Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T21:13:23.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 2 - Beginnings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Mark W. Harris
Affiliation:
Minister at the First Parish of Watertown (Massachusetts), Andover Newton Theological School
Get access

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.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Rubenstein, Richard E.When Jesus Became GodNew YorkHarcourt, Inc. 1999 146Google Scholar
Williams, RowanArius: Heresy and TraditionGrand Rapids, MI and Cambridge, UKEerdmans Publishing Co. 2001 114Google Scholar
Trigg, Joseph WilsonOrigen: The Bible and Philosophy in the Third-Century ChurchAtlanta, GAJohn Knox Press 1983 115Google Scholar
Erasmus, DesideriusThe Handbook of the Militant ChristianNew YorkThe New American Library 1964 46Google Scholar
Bainton, Roland H.Erasmus of ChristendomNew YorkCrossroad 1982 136Google Scholar
Bainton, Roland H.Hunted Heretic: The Life and Death of Michael Servetus, 1511–1553Boston, MABeacon Press 1953 30Google Scholar
Wilbur, Earl MorseA History of Unitarianism, Socinianism and its AntecedentsBoston, MABeacon Press 1945 55Google Scholar
, Wilbur
Hughes, PeterServetus and the Qur'anThe Journal of Unitarian Universalist History xxx 2005 61Google Scholar
Cottret, BernardCalvin: A BiographyGrand Rapids, MIEerdmans Publishing 2000 217Google Scholar
Parke, David B.The Epic of UnitarianismBoston, MABeacon Press 1957 9Google Scholar
Williams, George H.The Radical ReformationPhiladelphia, PAThe Westminster Press 1962 623Google Scholar
MacCulloch, DiarmaidThe Reformation: A HistoryNew YorkViking Penguin 2003 255Google Scholar
Hewett, PhillipRacovia: An Early Liberal Religious CommunityProvidence, RIBlackstone 2004 49Google Scholar
Spitz, Lewis W.The Protestant Reformation, 1517–1559New YorkHarper and Row 1985 232Google Scholar
Howe, Charles A.For Faith and Freedom: A Short History of Unitarianism in EuropeBostonHouse Press 1997 63Google Scholar
Chadwick, OwenThe ReformationBaltimore, MDPenguin 1964 200Google Scholar
Williams, George H.The Polish Brethren, Documentation of the History and Thought of Unitarianism in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and in the Diaspora, 1601–1685The Proceedings of the Unitarian Historical Society xviii 1976 229
Bumbaugh, David E.Unitarian Universalism: A Narrative HistoryChicago, ILMeadville Lombard Press 2000 37Google Scholar
Kaplan, Benjamin J.Divided by FaithCambridge, MAHarvard University Press 2007 248CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, AlexanderHeads of Unitarian HistoryBathCedric Chivers Ltd 1970 22Google Scholar
Wilbur, Earl MorseA History of Unitarianism in Transylvania, England, and AmericaBoston, MABeacon Press 1945 18Google Scholar
Ritchie, SusanThe Pasha of Buda and the Edict of Torda: Transylvanian Unitarian/Islamic Ottoman Cultural Enmeshment and the Development of Religious ToleranceJournal of Unitarian Universalist History xxx 2005 37Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Beginnings
  • Andrea Greenwood, Mark W. Harris
  • Book: An Introduction to the Unitarian and Universalist Traditions
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511843334.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Beginnings
  • Andrea Greenwood, Mark W. Harris
  • Book: An Introduction to the Unitarian and Universalist Traditions
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511843334.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Beginnings
  • Andrea Greenwood, Mark W. Harris
  • Book: An Introduction to the Unitarian and Universalist Traditions
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511843334.003
Available formats
×