"UNITARIAN TRINITIES: CHANNING, EMERSON, PARKER"

A Sermon by the Rev. Bruce Clear

Sunday March 9, 2003

All Souls Unitarian Church

Indianapolis, Indiana

A friend of mine who has listened to many Unitarian sermons over many years once observed that even though Unitarianism was founded upon the heresy of rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity, it is interesting how many Unitarian sermons are structured around three major points, a trinity of points. As I've listened to such sermons myself over the years I've been amazed at how many times Unitarian ministers refer in their talks to "three major principles," or propose "three definitions," or suggest "three different ways of looking" at some issue.

Ever since then, I've been somewhat self-conscious of my own writing. It is not that I am superstitious about the number "three," but it is rather that I can't stand to be predictable! Ever since my friend pointed out the Unitarian proclivity toward trinities of thought, I've tried either to express my ideas in only two points, or else find a fourth one.

But for two Sundays, this will be different. Today I will discuss the first of two Unitarian trinities; in this case, a trinity of heroes, people who stand out above all others in their influence on our religious movement: William Ellery Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Theodore Parker. Next Sunday I will speak to our trinity of Unitarian values. Therefore, rather than referring to three, I will bespeaking of six.

But we begin with Channing, who is widely considered to be the founder of American Unitarianism. It was not his ambition to be this; in his case, greatness was "thrust upon him."

In the late 1700s, both before and after the Revolution, American religion was experiencing rather dramatic division. On one side were those who were called "the orthodox." Led by the great orator Jonathan Edwards, they preached a strict brand of Calvinism, emphasizing the essential depravity of human nature, the product of original sin. To the orthodox, there was no free will in Christianity. All people were thought to be by nature evil, and therefore condemned to a hell of everlasting torture. There was nothing they could do to avoid such a fate. Only God could intervene. God had chosen a handful of people, those that the orthodox Calvinists called "the elect," who were destined to be saved from the fires of hell. All others, however, were eternally damned, with no hope of saving themselves.

During the last half of the l700s, some significant people began to question this scheme of things. Known as the "Arminians," they began to suggest a different kind of Christianity, one in which people are not viewed as essentially depraved sinners. Influenced by the Enlightenment ideas that were coming out of Europe, these dissenters thought themselves to be rationalistic Christians, holding high regard for human reason, and honoring the dignity, not the depravity, of human nature. Christianity was to be believed, they felt, not because it was demanded by a tyrannical or monarchical God who threatened damnation, but rather that Christianity should be believed because reason demanded it. And if reason was in conflict with any tenet of Christianity, that tenet should be abandoned.

It was into this divided Christian culture that William Ellery Channing was born in 1780. By the time he began his studies at Harvard in 1798, Harvard had been feeling the influence of the Arminian and Enlightenment thought. Harvard was founded to train orthodox ministers. But the religious division in the culture began to resound even in those hallowed halls.

By the time he left Harvard, Channing had been completely won over to the Arminian view of Christianity. In 1803, he was called as minister to the Federal Street Church, where he remained until his death in 1842.

It is difficult for us today to understand that in New England in those days, with the exception of a few imported Anglican -- or Church of England -- churches, there were no denominations. There was one church for each neighborhood (or parish, as they called them). By virtue of their minister, some churches were considered orthodox, or conservative, and others were considered Arminian, or liberal, but they were all the same religion: New England Christianity, later to be known as Congregationalism.

The debate between the orthodox and Arminian became quite heated at times, with each side hurling insults at the other. Because of Channing, one insult against the Arminians stuck. The liberal Christians, as I said, had high admiration for reason. One important orthodox doctrine that seemed clearly irrational was that of the Trinity: that there are, at the same time, three Gods and one God. There is one God, said this doctrine, and God is God, Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.

Many of the Arminians found this doctrine to be irrational, and further discovered, in study of the Bible, that the doctrine is nowhere to be found in the Scriptures. As a result, they publically questioned this doctrine.

One of the insults made by the orthodox against the Arminians was that the liberals were, they said, "unitarian" not "trinitarian." It was by such accusation that the orthodox tried to say that the Arminians were not truly Christian.

Channing's place in our history became secure when, in 1819, he publically accepted the label "Unitarian" when he delivered a sermon in Baltimore entitled "Unitarian Christianity." His theological friends were delighted to embrace that label, and from that day on, the Arminian faction of New England Christianity became known as "Unitarianism."

Channing's sermon on "Unitarian Christianity" is still a classic statement of the Unitarian vision. Though today many Unitarians are not as inclined to justify ourselves to others as Christians, nevertheless the core of Unitarian thought was expressed in that sermon.

Channing's sermon was a definitive statement of the new theology in his day. Reprints of that sermon had wider circulation than any other piece of literature in America at that time. The core statement of Unitarianism was introduced by the scripture reading on which the sermon was based:

I Thessolonians 5:21--"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

From that scripture, Channing argued for a rational approach to Christianity. The scripture "Prove all things," he suggested, refers to that marvelous rational capacity of human nature. We are not to accept church doctrine without testing it with our reason. Prove all things. Most radical, of course, was his argument that the Bible itself is subject to interpretations of reason. "Our leading principle in interpreting Scripture," he wrote, "is this, that the Bible is a book written by men, in the language of men, and that its meaning is to be sought in the same manner as other books."

Nothing could have been more shocking to the orthodox than to say that the Bible is subject to the interpretation of human reason; that it is, in that sense, or in any other sense, like any other book.

But Channing didn't stop there. He went on to discuss the Unitarian view of God. "We believe," he said, "in the doctrine of God's unity, or that there is one God, and one only. . . . We object to the doctrine of the Trinity, that, whilst acknowledging in words, it subverts, in effect, the unity of God." Then finally, exegeting from the scripture "prove all things. . . " he said the following about Jesus: "We believe, then, that Christ is one mind, one being, and I add, a being distinct from the one God. That Christ is not the one God, not the same being with the Father, is a necessary inference. . . the doctrine of three persons in God is a fiction."

The actual content of Channing's comments seems to us today to be mild, hardly radical in raising our passions. His Unitarian views were used to defend Christianity as a rational and true religion, something that most of us today might not consider deserving of a great deal of our energy. But the key and lasting impact of Channing's work was that Unitarianism required reason to be applied to religion, that we are obligated, in the words of Paul's letter to Thessolonians, to "prove all things; hold fast to that which is good." The phrase we often use here at All Souls - "where reason and religion meet" - is at the center of Channing's Unitarianism and, for him, a biblical imperative.

Channing's Baltimore sermon of 1819 articulated the theological position of Unitarianism. The major theme of Channing's ministry, however, was not about the unity of God, but rather the dignity of human nature. His major complaint against orthodox Christianity was their insistence on human depravity. Second to his Baltimore sermon, he is best known for a sermon entitled "Likeness to God," in which he argued that the true nature of the human soul, because of our power of reason, because of our ability to love and serve others, is God-like. "Likeness to God" expressed his understanding that there is a spark of divinity in every person.

It is because of Channing's courage that Unitarianism was born as a movement in this country. After he publically accepted the label, many others who sympathized with his thinking embraced it as well, including, I might add, most of the faculty at Harvard Divinity School. Many New England churches began to adopt the name "Unitarian," to distinguish themselves from the orthodox, and in 1825, the American Unitarian Association was organized, bringing to New England Christianity its first major denominational division.

For the remainder of the l9th century, Unitarianism would experience a number of major internal theological challenges, but through any crisis, Channing was respected among all parties as truly representative of the Unitarian spirit. In part, this was due to the historic role he played, in part it was due to respect for his powerful intellect and insightful writing, and in part it was due to respect for his warm and tolerant personality and personal integrity.

Ralph Waldo Emerson played a central role in the first major crisis of the new Unitarian denomination. Emerson, of course, needs no introduction. He remains one of the most important figures in American literary and cultural history, a leader of the transcendentalist movement. What I wish to address, however, is his influence on the organized Unitarian movement.

Emerson was born in 1803, the year in which Channing began his ministry. His grandfather was minister of the First Church of Concord, his father was minister of the First Church of Boston, Boston's most historic church. When Unitarianism became organized, his father aligned with them.

It surprised no one, then, that Emerson entered Harvard Divinity School with the goal of preparing for the Unitarian ministry. While a student at Harvard, Emerson was a member of Channing's Federal Street Church, and was of course, deeply influenced by Channing.

Emerson was to become the leading spokesperson for transcendentalism, the first movement to reform and transform American Unitarianism. In the earliest days of Unitarianism, the movement received its inspiration from the Enlightenment and scientific spirit. Reason, for Unitarians, meant science, study, investigation, logic, and objectivity.

In the meantime, a Romantic spirit in philosophy and literature was arising in Europe. This movement was, in some ways, a reaction against some of the dogmatism of the Enlightenment. It was not a return to the rigid Christianity of Calvinism, but it was an attempt to bring more spirit and passion into life. Emerson championed that Romantic mood in America, which became known as "Transcendentalism."

In 1829, Emerson was called as minister of the Second Church of Boston, another Unitarian Church. Right away, Emerson felt that something was wrong with Boston Unitarianism. He complained that most Unitarian ministers, because of their rationalistic bent, cared little for the human spirit, for human passions. He charged that Unitarianism was becoming too dry and lifeless, a religion without any zest. He complained about what he called "the corpse-cold Unitarianism of Harvard College." Furthermore, he wanted Unitarianism to expand its views beyond Christianity. Like many transcendentalists, he explored Eastern (or as they called them, "oriental") religions.

He resisted the superstitions of Christianity that remained within Unitarianism, and questioned the historical accuracy of the Biblical miracle stories. This in particular enraged the Unitarian establishment. In 1832, after refusing to continue serving the Lord's Supper at his church, he resigned from the ministry, and launched a career as lecturer and essayist. He remained within the church, though, an active member of the Unitarian Church in Concord.

Through Emerson's popular writings, Transcendentalism became a significant movement, not only within Unitarianism, but in American culture as a whole. Many great names, mostly Unitarian, are associated with this movement: Hawthorne, Thoreau, Bronson, Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Fuller and so forth.

Emerson sought to simplify religion, and in doing so, he rejected the many complicated dogmas of traditional Christianity. He once defined religion this way: "to love, to serve, to think, and to be humble."

He did not reject the standard Unitarian respect for reason, though he fashioned reason a bit differently. Instead of the learned study and intellectualism that he believed caused Unitarianism to become dull, Emerson suggested that reason is more like insight that it is like logic.

There is, he said, a universal connection to the cosmos. He called it "the over-soul." Each of us is unique, but each of us also shares in a universal spirit within nature. For him it is reason, that almost spiritual ability for insight, that connects us all.

If Channing's major message was "Likeness to God", Emerson's major theme was what he called "Self-culture," the ability and responsibility of each person for his or her own destiny. Emerson was a prophet of the individual, who said, in effect, that the church can't save you, society can't save you, and in fact, religion and the Bible can't save you. You alone are the one responsible for your destiny. Self-culture.

The third person in our Unitarian trinity is Theodore Parker. Parker was only a few years younger than Emerson, and graduated from Harvard four years after Emerson left the ministry. Parker brought to Unitarianism not only a theological radicalism, but also a passion for social justice.

Parker was a transcendentalist, and shared many of Emerson's religious views. But he differed from Emerson in two ways. First of all, Parker was a thorough and respected scholar. Emerson cared little for speculative philosophy or disciplined learning. Parker was by any measure an intellectual. His library was the largest in Boston, and it is said that he could recite at least the table of contents of all his thousands of books. He followed European scholarship, and translated many new German theological and biblical writings.

Parker also differed from Emerson in that he remained within Unitarianism to reform it. Parker was perhaps the most popular preacher in Boston in his time, and in his later years, his church held as many as three thousand people on a Sunday morning. But as popular as he was, his theological radicalism strained relations with his colleagues. He came close\to being expelled from the Unitarian ministry.

His most famous sermon was entitled "The Transient and the Permanent in Christianity." It must be remembered that in those days, Unitarianism was considered by all to be a variety of Christianity. Parker wanted to know what was true about Christianity. Whatever is true, according to Parker, is permanent. Everything else is transient, subject to the changes of culture and society.

His answer to the question of what is permanent in Christianity caused quite a stir. The teachings of the church, he said, are obviously transient, since churches change their teachings as society itself changes. Furthermore, he said, the Bible is transient in its importance. It was written to address the needs of people long ago, and not all of it is relevant to this age. The validity of the Bible is not essential to the truth of Christianity. If the stories were all false, all fiction, it would not affect the value of Christianity.

Finally, he said, Jesus is not essential to Christianity. He wrote, "If Jesus of Nazareth had never lived, still Christianity would stand firm." In other words, it is not the person of Jesus which represents truth, it is the teachings of Jesus that do that. To say that Jesus was not essential for Christianity was heresy to both the orthodox and the Unitarian establishment of that day.

What was permanent -- what was true -- in Christianity? Parker's answer was that the ethical imperative of the Christian religion is the calling to love one another, to serve one another, to live a life of integrity. Christianity, he said, is this: "the love of man, the love of God, without let or hindrance." All else -- the church, the Bible, the traditions, the miracles, even Jesus himself -- is transient to this central and permanent message.

Parker's radicalism extended to social causes, and ever since, Unitarians have felt social responsibility crucial to the religious impulse. It is true that Channing, Emerson and others spoke out against slavery before the Civil War. But Parker went further. Not only did he support the underground railroad, he harbored runaway slaves in his home. Not only did he harbor slaves, he challenged the law by going public, and dared the officials to arrest him.

Parker was eloquent about women's rights, lobbying for women's suffrage long before it became popular. He strongly supported social services to the city's poor, and worked to establish ministries to the needy. Ever since Parker, no one can totally know the essence of Unitarianism without also understanding its religious imperative to bring about justice in the world.

So these I offer as the Unitarian trinity: William Ellery Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Theodore Parker. To Channing we owe our original identity: Unitarians who believe that reason ought not be divorced from religion, and an essential dignity, not depravity, in human nature.

To Emerson we owe a romantic and literary legacy: to widen our religious vision, to see it in its broadest context, not only through the limited lenses of the Christian tradition. Further, he taught us the value of individual responsibility for our own destiny.

Theodore Parker taught us to take seriously the Unitarian conscience. Religion, he said, is not essentially dogmas and doctrines and belief tenets. Religion is life, how we live our lives, how we live with others. Parker lived these principles, and left us a legacy of social responsibility, a\religious imperative to make this a better world.