Introduction: The Tree of Our UU Faith

Transcription

1 THE TREE of UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FAITH: The Unitarian Christians Introduction: The Tree of Our UU Faith My talk today is the second in an ongoing series that explores our UU Faith. Imagine our faith as a living tradition, a tree nestled in a forest of world faiths. The roots of our faith go deep. One root reaches down into the philosophers of ancient Greece (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) who discovered a method for separating true and false. This root directly feeds the Revolutionary Unitarian Deists like Joseph Priestley, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, but also nurtures all branches of our faith that value the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. A second root reaches down into Biblical religions, especially Judaism and Christianity. That root directly feeds the Unitarian Christians who we will meet today--- William Ellery Channing and a host of 19 th century Unitarians and Universalism who called themselves Christians. This root nourishes all those who find guidance in the life and teachings of Jesus and the Prophets and whose spiritual life tends towards prayer and social witness. A third root taps into Eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism) and directly feeds the Transcendentalists like Emerson, Thoreau and Margaret Fuller, who we will meet in January. This root nourishes those who faith is centered around the development of consciousness and conscience and whose spiritual life inclines towards meditation, the arts and social witness. There is, of course, common ground in which all trees of faith are rooted. Some call that common ground Nature or Human Nature, Tao or God or Mystery. Whatever we choose to call it, our tree of faith like all others needs to be grounded and rooted somewhere. It needs access to water, air and sunlight. How do you name the common ground in which all faiths are rooted? Core Beliefs of the Unitarian Christians or Liberal Christians My guide to the Unitarian Christians is Rev. William Ellery Channing. He is often credited with founding Unitarian Christianity in a sermon of that name first preached in He was regarded by his contemporaries, including a young Ralph Waldo Emerson, as one of the great preachers of his day. I will be drawing on several of his sermons to explore the beliefs of the Unitarian Christians. The Unitarian Christianity of which I speak today was a powerful force in 19 th century Unitarianism. It can be summarized in five keys beliefs, several of which were recited as a credo in 19 th century congregations, especially in New England: 1. The Fatherhood of God 2. The Leadership of Jesus 3. Salvation by Character or Self-Culture 4. Faith and Reason reconciled 5. The Progress of Humankind

2 Unitarian Christianity has continued to evolve by artfully hybridizing itself with other branches of our tradition. In its contemporary forms, UU Christians benefit from the creative Christian theologies advanced by Matthew Fox, Walter Spong, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosemary Ruether and Rebecca Parker. If you want to explore updated versions of UU Christianity, please consult the resources in the Study Guide at the end. 1. The Fatherhood of God The first principle may be the most challenging for some of us to hear: what in heavens name does Channing and thousands of UU Christians mean when they affirm their belief in the Fatherhood of God? They are aligning themselves with deeply embedded cultural code: that the Great Mystery which some called God is in some sense Fatherly. Channing sometimes translated this as referring to the loving paternal quality of God. The 19 th century Unitarian Christians, unlike the previous generation of Unitarian Deists, were aligning themselves with the male God of the Bible--- Jewish, Christian and Islamic. By doing so they may have also been unwittingly affirming the social structure of Patriarchy: if God is mostly male human males are vested with extra power and authority and women are not. We'll return to this point near the end when we've learned more about the Unitarian Christians. 2. The Leadership of Jesus Many Unitarian Christians proclaimed the Leadership of Jesus. The more controversial version is that Jesus is fully human not divine.those last two words are heresy for many Christians who for 2000 years have wagered their souls on the divinity of Jesus as the Christ. Uttering them aloud in public could earn the speaker death by burning at the stake (Michael Servetus, burned at the stake in Geneva, Switzerland on October 27, 1553). To say that Jesus is fully human radically upgrades human nature. In William Ellery Channings inspiring words, we humans are marked by a Likeness to God. The Unitarian Christians focused most of their attention on the life and ethical teachings of Jesus. They gave much less attention to the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ and the miracles that proved that Jesus was God. Like many Jews, Muslims and present-day UU's the early Unitarian Christians portrayed Jesus as a moral teacher---more like the Jewish Rabbi he was by birth & culture, than the incarnated Savior of Matthew, Luke, John & Paul. William Ellery Channing developed this idea in a marvelous sermon called Likeness to God. Every human soul, he said, carries within it the seeds of the divine. As every gardener knows having good seed is necessary for a good garden, but it's not enough. It takes weeks of labor in the fields to transform seed into a bountiful crop. We all have the divine seeds of beauty, truth & goodness planted within. We answer the call of Jesus the prophet whenever we cultivate the seeds of Wisdom, Justice and Compassion within our selves, with our communities. This new emphasis on interior life, the life of the soul distinguishes the Unitarian Christians from their more extroverted, civic minded Radical Unitarian Deists who founded America. The Unitarian Deists were so focused on understanding Nature and creating a more perfect Society that they rarely wrote about the Soul. This emphasis our interior life by the Unitarian Christians will inspire to the next generation of Transcendentalists who devote extraordinary attention to their interior lives. As Emerson said, from such an introverted perspective Jesus becomes just a mirror-image of the Human Soul.

3 3. Salvation by Character or Self-Culture This new emphasis on the life and teachings of Jesus and the consequent shift from a religion of creeds to deeds leads to a third major theme developed by William Ellery Channing: Salvation by Character. The Unitarian Christians, unlike most orthodox Christian believers, were not saved by their faith in the death & resurrection of Jesus. They were saved---made new, trans-formed, upgraded, reborn by their own actions: by their radical willingness to stop worshiping Jesus as God and start following the teachings of Jesus the Prophet. It may be hard for us to realize how radical this shift was. It undermined most forms of orthodox Christian faith--- both the Protestant call to just believe and the the Catholic call to just take the sacraments. In its place the Unitarian Christians put forward the audacious idea that we are saved by the choices we make. Though they rarely said it aloud, the Human Soul saves itself by acting like Jesus. We are more like than unlike Jesus, hence our likeness to God. This is a lovely heresy, of course, sometimes called Arianism. This kind of do-ityourself Unitarian Christianity resembles the do-it-yourself program of original Buddhism. Both pose a direct challenge to later forms of Christianity and Buddhism which require some kind intervention by supernatural versions of the original teacher. Both spawn parallel versions of the Trinity to account for how a human prophet or sage acquires supernatural dimensions and powers. Salvation by Character also expressed itself in the many reform movements of the 19 th c that were carried forward by Unitarian Christians and the next generation of Transcendentalists: the invention of humane education for young children (Bronson Alcott and Elizabeth Peabody), public education for all (Horace Mann), more humane asylums (Dorthea Dix); women's rights, workers rights and the abolition of slavery. All are rooted in the idea that we save ourselves and make society more humane not by blind faith, but by decisive human action. Most of the liberal reform movements of the 20 th and 21 st centuries relie upon this assumption that the fate of humankind is in our own hands. Listen deeply to this Reading by William Ellery Channing which ties many of these themes together: The great end in religious instruction : "The great end in religious instruction is not to stamp our minds upon the young, but to stir up their own; not to make them see with our eyes, but to look inquiringly and steadily with their own; not to give them a definite amount of knowledge, but to inspire a fervent love of truth... In a word, the great end in religious instruction is to awaken the soul, to excite and cherish spiritual life." 4. Faith and Reason in harmony There is a fourth principle, which most 19 th century Unitarian Christians held in common: that Faith and Reason could be reconciled. Unlike the previous generation of Radical Unitarian Deists who proclaimed, with varying degrees of candor, their allegiance to Nature's God as distinct from the supernatural God of Biblical revelation, many Unitarian Christians believed that there was no fundamental difference between the God of Faith and the God of Reason. As William Ellery Channing proclaimed in a sermon entitled Unitarian Christianity faith is given to us as rational beings. Rather than applying the scissors of critical thinking to supernatural passages in the Bible as did Thomas Jefferson, the Unitarian Christians went to elaborate lengths to test revelation by reason and to demonstrate there was no conflict between the revelations of faith and the discoveries of reason. Some Unitarian and Universalist Christians like Hosea Ballou did careful Biblical study to prove that Jesus was fully human, not divine and that all souls would eventually be saved. There was no hell, or if there was, it was a temporary zone of purification, a transitional laundromat for dirty souls. Ministers trained at the mostly Unitarian seminary at Harvard college filled sermons with

4 elaborate proofs showing how Biblical miracles could be reconciled with science. For example, they explained that Jesus fed the multitudes not by supernatural powers but by calling on his listeners to share the extra food they often carried 'under their robes'. Since I am somewhat skeptical of these artful attempts to reconcile Reason & Faith [30% on the Self-score inventory] I will stay in the affirmative zone and move on to the fifth defining principle of Unitarian Christianity. 5. The Progress of Humankind Many Unitarian and Universalist Christian services in the 19 th century ended with the following proclamation: We believe in the progress of (hu)mankind onwards and upwards for ever. From the perspective of 20 th and 21 st century events it's easy to see through and even make fun of this sunny optimism. These optimists were dazzled by what they thought was the Glory of God and the Light of the Human Soul. It did not occur to them that the light that eclipsed their sight would turn into an oncoming train: the American Civil War (1861-5), the First & Second World Wars ( and ) and the nearly endless wars of the last 60 years. But we also need to imagine how much sense this optimism must have made for those secure in the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of Jesus, and the neighborhood of Boston. For the mostly white middle and upper classes who were supported by democratic, industrial and scientific revolutions it must have seemed that no problem could defy human ingenuity. Our Unitarian ancestors were tragically slow to recognize that these same tools of reason, industrialization and technology could be turned to creating the machinery of war. It is also good to recognize that this radiant optimism about Humanity---a generous gift of our Deist, Christian and Transcendentalist ancestors----continues to empower much of current Unitarian Universalism. We often most visible in the social activists movements of the last 60 years that seek to renew civil rights and voting rights, deny personhood to corporations, reduce carbon emissions to preserve a livable earth, improve public education, public health, public parks. All these movements are powered by the optimistic assumption that human choices can make a decisive difference. If we are now more aware of the deep shadows cast by the Lights of reason, science and technology it should not keep us from honoring the Light held up by Unitarian Deists, Christians and Transcendentalists even as we become more conscious of the shadows that hover round these bright Lights. After-thoughts: The Fatherhood of God? I promised to return to the topic of the Fatherhood of God in hopes that this review of the Unitarian Christians might give us greater understanding of the context of their views. I have much to say about the Great Mystery which many Christians including Unitarian Christians call God the Father, but I'm not sure I can do justice to my views and theirs in 20 minutes. Rather than undermine the edifice they built whose floor plans I have been exploring, I choose to state my concerns as questions, thereby upholding our 4 th UU Principle ( the free and responsible search for truth and meaning ) and our closing words ( Question all things ). I address these questions to my esteemed colleague in ministry William Ellery Channing and all who share his views: How do you know that God is Father and not also Mother? What are the social and economic consequences of using one gender metaphor and not the other? If God can be understood as a cipher for the field of unknowing that hovers round all we know, how can we say anything definitive about a mystery that transcends all categories of human thought? Would not a God of termites look something like a termite? Would not the God of optimistic Unitarian patriarchs necessarily mirror its human authors?

5 Self-Score Inventory: Are you a Secret UU Christian without knowing it? 1. I believe in God the Father. 2. I believe in the loving paternal character of God. 3. I believe in a transcendent power or pattern which inclines the universe towards goodness, truth and beauty. 4. Jesus is not God, but a manifestation of humanity at its best. 5. I find the teachings of the prophet Jesus to be one important source for my ethical and/or spiritual life. 6. Jesus confirms the essential likeness of the human soul to God. 7. We are saved not by the death & resurrection of Jesus, but by following his teachings. 8. Ours is a faith built on deeds not creeds. 9. I believe there is no necessary conflict between faith and reason. 10. I believe in human progress.

6 READINGS from the Sermons of William Ellery Channing 1. Reason and Revelation Say what we may, God has given us a rational nature, and will call us to account for it. We may let it sleep, but we do so at our peril. Revelation is addressed to us as rational beings. We may wish, in our to sloth, that God had given us a system, demand of comparing, limiting, and inferring. But such a system would be at variance with the whole character of our present existence; and it is the part of wisdom to take revelation as it is given to us, and to interpret it by the help of the faculties, which it everywhere supposes, and on which founded. (Unitarian Christianity, aka, The Baltimore Sermon 1825) 2. God is Unity In the first place, we believe in the doctrine of God's UNITY, or that there is one God, and one only. To this truth we give infinite importance, and we feel ourselves bound to take heed, lest any man spoil us of it by vain philosophy. The proposition, that there is one God, seems to us exceedingly plain. We understand by it, that there is one being, one mind, one person, one intelligent agent, and one only, to whom underived and infinite perfection and dominion belong. (Unitarian Christianity, aka The Baltimore Sermon 1825) 2. God is GOOD We believe that God is infinitely good, kind, benevolent, in the proper sense of these words; good in disposition, as well as in act; good, not to a few, but to all; good to every individual, as well as to the general system. We believe, too, that God is just; but we never forget, that his justice is the justice of a good being, dwelling in the same mind, and acting in harmony, with perfect benevolence. By this attribute, we understand God's infinite regard to virtue or moral worth, expressed in a moral government; that is, in giving excellent and equitable laws, and in conferring such rewards, and inflicting such punishments, as are best fitted to secure their observance. God's justice has for its end the highest virtue of the creation, and it punishes for this end alone, and thus it coincides with benevolence; for virtue and happiness, though not the same, are inseparably conjoined. God's justice thus viewed, appears to us to be in perfect harmony with his mercy. (Unitarian Christianity, aka, The Baltimore Sermon 1825) 3. Jesus is NOT GOD Having thus given our views of the unity of God, I proceed in the second place to observe, that we believe in the unity of Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus is one mind, one soul, one being, as truly one as we are, and equally distinct from the one God. We complain of the doctrine of the Trinity, that, not satisfied with making God three beings, it makes; Jesus Christ two beings, and thus introduces infinite confusion into our conceptions of his character. (Unitarian Christianity, aka, The Baltimore Sermon 1825) 4. The Foundation of Virtue is the Moral Nature of Humanity We believe that all virtue has its foundation in the moral nature of man, that is, in conscience, or his sense of duty, and in the power of forming his temper and life according to conscience. We believe that these moral faculties are the grounds of responsibility, and the highest distinctions of human nature, and that no act is praiseworthy, any farther than it springs from their exertion. We believe, that no dispositions infused into us without our own moral activity, are of the nature of virtue, and therefore, we reject the doctrine of irresistible divine influence on the human mind, molding it into goodness, as marble is hewn into a statue. (Unitarian Christianity, aka, The Baltimore Sermon 1825) 5. Likeness to God likeness to God, of which I propose to speak, belongs to man's higher or spiritual nature. It has its foundation in the original and essential capacities of the mind. In proportion as these are unfolded by right and vigorous exertion, it is extended and brightened. In proportion as these lie dormant, it is obscured. In proportion as they are perverted and overpowered by the appetites and passions, it is blotted out. (Likeness to God, 1828)

7 6. Self-Culture Self-culture is something possible. It is not a dream. It has foundations in our nature. Without this conviction, the speaker will but declaim, and the hearer listen without profit. There are two powers of the human soul which make self-culture possible, the self-searching and the self-forming power. We have first the faculty of turning the mind on itself: of recalling its past, and watching its present operations; of learning its various capacities and susceptibilities, what it can do and bear, what it can enjoy and suffer; and of thus learning in general what our nature is, and what it was made for. It is worthy of observation, that we are able to discern not only what we already are, but what we may become, to see in ourselves germs and promises of a growth to which no bounds can be set, to dart beyond what we have actually gained to the idea of perfection as the end of our being... But self-culture is possible, not only because we can enter into and search ourselves. We have a still nobler power, that of acting on, determining, and forming ourselves. This is a fearful as well as glorious endowment, for it is the ground of human responsibility. We have the power not only of tracing our powers, but of guiding and impelling them; not only of watching our passions, but of controlling them; not only of seeing our faculties grow, but of applying to them means and influences to aid their growth. We can stay or change the current of thought. We can concentrate the intellect on objects which we wish to comprehend. We can fix our eyes on perfection, and make almost every thing speed towards it. This is, indeed, a noble prerogative of our nature. (Self-Culture, 1838) 7. Celebrating the Free Mind I call that mind free, which masters the senses, which protects itself against animal appetites, which contemns pleasure and pain in comparison to its own energy, which penetrates beneath the body and recognizes its own reality and greatness, which passes life, not in asking what it shall eat or drink, but in hungering, thirsting, and seeking after righteousness. I call that mind free, which escapes the bondage of matter, which, instead of stopping at the material universe and making it a prison wall, passes beyond it to its Author, and finds in the radiant signatures which everywhere bears of the Infinite Spirit, helps to its own spiritual enlightenment. I call that mind free, which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers, which calls no man master, which does not content itself with a passive or hereditary faith, which opens itself to light whencesoever it may come... I call that mind free, which sets no bounds to its love, which is not imprisoned in itself or in a sect, which recognizes in all human beings the image of God and the rights of his children, which delights in virtue and sympathizes with suffering wherever they are seen, which conquers pride, anger, and sloth, and offers itself up a willing victim to the cause of mankind. I call that mind free, which is not passively framed by outward circumstance, which is not swept away by the torrent of events, which is not the creature of accidental impulse, but which bends events to its own improvement, and acts from an inward spring, from immutable principles which it has deliberately espoused. I call that mind free, which, through confidence in God and in the power of virtue, has cast off all fear but that of wrong- doing, which no menace or peril can enthrall, which is calm in the midst of tumults, and possesses itself though all else be lost. I call that mind free, which resists the bondage of habit, which does not mechanically repeat itself and copy the past, which does not live on old virtue, which does not enslave itself to precise rules, but forgets what is behind, listens for new and higher monitions of conscience, and rejoices to pour in fresh and higher exertions. I call that mind free, which is jealous of its own freedom, which guards itself from being merged with others, which guards its empire over itself as nobler than the empire of the world. (Spiritual Freedom, 1830). TT: I note for the record that the scripture which guides Channing's sermon Unitarian Christianity is my favorite section of our closing words: Question all things. Hold on to what is good. [Thessalonians 5. 21]

8