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Universalist Church of America

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"Universalist Church" redirects here. For other uses, seeUniversalist Church (disambiguation).
Universalist Church of America
AbbreviationUCA
Formation1793
DissolvedMay 1961 (consolidation withAmerican Unitarian Associationto form theUnitarian Universalist Association)
TypeChristianreligious denomination
Location
Formerly called
Universalist General Convention

TheUniversalist Church of America(UCA) was originally aChristian Universalistreligious denomination in theUnited States(plus affiliated churches in other parts of the world). Known from 1866 as the Universalist General Convention, the name was changed to the Universalist Church of America in 1942. In 1961, it consolidated with theAmerican Unitarian Associationto form theUnitarian Universalist Association.[1]

The defining theology ofUniversalismisuniversal salvation;Universalists believe that the God of love would not create a person knowing that person would be destined for eternal damnation. They concluded that all people must be destined for salvation. Some early Universalists, known asRestorationistsand led byPaul Dean,believed that after death there is a period of reprobation in Hell preceding salvation.[2][3]Other Universalists, notablyHosea Ballou,denied the existence of Hell entirely.[4]

History

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Spiritual ancestry

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Main article:Universal reconciliation

Members of the Universalist Church of America claimed universalist beliefs among someearly Christianssuch asOrigen.[5][6]Richard BauckhaminUniversalism: a historical surveyascribes this toPlatonistinfluence, and notes that belief in the final restoration of all souls seems to have been not uncommon in the East during the fourth and fifth centuries and was apparently taught byGregory of Nyssa,though this is disputed by Greek Orthodox scholars.[7]According to the Universalist historianRev. George T. Knight,in the first five or six centuries of Christianity there were six known theological schools, of which four (Alexandria, Antioch, Caesarea, and Edessa) were universalist.[8]

The first verifiable and undisputed believer in universal salvation isGerrard Winstanley,author ofThe Mysterie of God Concerning the Whole Creation, Mankinde(London, 1648).

Early America

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Edward Hopper,Universalist Church,1926,Princeton University Art Museum,depicting the founding Universalist congregation in Gloucester, Massachusetts
The official seal of the Universalist General Convention

American Universalism developed from the influence of variousPietistandAnabaptistmovements in Europe, includingQuakers,Moravians,Methodists,Lutherans,Schwenkfelders,Schwarzenau Brethren,and others. Pietists emphasized individual piety and zeal and, followingZinzendorf,a "religion of the heart."[9]Early followers were most oftenGermanin ancestry. The majority of the early American Universalists lived in the Mid-Atlantic colonies, thoughRhode Islandalso had a fair number of followers.Adams Streeter(1735–1786), the first minister of Universalist congregations inOxfordandMilford, Massachusetts,original societies of Universalism in New England, came from a Baptist background, ordained in 1774.[10]Hosea Ballouhas been called the "father of American Universalism," along withJohn Murray,who founded the first Universalist church in America inGloucester, Massachusetts,in 1774.

One of the most important early Universalist evangelists was Dr.George de Benneville.Born in aHuguenotfamily exiled to England, he arrived in America in 1741. A physician and lay preacher, he spread Universalism among the German immigrants ofBerks County, Pennsylvania,and later aroundPhiladelphiaandNew Jersey.Benneville also commonly visited theEphrata Cloister,autopiancommunity with Universalist beliefs. He arranged for the translation of a German book about universalism,The Everlasting Gospel(1753 translation),[11]byGeorg Klein-NicolaiofFriessdorf, Germany.Nearly forty years later,Elhanan Winchesterread the book and converted to Universalism. He was influential in the printing of theSauer BibleofChristoph Sauer(1695–1758), the first German Bible printed in America, with passages supporting Winchester's belief in the universal availability of salvation.

In the South, Rev.Giles Chapman[12]was a former Quaker and Continental Army Chaplain who married into aDunkerfamily. The first Universalist church in South Carolina (and possibly in America) was theFreedonia Meeting Hall,situated inNewberry County.[13][full citation needed]

Benjamin Rush,a signer of theDeclaration of Independenceand a convert to Winchester's teaching of universal salvation, but not a member of a Universalist church, was a vigorous foe of slavery, advocated the abolition of the death penalty, advocated for better education for women, supported free public schools, was a pioneer in the study and treatment of mental illness, and insisted that the insane had a right to be treated with respect. He published a pamphlet on the iniquity of the slave trade. As part of his abolitionism, he helped organize thePennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage,the first antislavery society in America; he also served as its president. Rush believed, as did Winchester and most Universalists, in a state of punishment after death for the wicked.

The first General Society was held in 1778. Annual conventions started in 1785 with the New England Convention. In 1804, this convention changed its name to "The General Convention of Universalists in the New England States and Others." At its peak in the 1830s, the Universalist Church is reported to have been the 9th largest denomination in the United States.[citation needed]

Consolidation

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The Church consolidated with theAmerican Unitarian Associationto form theUnitarian Universalist Association.[when?]Some state Universalist Conventions did not accept the consolidation. These churches and others form minor pockets of Christiantheological Universalistswhich remain, but most are affiliated with other denominations.[14][15]

Church organization

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The Clinton Liberal Institute, described as being in thetown of Kirklandbecause Clinton had not yet been incorporated
Universalist National Memorial Churchin Washington, D.C.

Universalist congregations tended towards independence and were not easily prone to centralization. They generally met in state conventions, which usually had more authority than was vested in national conventions. To train ministers (among other things), the Church founded in 1831 thecoeducationalClinton Liberal InstituteinClinton, New York.The church later established three divinity schools:Theological School of St. Lawrence University(1856–1965), the Ryder Divinity School (c. 1885–1913) atLombard College,and theCrane Theological SchoolofTufts University(1869–1968).

The Philadelphia Convention was an independent National Convention from 1790 to about 1810.

Notwithstanding its tendency toward independence, Universalist congregations supported the construction of TheUniversalist National Memorial Churchin Washington, D.C., to serve as the official church of Universalism. In 1921, the Universalist General Convention approved funds for the building of the church and services began in 1925. The present church, located at 1810 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington DC, was established in 1930 and its current congregation continues to follow Universalist principles.

Social and political stances

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The Universalist Church of America involved itself in several social causes, generally with a politically liberal bent.

Abolitionism

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As noted above, Benjamin Rush was a major political activist for anti-slavery causes in early America. The issue resurfaced in the 1850s with theFugitive Slave Actand other compromises; the Universalists, along with various other denominations, vigorously opposedslaveryas immoral. They also favored postbellum legislation such as theFifteenth Amendmentand the Freedman's Act to enfranchise all American citizens.

Separation of church and state

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Further information:Separation of church and state in the United States

Like many American religions, Universalism has generally been amenable to church-state separation. In New England, Baptists, Universalists, and Quakers provided some of the loudest voices calling for disestablishment of the government sponsored churches of the standing order.

One example comes from the 1770s. By Massachusetts state law, citizens were taxed to support the Congregational Church of the community where they lived. Sixty-one people inGloucesterleft the church to form the Independent Church of Christ, which stood for Universalism. They then refused to pay their taxes. The church they built was seized and sold to pay; however, the Church sued, and in 1786, they won their case.

Spiritualism

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Although the Universalist Church as a denomination never fully embracedSpiritualism,many Universalists were sympathetic to this nineteenth-century movement. Spiritualism was preached with some regularity from Universalist pulpits in the middle decades of the 19th century and some ministers left the denomination when their Spiritualist leanings became too pronounced for their peers and congregations.

Ordination of women

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On June 25, 1863,Olympia Brownbecame one of the first women in the United States to receive ordination in a national denomination,Antoinette Brownhaving been the first when she was ordained by the Congregational Churches in 1853.[16]By 1920, there were 88 Universalist women ministers, the largest group in the United States.

Universalists

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See also

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References

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  1. ^Harvard Divinity School:Timeline of Significant Events in the Merger of the Unitarian and Universalist Churches During the 1900s
  2. ^Harris, Mark.""Paul Dean", Notable American Univeralists ".Archived fromthe originalon 2011-09-07.Retrieved2011-09-27.
  3. ^The A to Z of Unitarian Universalism, p. 397, Mark W. Harris, 2009: "RESTORATIONIST CONTROVERSY. An important confrontation within the Universalist ranks in the 1820s. During the early decades of the Universalist movement theological differences were largely ignored so that the movement could gain."
  4. ^Harris, Mark.""Hosea Ballou", Notable American Univeralists ".Archived fromthe originalon 2011-09-08.Retrieved2011-09-27.
  5. ^Ballou 2nd, Hosea (1842). Baker, Z (ed.).The Ancient History Of Universalism: From The Time Of The Apostles, To Its Condemnation In The Fifth General Council, A. D. 553.Gospel Messenger Office.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^Hanson, John Wesley (1899).Universalism, The Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years.Universalist Publishing.ISBN0-559-56315-9.isbn Universalism, The Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years.
  7. ^Richard Bauckham "Universalism a historical survey,"Themelios4.2 (September 1978): 47-54.
  8. ^"The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 1953, vol. 12, p. 96; retrieved 30/04/09".Ccel.org.Retrieved2011-09-27.
  9. ^A similar idea was developed byFDE Schleiermacher
  10. ^"Adams Streeter".5.uua.org. Archived fromthe originalon 2011-10-01.Retrieved2011-09-27.
  11. ^Georg Klein-Nicolai, under pseudonym of Georg Paul SiegvolckDas von Jesu Christo, dem Richter der Lebendigen und der Todten, aller Creatur zu predigen befohlene ewige Evangelium: von der durch ihn erfundenen ewigen Erlösung
  12. ^born June 21, 1748 in Newberry Dist., South Carolina, USA; died April 15, 1819
  13. ^Universalist Magazine,volume 9 p. 48 ed. Hosea Ballou 1828
  14. ^Christian Universalist ChurchesArchivedSeptember 10, 2006, at theWayback Machine
  15. ^"Archived copy".universalistchristians.org.Archived fromthe originalon 6 October 2002.Retrieved13 January2022.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^"UCC firsts".Ucc.org.Retrieved2011-09-27.

Further reading

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  • Bressler, Ann Lee (2001).The Universalist Movement in America, 1770–1880.New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Buescher, John B. 2003.The Other Side of Salvation: Spiritualism and the Nineteenth-Century Religious Experience.Boston: Skinner House Books.ISBN1-55896-448-7.
  • J.W. Hanson (1899)Universalism, The Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years.San Diego: St. Alban Press, 2002 Second Edition.ISBN0-935461-82-5.
  • Miller, Russell E. 1979, 1985The Larger Hope: vol.1 The First Century of the Universalist Church in America, 1770–1870. vol.2 The second century of the Universalist Church in America, 1870–1970(in 2 volumes) Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association.ISBN9780933840003
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