A liberal Protestant sect which has as its distinctive dogma the belief in a uni-personal God instead of a tri-personal one.
I. Name and Doctrine
In its general sense the name designates all who do not believe in the Trinity, whether Christian or non-Christian; in its present specific use it is applied to the organized form of Christianity that emphasizes the unity of the person of God. The term seems to have originated about 1570, was used in the Diet held in 1600 at Lecsfalva in Transylvania, and received official ecclesiastical sanction in 1638. It replaced the various designations of anti-Trinitarians, Arians, Racovians, and Socinians. In England it first appeared in 1682. It became frequent in the United States from 1815 onward, although it was received unfavorably by some anti-Trinitarians and omitted from the official title by some congregations whose religious position it defined. The explanation of this opposition is to be found in the reluctance of the parties concerned to emphasize any doctrinal affirmation. Historical associations justify the name Presbyterians, frequently applied to Unitarians in the British Isles, and that of Unitarian Congregationalists, used in the United States. No definite standard of faith is recognized in the sect, nor are doctrinal tests established as a condition for fellowship. The cooperation of all persons desirous of promoting the interests of “pure” (that is, practical, non-dogmatic) Christianity is welcomed in the Unitarian body.
In giving this cooperation each member enjoys complete freedom in his individual religious opinions, and no body of doctrinal propositions can be articulated on which all Unitarians agree. The bond of union among them consists more in their anti-dogmatic tendency than in uniformity of belief. The authority of the Bible is preserved to some degree, but its contents are admitted or rejected according as they do or do not find favor before the supreme and, in this case, exacting tribunal of individual reason. Jesus Christ is regarded as subordinate to the Father and, although the epithet Divine is frequently applied to Him in a broad sense, in the view of many He is an extraordinarily gifted and powerful religious leader, yet still human. He is a teacher to be followed, not a God to be adored. His Passion and Death are an inspiration and an example for His disciples, not an effective and vicarious atonement for the sins of men. He is the great example whom we must copy in order gradually to perfect our union with God. This teaching concerning the mission of Jesus Christ is no more than the logical complement of the Unitarian denial of the fall of man and, with similar logic, leads to the suppression of the sacraments. Two of them (baptism and the Eucharist) are in fact retained, but their power to confer grace is denied and their reception is declared unnecessary. Baptism is administered to children (rarely to adults) more for sentimental reasons and for purposes of edification than from belief in the spiritual results produced in the soul of the recipient. The Eucharist, far from being considered a sacrifice, is viewed as a merely commemorative service. The fervent hope of universal salvation is cherished by the majority of the sect. In short, present-day Unitarianism is little more than natural religion, and in some of its members shows a pronounced tendency toward pantheistic speculation. The form of Church government in England and the United States is strictly congregational; each particular congregation directs all its affairs without superior control, appoints and dismisses its minister, and is the final judge of the religious opinions expressed in its pulpit. In Transylvania, Church government is exercised by a bishop who resides in Kolozsvár (Klausenburg) and is assisted by a consistory. The episcopal title he bears does not imply a special consecration, but merely designates the function of an ecclesiastical supervisor.
II. History
A. In Europe
The first church that held Unitarian doctrines was founded in Poland during the reign of Sigismund II (1548-72). The year 1568 saw the establishment and official recognition of such a congregation in Transylvania. While in the former country Unitarianism was completely suppressed in 1660, in the latter, despite temporary persecution, it has been maintained. The Transylvanian Church is of Socinian origin but has suppressed the worship of Jesus Christ, thus abandoning what chiefly differentiated it from strict Unitarianism. Its present name is the Hungarian Unitarian Church, although comparatively few of its members reside in Hungary proper.
In England the organization of Unitarianism took place at a much later date. The first attempt to establish a congregation was made by John Biddle (1615-62), but the organization did not survive its author. Greater permanence attended the efforts of Theophilus Lindsey (1723-1808). In 1773 he separated from the Anglican Communion, organized a Unitarian congregation in London the following year, and in 1778 built the Essex Street chapel. About the same time anti-Trinitarian opinions were spread by the scientist Joseph Priestly, pastor of a congregation in Leeds (1768-80) and later in Birmingham. His work in the latter place was interrupted by a popular uprising in 1791, and three years later he emigrated to America. Others, among them Thomas Belsham (1750-1829) and Lant Carpenter (1780-1840), continued to propagate Unitarianism in England. Legal restrictions were still in force, however, against persons who denied the doctrine of the Trinity, and they hampered their work. But in 1813 most of these impediments were removed, and in 1844 complete liberty was obtained, despite opposition, by the Dissenters’ Chapels Act, sometimes called the Unitarian Charter. As early as 1825 English Unitarians had concluded a union with their co-religionists abroad under the name of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association. This society disseminated religious literature and promoted the interests of the sect. The prospects of this activity were encouraged by the appearance of a capable exponent of Unitarian opinions, Dr. James Martineau (1805-1900). After successful resistance to early opposition, his personality dominated English Unitarianism for an extended period. His writings exercised a powerful influence far beyond England and still continue to advance the cause of liberal Christianity. His disciples have continued his work and surpassed their master in their radical views. Scotland never proved fruitful soil for Unitarian propaganda. A congregation was organized in 1776 in Edinburgh and the Scottish Unitarian Association was formed in 1813; but progress in that country has been insignificant and there are very few congregations there. In Ireland Unitarianism is found chiefly in the north, where it has found adherents among the Presbyterians. It may not improperly be considered an autonomous branch of Presbyterianism. Some Unitarian congregations are also found in the British colonies, notably Australia and Canada, and among French Protestants a relatively large number hold Unitarian opinions, though not the name.
B. America
Toward the middle of the eighteenth century Unitarian opinions gained support among the Congregationalists of New England. They were propagated by Jonathan Mayhew (1720-1766), who for nineteen years was pastor of the West Church of Boston, and by Charles Chauncey (1705-87), in the same city. The first organized church was King’s Chapel, Boston, when the congregation, until then Episcopalian, removed in 1785 all references to the Trinity from the Book of Common Prayer and in 1787 assumed an independent existence. Congregations were also organized in Portland and Saco (Maine) in 1792, and in 1794 Joseph Priestly began his propaganda in Pennsylvania. It was particularly in New England that the movement gained ground. The appointment in 1805 of the Reverend Henry Ware to the Hollis chair of divinity at Harvard University, and the appointment over the next two years of four other liberal candidates to important professorships in the same institution, brought that seat of learning under considerable Unitarian influence. Its school of theology was endowed and organized by the sect in 1817 and remained under its control until 1878, when it became non-sectarian. While the spread of Unitarian ideas was relatively rapid, the organization of churches was delayed by the resistance of many to separating from the Congregationalist communities of which they were members. Before the separation took place a heated controversy was waged between the conservative and liberal wings of Congregationalism. Matters came to a head in 1819 when the Reverend William Ellery Channing, in a sermon preached in Baltimore at the installation of the Reverend Jared Sparks, advocated the public recognition by liberal congregations and members of their Unitarian beliefs. This address proved decisive, and the parties concerned immediately proceeded to organize themselves independently. From this date until his death in 1842, Channing was the recognized leader of the sect. Under his auspices the American Unitarian Association was founded in Boston in 1825 for the promotion of Unitarian interests.
After his death the radical element became predominant under the direction of Theodore Parker (1810-60), who succeeded him in influence. The authority of the Bible recognized by the old school was, under Parker, largely sacrificed to the principles of destructive criticism, and Unitarianism drifted rapidly into rationalist speculation. The activity of Channing and Parker was supplemented by the more general and wider influence of the Unitarian poet-philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82). Although he resigned his charge in the Second Congregational Church of Boston after a short period (1829-32), he continued preaching for many years, and his popularity as a writer and lecturer could not but give additional prestige to the advanced religious opinions he defended. The interests of Unitarian propaganda were also served by the foundation of the Western Conference of Unitarians in 1852 and of the National Unitarian Conference in 1865. Of a more universal character was the International Council of Unitarians and other Liberal Religious Workers and Thinkers, which was organized in Boston in 1900. It held sessions in London (1901), Amsterdam (1903), Geneva (1905), Boston (1907), and Berlin (1910). At the last of the conventions mentioned the official title was changed to International Congress of Free Christians and Other Religious Liberals. The purpose remains the same, namely: “to open communication with those in all lands who are striving to unite pure religion and perfect liberty and to increase fellowship and cooperation among them.”
III. Propaganda; Educational Institutions; Statistics
The Unitarian body sent a missionary to India in 1855 and since 1887 has carried on active propaganda in Japan; however, its missionary efforts in foreign lands, viewed as a whole, have not been considerable. In accordance with its general attitude of indifference toward dogma, it strives to promote the cause of Christianity without insisting on its own specific beliefs, and its members have in the past contributed to the missionary funds of other sects. Its efforts, moreover, are directed more to the diffusion of literature among civilized nations than to the sending of missionaries to non-Christian lands. This method of gaining adherents has proved successful, partly because of the liberal, rationalist, and excessively individualistic tendency of our age, but also in large measure because of the number of eminent men and capable writers who have adhered to or defended Unitarian doctrines. Financial resources for purposes of propaganda were supplied by the rich Jamaica planter Robert Hibbert (1770-1849) through the creation of the fund that bears his name. From it arose the well-known Hibbert Lectures and the more recent “Hibbert Journal”. A unique organization of its kind is the Post Office Mission, which, by means of correspondence and the distribution of books and periodicals, seeks to encourage the downcast and cheer those who suffer.
The Church has made no determined effort to organize benevolent institutions of its own. A considerable number of the Unitarian clergy (to which women are admitted) receive their training in the educational institutions of other sects. The Church, however, founded the following special schools for this purpose: in Hungary, the Unitarian College at Kolozsvár; in England and Wales, the Unitarian Home Missionary College in Manchester; Manchester College in Oxford; the Presbyterian College in Carmarthen; in America, Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Meadville Theological School in Meadville, Pennsylvania; and the Pacific Unitarian School (later renamed the Starr King School for the Ministry) in Berkeley, California. In the United States the sect maintains, besides these training schools for the clergy, seven academies situated, with one exception, in the New England states. The number of persons holding Unitarian opinions cannot be determined, even approximately; for undoubtedly many reject the doctrine of the Three Divine Persons and retain faith in a uni-personal God without ever affiliating with the Church. Among them must be recognized not only a large number of liberal theologians and advanced critics, but also some religious sects which, either in their entirety, as the Hicksite Friends (Quakers of Hicks), or at least in many of their members, as the Unitarian-Universalists, are clearly anti-Trinitarian. According to the World Almanac, in 1909, the Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association counted 173,000 members in the United States.
On doctrine, consult MARTINEAU, CHANNING and the other Unitarian writers mentioned above; HEDGE, Reason in Religion (Boston, 1865); CLARKE, Essentials and Non-Essentials in Religion; IDEM, Manual of Unitarian Belief (Boston, 1884); ALLEN, Our Liberal Movement in Theology (Boston, 1882); BONET-MAURY, tr. HALL, Early Sources of English Unitarian Christianity (London, 1884). For a Catholic point of view, see KOHLMANN, Unitarianism, theologically and philosophically considered (Washington, 1821).
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume I
Copyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton Company
Online Edition Copyright © 1999 by Kevin Knight
La Enciclopedia Católica Copyright © 2000 ACI-PRENSA
Nihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor Imprimatur +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Autor: N.A. Weber
