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80-518: Essex Street Chapel , also known as Essex Church , is a Unitarian place of worship in London. It was the first church in England set up with this doctrine , and was established when Dissenters still faced legal threat. As the birthplace of British Unitarianism, Essex Street has particularly been associated with social reformers and theologians. The congregation moved west in the 19th century, allowing

160-677: A denomination . Support was immediately given him by distinguished English Presbyterian ministers such as Richard Price , who had his own church in Newington Green , and Joseph Priestley , who among other things discovered oxygen. Unitarian beliefs were against the law until the Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813 , but legal difficulties with the authorities were overcome with the help of barrister John Lee , who later became Attorney-General. The inaugural service, on 17 April 1774,

240-501: A "Socinian" view was James Freeman . Regarding the virgin birth of Jesus among those who denied the preexistence of Christ, some held to it and others did not. Its denial is sometimes ascribed to the Ebionites ; however, Origen ( Contra Celsum v.61) and Eusebius ( HE iii.27) both indicate that some Ebionites did accept the virgin birth. On the other hand, Theodotus of Byzantium , Artemon , and Paul of Samosata all accepted

320-539: A Liberal Unionist, but was heavily defeated by the sitting Liberal member, W.R.H. Powell . He and his brother Edwin were of material assistance to the Unitarians , donating a site in Kensington worth £5000, on which a church was built in 1887. The inaugural congregation, started by Theophilus Lindsey in 1774, moved to that location, thus freeing up Essex Street Chapel to be turned into offices and used for

400-1027: 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. Unitarian high schools exist only in Transylvania (Romania), including the John Sigismund Unitarian Academy in Cluj-Napoca , the Protestant Theological Institute of Cluj , and the Berde Mózes Unitárius Gimnázium in Cristuru Secuiesc ; both teach Rationalist Unitarianism. The Unitarian Christian Association (UCA)

480-680: A common theological concept of the unitary nature of God. Unitarian Christian communities and churches have developed in Central Europe (mostly Romania and Hungary ), Ireland , India , Jamaica , Japan , Canada , Nigeria , South Africa , the United Kingdom , and the United States . In British America , different schools of Unitarian theology first spread in the New England Colonies and subsequently in

560-450: A cultural and intellectual centre of a whole society, a place where ideas about society were openly and critically discussed. Sir James Lawrence, 1st Baronet Sir James Clarke Lawrence, 1st Baronet (1820 - 21 May 1897) was Lord Mayor of London and a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1885. Lawrence was the son of William Lawrence, an alderman of

640-752: A few years he became the leader of the Unitarian movement. A theological battle with the Congregational Churches resulted in the formation of the American Unitarian Association at Boston in 1825. Certainly, the unitarian theology was being "adopted" by the Congregationalists from the 1820s onwards. This movement is also evident in England at this time. The first school founded by the Unitarians in

720-650: A pre-existent Jesus who was subordinate to God the Father were Lucian of Antioch , Eusebius of Caesarea , Arius , Eusebius of Nicomedia , Asterius the Sophist , Eunomius , and Ulfilas , as well as Felix, Bishop of Urgell . Proponents of this Christology also associate it (more controversially) with Justin Martyr and Hippolytus of Rome . Antitrinitarian Michael Servetus did not deny the pre-existence of Christ, so he may have believed in it. (In his "Treatise Concerning

800-554: A signatory to the Oregon State Constitution, founded the first Unitarian church in Oregon in 1865. Eleven Nobel Prizes have been awarded to Unitarians: Robert Millikan and John Bardeen (twice) in physics; Emily Green Balch , Albert Schweitzer and Linus Pauling for peace; George Wald and David H. Hubel in medicine; Linus Pauling in chemistry; and Herbert A. Simon in economics. Four presidents of

880-446: A story for all ages; and include sermons, prayers, hymns and songs. Some will allow attendees to publicly share their recent joys or concerns. This section relates to Unitarian churches and organizations today which are still specifically Christian, whether within or outside Unitarian Universalism. Unitarian Universalism, conversely, refers to the embracing of non-Christian religions. Some Unitarian Christian groups are affiliated with

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960-670: A temporary corrugated iron church had been built. Meanwhile, the main Unitarian bodies, the British and Foreign Unitarian Association and the Sunday School Association, needed better offices. Eventually it was decided that they would get the Essex Street building to redevelop, and the chapel would move to join the Kensington congregation, taking with it enough money to build a splendid new church in place of

1040-621: A theology and as a denominational family of churches , was defined and developed in Poland, Transylvania, England, Wales, India, Japan, Jamaica, the United States, and beyond in the 16th century through the present. Although common beliefs existed among Unitarians in each of these regions, they initially grew independently from each other. Only later did they influence one another and accumulate more similarities. The Ecclesia minor or Minor Reformed Church of Poland , better known today as

1120-719: A tool for missionary work or encouraging conversions. In India, three different schools of Unitarian thought influenced varying movements, including the Brahmo Samaj , the Unitarian Church of the Khasi Hills , and the Unitarian Christian Church of Chennai , in Madras, founded in 1795. As of 2011, "Thirty-five congregations and eight fellowships comprising almost 10,000 Unitarians now form

1200-423: Is considered a factor in the decline of classical deism because there were people who increasingly preferred to identify themselves as Unitarians rather than deists. Several tenets of Unitarianism overlap with the predominant Muslim view of Jesus and Islamic understanding of monotheism . The Christology commonly called " Socinian " (after Fausto Sozzini , one of the founders of Unitarian theology) refers to

1280-480: Is currently led by Rev. Dr. Jane Blackall, who gained her ministerial qualification at Unitarian College, after a first career in the field of medical imaging and radiological sciences. 51°30′32″N 0°11′37″W  /  51.50889°N 0.19361°W  / 51.50889; -0.19361 Unitarianism Unitarianism was established in order to restore " primitive Christianity before later corruptions set in". Likewise, Unitarian Christians generally reject

1360-737: Is not required. The modern Unitarian Church in Hungary (25,000 members) and the Transylvanian Unitarian Church (75,000 members) are affiliated with the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (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

1440-513: The American Unitarian Association began to allow non-Christian and non-theistic churches and individuals to be part of their fellowship. 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. Unitarianism, both as

1520-587: The City of London , and his wife Jane Clarke, daughter of James Clarke. Lawrence was an alderman and Deputy Lieutenant for the City of London and a J.P. for Middlesex, Surrey and the city of Westminster. From 1862 to 1863 he was Sheriff of London and Middlesex. He was also president of the Bridewell and Bethlehem Hospitals . Lawrence was elected Member of Parliament for Lambeth at a by-election in 1865, but lost

1600-571: The Holy Spirit . This Christology existed in some form or another prior to Sozzini. Theodotus of Byzantium , Artemon and Paul of Samosata denied the pre-existence of Christ. These ideas were continued by Marcellus of Ancyra and his pupil Photinus in the 4th century AD. In the Radical Reformation and Anabaptist movements of the 16th century this idea resurfaced with Sozzini's uncle, Lelio Sozzini . Having influenced

1680-644: The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU), founded in 1995. The ICUU has "full member" groups in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, EUU, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain. Sri Lanka and the United States. Brazil is a Provisional Member. The ICUU includes small "Associate Groups", including Congregazione Italiana Cristiano Unitariana, Turin (founded in 2004) and

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1760-637: The Logos , or the Word, a being begotten or created by God, who dwelt with God in heaven. There are many varieties of this form of Unitarianism, ranging from the belief that the Son was a divine spirit of the same substance (called Subordinationism ) or of a similar substance to that of God (called Semi-Arianism ) to the belief that he was an angel or other lesser spirit creature of a wholly different nature from God. Not all of these views necessarily were held by Arius ,

1840-585: The Mid-Atlantic States . The first official acceptance of the Unitarian faith on the part of a congregation in North America was by King's Chapel in Boston, from where James Freeman began teaching Unitarian doctrine in 1784 and was appointed rector. Later in 1785, he created a revised Unitarian Book of Common Prayer based on Lindsey's work. Unitarianism is a proper noun and follows

1920-478: The National Urban League , and Florence Nightingale in humanitarianism and social justice; John Bowring , Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Elizabeth Gaskell in literature; Frank Lloyd Wright in the arts; Josiah Wedgwood , Richard Peacock and Samuel Carter MP in industry; Thomas Starr King in ministry and politics; and Charles William Eliot in education. Julia Ward Howe was a leader in

2000-605: The Polish Brethren to a formal declaration of this belief in the Racovian Catechism , Fausto Sozzini involuntarily ended up giving his name to this Christological position, which continued with English Unitarians such as John Biddle , Thomas Belsham , Theophilus Lindsey , and James Martineau . In America, most of the early Unitarians were "Arian" in Christology (see below), but among those who held to

2080-524: The Polish Brethren , was born as the result of a controversy that started on January 22, 1556, when Piotr of Goniądz (Peter Gonesius), a Polish student, spoke out against the doctrine of the Trinity during the general synod of the Reformed ( Calvinist ) churches of Poland held in the village of Secemin . After nine years of debate, in 1565, the anti-Trinitarians were excluded from the existing synod of

2160-629: The Polish Reformed Church (henceforth the Ecclesia maior ) and they began to hold their own synods as the Ecclesia minor . Though frequently called " Arians " by those on the outside, the views of Fausto Sozzini (Faustus Socinus) became the standard in the church, and these doctrines were quite removed from Arianism. So important was Socinus to the formulation of their beliefs that those outside Poland usually referred to them as Socinians . The Polish Brethren were disbanded in 1658 by

2240-609: The Principality of Transylvania in the mid-16th century; the first Unitarian Christian denomination known to have emerged during that time was the Unitarian Church of Transylvania , founded by the Unitarian preacher and theologian Ferenc Dávid ( c.  1520 –1579). Among its adherents were a significant number of Italians who took refuge in Bohemia , Moravia , Poland, and Transylvania in order to escape from

2320-557: The Sejm (Polish Parliament). They were ordered to convert to Roman Catholicism or leave Poland. Most of them went to Transylvania or Holland, where they embraced the name "Unitarian". Between 1665 and 1668 a grandson of Socinus, Andrzej Wiszowaty Sr. , published Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum quos Unitarios vocant ( Library of the Polish Brethren who are called Unitarians 4 vols. 1665–1669). The Unitarian Church in Transylvania

2400-525: The Trinity or affirms the belief that God is only one person . In that case, it would be a Nontrinitarian belief system not necessarily associated with the Unitarian movement. For example, the Unitarian movement has never accepted the Godhood of Jesus, and therefore does not include those nontrinitarian belief systems that do, such as Oneness Pentecostalism , United Pentecostal Church International ,

2480-469: The True Jesus Church , and the writings of Michael Servetus (all of which maintain that Jesus is God as a single person). Recently, some religious groups have adopted the 19th-century term biblical unitarianism to distinguish their theologies from Unitarianism. Unitarianism is a Christian theology and practice that precedes and is distinct from Unitarian Universalism . In the 1890s

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2560-898: The University of Leiden in the Netherlands for the ministry of the Dutch Reformed Church in Cape Town . There are two active Unitarian churches in Ireland, one in Dublin and the other in Cork. Both are member churches of the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland . Unitarianism was a latecomer to Denmark. Some of the inspiration came from Norway and England – family members of

2640-414: The first Unitarian Church was established in 1774 on Essex Street, London , where today's British Unitarian headquarters is still located. As is typical of dissenters and nonconformists , Unitarianism does not constitute one single Christian denomination ; rather, it refers to a collection of both existing and extinct Christian groups (whether historically related to each other or not) that share

2720-548: The religion of Jesus, not a religion about Jesus" to Unitarians, though the phrase was used earlier by Congregationalist Rollin Lynde Hartt in 1924. 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, Unitarians will light their chalice (symbol of faith), have

2800-541: The religious persecution perpetrated against them by the Roman Catholic and Magisterial Protestant churches. In the 17th century, significant repression in Poland led many Unitarians to flee or be killed for their faith. From the 16th to 18th centuries, Unitarians in Britain often faced significant political persecution, including John Biddle , Mary Wollstonecraft , and Theophilus Lindsey . In England,

2880-779: The Bét Dávid Unitarian Association, Oslo (founded 2005). The largest Unitarian denomination worldwide today is also the oldest Unitarian denomination (since 1565, first use of the term "Unitarian" 1600): the Unitarian Church of Transylvania (in Romania , which is in union with the Unitarian Church in Hungary). The church in Transylvania still looks to the statement of faith, the Summa Universae Theologiae Christianae secundum Unitarios (1787), though today assent to this

2960-586: The Danish Lutheran Church, to one where this was no longer assumed ( ). Biblical Unitarianism identifies the Christian belief that the Bible teaches that God the Father is one singular being , and that Jesus Christ is a distinct being, his son, but not divine. A few denominations use this term to describe themselves, clarifying the distinction between them and those churches which, from

3040-621: The Divine Trinity" Servetus taught that the Logos (Word) was the reflection of Christ, and "that reflection of Christ was 'the Word with God" that consisted of God Himself, shining brightly in heaven, "and it was God Himself" and that "the Word was the very essence of God or the manifestation of God's essence, and there was in God no other substance or hypostasis than His Word, in a bright cloud where God then seemed to subsist. And in that very spot

3120-507: The German liberal theology associated primarily with Friedrich Schleiermacher , the psilanthropist view increased in popularity. Its proponents took an intellectual and humanistic approach to religion. They embraced evolutionary concepts, asserted the "inherent goodness of man", and abandoned the doctrine of biblical infallibility , rejecting most of the miraculous events in the Bible (including

3200-659: The Lyndsey Press to begin well. From 1928 the main body of British Unitarianism was the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches or GA, subsuming the previous organisations but continuing to operate from Essex Hall. Much of Essex Street was demolished by enemy action during the Blitz in 1944. Once the bombed ruins had been removed after the war, the site served as a car park. Eventually planning permission and funding were obtained, which allowed for

3280-411: The Unitarian Chapel was known as the "Mayors' Nest". Numerous Unitarian families were highly significant in the social and political life of Britain from Victorian times to the middle of the 20th century. They included the Nettlefolds , Martineaus , Luptons , Kitsons , Chamberlains and Kenricks. In Birmingham, England , a Unitarian church – the Church of the Messiah – was opened in 1862. It became

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3360-454: The Unitarian Union of North East India." 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 . As of 2009, The AUC has three congregations in the United States. Unitarian Christian Ministries International

3440-426: The Unitarian faith on the part of a congregation in America was by King's Chapel in Boston, which settled James Freeman (1759–1835) 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

3520-421: The United States was the Clinton Liberal Institute , in Clinton, Oneida County, New York , founded in 1831. Unitarians charge that the Trinity , unlike unitarianism, fails to adhere to strict monotheism. Unitarians maintain that Jesus was a great man and a prophet of God, perhaps even a supernatural being, but not God himself. They believe Jesus did not claim to be God and that his teachings did not suggest

3600-418: The United States were Unitarians: John Adams , John Quincy Adams , Millard Fillmore , and William Howard Taft . Adlai Stevenson II , the Democratic presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956, was a Unitarian; he was the last Unitarian to be nominated by a major party for president as of 2024. Although a self-styled materialist, Thomas Jefferson was pro-Unitarian to the extent of suggesting that it would become

3680-472: The auction room of an up-scale bookseller named Samuel Paterson . This was easily adapted into a simple meeting house , but within a few years there was enough of a congregation, and enough donations, to have a new edifice raised on the foundations of the old. This was completed by 1778, with financial support from Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer , founder of the Hellfire Club , and Thomas Brand Hollis , political radical. Another supporter and trustee

3760-412: The belief that Jesus Christ began his life when he was born as a human. In other words, the teaching that Jesus pre-existed his human body is rejected. There are various views ranging from the belief that Jesus was simply a human ( psilanthropism ) who, because of his greatness, was adopted by God as his Son ( adoptionism ) to the belief that Jesus literally became the son of God when he was conceived by

3840-433: The bills. From the night of the Doodlebug raid until the completion of construction in 1958 – fourteen years—the work that normally took place in Essex Hall was displaced to some spare rooms at Dr Williams's Library in Gordon Square . Essex Church, known locally as Kensington Unitarians, is based at Notting Hill Gate in Kensington , West London , and runs a full programme of Sunday worship and small group ministry. It

3920-414: The building to be turned into the headquarters for the British and Foreign Unitarian Association and the Sunday School Association. These evolved into the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches , the umbrella organisation for British Unitarianism, which is still based on the same site, in an office building called Essex Hall . This article deals with the buildings (1778, 1887, 1958),

4000-542: The churches associated with the Christian Church in Italy . Notable Unitarians include classical composers Edvard Grieg and Béla Bartók ; Ralph Waldo Emerson , Theodore Parker , Yveon Seon and Thomas Lamb Eliot in theology and ministry; Oliver Heaviside , Erasmus Darwin , Joseph Priestley , John Archibald Wheeler , Linus Pauling , Sir Isaac Newton and inventor Sir Francis Ronalds in science; George Boole in mathematics; Susan B. Anthony in civil government; Frances Ellen Watkins Harper , Whitney Young of

4080-409: The construction of purpose-built offices. "What seemed at first to be a complete disaster was presently recognized as a denominational challenge, and was taken up with energy and determination," wrote the architect, Kenneth S. Tayler, A.R.I.B.A. Aside from the Unitarian headquarter functions, about half of the building's space was allocated from the outset to be leased to other organisations, thus paying

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4160-425: The doctrine of original sin . The churchmanship of Unitarianism may include liberal denominations or Unitarian Christian denominations that are more conservative , with the latter being known as biblical Unitarians . The birth of the Unitarian faith is proximate to the Radical Reformation , beginning almost simultaneously among the Protestant Polish Brethren in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and in

4240-432: The existence of a triune God . Unitarian Christology can be divided according to whether or not Jesus is believed to have had a pre-human existence. Both forms maintain that God is one being and one person and that Jesus is the (or a) Son of God , but generally not God himself. In the early 19th century, Unitarian Robert Wallace identified three particular classes of Unitarian doctrines in history: Unitarianism

4320-427: The face and personality of Christ shone bright." ) Isaac Newton had Arian beliefs as well. Famous 19th-century Arian Unitarians include Andrews Norton and William Ellery Channing (in his earlier years). Although there is no specific authority on convictions of Unitarian belief aside from rejection of the Trinity, the following beliefs are generally accepted: In 1938, The Christian Leader attributed "

4400-442: The founders, and the wife of Edward Grieg. 1900–1918 the society priest was Uffe Birkedal, who had previously been a Lutheran priest. He held the first worship 18 February 1900. A founding general assembly 18 May 1900 elected Mary Bess Westenholz as the first chairman of the Society. The Society newsletter was named 'Protestantisk Tidende' 1904–1993, and then renamed 'Unitaren', reflecting a gradually changing perception of being part of

4480-408: The general good of the denomination , as specified by the brothers. Lawrence was married to Agnes Harriette Castle and had one child Theodora. He died at the age of 76. One of his brothers, William Lawrence , was MP for the City of London . Another, Edwin Durning-Lawrence , was M.P. for Truro . His nephew was Frederick Pethick-Lawrence , a pacifist and pro-women's-suffrage MP. He is buried in

4560-401: The great and the good of British Unitarianism. The space was hired out for concerts and public meetings; for many years the Fabian Society met there, for example, and the Christadelphians held their AGM at Essex Hall. Public meetings could become heated: when the American Prohibitionist William "Pussyfoot" Johnson spoke at Essex Hall in 1919, he was abducted by medical students, and, off

4640-415: The history, and the current church, based in Kensington . The chapel was located just off the Strand , on a site formerly occupied by Essex House , London home of the Earl of Essex , hence the name of the street and the hall. It was about halfway between the City and Westminster , in the legal district of London . From the mid-18th century, some rooms within the former nobleman's palace were used as

4720-436: The iron one. This duly opened in 1887, under the name of Essex Church, serving the area of Kensington. Gradually the building deteriorated: air pollution attacked the stone (the effect of decades of "pea-soupers" , before the passage of the Clean Air Act 1956 ), the steeple was removed as dangerous in 1960, the roof was shattered by blue ice from an aircraft in 1971, and by the 1970s the whole fabric had become run down. It

4800-448: The late 19th century, evolved into modern British Unitarianism and, primarily in the United States, Unitarian Universalism . In 16th-century Italy, Biblical Unitarianism was powered by the ideas of the Non-trinitarian theologians Lelio and Fausto Sozzini , founders of Socinianism ; their doctrine was embraced and further developed by the Unitarian Church of Transylvania during the 16th and 17th centuries. Today, it's represented by

4880-418: The namesake of this Christology. It is still Nontrinitarian because, according to this belief system, Jesus has always been beneath God, though higher than humans. Arian Christology was not a majority view among Unitarians in Poland, Transylvania or England. It was only with the advent of American Unitarianism that it gained a foothold in the Unitarian movement. Among early Christian theologians who believed in

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4960-400: The predominant religion in the United States. In the United Kingdom, although Unitarianism was the religion of only a small minority of the population, its practitioners had an enormous impact on Victorian politics, not only in the larger cities – Birmingham , Leeds , Manchester and Liverpool – but in smaller communities such as Leicester , where there were so many Unitarian mayors that

5040-420: The premises, blinded by a missile. The house adjacent, number 1 Essex Street, had been donated to the trustees of the Essex Hall construction scheme, but the architects chose not to use it; during World War I it was turned into "a modest hostel for soldiers and sailors, without distinction of sect or creed, passing through or making short stays in London". In 1925 some alterations were made to Essex Hall to enable

5120-408: The same English usage as other Christian theologies that have developed within a religious group or denomination (such as Calvinism , Anabaptism , Adventism , Lutheranism , Wesleyanism , etc.). The term existed shortly before it became the name of a distinct religious tradition, thus occasionally it is used as a common noun to describe any understanding of Jesus Christ that denies the doctrine of

5200-415: The seat again at the following 1865 general election . In 1868 he became Lord Mayor of London , shortly before he was re-elected for Lambeth at the 1868 general election . He was created a baronet in November 1869 on the opening of Holborn Viaduct and Blackfriars Bridge . Lawrence held the seat at Lambeth until 1885. In 1886, Lawrence contested the Welsh constituency of West Carmarthenshire as

5280-435: The subsequent growth of Unitarianism in New England. Unitarian Henry Ware (1764–1845) was appointed as the Hollis professor of divinity at Harvard College, in 1805. Harvard Divinity School then shifted from its conservative roots to teach Unitarian theology (see Harvard and Unitarianism ). Buckminster's close associate William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) was settled over the Federal Street Church in Boston, 1803, and in

5360-448: The virgin birth). Notable examples are James Martineau , Theodore Parker , Ralph Waldo Emerson and Frederic Henry Hedge . Famous American Unitarian William Ellery Channing was a believer in the virgin birth until later in his life, after he had begun his association with the Transcendentalists. Arianism is often considered a form of Unitarianism. The Christology of Arianism holds that Jesus, before his human life, existed as

5440-471: The virgin birth. In the early days of Unitarianism, the stories of the virgin birth were accepted by most. There were a number of Unitarians who questioned the historical accuracy of the Bible, including Symon Budny , Jacob Palaeologus , Thomas Belsham, and Richard Wright , and this made them question the virgin birth story. Beginning in England and America in the 1830s, and manifesting itself primarily in Transcendentalist Unitarianism , which emerged from

5520-401: The woman suffrage movement, the first ever woman to be elected to the Academy of Arts and Letters, and author of the " Battle Hymn of the Republic ", volumes of poetry, and other writing. Although raised a Quaker, Ezra Cornell , founder of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, attended the Unitarian church and was one of the founders of Ithaca's First Unitarian Church. Eramus Darwin Shattuck,

5600-505: The word first appears in a title in Stephen Nye 's A Brief History of the Unitarians, called also Socinians (1687). The movement gained popularity in England in the wake of the Enlightenment and began to become a formal denomination in 1774 when Theophilus Lindsey organised meetings with Joseph Priestley , founding the first avowedly Unitarian congregation in the country. This occurred at Essex Street Church in London. Official toleration came in 1813 . The first official acceptance of

5680-406: Was Samuel Heywood , the chief justice. Their building footprint is believed to include the Tudor chapel of Essex House. Not until 1860 did the chapel gain an organ. The first minister was Theophilus Lindsey , who had recently left the Church of England because of his burgeoning Unitarian conviction. He had moved to London specifically to find like-minded people and to found a congregation—indeed,

5760-748: Was a Unitarian ministry incorporated in South Carolina until its dissolution in 2013 when it merged with the Unitarian Christian Emerging Church. The Unitarian Christian Emerging Church has recently undergone reorganization and today is known as the Unitarian Christian Church of America. In addition, the Unitarian Universalist Faith Alliance and Ministries follow a Progressive Christian format honoring Sacred Space and Creation Spirituality. The Unitarian Christian Church of America (UCCA)

5840-496: Was demolished and replaced with a modern church, with ancillary facilities. The first service was held in July 1977. In the mid-1880s, Essex Hall was razed and recreated by the architectural firm of Chatfeild-Clarke , designed for mixed use: offices and meeting rooms, but also a bookshop and reading rooms, and a great hall seating 600. It was ready a year earlier than the Kensington church, and its dedication service in 1886 featured all

5920-572: Was first recognized by the Edict of Torda , issued by the Transylvanian Diet under Prince John II Sigismund Zápolya (January 1568), and was first led by Ferenc Dávid (a former Calvinist bishop, who had begun preaching the new doctrine in 1566). The term "Unitarian" first appeared as unitaria religio in a document of the Diet of Lécfalva , Transylvania , on 25 October 1600, though it

6000-651: Was followed soon afterwards by chapels in Sydney and Adelaide, and later regional centres including Ballarat. The modern church, no longer unitarian Christian, retains properties in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, and smaller congregations elsewhere in Australia and New Zealand. The Unitarian movement in South Africa was founded in 1867 by David Faure , member of a well-known Cape family. He encountered advanced liberal religious thought while completing his studies at

6080-684: Was formed on 1 October 2016 through the merging of the Unitarian Christian Emerging Church and the Unitarian Christian Conference. The church's current ministry in on-line and through local fellowship gatherings. The current senior pastor and current president of the UCCA is the Reverend Dr. Shannon Rogers. The UCCA has both ordained and lay members. The first Unitarian Church in Australia was built in 1854 in Melbourne and

6160-1010: Was founded in the United Kingdom in 1991 by Rev. Lancelot Garrard (1904–93) and others to promote specifically Christian ideas within the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (GAUFCC), the national Unitarian body in Great Britain. Just as the UUCF and ICUU maintain formal links with the Unitarian Universalist Association in the US, so the UCA is an affiliate body of the GAUFCC in Great Britain. The majority of Unitarian Christian publications are sponsored by an organization and published specifically for their membership. Generally, they do not serve as

6240-509: Was not widely used in Transylvania until 1638, when the formal recepta Unitaria Religio was published. The word Unitarian had been circulating in private letters in England, in reference to imported copies of such publications as the Library of the Polish Brethren who are called Unitarians (1665). Henry Hedworth was the first to use the word "Unitarian" in print in English (1673), and

6320-475: Was reviewed as far afield as Leeds : "The congregation was respectable and numerous, and seemed to be particularly pleased with the spirit of moderation, candour and christian benevolence of the preacher whose sermon was perfectly well adapted to the occasion." Two hundred people gathered to hear Lindsey preach, including Benjamin Franklin , then an agent for the colonial Province of Massachusetts Bay . This

6400-591: Was the first time in England that a church had formed around explicitly Unitarian beliefs. By the 1880s demographic change, mainly the movement of population out of the very centre of London, meant that membership had fallen significantly. As long ago as 1867, Rev Robert Spears had led the formation of a Unitarian congregation a couple of miles to the west; this group had grown and moved several times, but had no home. Sir James Clarke Lawrence , Lord Mayor of London and Liberal MP , purchased and donated some land at Kensington Gravel Pits (now Palace Gardens Terrace), and

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