Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- A note on names
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Chapter 2 Beginnings
- Chapter 3 Great Britain
- Chapter 4 From revelation to reason
- Chapter 5 From reason to intuition to freedom
- Chapter 6 A religion for one world
- Chapter 7 Congregational polity
- Chapter 8 Worship
- Chapter 9 Sources of faith
- Chapter 10 Science and ecology
- Chapter 11 Architecture, art, and music
- Chapter 12 Education and social justice
- Chapter 13 Current issues, new directions
- Selected bibliography
- Index
- References
Chapter 2 - Beginnings
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- A note on names
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Chapter 2 Beginnings
- Chapter 3 Great Britain
- Chapter 4 From revelation to reason
- Chapter 5 From reason to intuition to freedom
- Chapter 6 A religion for one world
- Chapter 7 Congregational polity
- Chapter 8 Worship
- Chapter 9 Sources of faith
- Chapter 10 Science and ecology
- Chapter 11 Architecture, art, and music
- Chapter 12 Education and social justice
- Chapter 13 Current issues, new directions
- Selected bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
Unitarianism and Universalism are both ways of thinking about God and the meaning of life that have always had a presence in the history of Christianity, and which were both condemned as heresies. They date to the years closely following the birth of the Christian Church, but it was a millennium and a half before they took organized institutional form. There were always those Christians who preferred a more human Jesus because having a relationship with him was more important than worshipping him. They were engaged with this world, and wanted to play a key role in their own salvation rather than focusing primarily on the next world and the afterlife. This became especially true after the Reformation when Unitarianism became institutionalized and belief in the invisible world became more and more suspect.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011