizations still promote Christianity as their
central theme including the Unitarian Universalist Christian
Fellowship (UUCF, an affiliate of the UUA), the General Assembly of
Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (GAUFCC) of the United
Kingdom, and the Unitarian Christian Association (UCA, an affiliate
of the GAUFCC).
In the US, the newest organization promoting a return to the
theistic roots of Unitarianism is the American Unitarian Conference
(AUC), formed in 2000. The AUC's stated goal is to formulate and
promote classical Unitarian-based, unifying religious convictions,
which balance the needs of members with a practical approach to
inclusion and progressive free thought.
Interfaith dialogue and relations
The adoption of Unitarian belief almost always entails severance of
identification with "Christianity" as it is formulated in the
creeds of the Nicene and pre-Chalcedonian churches (Oriental
Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and most Protestants).
Unitarianism is outside of the fellowship of these traditions.
Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant creeds of various stripes insist
on trinitarian belief as an essential of Christianity and basic to
a group's continuity of identity with the historical Christian
faith.
As a tradition founded by dissenters from mainstream Christian
churches, and traditionally denounced as heretics, it is difficult
to see the emergence of Unitarian groups in areas dominated by
existing Christian denominations.
However, occasionally, especially in Protestant history,
traditionally trinitarian groups grow friendly to, or incorporate,
unitarianism. Friendliness toward unitarianism has sometimes gone
hand-in-hand with
anti-Catholicism.
In some cases non-trinitarian or unitarian belief has been adopted
by some, and tolerated in Christian churches as a "non-essential".
This was the case in the English Presbyterian Church, and in the
Congregational Church in New England late in the 18th century. The
Restoration Movement also
attempted to forge a compatible relation between Trinitarians and
Unitarians, as did the
Seventh Day
Baptists and various
Adventists. The
Seventh Day Baptists hold Unitarian Doctrines in their
International Conference but became Trinitarians in the US. The
Adventists were Unitarians on worldwide basis until the death of
Uriah Smith in 1931. From that date they were taken over slowly by
Trinitarians. They became formally Trinitarians as late as 1978.
The Unitarian tendency in these last-mentioned groups came from
their original theology and a total rejection of the Catholic
explanation and acceptance of Trinitarianism and the Trinitarian
Christian tradition of interpretation.
In some cases, this openness to unitarianism within traditionally
trinitarian churches has been inspired by a very broad ecumenical
motive. Modern liberal Protestant denominations are often accused
by trinitarians within their ranks, and critics outside, of being
indifferent to the doctrine, and therefore self-isolated from their
respective trinitarian pasts and heritage. In some cases, it is
charged that these trinitarian denominations are no longer
Christian, because of their toleration of unitarian belief among
their teachers, and in their seminaries.
At a local level, many Unitarian Christian groups - and individual
Unitarian Christians - have links with tolerant congregations
affiliated with the United Church of Christ,
Disciples of Christ, and Unity Church.
Indeed, some argue they feel more at home within these
denominations than Unitarian-Universalism. A small proportion of
Unitarian Christians also have links with
Progressive Christianity.
Despite the close friendship and shared heritage that exists
between adherents to Unitarian Universalism and Unitarian
Christianity, there is an element within Unitarian Universalism
that opposes specifically Unitarian Christian groups, believing
them to be exclusive and intolerant of non-Christian thought.
Likewise, some Unitarian Christians also believe that Unitarian
Universalists are intolerant of Christian thought and tend to
marginalize Christians.
The American Unitarian Conference is open to non-Christian
Unitarians - being particularly popular with non-Christian
theists and
deists. In
addition, the Bét Dávid Unitarian Association (Norway) has forged
positive and mutual friendships with Jewish groups.
An important point to note is the shared belief that exists between
Unitarian Christians and their
Muslim,
Jewish and
Sikh
counterparts, who all adhere to strict monotheism - this common
ground may form the basis of future friendship.
The Unitarian Universalist Association do not currently have any
formal links with the
Biblical Unitarian movements in the United
States - the two communities should be regarded as separate and
distinct.
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
- Joseph Henry Allen, Our Liberal Movement in Theology
(Boston, 1882)
- Joseph Henry Allen, Sequel to our Liberal Movement
(Boston, 1897)
- Anthony F. Buzzard and Charles F. Hunting, The Doctrine of
the Trinity: Christianity's Self-Inflicted Wound (Lanham,
Maryland, 1998) ISBN 1-57309-309-2.
- John White Chadwick, Old and New Unitarian Belief
(Boston, 1894).
- William Ellery Channing (1903).
- Unitarianism: its Origin and history, a course of Sixteen
Lectures (Boston, 1895).
- George Willis Cooke, Unitarianism in America: a History of
its Origin and Development (Boston, 1902).
- Patrick Navas, Divine Truth or Human Tradition: A
Reconsideration of the Roman Catholic-Protestant Doctrine of the
Trinity in Light of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
(Bloomington, Indiana 2007). ISBN 1-4259-4832-4.
- Unitarian Year Book (Boston).
- Earl Morse Wilbur, A History of Unitarianism: Socinianism
and Its Antecedents, Harvard University Press, 1945.
- Andrew M. Hill, 'The Unitarian Path', Lindsey Press (London
1994) ISBN 0-85319-046-1
- Wade E. Cox, Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127), CCG,
1995.
- Wade E. Cox Arianism and Semi-Arianism (No. 167) CCG,
1996.
- Wade E. Cox, Role of the Fourth Commandment in the
Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170), CCG, 1996.
- Wade E. Cox Socinianism, Arianism and Unitarianism (No. 185)
CCG, 1996.
- Charles A. Howe, 'For Faith and Freedom: A Short History of
Unitarianism in Europe', Skinner House Books (Boston, 1997) ISBN
1-55896-359-6
- Wade E. Cox, The Pre-existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243), CCG,
1998.
- Matthew F. Smith, 'Unitarians' (short article) in Christianity:
The Complete Guide, Continuum, (London 2005)ISBN
0-8264-5937-4.
Here ... Here ... In This Marked Place We Searched for Truth.The
story of a remarkable Congregation: LASCAUX and the NORTH SHORE
UNITARIAN CHURCHhttp://www.dirsmithgroup.com/FGW/Lascaux.htm
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