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James Luther Adams (in his own words) and the Unitarian Resistance to Fascism

Posted on April 28, 2021 by Susan Ritchie
In the 1930’s, James Luther Adams, who would go on to become twentieth century Unitarianism’s most beloved ethicist, arrived in Germany to study theology. He witnessed there first hand the rise of Nazism as well as the responses of the theologians and the churches.
… James Luther Adams

The Theology of Charles Hartshorne

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Katie Kuntz Wineland

The following excerpts are from the writings of Charles Hartshorne. To read more about Hartshorne’s life and work, click here.

Secular knowledge supports the religious idea of God if, and only if, by religion is meant something quite distinct from what has passed as orthodox theology.…

“America’s Real Religion:” The Theology and Social Action of A. Powell Davies

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Katie Kuntz Wineland

This essay explores the intersection of the life, theology, and social action of A. Powell Davies. To read the complete biography of Davies, click here.

For America’s real religion is the world’s real religion: the only religion that can save us and heal our dissensions.

… A. Powell Davies

Symbols of Power – Preface

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Susan Ritchie

by Herbert F. Vetter

© Herbert F. Vetter, 2000

My theological education at the University of Chicago included work with Charles Hartshorne, the notable exemplar of the process oriented philosophy known as panentheism (not pantheism), which is admirably described in the current Encyclopedia Britannica.…

Symbols of Power

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Susan Ritchie
…

The Enduring Significance of Emerson’s Divinity School Address, by John Haynes Holmes

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Emily Mace

An Address by John Haynes Holmes, D.D. Minister of the Community Church, New York, N. Y.

Delivered as the Ware Lecture on may 25, 1938, in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of this memorable address. The Ware Lectures were established in honor of the distinguished services of three generations of the Ware family to the cause of pure Christianity.…

Three Prophets of Religious Liberalism: Channing’s Address

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Emily Mace

The leader of Boston’s Unitarianism in the early nineteenth century was William Ellery Channing, whose grandfather William Ellery was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Born in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1780,William Ellery Channing was called to become minister of the Federal Street (now Arlington Street) Church of the Federal Street Church in Boston in 1803.…

Three Prophets of Religious Liberalism: Parker’s Manifesto

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Emily Mace

IV. Parker’s Manifesto

by Conrad Wright

“The brilliant genius of Emerson rose in the winter nights,” Theodore Parker recalled, “and hung over Boston, drawing the eyes of ingenuous young people to look up to that great, new star, a beauty and a mystery.…

Theodore Parker

Three Prophets of Religious Liberalism: Emerson’s Heresy

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Emily Mace

III. Emerson’s Heresy

by Conrad Wright

In May, 1819, Ralph Waldo Emerson was still a student at Harvard College. His own minister was Channing, since his mother had taken up going to the Federal Street Church after the death of Emerson’s father in 1811.…

Three Prophets of Religious Liberalism: Channing’s Platform

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Emily Mace

II. Channing’s Platform 

by Conrad Wright

Two kinds of epoch‑making addresses may be distinguished. There is, on the one hand, the speech innocently delivered, with no thought that it will prove to be memorable. Thus the Gettysburg Address has lived while the major oration of that occasion has been forgotten.…