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Commission on Appraisal Unitarians Face a New Age 

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Amahdi Shabaka

Unitarians Face a New Age

The Report of the Commission of Appraisal
to the American Unitarian Association, 1936

pp. 173-206

Over half a century later, this report is still the most complete ever done on Unitarian organization and program. While almost any part of the Commission’s work bears on polity, the second half of the book (page 215 onward) deals with “Institutional Organization and Functioning” and so deserves special attention.…

Commission on Appraisal – Unitarians Face a New Age: “Findings and Recommendations”

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Amahdi Shabaka

Unitarians Face a New Age

“Findings and Recommendations”

Commission of Appraisal to the
American Unitarian Association – 1936

pp. 3-31

The Commission of Appraisal, chaired by Frederick Eliot, was an overt attempt to use modern sociology to look a the Unitarian movement.…

“Work and Dreams and the Wide Horizon” By Louis C. Cornish

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Amahdi Shabaka

Selections from Work and Dreams and the Wide Horizon

by Louis C. Cornish

(Beacon Press, 1937)

Chapter IV “The Fellowship Committee,” pp. 36-44
Chapter IX “Poignant Problems”, pp. 98-107
Chapter XXI “The Free Church Fellowship”, pp. 268-97

Louis Cornish (1870-1950) was President of the AUA (1927-1937).…

“Handbook for Unitarian Churches”

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Amahdi Shabaka

Handbook for Unitarian Churches 

AUA (undated but prior to 1927)

pages 7 – 14

This document, probably late in Samuel Eliot’s administration (1900-27), gives a summary of Unitarian polity and the AUA. It serves as an introduction to Section VII.

The Handbook for Unitarian Churches is available here.…

“The Community Church” By John Haynes Holmes

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Amahdi Shabaka

Chapter IX, Parts I & II

“The Community Church: Organization, Message and Work”

by John Haynes Holmes

in New Churches for Old

(Dodd, Mead, 1922) pages 249-53

The distinguished John Haynes Holmes opposed the re-election of Samuel Eliot a President of the AUA, because he feared Eliot was creating a bureaucracy and a strong centralized denomination. …

“Official Report of the Proceedings of the General Conference”

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Amahdi Shabaka
Official Report of the Proceedings of the 27th Meeting of
The General Conference of Unitarian and Other Christian Churches
held at Montreal. Canada. September 25 – 28. 1917
(Boston, Press of Geo.H. Ellis Co., 1918)

including:

“Report of the Council” by Rev.

…

“Unitarian Yearbook 1900” By The American Universalist Association

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Amahdi Shabaka

Unitarian Yearbook – 1900 

(American Unitarian Association)

The by-laws of the AUA and the National Conference and the Rules of the Committee on (Ministerial) Fellowship of 1900 serve as benchmarks for the beginning of the century.

Note that Conference membership was strictly institutional not individual.…