European positivism and the American Unitarians
Few movements have been so remarkably transformed within such a short period of time as nineteenth century American Unitarianism. In the 1830s, despite its recently acquired denominational independence, it remained theologically quite close its Congregational ancestry. Its most typical leaders of th...
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| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
1976
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| In: |
Church history
Year: 1976, Volume: 45, Issue: 4, Pages: 490-506 |
| IxTheo Classification: | KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KBQ North America |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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| Summary: | Few movements have been so remarkably transformed within such a short period of time as nineteenth century American Unitarianism. In the 1830s, despite its recently acquired denominational independence, it remained theologically quite close its Congregational ancestry. Its most typical leaders of that period —Orville Dewey, John G. Palfrey, Ezra Stiles Gannett, and Nathaniel L. Frothingham—were all men of gentility and moderation, with little taste for theological revolution. Thus their Unitarianism differed from orthodox New England theology in degree rather than kind and still formed, as one contemporary put it, “the liberal side of the old Congregational body.” Men like Frothingham, who filled the prestigious pulpit of Boston's First Church, continued to believe in a supernatural deity revealed by miracles and divinely inspired Scripture. They placed only limited faith in man. Although not totally depraved, humanity was filled largely with evil and needed divine mediation for salvation. Jesus, who provided this mediation, was described as “the divinely inspired Son of the Father.” The social views of these men, based as they were on the assumption that God had ordained and established the social institutions of the day, were predominantly conservative.3 Within a generation, however, this Old Unitarianism had dissolved. Not everyone changed, of course. Some Conservatives maintained the traditional views until their deaths, but they quickly became a minority as a New Unitarianism emerged. |
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| ISSN: | 0009-6407 |
| Contains: | In: Church history
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/3164350 |