Rammohun Roy (c.1772-September 27, 1833), a Hindu monotheist, who made early translations of Vedic scriptures into English, co-founded the Calcutta Unitarian Society, and later founded Brahmo Samaj. He successfully campaigned against sati, the practice of burning widows. He sought to integrate Western culture with the best features of his own country’s traditions.…
Frances was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to free parents whose names are unknown. After her mother died in 1828, Frances was raised by her aunt and uncle. Her uncle was the abolitionist William Watkins, father of William J.
The Humiliati, composed mostly of young Universalist ministers recently graduated from the School of Religion of Tufts College in Medford, Massachusetts, was organized in 1945 and met annually until 1954.
Charles Hartshorne (pronounced Harts-horne—as in “deer’s horn”) (June 5, 1897-October 9, 2000) was the 20th century’s leading exponent of process theism. In his long career of more than 70 years, he vigorously defended the thesis that God presides over an everlasting universe as its eminent creative power and is supremely open to creaturely influence.
Universalists in late 18th century New England were not in theological accord regarding the afterlife. Some, like Caleb Rich, believed that the soul would experience immediate salvation upon death. These held the consequences of sin to be limited to life on earth.…
William Drennan (May 23, 1754-February 5, 1820), a physician, poet, educationalist and political radical, was one of the chief architects of the Society of United Irishmen. He is also known as the first to refer in print to Ireland as “the emerald isle.”…
John Abernethy (October 19, 1680-December 1, 1740), called “the father of non-subscription”, was a prominent Irish Presbyterian minister who led many ministers and congregations out of the Synod of Ulster into a separate liberal-minded denomination, known today as the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland.
Spiritualism as a religious movement was a varied set of beliefs and practices related to the conviction that the living and the dead could be in meaningful communication. It flourished in the second half of the 19th century and considerably affected both Universalism and Unitarianism at the time.…
Kenneth Leo Patton (August 25, 1911-December 25, 1994), identifed as one of the major poets and a prophet of contemporary liberal religion, was a voice for a poetic, naturalistic humanism at a time when most humanists were defining a religion of reason.
For about 25 years, throughout roughly the first quarter of the 19th century, most of New England was caught up in a tangle of theological arguments, since known as the Unitarian controversy. The controversy engaged the best minds of Harvard and Yale and, equally as much, tens of thousands of lay church members.…
James Relly (c.1722-April 25, 1778) was, as a young British minister, one a sizable group of Methodist preachers, including George Whitefield and John Wesley, whose itinerant preaching initiated a sweeping revival in large parts of Great Britain during the mid-18th century.