Christianity Australia: UNITARIANISM 1100+

Time: 1750+

Nontrinitarianism was renewed by Cathars in the 11th through 13th centuries, in the Unitarian movement during the Protestant Reformation, in the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century, and in some groups arising during the Second Great Awakening of the 19th century.

Source:

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and in Transylvania, Italians.

Span:

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealthand in Transylvania (Hungary and Romania), England, United states, Canada, Australia, South Africa. Italy.

Unitarianism

is historically a Christian theological movement named for the affirmation that God is one entity, in direct contrast toTrinitarianism, which defines God as three persons in one being.[1] Traditional Unitarians maintain that Jesus of Nazareth is in some sense the "son" of God (as all humans are children of the Creator), but that he is not the one God himself.[2] They may believe that he was inspired by God in his moral teachings and can thus be considered a savior,[3] but all Unitarians perceive Christ as human rather than a Deity. Unitarianism is also known for the rejection of several other Western Christian doctrines,[4] including the soteriological doctrines of original sin and predestination,[5][6]and, in more recent history, biblical inerrancy.[7] Unitarians in previous centuries accepted the doctrine of punishment in an eternal hell, but few do today.

Short history:

The Unitarian movement was not called "Unitarian" initially. It began almost simultaneously in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and inTransylvania in the mid-16th century. Among the adherents were a significant number of Italians.[8][9] In England, the first Unitarian Churchwas established in 1774 on Essex Street, London, where today's British Unitarian headquarters are still located.[10]Since the theology was also perceived as deist, it began to attract many people from wealthy and educated backgrounds,[11]although it was only at the late second half of the 18th century that it started to gain some wider traction within Christendom.[12] In the United States, it spread first in New England, and the first official acceptance of the Unitarian faith on the part of a congregation in America was by King's Chapel in Boston, from where James Freemanbegan teaching Unitarian doctrine in 1784, and was appointed rector and revised the prayer book according to Unitarian doctrines in 1786.[13]In J. Gordon Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions, it is classified among "the 'liberal' family of churches".[14]

Beliefs:

Christology:

Unitarians believe that mainline Christianity does not adhere to strict monotheism but that they do by maintaining that Jesus was a great man and a prophet of God, perhaps even a supernatural being, but not God himself.[2] They believe Jesus did not claim to be God and that his teachings did not suggest the existence of a triune God. Unitarians believe in the moral authority but not necessarily the divinity of Jesus. Their theology is thus opposed to the trinitarian theology of other Christian denominations.

Unitarian Christology can be divided according to whether Jesus is believed to have had a pre-human existence. Both forms maintain that God is one being and one "person" and that Jesus is the (or a) Son of God, but generally not God himself.[29]

In the early 19th century, Unitarian Robert Wallace identified three particular classes of Unitarian doctrines in history:

Arians, which believed in a pre-existence of the divine spirit, but maintained that Jesus was created and lived as human only;
"Socinians", which, denied his original divinity, but agreed that Christ should be worshipped; and
"Strict unitarians", which, believing in an "incommunicable divinity of God", denied both the existence of the Holy Spirit and the worship of "the man Christ."[30][31]

Unitarianism is considered a factor in the decline of classical deism because there were people who increasingly preferred to identify themselves as Unitarians rather than deists.[32]

Several tenets of unitarianism overlap with the beliefs of Muwahhid Muslims.[33]

"Socinian" Christology

The Christology commonly called "Socinian" (after Fausto Sozzini, one of the founders of Unitarian theology) refers to the belief that Jesus Christ began his life when he was born as a human. In other words, the teaching that Jesus pre-existed his human body is rejected. There are various views ranging from the belief that Jesus was simply a human (psilanthropism) who, because of his greatness, was adopted by God as his Son (adoptionism) to the belief that Jesus literally became the son of God when he was conceived by the Holy Spirit (see Virgin birth of Jesus).

This Christology existed in some form or another prior to Sozzini. Theodotus of Byzantium,[34] Artemon [35] and Paul of Samosata [36] denied the pre-existence of Christ. These ideas were continued by Marcellus of Ancyra and his pupil Photinus in the 4th century AD.[37][38] In theRadical Reformation and Anabaptist movements of the 16th century this idea resurfaced with Sozzini's uncle, Lelio Sozzini. Having influenced the Polish Brethren to a formal declaration of this belief in the Racovian Catechism, Fausto Sozzini involuntarily ended up giving his name to this Christological position,[39] which continued with English Unitarians such as John Biddle, Thomas Belsham, Theophilus Lindsey,Joseph Priestley, and James Martineau.

In America, most of the early Unitarians were "Arian" in Christology (see below), but among those who held to a "Socinian" view wasJames Freeman.

Regarding the virgin birth of Jesus among those who denied the preexistence of Christ, some held to it and others did not. Its denial is sometimes ascribed to the Ebionites; however, Origen (Contra Celsum v.61) and Eusebius (HE iii.27) both indicate that some Ebionites did accept the virgin birth.[40] On the other hand, Theodotus of Byzantium,Artemon, and Paul of Samosata all accepted the virgin birth.[41] In the early days of Unitarianism, the stories of the virgin birth were accepted by most. The Chambers Biographical Dictionary (1897) incorrectly ascribes denial of the virgin birth to Ferenc Dávid, leader of the Transylvanian Unitarians. However, there were a number of Unitarians who questioned the historical accuracy of the Bible (such as Symon Budny, Jacob Palaeologus, Thomas Belsham, and Richard Wright), and this made them question the virgin birth story.[42][43][44][45] Beginning in England and America in the 1830s, and manifesting itself primarily inTranscendentalist Unitarianism, which emerged from the German liberal theology associated primarily with Friedrich Schleiermacher, the psilanthropist view increased in popularity.[46] Its proponents took an intellectual and humanistic approach to religion. They embraced evolutionary concepts, asserted the "inherent goodness of man", and abandoned the doctrine of biblical infallibility, rejecting most of the miraculous events in the Bible (including the virgin birth). Notable examples are James Martineau, Theodore Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson andFrederic Henry Hedge. Famous American Unitarian William Ellery Channing was a believer in the virgin birth until later in his life, after he had begun his association with the Transcendentalists.[47][48][49]

"Arian" Christology :

The Christology commonly called "Arian" holds that Jesus, before his human life, existed as the Logos, a being created by God, who dwelt with God in heaven. There are many varieties of this form of Unitarianism, ranging from the belief that the Son was a divine spirit of the same nature as God before coming to earth, to the belief that he was an angel or other lesser spirit creature of a wholly different nature from God.[citation needed] Not all of these views necessarily were held by Arius, the namesake of this Christology. It is still Nontrinitarian because, according to this belief system, Jesus has always been beneath God, though higher than humans. Arian Christology was not a majority view among Unitarians in Poland, Transylvania or England. It was only with the advent of American Unitarianism that it gained a foothold in the Unitarian movement.

Among early Christian theologians who believed in a pre-existent Jesus who was subordinate to God the Father were Lucian of Antioch,Eusebius of Caesarea, Arius, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Asterius the Sophist, Eunomius, and Ulfilas, as well as Felix, Bishop of Urgell. Proponents of this Christology also associate it (more controversially) with Justin Martyrand Hippolytus of Rome. Antitrinitarian Michael Servetus did not deny the pre-existence of Christ, so he may have believed in it.[50][unreliable source?] (In his "Treatise Concerning the Divine Trinity" Servetus taught that the Logos (Word) was the reflection of Christ, and "that reflection of Christ was 'the Word with God" that consisted of God Himself, shining brightly in heaven, "and it was God Himself"[51] and that "the Word was the very essence of God or the manifestation of God's essence, and there was in God no other substance or hypostasis than His Word, in a bright cloud where God then seemed to subsist. And in that very spot the face and personality of Christ shone bright."[51]) Isaac Newton had Arian beliefs as well.[52][53][54] Famous 19th-century Arian Unitarians include Andrews Norton [55] and Dr. William Ellery Channing (in his earlier years).[56]

Other beliefs

Although there is no specific authority on convictions of Unitarian belief aside from rejection of the Trinity, the following beliefs are generally accepted:[57][58][59][60][61][62]

One God and the oneness or unity of God.
The life and teachings of Jesus Christ constitute the exemplar model for living one's own life.
Reason, rational thought, science, and philosophy coexist with faith in God.
Humans have the ability to exercise free will in a responsible, constructive and ethical manner with the assistance of religion.
Human nature in its present condition is neither inherently corrupt nor depraved (see original Sin) but capable of both good and evil, as God intended.
No religion can claim an absolute monopoly on the Holy Spirit or theological truth.
Though the authors of the Bible were inspired by God, they were humans and therefore subject to human error.
The traditional doctrines of predestination, eternal damnation, and the vicarious sacrifice and satisfaction theories of the Atonementare invalid because they malign God's character and veil the true nature and mission of Jesus Christ.[63]

Unitarians have liberal views of God, Jesus, the world and purpose of life as revealed through reason, scholarship, science, philosophy, scriptureand other prophets and religions. They believe that reason and belief are complementary and that religion and science can co-exist and guide them in their understanding of nature and God. They also do not enforce belief in creeds or dogmatic formulas. Although there is flexibility in the nuances of belief or basic truths for the individual Unitarian Christian, general principles of faith have been recognized as a way to bind the group in some commonality. Adherents generally accept religious pluralism and find value in all teachings, but remain committed to their core belief in Christ's teachings. Unitarians generally value a secular society in which government is kept separate from religious affairs. Most contemporary Unitarian Christians believe that one's personal moral convictions guide one's political activities, and that a secular society is the most viable, just and fair.

Unitarian Christians reject the doctrine of some Christian denominations that God chooses to redeem or save only those certain individuals that accept the creeds of, or affiliate with, a specific church or religion, from a common ruin or corruption of the mass of humanity.

In 1938, The Christian leader attributed "the religion of Jesus, not a religion about Jesus" to Unitarians,[64] though the phrase was used earlier by Congregationalist Rollin Lynde Hartt in 1924[65] and earlier still by US President Thomas Jefferson.