20 June 2019

What is #Unitarian Christianity?


Within the broad sweep of Unitarian chapels, fellowships and congregations today there are some that proudly uphold the liberal Christian tradition - from which many other Unitarian strands of thought have sprung in the last eighty years.  So whilst the scope of Unitarianism in UK did broaden in the 20th century, the baby has most decidedly not been thrown out with the bathwater.

So what is Unitarian Christianity, as understood today in UK?  The following is an extract of a sermon by Douglas Reynolds to Unitarian congregations of Kidderminster and Dudley in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
I'm grateful to the Unitarian Christian Association for making this available.  For more on UCA, see the link here  http://www.ukunitarians.org.uk/christian/


"...We see from these points of differentiation that there is a distinct Unitarian form of Christianity.  It is a Christianity that sets aside the doctrine of the Trinity, experiences God as indwelling the human, is Pelagian in that it affirms the fundamental goodness of humanity, and exhorts good deeds, not creeds.

"It is universalist, as it affirms salvation for all.  Like Christianity in general, it originated in the teachings, ministry and ethics of the historical Jesus.  It values the relationship between Jesus and God, and his faithfulness unto death.  The phenomenon of the Resurrection is left to the individual to interpret according to one's understanding of the event. 

"It also takes on board the religious insights of the evangelists, the Apostle Paul and the authors of the other documents of the New Testament, together with insights given in the Old Testament, but at the same time, it is freed from the shackles of discarded dogma.  It remains open to reason, science, the individual conscience and the insights of other faiths, and that of religious humanism."

Douglas Reynolds

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