"is unitarian christianity an oxymoron?" by christine carlson

8/8/2019 "Is Unitarian Christianity an Oxymoron?" by Christine Carlson

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FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH OF PHILADELPHIA

A UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CONGREGATION

2125 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia PA 19103

Office (215) 563-3980 www.philauu.org Fax (215) 563-4209

IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY AN OXYMORON?

Delivered by Christine Carlson on July 18, 2010

Do you like giving parties? The first party my husband John and I gave as a couple was aholiday open house. Back then, we were younger and had lots of energy we hadnt had kids

yet. We spent the days before the party planning, shopping for and preparing food and drink.That day guests came and went all afternoon but the time seemed to fly by in a matter of

minutes. I was surrounded by family and friends, but I hardly had the chance to talk to them.Does this ever happen to you?

Thats why my favorite part of a party is towards the end when a few guests remain.Then I can sit down, relax and talk. I remember at this party, my brothers and sisters were sitting

around a in a circle with my friend Jenny, who is a member of the Jewish clergy. They werediscussing Judaism. This may sound rather ordinary, but this was a concept completely foreign

to my family. When we were growing up, there were two kinds of people; Catholics andpublics: you were either Catholic and went to Catholic school, or you werent Catholic and went

to public school. There was no differentiation among the protestant faiths and Judaism, andother world religions werent even on the radar screen. As Jenny explained that Jews dont

worship Jesus as God, my brothers and sisters sat in disbelief. After a moment ofspeechlessness, one of them managed to say, But youre a Christian, right?

Jenny explained her belief that one can believe in God without being Christian. So justwhat does being Christian mean? Can one follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth without

believing in the divinity of Jesus and still be a Christian, or must one believe in the mysticism ofthe holy Trinity?

The answer depends upon how Christianity is defined. Ive always thought it requiredbelief in the divinity of Christ and the expectation of eternal salvation or hell. But how does our

society define it? Here, even dictionaries dont agree. Several that I referred to defined aChristian simply as one who followed Christs teachings. An older version of Webster went

further, adding the belief of salvation through Jesus Christ.

For centuries, Unitarians considered themselves Christian. Look around our church

established in 1796, this building completed in 1886 there are Christian relics all over thischurch the cross on the pulpit, stained glass windows of angels praising God/Jesus teaching the

children. And look over at the memorial to Joseph Priestley it praises him as being the ablest

and most eminent exponents of Unitarian Christianity. And the traditional hymns eventhough the Unitarian Universalist versions have different lyrics of many songs, every time wesing Holy, Holy, Holy, no matter how hard I try, I hear the words: God in three persons, blessed

Trinity.

To be honest, this Christian heritage makes me very uncomfortable. Ive spent years

running away from, even ridiculing my Christian past with an intellectual distain. Ive focusedon the negative: the distortions of the religious right that barely resemble Jesus teachings, the


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sexism and pedophilia of some Catholic priests, homophobia, religion as a tool for controllingthe masses, the crusades, and fanatic terrorists. But I realize now that I have been wrong. My

prejudice has isolated me from embracing the teachings of one of the greatest human beings whoever lived. Even if I choose not to believe in the divinity of Christ and eternal salvation or

damnation, I have the right to know and acknowledge Jesus, to strive to live up to his message.

A UU Christian, Rev. Stephen Kendrick, preached that his hope was that we remain open andsensitive to the role that Jesus message has played and can play in our becoming who we wouldbe as Unitarian Universalists.

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Joseph Priestley was intent on returning Christianity to what he believed was its pure,original form. In his recent book The Invention of Air, Steven Johnson notes that when Priestley

published his History of the Corruptions of Christianity it was was a kind of historicaldenunciation of the modern Church, isolating every instance of magic and mysticism starting

with the divinity of Jesus Christ, and the existence of a Holy Ghost and tracing each back to thedistortions of Greek and Latin theologians starting in the 4th or 5th century, around the time of the

Council of Nicaea.2 As many of you know, this was when the concept of the Trinity was

constructed and validated by the Athenians. At the time, the Aryans argued unsuccessfully that

Jesus was not equal to God, and so its been debated ever since. In 1773, Priestleys religiousand political convictions resulted in an enraged mob burning his home. He fled to America and

contributed to the founding of this Church.

His predecessors included Michael Servitus, who published On The Errors of the Trinity

in 1531. Calvin led the movement to burn him at the stake along with most of his writings. Inthe plea for tolerance issued after his execution, Sebastion Castellio wrote the words I read

earlier. Catellio gave voice to the classic Unitarian insistence upon tolerance of diverseopinions, as well as the use of reason as the appropriate tool for arriving at religious

convictions.1 He died in prison while awaiting trial for his writings.

In 1578, another predecessor, Faustus Socinus argued that Jesus is the savior not

because he suffered death but because he showed in his life and death the path of salvation.1

Socinian thought endured periods of acceptance and persecution over the next century and many

Socinians found refuge in Transylvania. They were often identified as Unitarians.

When our church was established, it was a church of Unitarian Christians who viewed the

bible and Jesus as the primary source of their spirituality. But thats not the way it is today.Over the next two centuries, Unitarian thought evolved considerably:

In 1819 William Ellery Channings sermon Unitarian Christianity urged the use ofreason and conscience. He charged Unitarians to search for Gods truth within their own hearts.

In 1838, Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson criticized our movement as being corpse coldUnitarianism. He argued that Unitarians should consider their own experiences as sacred and

that faith was found in the present, not just the past.

He was followed by Theodore Parker, who dared to suggest that Christianity is but one

expression of truth and that the same truth could be found in other religions and the humansoul.

1 This was groundbreaking. Some Unitarian ministers who subscribed to this were

accused of abandoning Unitarianism because they no longer considered themselves Christian.After debate within the movement, it was settled that one could be Unitarian without being a

Christian, just as earlier it was established that one could be a Unitarian and still be a Christian.


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Jesus teaching and influence distorts our own past and heritage, which is deeply steeped inChristian origins.

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So I hope that one day in the near future, we will find ourselves lingering at the end of aparty, sitting in a circle on the floor, talking about the legacy of Jesus and the paradox of

Unitarian Christianity. Because those of us who run from the past eventually have to turn around

and face it head on.

Sources:

1. David Bumbaugh. Unitarian Universalism: A Narrative History. Meadville LombardPress, Chicago, IL. 2000

2. Church, Forrest. The Cathedral of the World: A Universalist Theology. Beacon Press,Boston MA. 2009

3. Steven Johnson. The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and theBirth of America. Riverhead Books, New York, NY. 20084. Rev. Stephen Kendrick. The Faith of a Unitarian Universalist Christian. UUA Website5. UU Christian Fellowship Website: Reviews and Commentary, What We Believe, Who

Are the UU Christians?

"is unitarian christianity an oxymoron?" by christine carlson

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