Unitarianism (from Latin unitas “unity, oneness,” from unus “one”) is historically a Christian theological movement named for its belief that the God in Christianity is one entity, as opposed to the Trinity (tri– from Latin tres “three”) which defines God as three persons in one being.
The first official acceptance of the Unitarian faith on the part of a congregation in America was by King’s Chapel in Boston, which settled James Freeman (1759–1835) in 1782, and revised the Prayer Book into a mild Unitarian liturgy in 1785. In 1800, Joseph Stevens Buckminster became minister of the Brattle Street Church in Boston, where his brilliant sermons, literary activities, and academic attention to the German “New Criticism” helped shape the subsequent growth of Unitarianism in New England. Unitarian Henry Ware (1764–1845) was appointed as the Hollis professor of divinity at Harvard College, in 1805. Harvard Divinity School then shifted from its conservative roots to teach Unitarian theology (see Harvard and Unitarianism). Buckminster’s close associate William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) was settled over the Federal Street Church in Boston, 1803, and in a few years he became the leader of the Unitarian movement. A theological battle with the Congregational Churches resulted in the formation of the American Unitarian Association at Boston in 1825.
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Author: Dale Tuggy
Keywords: Trinity, Trinitarian, Triunity, Trinitarianism, Unitarian, Unitarianism, Universalism, Unitarian Universalism, Congregationalist, Congregationalism
Bible reference(s): 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:5-6, 1 John 5:7
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