Unitarianism

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Unitarianism is a specific type of nontrinitarian Christian theology. It is nontrinitarian in that it holds that God is only one person, in contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity (God subsisting as three persons).^[1] In its development, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, it has come to be associated also with certain liberal Christian beliefs.

Some confusion has resulted because the term "unitarianism" (uncapitalized) has sometimes been used informally to describe any Christology (i.e. understanding of Jesus Christ) that denies the Trinity or believes that only the Father of Jesus (and not Jesus himself) is God. Mere denial of the Trinity, however, is more commonly called nontrinitarianism. Recently some religious groups have adopted the term "biblical unitarianism" to describe their theology, but they hold to a conservative form of nontrinitarianism, which rejects many of the teachings of liberal Unitarianism.^[2]

So, too, Unitarianism does not accept the Godhood of Jesus, and therefore does not include nontrinitarian belief systems which do—for example, Oneness Pentecostalism, United Pentecostal Church International and the True Jesus Church—that maintain that Jesus is God as a single person.

The term Unitarian is sometimes applied to those who belong to a Unitarian church but who do not hold a Unitarian theological belief. In the past, the vast majority of members of Unitarian churches were Unitarians also in belief. Over time, however, some Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists moved away from the traditional Christian roots of Unitarianism.^[3] For example, in the 1890s the American Unitarian Association began to allow non-Christian and non-theistic churches and individuals to be part of their fellowship.^[4] As a result, people who held no Unitarian belief began to be called "Unitarians" because they were members of churches that belonged to the American Unitarian Association. After several decades, the non-theistic members outnumbered the theological Unitarians.^[5] A similar, though proportionally much smaller, phenomenon has taken place in the Unitarian churches in the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries, which remain more theistically based. Unitarian theology, therefore, is distinguishable from the belief system of modern Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist churches and fellowships.

This article includes information about Unitarianism as a theology and about the development of theologically Unitarian churches. For a more specific discussion of Unitarianism as it evolved into a pluralistic liberal religious movement, see Unitarian Universalism (and its national groups the Unitarian Universalist Association in the United States, the Canadian Unitarian Council in Canada, the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches in the United Kingdom, and the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists).

History

1600-1774

Unitarianism, both as a theology and as a denominational family of churches, was defined and developed within the Protestant Reformation, although a range of similar Christology may also be found among early Christianity.^[6] The term "Unitarian" first appeared as unitaria religio in a document of the Diet of Lécfalva, Transylvania on 25 October 1600, though it was not widely used in Transylvania until 1638, when the formal recepta Unitaria Religio was published. The Polish Brethren began as a grouping of Arians and Unitarians who split from the Polish Calvinist Church in 1565, though by 1580 the Unitarian views of Fausto Sozzini (hence the adjective Socinian) had become the majority. Sozzini's grandson Andrzej Wiszowaty Sr. in 1665-1668 published Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum quos Unitarios vocant (Library of the Polish Brethren who are called Unitarians 4 vols. 1665–69). The name was introduced into English by the Socinian Henry Hedworth in 1673. Thereafter the term became common currency in English, though their detractors continued to label both Arian and Unitarian views as "Socinian".

Late 18th to mid-19th century

Britain

The movement gained popularity in the wake of the Enlightenment and began to become a formal denomination in England in 1774 when Theophilus Lindsey organised meetings with Joseph Priestley, founding the first avowedly Unitarian congregation in England, at Essex Street Church. In 1791 Lindsey and his colleague John Disney were behind the "first organized denominational Unitarian society", formally The Unitarian Society for promoting Christian Knowledge and the Practice of Virtue by the Distribution of Books^[7] but more simply known as the Unitarian Book Society. This was followed by The Unitarian Fund (1806), which sent out missionaries and financially supported poorer congregations. Unitarianism was not fully legal in the United Kingdom until the Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813, a bill largely pushed forward in Parliament by William Smith, and thus known sometimes under his name, or as the Unitarian Relief Act (Trinity Act) or The Unitarian Toleration Bill.^[8] This did not grant them full civil rights while the oppressive Corporation Act and Test Act remained, and thus the third significant Unitarian society was created, The Association for the Protection of the Civil Rights of Unitarians was established in 1819.^[7] In 1825 these three groups amalgamated into the British and Foreign Unitarian Association.

USA

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 (1759–1853) 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 professor of divinity at Harvard College, in 1805. 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. At first mystical rather than rationalistic in his theology, he took part with the "Catholic Christians", as they called themselves, who aimed at bringing Christianity into harmony with the progressive spirit of the time. His essays on The System of Exclusion and Denunciation in Religion (1815), and Objections to Unitarian Christianity Considered (1819), made him a defender of Unitarianism. His sermon on "Unitarian Christianity", preached at First Unitarian Church of Baltimore in 1819, at the ordination of Jared Sparks, made him its interpreter.

The American Unitarian Association was formed in Boston in 1825. It was organized "to diffuse the knowledge and promote the interests of pure Christianity" and it published tracts and books, supported poor churches, sent out missionaries into every part of the country, and established new churches in nearly all the states. Essentially non-sectarian, with little missionary zeal, the Unitarian movement has grown slowly; and its influence has chiefly operated through general culture and the literature of the country.

The History of Essex Hall, written in 1959 by Mortimer Rowe, the Secretary (i.e. chief executive) of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches for its first twenty years, claims that the BFUA and AUA were founded entirely coincidentally on the same day, 26 May 1825.^[7][9]

Transition in the 19th century

A significant current within Unitarianism was the Transcendentalism of James Martineau (1805–1900) and others.^[10] Profoundly influenced by German idealism, it was increasingly rationalistic, though its theology was largely flavored by mysticism.

Beginning about 1885, the Unitarian associations in America moved toward the recognition of universal religion, and an emphasis on ethics rather than theology. As a result, its fellowship widened to include non-Christians and even atheists. Unitarian theology became less and less relevant.

20th century

In 1928 the British and Foreign Unitarian Association merged with the Sunday School Association, with which it had been sharing offices for decades, as the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. The General Assembly is still the umbrella organisation for British Unitarianism, which has its headquarters, Essex Hall, in the same place in central London.

21st century

In May 2004 Rev. Peter Hughes, vice-chairman of the East Lancashire Unitarian Mission, and a minister at Chowbent Chapel founded in 1645 in Atherton, Greater Manchester, published an article in the movement's journal, The Inquirer, and gave an interview to The Times where he warned of the extinction of the Unitarian Church. According to The Times, "the church has fewer than 6,000 members in Britain; half of whom are aged over 65." He added, referring to Toxteth Chapel in Liverpool, the movement's oldest building, where he was brought up, "they have had no minister since 1976 and the Unitarian cause there is effectively dead." The denomination’s president, Dawn Buckle, a retired lecturer in education, denied that the movement was in a terminal phase and described it as a “thriving community capable of sustaining growth”.^[11] There are more than 180 Unitarian congregations in Britain as part of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.^[12]

Entirely separate from the General Assembly, and generally with no historical descent from the British and Foreign Unitarian Association (1825–1928), there are a number of other denominations and small groups which look to earlier periods of Unitarianism as influences. This includes both groups looking back to the early Polish, Dutch and English "Socinians" of the 17th century such as the Restoration Fellowship of Sir Anthony Buzzard, 3rd Baronet, and those looking to the later "biblical unitarianism" of Robert Spears. Many of these groups are nontrinitarian in theology, liberal in some political areas - such as conscientious objection, but fundamentalist in regard to the Bible, and conservative in areas such as homosexuality or women priests. Some of these groups however do have women ministers.^[13]

Beliefs

Christology

Unitarians adhere to strict monotheism, and maintain that Jesus was a great man and a prophet of God, perhaps even a supernatural being, but not God himself.^[14] They believe Jesus did not claim to be God, and that his teachings did not suggest the existence of a triune God. Unitarians believe in the moral authority, but not necessarily the divinity, of Jesus. Their theology is thus opposed to the trinitarian theology of other Christian denominations.

Unitarian Christology can be divided according to whether Jesus is believed to have had a pre-human existence. Both forms maintain that God is one being and one "person"—the one Jesus called "Father"—and that Jesus is the (or a) Son of God, but generally not God himself.^[15]

Personal pre-human existence

In one form, the Son of God is considered to have pre-existed as the Logos, a being created by God, who dwelt with God in heaven prior to his birth as the man, Jesus. This theology is commonly called Arianism; however, there are many varieties of this form of Unitarianism, ranging from the belief that the Son was a divine spirit of the same nature as God before coming to earth, to the belief that he was an angel or other lesser spirit creature of a wholly different nature from God. (Arius' views did not present Jesus as an angel.)

In this belief system, Jesus has always been beneath God, but higher than humans. It is associated with early church figures such as Justin Martyr, Lucian of Antioch, Eusebius of Caesarea, Arius, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Asterius the Sophist, Eunomius, and Ulfilas, as well as Felix, Bishop of Urgel and others who believed that Jesus was God in his divine nature but that his divinity in his human nature was through adoption. Michael Servetus did not deny the pre-existence of Christ.^[16] Isaac Newton had Arian beliefs as well.^[17][18][19] Famous 19th century Arian Unitarians include Andrews Norton^[20] and Dr. William Ellery Channing.^[21] Arian ideas persist among Unitarians in Transylvania, Hungary, France, and several countries in Africa.^{[citation needed]}

Since the 19th century, several Evangelical or Restorationist nontrinitarians, including Jehovah's Witnesses, the Christian Churches of God (CCG), and the Filipino-based Iglesia ni Cristo, have also adopted a Christology sometimes classified as Arianism or Semi-Arianism,^{[citation needed]} but these are not technically Unitarians (capitalized), either because of their conservative doctrines, such as the teaching of biblical inerrancy, or their development outside of, and lack of connection with, the historical Unitarian movement. Important figures include Barton W. Stone and Charles Taze Russell.

No personal pre-human existence

The distinguishing feature of this belief is the denial of the personal pre-existence of Christ. There are various views ranging from the belief that Jesus, the son of Joseph, was a great man who became filled with the Holy Spirit, often called adoptionism (or, in the 19th century, psilanthropism), to the belief that he literally was the Son of God through the virgin birth.

Acceptance of the virgin birth

Theodotus of Byzantium,^[22] Artemon^[23] and Paul of Samosata^[24] denied the pre-existence of Christ but accepted the virgin birth.^[25] This was continued by Marcellus of Ancyra and his pupil Photinus in the 4th century AD.^[26] In the Radical Reformation and Anabaptist movements of the 16th century this resurfaced with Lelio Sozzini and his nephew Fausto Sozzini. Having influenced the Polish Brethren to a formal declaration of this belief in the Racovian Catechism, they gave the name "Socinianism" to this Christological position,^[27] which continued with English Unitarians such as John Biddle's Twofold Catechism (1654). The divergence point in Unitarian belief on this subject, and of miracles in general, in England, is around 1800, with Thomas Belsham (1806), Richard Wright (1808) writing against the miraculous conception.^{[28][29][30][31]} The American Unitarian Association in America generally remained firm in its belief in the historical accuracy of the New Testament, including the virgin birth story, until the 1830s, when the Transcendentalist movement began.^[32] Famous American Unitarian William Ellery Channing, for example, was a believer in the virgin birth until later in his life, after he had begun his association with the Transcendentalists.^[33][34][35]

Psilanthropism

The denial of the virgin birth is also sometimes described as Ebionism from the Ebionites; however, Origen (Contra Celsum v.61) and Eusebius (HE iii.27) both indicate that some Ebionites did accept the virgin birth.^[36] The Chambers Biographical Dictionary (1897) incorrectly ascribes denial of the virgin birth to Ferenc Dávid, leader of the Transylvanian Unitarians. The psilanthropist view was also manifested in Transcendentalist Unitarianism, which emerged from the German liberal theology associated primarily with Friedrich Schleiermacher. Its proponents took an intellectual and humanistic approach to religion, rejecting most of the miraculous events in the Bible (including the virgin birth). They embraced evolutionary concepts, asserted the "inherent goodness of man", and abandoned the doctrine of biblical infallibility. Notable examples are Theodore Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Frederick Henry Hedge.

Other beliefs

Though there is no specific authority on convictions of Unitarian belief aside from rejection of the Trinity, the following beliefs are generally accepted:^{[37][38][39][40][41][42]}

• One God and the oneness or unity of God.
• The life and teachings of Jesus Christ constitute the exemplar model for living one's own life.
• Reason, rational thought, science, and philosophy coexist with faith in God.
• Humans have the ability to exercise free will in a responsible, constructive and ethical manner with the assistance of religion.
• Human nature in its present condition is neither inherently corrupt nor depraved (see original Sin), but capable of both good and evil, as God intended.
• No religion can claim an absolute monopoly on the Holy Spirit or theological truth.
• Though the authors of the Bible were inspired by God, they were humans and therefore subject to human error.
• Traditional doctrines that (they believe) malign God's character or veil the true nature and mission of Jesus Christ, such as the doctrines of predestination, eternal damnation, and the vicarious sacrifice or satisfaction theory of the Atonement are rejected.

Unitarians have liberal views of God, Jesus, the world and purpose of life as revealed through reason, scholarship, science, philosophy, scripture and other prophets and religions. They believe that reason and belief are complementary and that religion and science can co-exist and guide them in their understanding of nature and God. They also do not enforce belief in creeds or dogmatic formulas. Although there is flexibility in the nuances of belief or basic truths for the individual Unitarian Christian, general principles of faith have been recognized as a way to bind the group in some commonality. Adherents generally accept religious pluralism and find value in all teachings, but remain committed to their core belief in Christ's teachings.^{[citation needed]} Unitarians generally value a secular society in which government is kept separate from religious affairs. Most contemporary Unitarian Christians believe that one's personal moral convictions guide one's political activities, and that a secular society is the most viable, just and fair.^{[citation needed]}

Unitarian Christians reject the doctrine of some Christian denominations that God chooses to redeem or save only those certain individuals that accept the creeds of, or affiliate with, a specific church or religion, from a common ruin or corruption of the mass of humanity. They believe that righteous acts are necessary for redemption in addition to faith.^{[citation needed]}

In 1938, The Christian leader attributed "the religion of Jesus, not a religion about Jesus" to Unitarians,^[43] though the phrase was first used by Congregationalist Rollin Lynde Hartt in 1924.^[44]

Worship

Worship within the Unitarian tradition accommodates a wide range of understandings of God, while the focus of the service may be simply the celebration of life itself. Each Unitarian congregation is at liberty to devise its own form of worship, though commonly, Unitarian services lack liturgy and ritual, while containing readings from many sources, which may include sermons, prayers, hymns and songs.^[45]

Modern Christian Unitarian organizations

This section relates to Unitarian churches and organizations today which are still specifically Christian within or outside Unitarian-Universalism, which embraces non-Christian religions.

UUCF (USA)

The Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship (UUCF, founded 1945) predates the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association (AUA) and Universalist Church of America (UCA) into the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) in 1961. UUCF continues as a subgroup of UUA serving the Christian members.

ICUU

Other Unitarian Christian groups are affiliated with the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU), founded in 1995. The ICUU tends to contain a majority membership who express specifically Unitarian Christian beliefs, rather than the religious pluralism of the UUA, but nevertheless remain liberal, open-minded and inclusive communities.^[46] The ICUU has "full member" groups in the United States, Australia & New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka.

The modern Unitarian Church in Hungary (25,000 members) and the Transylvanian Unitarian Church (75,000 members) are affiliated with the ICUU and claim continuity with the historical Unitarian Christian tradition established by Ferenc Dávid in 1565 in Transylvania under John II Sigismund Zápolya. The Unitarian churches in Hungary and Transylvania are structured and organized along a church hierarchy that includes the election by the synod of a national bishop who serves as superintendent of the Church. Many Hungarian Unitarians embrace the principles of rationalist Unitarianism.^[47] Unitarian high schools exist only in Translyvania (Romania), including the John Sigismund Unitarian Academy in Cluj-Napoca, and the Berde Mózes Unitárius Gimnázium in Cristuru Secuiesc (Székelykeresztúr); both teach Rationalist Unitarianism.^{[citation needed]}

The ICUU includes small "Associate groups", including Congregazione Italiana Cristiano Unitariana, Turin (founded in 2004)^[48] and the Bét Dávid Unitarian Association, Oslo (founded 2005).^[49]

AUC (USA)

The American Unitarian Conference (AUC) was formed in 2000 and stands between UUA and ICUU in attachment to the Christian element of modern Unitarianism. The American Unitarian Conference is open to non-Christian Unitarians—being particularly popular with non-Christian theists and deists.^{[citation needed]} The AUC has four congregations in the United States.

UCA (UK)

The Unitarian Christian Association (UCA, UK) was founded 1991 by Rev. Lancelot Garrard (1904–93)^[50] and others to promote specifically Christian ideas within the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (GAUFCC). Just as the UUCF and ICUU maintain formal links with UUA in America, so the UCA does with the GAUFCC in the UK.

The majority of Unitarian Christian publications are sponsored by an organization and published specifically for their membership. They generally do not serve as a tool for missionary work or encouraging conversions.^{[citation needed]}

Ecclesiology

When Unitarianism developed in the 17th century during the Protestant era of the evolution of Christianity, the strongholds in Transylvania, Poland, and eventually Britain and the northeastern parts of the United States were firmly in the congregational tradition. In the Hungarian-speaking territories it adopted a governance system that combined the Synodal and Episcopal models.^{[citation needed]}

For those churches under the congregational model, each church governed itself independently of a hierarchical authority. These small congregations belonged, however, to more formal associations of churches. The American Unitarian Association, formed in 1825, was one of these. Later, in 1961, the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America merged to form the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), which is the largest organization of Unitarians in the US. The UUA is no longer an explicitly Christian organization and does not focus exclusively on the core teachings of Jesus Christ or Christianity.^{[citation needed]}

Several Unitarian organizations still promote Christianity as their central theme. Among them, Unitarian Ministries International,^[51] the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship (UUCF, an affiliate of the UUA),^[52] the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (GAUFCC) of the United Kingdom, and the Unitarian Christian Association (UCA, an affiliate of the GAUFCC.^[53]

In the US, the newest organization promoting a return to the theistic roots of Unitarianism is the American Unitarian Conference (AUC), formed in 2000. The AUC's stated goal is to formulate and promote classical Unitarian-based, unifying religious convictions, which balance the needs of members with a practical approach to inclusion and progressive free thought.^{[citation needed]}

Interfaith dialogue and relations

Unitarian belief usually involves severance of identification with "Christianity" as formulated in the creeds of the Nicene and pre-Chalcedonian churches (Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and most Protestants). Unitarianism is therefore outside of the fellowship of these traditions. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant creeds generally insist on Trinitarian belief as an essential aspect of Christianity and basic to a group's continuity of identity with the historical Christian faith.^{[citation needed]}

However, occasionally, especially in Protestant history, traditionally Trinitarian groups seek to incorporate unitarianism. Friendliness toward unitarianism has sometimes gone hand-in-hand with anti-Catholicism. In some cases non-Trinitarian or unitarian belief has been adopted by some, and tolerated in Christian churches as a "non-essential". This was the case in the English Presbyterian Church, and in the Congregational Church in New England late in the 18th century. The Restoration Movement also attempted to forge a compatible relation between Trinitarians and unitarians, as did the Seventh Day Baptists and various Adventists. The Seventh Day Baptists hold unitarian doctrines in their International Conference but became Trinitarians in the US. The unitarian tendency in these latter groups emerged from their original theology and their rejection of Catholic traditions regarding the Trinity.^{[citation needed]}

In some cases, this openness to Unitarianism within traditionally Trinitarian churches has been inspired by a very broad ecumenical motive. Modern liberal Protestant denominations are often accused by Trinitarians within their ranks, and critics outside, of being indifferent to the doctrine, and therefore self-isolated from their respective Trinitarian pasts and heritage. In some cases, it is charged that these Trinitarian denominations are no longer Christian, because of their toleration of unitarian belief among their teachers, and in their seminaries.^{[citation needed]}

At a local level, many unitarian Christian groups (or members) have links with congregations affiliated with the United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, and Unity Church; some argue they feel more at home within these denominations than Unitarian Universalism. A small proportion of unitarian Christians also have links with Progressive Christianity.^{[citation needed]}

Despite the close friendship and shared heritage that exists between adherents to Unitarian Universalism and unitarian Christianity, there is an element within Unitarian Universalism that opposes specifically unitarian Christian groups, believing them to be exclusive and intolerant of non-Christian thought. Likewise, some unitarian Christians also believe that Unitarian Universalists are intolerant of Christian thought and tend to marginalize Christians.^{[citation needed]}

Notable unitarians

Notable unitarians include Ralph Waldo Emerson and Theodore Parker in theology and ministry, Joseph Priestley and Linus Pauling in science, Susan B. Anthony, John Locke in civil government, and Florence Nightingale in humanitarianism and social justice, Charles Dickens and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in literature, Frank Lloyd Wright in arts, Josiah Wedgwood in industry and Charles William Eliot in education. Five presidents of the United States were unitarians: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, and William Howard Taft. Other unitarians include Sir Tim Berners-Lee,^[54] Lancelot Ware, founder of Mensa, Sir Adrian Boult, the conductor, and C. Killick Millard, founder of the Euthanasia Society.

See also

• Anomoeanism—radical Arians of the 4th century.
• Binitarianism
• Christadelphians
• Divine simplicity
• Free Christianity
• Jesus in Islam
• Messianic Judaism
• Monarchianism
• Non-Trinitarian churches
• Oneness Pentecostalism
• Polish Brethren
• Sabellianism

References

Sources

• Tuggy, Dale, "Supplement to 'Trinity'", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trinity/unitarianism.html.
• Wilbur, Earl Morse (1925) (PDF), History of unitarianism in Poland, Transylvania, England and the United States, Berkeley, CA: Starr King School for the Ministry, http://www.sksm.edu/research/publications/ouh.pdf.
• Joseph Henry Allen, Our Liberal Movement in Theology (Boston, 1882)
• Joseph Henry Allen, Sequel to our Liberal Movement (Boston, 1897)
• Anthony F. Buzzard and Charles F. Hunting, The Doctrine of the Trinity: Christianity's Self-Inflicted Wound (Lanham, Maryland, 1998) ISBN 1-57309-309-2.
• John White Chadwick, Old and New Unitarian Belief (Boston, 1894).
• George Willis Cooke, Unitarianism in America: a History of its Origin and Development (Boston, 1902).
• Patrick Navas, Divine Truth or Human Tradition: A Reconsideration of the Roman Catholic-Protestant Doctrine of the Trinity in Light of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures (Bloomington, Indiana 2007). ISBN 1-4259-4832-4.
• Earl Morse Wilbur, A History of Unitarianism: Socinianism and Its Antecedents, Harvard University Press, 1945.
• Andrew M. Hill, 'The Unitarian Path', Lindsey Press (London 1994) ISBN 0-85319-046-1
• Charles A. Howe, 'For Faith and Freedom: A Short History of Unitarianism in Europe', Skinner House Books (Boston, 1997) ISBN 1-55896-359-6
• Smith, Matthew F (2005), "Unitarians", Christianity: The Complete Guide, London: Continuum, ISBN 0-8264-5937-4.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (Eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Bibliography

• Rowe, Mortimer, B.A., D.D. The History of Essex Hall. London:Lindsey Press, 1959. Full text reproduced here.

External links

• Unitarian Ministries International
• Unitarianism at BBC Religions
• American Unitarian Conference
• American Unitarian Reform
• General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (UK)
• Biblical Unitarians