Universalist Church of America

The Universalist Church of America was a religious denomination in the United States (plus affiliated Churches in other parts of the world). Known from 1866 as the Universalist General Convention, the name was changed to the Universalist Church of America in 1942. In 1961, it merged with the American Unitarian Association to form the Unitarian Universalist Association.

The defining theology of Universalism is universal salvation; Universalists believe that the God of love would not create a person knowing that that person would be destined for eternal damnation. Thus, they concluded that any existing person must be destined for salvation. In all other respects Universalists followed orthodox Christian doctrine, simply expanding the number of the saved to include all persons. Some Universalists believe that Hell exists as a temporary abode for those who have died unreconciled to God, but where God continues to work with the souls in Hell and will lead them eventually to the salvation God intends for all persons. Other Universalists, notably Hosea Ballou, denied the existence of Hell entirely. Ballou believed that sin created its own punishment while we lived and that after death all souls would immediately be reconciled with God.

History

Spiritual ancestry

Universalism, like most Protestant movements, claims its origins to early Christians in the first through third centuries A.D. Universalists claim that Universalist beliefs were reasonably common then, before Catholic theology was firmly laid out; they cite Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Clement of Alexandria, and others as Church Fathers who wrote of beliefs consistent with Universalism [1].

In early America

American Universalism developed from the influence of various Pietist and Anabaptist movements in Europe, including Quakerism, Moravians, Methodists, Lutherans, Schwenkfelders, Brethren, and others. Pietists emphasized individual piety and zeal and a "religion of the heart." Early followers were most often German in ancestry. The majority of the early American Universalists lived in the Mid-Atlantic colonies, though Rhode Island also had a fair amount of followers.

One of the most important early Universalist evangelists was the Dr. George de Benneville. Born in a Huguenot family exiled to England, he arrived in America in 1741. A physician and lay preacher, he spread Universalism among the German immigrants of Buck's County, Pennsylvania, and later around Philadelphia and New Jersey. Benneville also commonly visited the Ephrata Cloister, a utopian community with Universalist beliefs. He arranged for the translation of a German book about universalism, The Everlasting Gospel, by Georg Klein-Nicolai of Friessdorf, Germany. Nearly forty years later, Elhanan Winchester would read the book and convert to Universalism. He was influential in the printing of the Sauer Bible, the first German Bible printed in America, with passages supporting Winchester's belief in the universal availability of salvation in boldface type.

In the South, Rev. Giles Chapman was a former Quaker and Continental Army Chaplain who married into a Dunker family. The first Universalist church in South Carolina (and possibly in America ) was the Freedonia Meeting Hall situated in Newberry County.

Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a convert to Universalism, was a vigorous foe of slavery, advocated the abolition of the death penalty, advocated for better education for women, supported free public schools, was a pioneer in the study and treatment of mental illness, and insisted that the insane had a right to be treated with respect. He published a pamphlet on the iniquity of the slave trade. As part of his abolitionism, he helped organize the "Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage," the first antislavery society in America; he also served as its president.

The first General Society was held in 1778. Annual conventions started in 1785 with the New England Convention. In 1804, this convention changed its name to "The General Convention of Universalists in the New England States and Others." At its peak in the 1830s, the Universalist Church was around the 9^th largest denomination in the United States.

Decline

The Universalist Church had its origins in pietistic, evangelistic movements with a liberal bent. However, the development of modern science somewhat sapped the Universalist's power to claim that they were the true possessors of revealed Christian truth. Stuck in an uneasy compromise, the Universalist Church gradually lost influence and evangelical zeal to spread itself. Eventually, the Church came to the conclusion that the only way to deal with the "threat" of humanism and secular liberalism was to embrace it, and merged with the American Unitarian Association to form the Unitarian Universalist Association. The UUA contains a considerably looser set of beliefs than the Universalists of the 1800s as a "non-creedal" religion.

Some state Universalist Conventions did not accept the merger. These churches and others form minor pockets of Christian theological Universalists which remain, but most are affiliated with other denominations. [2] [3]

Church Organization

Universalist congregations tended towards independence and were not easily prone to centralization. They generally met in State Conventions, which usually had more authority than was vested in national Conventions.

The Philadelphia Convention was an independent National Convention from 1790 to about 1810.

Social and political stances

The Universalist Church of America involved itself in several social causes, generally with a politically liberal bent.

Abolitionism

As noted above, Benjamin Rush was a major political activist for anti-slavery causes in early America. The issue resurfaced in the 1850s with the Fugitive Slave Act and other compromises; the Universalists, along with various other denominations, vigorously opposed slavery as immoral. They also favored postbellum legislation such as the Fifteenth Amendment and the Freedman's Act to enfranchise all American citizens.

Church/State Separation

Like many American religions, Universalism has generally been amenable to church-state separation. While many Universalists firmly believed in voting their values, few Universalists have asked for direct governmental support.

One example comes from the 1780s. By Massachusetts state law, citizens were taxed to support the Congregational Church of the community where they lived. Sixty-one people in Gloucester left the church to form the Independent Church of Christ, which stood for Universalism. They then refused to pay their taxes. The church they built was seized and sold to pay; however, the Chruch sued, and in 1786, they won their case.

Ordination of women

On June 25, 1863, Olympia Brown became the first woman in the United States to receive ordination in a national denomination. By 1920, there were 88 Universalist women ministers, the largest group of in the United States.

Notable Universalists

• P. T. Barnum, entertainer
• George de Benneville, influential early evangelist
• Giles Chapman, early evangelist
• Thomas Potter
• John Murray, evangelist
• Caleb Rich, evangelist
• Brendan Livingston, Economist
• Benjamin Rush, statesman, Founding Father, and abolitionist.
• Hosea Ballou, theologian and evangelist
• Abner Kneeland, theologian and the last man in the United States jailed for blasphemy
• Judith Sargent Murray, essayist and poet, advocated woman's rights
• Olympia Brown, the first woman in the United States to be ordained by a major denomination
• Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross

External links

• Murray Grove Retreat & Conference Center - Thomas Potter farm
• The Sargent House Museum - Judith Sargent Murray house
• Christian Universalists -- A Directory of Universalist Churches.
• Churches Served by Universalist Clergy
• Biblical Universalism: Universal Salvation as Taught in the Greek Text of the New Testament
• Bible Study Net
• Eschatology and final restoration (Apokatastasis) in Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and Maximos the Confessor