podcast 167 – Lamson’s History of The Unitarian Congregationalists

In this episode we hear a voice from 1852 describing a lost species of American Christianity: unitarian Congregationalism. In this overview, Dr. Alvan Lamson, former instructor of theology at Harvard and longtime pastor of such a church in Massachusetts, outlines the beliefs, history, and (then) reasonably current statistics on the group.

As you’ll hear, in some ways this branch of Christianity is similar to current-day biblical unitarian groups. But there are some important differences as well. And while Lamson is sunny on this group’s prospects, looking back, I think we can see some of the factors in place, in and around the group, that led to its demise. I’ll comment on those next week, as I’ve never seen anyone give a really helpful post-mortem report on what lead to the death of this Christian movement.

Here’s the original “Analysis of the Ensuing Article” (emphases added):

Doctrines of Unitarians.—Great distinguishing features of Unitarianism—Diversity of opinion among Unitarians—Views generally received among them—Character of God—Gospel of Jesus originated in his mercy—Unitarian views of his justice—Jesus Christ—Unitarians believe him to be a distinct being from the Father, and inferior to him—The sort of evidence on which they rely for proving this—Assert the incredibility of the Trinity—Their view of the teachings of the scripture relating to Son—The inference they make from the conduct of the disciples and others—Their views of Trinitarian proof texts—Of the concessions of Trinitarian Christians—Unitarians do not address Christ directly in prayer—Reasons for not doing it—Question of his nature—How regarded by Unitarians—His character and offices—True ground of reverence for Jest’s, according to Unitarians—Unitarian views of the divinity of Christ—Their views of the Atonement—They do not, they contend, destroy the hope of the sinner, nor rob the Cross of its power—Unitarian views of the Holy Spirit—Of the terms of salvation—Of the new birth—How Unitarians speak of reverence for human nature—Need of help—Retribution for sin and holiness—Of the Bible—their reply to the charge of unduly exalting human reason.
History.—Unitarians do not profess to hold any new doctrine—What they affirm. that they are able to prove of the Unitarianism of ihe ancient Church—Reference to modern Unitarianism in Europe—American Unitarianism—Its date—Its progress, to the commencement of the present century—Its state during the first fifteen years of this century—1815 an epoch in its history—First controversy—Its origin and results—Second controversy—First separation between orthodox and Unitarian Congregationalists.
Statistics.—Number of societies and churches—Other Unitarians besides Congregationalists—Unitarian Periodicals—American Unitarian Association—Present condition and prospects of Unitarianism.

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