History 732F - Unitarian Universalist History: An Introduction.
Thursdays, 2:00 - 4:50 p.m. Fall 2008
Instructor: Mark W. Harris, Minister at the First Parish of Watertown, MA
Email: minister@fpwatertown.org OR themanse@comcast.net. Home Phone: 617-923-3922
Course Description The course will briefly explore the European origins of Unitarianism in Transylvania, Poland and England. Much of the course will focus on the gradual evolution of Unitarianism from its Puritan background to its centuries-long struggles with theological diversity and radical individualism in North America. Some time will also be spent on the indigenous origins of Universalism, especially the evangelical background found in the hill country of New England. Finally, we will explore how these two faiths came together in the 20th century, and continue to wrestle with social issues, congregational polity and religious pluralism.
Requirements and Class Agenda: The major requirements for all students will be:
1. All students will research and write a 12-15 page paper on a topic to be approved by the course instructor. Please see me about ideas and resources.
The instructor will lead lecture / discussion for one hour (2:00-3:00 p.m.). Class time will then be divided into two additional segments (with a break) that constitute the other requirements of the course.
2. Each student will make a 15-20 minute presentation (sermon, lecture, drama, etc) on a famous or important Unitarian Universalist person. I would prefer this figure be a woman, since so much of our history has been relegated to men and men’s perspectives. How does this person live Unitarian or Universalist principles? What was her journey to liberal religion? What cultural, political and social forces came into play? Does her story mirror your story in any way? (40 minutes or approximately 3:10-4:00 p.m.) (10 minute break)
3. Each student will be responsible for facilitating the class as we discuss that week’s discussion question. The leader each week will turn in a two page reflection paper /outline of the question. Please place the question in its historical context for the day, and then center your discussion on the contribution of that question to the development of UU history. (45 minutes, or 4:10 - 4:50 or 5:00 p.m.)
Deadlines Major papers are due at the last class session. Sign-up for one presentation on a famous Unitarian or Universalist and also sign-up for one session as discussion facilitator.
Required Books (reserved readings listed below):
Buell, Lawrence, ed. The American Transcendentalists
Cassara, Ernest, ed. Universalism in America
Howe, Charles, For Faith and Freedom (Europe)
Howe, Charles, The Larger Faith (Universalism)
Parke, David, ed. The Epic of Unitarianism
Ross, Warren, The Premise and the Promise
Williams, George, American Universalism
Wright, Conrad, editor. A Stream of Light (Unitarianism)
Wright, Conrad, ed. The Unitarian Controversy
Week 1 – September 11 – Introduction – Course Requirements/Overview/The origins of the Radical Reformation. Assign dates for oral presentation and for discussion facilitator.
Themes: Arianism, Universalism and Origen, Renaissance Humanists, Italian reformers, Michael Servetus, English Reformation
Week 2 – September 18 – Poland and Transylvania Reading: Charles Howe, For Faith and Freedom, 1-131; The Epic of Unitarianism, ed. by David Parke, p. 1-29. Reserved: Earle Morse Wilbur’s A History of Unitarianism is on reserve. See Racovia (Vol. 1, Chap. 26), and Diet of Torda (vol. 2, Chapter 3).
Themes: Socinus, Biandrata, Racovia, Francis David and King John, Diet of Torda
Discussion Question: How do we understand tolerance in light of our heritage, and an increasing fundamentalism in the world? Does being tolerant of all viewpoints prevent us from espousing a devout religious perspective?
Week 3 – September 25 – Puritanism / English Unitarianism Reading: For Faith and Freedom, 131-165; Epic, 29-50, 68-76. Reserved: Dorothy Emerson, ed., Standing Before Us: UU Women and Social Reform 1776-1936, pp. 160-178 (Mary Wollstonecraft, Harriet Martineau)
Themes: Calvinism, Biddle, Emlyn, Priestley, Lindsay, Belsham, Wollstonecraft, Martineau, Great Migration, Cambridge Platform
Discussion Question: How does covenant theology help us define membership? Who is included, and who is not? How role does class (income, education, etc.) play?
Week 4 – October 2 – The Evolution of Congregationalism to the Great Awakening and Beyond Reading: Epic, 50-65. Reserved: Sidney Ahlstrom, ed., An American Reformation, 45-66 (Ebenezer Gay, Charles Chauncy); Jonathan Mayhew, Seven Sermons, Sermon II, 22-41; Perry Miller, “From Edwards to Emerson,” in Errand Into the Wilderness, 184-203.
Themes: Half-Way Covenant, Gay, Mayhew, Chauncy, Jonathan Edwards, Great Awakening, Arminianism
Discussion Question: Is free will still a relevant theological concept? What role do the blank slate and sociobiology have? How much of us is pre-determined?
Special Event: Walking tour of Mt. Auburn Cemetery with Mark Harris, Saturday, October 4 at 10:00 a.m. Meet at the cemetery (off Mt. Auburn Street at Watertown/Cambridge line).
Week 5 – October 9 – Origins of Universalism Reading: Ernest Cassara, ed., Universalism in America, 47-77, 83-110; Charles Howe, The Larger Faith, 1-32; Epic, p. 55-59, 80-83. Reserved: Mark Harris, “Hosea Ballou’s Treatise at 200,” in Unitarian Universalist Christian. : Laura Horton, “Lucy Barn’s The Female Christian” (photocopy) from Unitarian Universalist Christian; Standing Before Us, 149-159 (Judith Sargent Murray).
Themes: deBenneville, Winchester, Rich and Ballou, John and Judith Sargent Murray, Rush, Winchester Profession, Oxford Convention.
Discussion Question: What is unique about Ballou’s concept of salvation, and how does it speak to us today? What role does fate play in Universalist theology?
Week 6 – October 16 – Unitarian Controversy, 1805-1835 Reading: Epic, 59-67, 76-80, 83-88, 93-104. Conrad Wright, ed., A Stream of Light, 3-33; Conrad Wright, The Unitarian Controversy, 1-17, 83-137; Reserved: American Reformation, 90-117 (Channing) (also in Conrad Wright, ed., Three Prophets of Religious Liberalism, 3-89), 362-370 (Ware, Jr.).
Themes: Unitarian Controversy, Dedham Decision, Wood ‘n Ware Debate, Pulpit exchanges, Standing Order, Harvard, Channing, Buckminster, the Wares, AUA
Discussion Question: Using the new Biblical criticism, the liberals began to question revelation. How do we know when the divine has been revealed? Is truth derived from experience or intuition?
Week 7 – October 23 – Transcendentalism Reading: A Stream of Light, 33-62; Lawrence Buell, ed. The American Transcendentalists, 129-146, 162-175, 301-320 (Emerson and Parker also in Three Prophets, 90-149) (Fuller, full text photocopied on reserve). Reserved: An American Reformation, 432-440 (Henry Ware, Jr.), Standing Before Us, 287-298 (Lydia Maria Child).
Themes: Miracles, Nature, Emerson, Parker, Hedge, Clarke, Fuller, Dial, Walden, Brook Farm, Lydia Maria Child and reform
Discussion Question: Parker makes us ask what is transient and what is permanent. Can we still have enduring values, and how do we know them? What about Post-modernism?
Week 8 – Octoberr 30 – Restorationist Controversy and Expansion Reading: Universalism in America, 111-170; Larger Faith, 33-60. Reserved: Standing Before Us, 233-242(Mary Livermore), 460-466 (Olympia Brown).
Themes: State and National Conventions, Death and Glory, Ballou vs. Ballou, Hopedale, Itinerants and Expansion, Women’s Ordination, Olympia Brown, Mary Livermore
Discussion Question: Do we need the threat of fear in order to be good? Who has the power to determine good? What does it imply about social roles? Is the genesis of the Restorationist controversy about embracing community or individual success?
Week 9 – November 6 – Christian or Not? National Conference of Unitarian Churches / Free Religious Association / Issue in the West, Iowa Sisterhood Reading: Epic, 117-131; Stream of Light, 62-95, American Transcendentalists, 182-187 (Higginson). Reserved: An American Reformation, 371-397 (Henry W. Bellows, also photocopied).
Themes: Bellows, Sunderland, Gannett, Western Unitarian Conference, Things Commonly Believed Among Us
Discussion Question: If Christianity is no longer the sole authority, where does authority lie?
Week 10 – November 13 - God or Not? The Humanist/Theist Controversy/The Social Gospel Reading: Epic, 132-142; Stream of Light, 95-125. Reserved: John Haynes Holmes, A Summons Unto Men, 115-124 (photocopied); Curtis Reese, The Meaning of Humanism 1-53; Clarence Russell Skinner, The Social Implications of Universalism (photocopied).
Themes: Dietrich, Reese, Humanist Manifesto, War and Peace and Taft, Francis Greenwood Peabody and Social Gospel
Discussion Question: Bill Sinkford writes, “We need some language that will allow us to capture the possibility of reverence, to name what calls us, and to talk about our ability to shape our world, guided by what we find ourselves called to do.” Do we need a “new” language of reverence? Did humanists believe the old language was irrelevant? How does the humanist/theist controversy reflect on how we act in the world on our beliefs?
Week 11 - November 20 – 20 th Century Turning Points – Eliot and Fahs; Universalist Decline Reading: Universalism in America, 220-279; Larger Faith, 60-138; Epic, 142-154; George Williams, American Universalism , all pages; Stream of Light, 125-155. Reserved: Frederick May Eliot, An Anthology, ed. by Alfred Stiernotte, 53-64, 260-264 (photocopied), Sophia Lyon Fahs, Today’s Children and Yesterdays Heritage, 3-16 (photocopied), Conrad Wright, “A Doctrine of the Church for Liberals” in Walking Together.
Themes: Universalist Heresy Trial, Federal Council of Churches, Unitarians Face a New Age, New Beacon Series, the Eliots, Cornish, Monroe Husbands and Fellowships, Charles St. Meetinghouse
Discussion Question: What is our doctrine of the church?
Week 12 –November 27 – – No Class – Happy Thanksgiving!
Week 13 – December 4 – Merger and Racial Division Reading: Warren Ross, The Premise and the Promise, especially 3-69, 155-170.
Themes: Merger Commission, Black Empowerment Controversy, Veatch, Greeley, West, Pentagon Papers, Principles and Purposes, Current Issues
Discussion Question: What does the BAWA experience teach us about diversity and class?
Bibliographical Essay
There are many resources for the study of Unitarian Universalist history. Earle Morse Wilbur, the former president of the Starr King School, brilliantly scoured the European roots of Unitarianism. Wilbur wrote a two-volume history of Unitarianism (1945, 1952), which concentrated on Poland, Transylvania, and England, with a brief section on America. This book has been the standard bearer for all European studies. Many of the materials Wilbur collected are available in a Radical Reformation Collection at Starr King School for the Ministry. George Williams of Harvard Divinity School placed Unitarianism in the wider context of this movement in his monumental work, The Radical Reformation (1962), a term he coined. There is no good comprehensive history of Unitarianism in Great Britain, although the architectural history of Unitarian meetinghouses there, Unitarian Heritage, is especially helpful in understanding the movement. See also, Unitarian Radicalism, Political Rhetoric, 1770-1814 by Stuart Andrews (2003) A number of works about Joseph Priestley, the great chemist and Unitarian minister, have been published including a brilliant volume about the Lunar Society he belonged to. It is called The Lunar Men (2002) by Jenny Uglow, and also features material about Josiah Wedgwood, the famed Unitarian potter. A new book by J. D. Bowers called Joseph Priestley and English Unitarianism in America (2007), challenges Conrad Wright’s premise that the only important branch of American Unitarianism is the Puritan/Congregational one. The Center for Free Religion in Chico, California has produced a number of publications in recent years on Unitarianism in Transylvania. These publications have been spearheaded by Judit Gellerd, the daughter of a Unitarian minister, and her husband George Williams (not to be confused with the Harvard historian). The European background has been summarized in a brief history by Charles Howe, For Faith and Freedom (1997).
There have been a number of general histories of Universalism. The most comprehensive is the two volume, The Larger Hope (1979, 1985) by Russell Miller, which superseded an earlier comprehensive study by Richard Eddy, Universalism in America: a History, (1884-1886). Miller’s work provides endless detail about every aspect of Universalist development. This overall history has been adroitly condensed by Charles Howe, The Larger Faith (1993). Ernest Cassara has produced two important volumes. The best documentary history of Universalism is his Universalism in America (1971), and he also wrote the only modern biography of the great Universalist leader Hosea Ballou: The Challenge to Orthodoxy (1961). Universalism has received much less scholarly attention than its Unitarian counterpart, but two studies from the last generation stand out. Stephen Marini in his Radical Sects of Revolutionary New England (1982) elucidated the evangelical roots of Universalism in the hill country of New England by examining the life of Caleb Rich. More recently Anne Bresslar has contributed The Universalist Movement in America which helps show the social implications, especially in women’s rights of a theology which proclaims that all people are embraced on an equal basis and saved by God. Peter Hughes has also written a number of interesting essays on the history of the Restorationist Controversy for the Journal of Unitarian Universalist History. There are fewer biographies of Universalist leaders than there are for their Unitarian counterparts. One especially important work undertaken by the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society was Cate Hitching’s Biographical Dictionary of Universalist and Unitarian Women Ministers (1975).
There have been many significant studies of Unitarian history over the last half-century. The great Unitarian scholar, C. Conrad Wright of Harvard Divinity School, influenced some of this work. His The Beginnings of Unitarianism in America (1955) firmly established Unitarian development in the context of the slow evolution of liberal doctrines within the Standing Order of Congregational churches. Wright was the editor of the only recent comprehensive history of the Unitarianism, A Stream of Light. He has also published a number of other works, mostly collections of essays, such as The Unitarian Controversy (1994), but more recently has published A History of Congregational Polity (1997). Unfortunately, there have been few attempts at producing a comprehensive narrative history. The 20 th century standard was set by George W. Cooke’s self-congratulatory Unitarianism in America, and more recently David Bumbaugh has attempted the first narrative outline of Unitarian Universalism (2000). A marvelous little book of primary documents, The Epic of Unitarianism (1957), was edited by David Parke. The breadth of Unitarian theological expression is found in a volume of primary materials edited by Sidney Ahlstrom and Jonathan Carey. There are a number of studies of the Unitarian controversy period. None is more important than Daniel Walker Howe’s The Unitarian Conscience (1970), which shows that Unitarianism was a religion of the heart as well as the mind. The Transcendentalist period has been studied more than any other for obvious reasons. There are many fine biographies of the leaders, especially of Ralph Waldo Emerson, including Mind On Fire (1995) by Robert Richardson. A good introduction to the primary materials is the classic anthology, The Transcendentalists (1950), edited by Perry Miller. Much biographical material can be gleaned from Samuel A. Eliot’s Heralds of a Liberal Faith (4 volumes, 1910-52), despite some inaccuracies and laudatory comments. In 1989 Conrad E. Wright (son of C. Conrad) edited a group of essays, which had been given at a conference on Unitarianism at the Massachusetts Historical Society. This work, American Unitarianism: 1805-1865 (1989), is a treasure trove of scholarship. Finally, a good brief overview with an invaluable section of biographies is David Robinson’s The Unitarians and the Universalists (1985). See also my own Historical Dictionary of Unitarian Universalism (2004)
The scholar of Unitarian or Universalist history must almost always concentrate his/her primary research at the Andover Harvard Library of the Harvard Divinity School. Here one will find the library of the Universalist Historical Society, once housed at Tufts University, the collection of the American Unitarian Association, once housed at the 25 Beacon Street headquarters, along with the AUA Letter Book, an invaluable resource of correspondence between Secretaries of the AUA and congregations all over the country. This library also houses records of many individual congregations, and important Unitarian and Universalist ministers and leaders. There are also materials at Harvard in the Houghton, Pusey and Schlesinger libraries. There is also much material on congregations and important individuals, such as Charles Chauncy, William Ellery Channing and Henry Ware at the Massachusetts Historical Society. The Unitarian Universalist Association has given most of its important records to Harvard Divinity School, but it still maintains an archive of church files, but the deceased minister files are housed at Harvard. The two Unitarian Universalist seminaries, Meadville Lombard in Chicago and Starr King in Berkeley both maintain collections. Meadville has material about the westward expansion of Unitarianism, and Starr King, as previously mentioned, has Radical Reformation materials collected by Earle Morse Wilbur. These are the major centers for Unitarian Universalist study.
There are a number of important on-line areas of research, and more being created all the time. The most significant is the Dictionary of Unitarian Universalist Biography sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society, and edited by Peter Hughes, and found with a link through the UUA (www.uua.org/uuhs/duub). Current material on programs and literature of the UUA, including all of the UUA pamphlets can be accessed through www.uua.org. Both the seminaries maintain web site that feature important pertinent sections. Starr King (www.sksm.edu) has a Universalist site, and also has Earle Morse Wilbur’s book, Our Unitarian Heritage available online. Meadville Lombard (meadville.edu) has it own journal, Journal of Liberal Religion. Finally, the First Parish of Cambridge, Massachusetts has developed a series of biographies of notable American Unitarians, and can be found at www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians. Other web sites to note include the Unitarian Universalist Women’s Heritage Society (www.uuwhs.org) and the General Assembly of Unitarian and free Christian Churches in the United Kingdom (www.unitarian.org.uk).