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149-809: The trust was later at the centre of a 12-year legal suit in the nineteenth century, noted in Unitarian history, and turning on the current beliefs of ministers who were supported by its funds. While the legal judgement went against the Unitarians, the introduction of the Dissenters' Chapels Act 1844, which followed on the case, improved their position. Sarah Wolrych was born in 1627 and she had money from her mother before she married John Hewley . As his widow, Sarah spent large sums in works of charity. In 1700 she built Lady Hewley's Almshouses and funded charity schools founded at York by Archbishop John Sharp . In 1705 she created

298-496: 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

447-581: A "relation to the penal sanction of the law", or the obligation to satisfy God's justice due to a willful violation of his law. In covenant theology , Adam is regarded as the federal head of the human race, and so by his sin and Fall, the guilt of his sin is imputed to all his descendents, as Louis Berkhof states, drawing from Romans 5:18–19 , "God adjudges all men to be guilty sinners in Adam, just as He adjudges all believers to be righteous in Jesus Christ. This

596-537: A belief. (See Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813 .) This aim was achieved through Parliament, rather than the courts, with the Dissenters’ Chapels Act 1844. The government supported legislation, which did not reverse the original decision, in order to head off a predicted rush of litigation in hundreds of cases affected by the precedent. A figure of 25 years was established, after which the right of possession of

745-452: A chapel could not be challenged on doctrinal grounds. Baron Cottenham added a clause to protect two chapels in Dublin over which litigation was already active. Despite extensive opposition from religious groups the bill passed. Unitarianism Unitarianism (from Latin unitas  'unity, oneness') is a nontrinitarian branch of Christianity . Unitarian Christians affirm

894-964: 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)

1043-650: 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

1192-616: A consequence of original sin. The Latin Church Fathers who followed Augustine adopted his position, which became a point of reference for Latin theologians in the Middle Ages. In the later medieval period, some theologians continued to hold Augustine's view. Others held that unbaptized infants suffered no pain at all: unaware of being deprived of the beatific vision , they enjoyed a state of natural, not supernatural happiness. Starting around 1300, unbaptized infants were often said to inhabit

1341-555: A cultural and intellectual centre of a whole society, a place where ideas about society were openly and critically discussed. Original sin Original sin ( Latin : peccatum originale ) in Christian theology refers to the condition of sinfulness that all humans share, which is inherited from Adam and Eve due to the Fall , involving the loss of original righteousness and the distortion of

1490-708: 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

1639-552: A further deed (26 April 1707) and by her will (9 July 1707, codicil 21 August 1710). The will was contested without result. Though the trustees were all Presbyterian, grants were made to ministers of the ‘three denominations;’ in other words Congregationalists and Baptists were included. By the end of the eighteenth century all the trustees and a majority of the Presbyterian recipients were Unitarian. Independents from Manchester objected to this controlling influence, and they brought

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1788-413: A greater variety of understandings of this doctrine, such as the 1938 report Doctrine in the Church of England . Man is by nature capable of communion with God, and only through such communion can he become what he was created to be. "Original sin" stands for the fact that from a time apparently prior to any responsible act of choice man is lacking in this communion, and if left to his own resources and to

1937-401: A human nature with the holiness with which it would otherwise have been endowed, in this way implicating them in his sin. The doctrine of original sin thus does not impute the sin of the father to his children, but merely states that they inherit from him a "human nature deprived of original holiness and justice", which is "transmitted by propagation to all mankind". In Roman Catholic theology,

2086-543: A lawsuit concerned with the enforcement of the terms of Lady Hewley's will in 1830; one of the topics in contention was the funding of Manchester Academy . The initial legal ruling sustained the view that a Trinitarian commitment was necessary, from those with benefits from the endowments. This judgment was then twice appealed, but was upheld by the Lord Chancellor in 1836; and again by the House of Lords in 1842. The outcome

2235-681: A long and bitter struggle several councils, especially the Second Council of Orange in 529, confirmed the general principles of Augustine's teaching within Western Christianity. However, while the Western Church condemned Pelagius, it did not endorse Augustine entirely and, while Augustine's authority was accepted, he was interpreted in the light of writers such as John Cassian , who rejected Pelagius but believed that fallen man could still choose to follow God of his own free will, although it

2384-644: A loss of free will except to sin. The Jansenist movement, which the Roman Catholic Church declared heretical , also maintained that original sin destroyed freedom of will. Instead, the Catechism of the Catholic Church declares that "Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ's grace , erases original sin and turns a man back towards God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle", and

2533-401: A notion similar to, but not the same as original sin, since Genesis was largely allegorical for him. On the other hand, he also believed in the pre-existence of the soul , and theorized that individuals are inherently predisposed to committing sin on account of the transgressions committed in their pre-worldly existence. Origen is the first to quote Romans 5:12–21, but rejected the existence of

2682-637: 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

2831-445: A result of the first couple's disobedience to God's will in the original sin. In Augustine's view (termed "realism"), all of humanity was really present in Adam when he sinned, and therefore all have sinned. Original sin, according to Augustine, consists of the guilt of Adam that all humans inherit. Although earlier Christian authors taught the elements of physical death, moral weakness, and a sin propensity within original sin, Augustine

2980-539: 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

3129-421: A sinful state inherited from Adam. To Origen, Adam's sin sets an example that all humanity partakes in, but is not inherently born into. Responding to and rejecting Origen's theories, Methodius of Olympus rejected the pre-existence of the soul and the allegorical interpretation of Genesis, and in the process, was the first to describe the events of Adam's life as the "Fall". Greek Fathers would come to emphasize

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3278-650: A state of sin from the moment of conception. The second article in the orthodox statement of Lutheran doctrine, the Augsburg Confession presents its doctrine of original sin in summary form. It is also taught among us that since the fall of Adam all men who are born according to the course of nature are conceived and born in sin. That is, all men are full of evil lust and inclinations from their mothers' wombs and are unable by nature to have true fear of God and true faith in God. Moreover, this inborn sickness and hereditary sin

3427-453: A state of sin from the moment of conception. This inherently sinful nature (the basis for the Reformed doctrine of " total depravity ") results in a complete alienation from God and the total inability of humans to achieve reconciliation with God based on their own abilities. Not only do individuals inherit a sinful nature due to Adam's fall, but since he was the federal head and representative of

3576-446: 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

3725-610: 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

3874-684: 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

4023-423: Is God who guides his progress. Some of the followers of Augustine identified original sin with concupiscence in the psychological sense, but Anselm of Canterbury challenged this identification in the 11th century, defining original sin as "privation of the righteousness that every man ought to possess", thus separating it from concupiscence. In the 12th century the identification of original sin with concupiscence

4172-487: Is a sin "contracted" and not "committed" - a state and not an act." This "state of deprivation of the original holiness and justice   [...] transmitted to the descendants of Adam along with human nature" involves no personal responsibility or personal guilt on their part (as stated in para. 405 of the Catechism ). Personal responsibility and guilt were Adam's, who because of his sin, was unable to pass on to his descendants

4321-562: Is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism." But the theory of Limbo, while it "never entered into the dogmatic definitions of the Magisterium   [...] remains   [...] a possible theological hypothesis". Soon after the Second Vatican Council , biblical theologian Herbert Haag raised

4470-450: Is called "original sin". As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers, subject to ignorance, suffering and the domination of death, and inclined to sin (this inclination is called "concupiscence"). Anselm of Canterbury wrote that "there is a difference between the sin of Adam on the one hand, and the sins of children on the other: one is the cause and one is the effect." Following this, Roman Catholic doctrine sees

4619-588: Is claimed by Revelation 2:7 and Revelation 22:2 . Some warn against taking Genesis 3 too literally. They take into account that "God had the church in mind before the foundation of the world" (as in Ephesians 1:4 as also in 2 Timothy 1:9 , "...his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." In his 1986 book ' In the Beginning... ' , Pope Benedict XVI referred to

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4768-423: 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

4917-420: Is effaced by baptism concupiscence still remains in the person baptized; therefore original sin and concupiscence cannot be one and the same thing, as was held by the early Protestants (see Council of Trent, Sess. V, can. v)." Søren Kierkegaard , Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr thought that the doctrine of original sin is not necessarily linked to some act of disobedience by the first human beings; rather,

5066-477: Is in the resurrection of the dead . The theologian Pelagius reacted thoroughly negatively to Augustine's theory of original sin. Pelagius considered it an insult to God that humans could be born inherently sinful or biased towards sin, and Pelagius believed that the soul was created by God at conception, and therefore could not be imbued with sin as it was solely the product of God's creative agency. Adam did not bring about inherent sin, but he introduced death to

5215-705: 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

5364-555: Is not that God punishes later generations for the deeds of Adam, but that Adam's story is representative for all humanity. The first writings to discuss the first sin at the hands of Adam and Eve were early Jewish texts in the Second Temple Period , such as the Book of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon . In these writings, there is no notion that sin is inherent to an individual or that it

5513-467: Is remitted for them could only be original sin. Baptism confers original sanctifying grace that erases original sin and any actual personal sin. The first comprehensive theological explanation of this practice of baptizing infants, guilty of no actual personal sin, was given by Augustine of Hippo, not all of whose ideas on original sin have been adopted by the Catholic Church—the church has condemned

5662-404: Is still the individual that is ultimately responsible for committing his own sin and that it is the individual's sin, rather than the sin of Adam and Eve, that God condemns in a person. Ian McFarland argues that it is the context of this Judaism through which Paul's discussions on the fall of Adam are to be better understood. Justin Martyr , a 2nd-century Christian apologist and philosopher,

5811-431: Is that fallen man does indeed retain the faculties of the soul such as reason, conscience and freedom of choice, yet, he has by nature an irresistible desire to commit sin, and cannot will the highest good, which was part of his original moral constitution. In his fallen state, man commits many actual sins ( Latin : peccatum actuale ) which "does not merely denote those external actions which are accomplished by means of

5960-501: Is transmitted by concupiscence , or "hurtful desire", resulting in humanity becoming a massa damnata (mass of perdition, condemned crowd), with much enfeebled, though not destroyed, freedom of will. When Adam sinned, human nature was thenceforth transformed. He believed that prior to the Fall , Adam had both the freedom to sin and not to sin ( posse peccare, posse non peccare ), but humans have no freedom to choose not to sin ( non posse non peccare ) after Adam's Fall. Augustine found

6109-541: Is transmitted upon conception. Instead, Adam is more largely seen as a heroic figure and the first patriarch. Rather, the beginnings of sin were seen in the stories of Cain or the sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6 . Despite the lack of a notion of original sin, by the 1st century, a number of texts did discuss the roles of Adam and Eve as the first to have committed sin. While Wisdom of Solomon 2:23–24 states that "God created man for incorruption   [...] but death entered

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6258-640: Is truly sin and condemns to the eternal wrath of God all those who are not born again through Baptism and the Holy Spirit. Rejected in this connection are the Pelagians and others who deny that original sin is sin, for they hold that natural man is made righteous by his own powers, thus disparaging the sufferings and merit of Christ. Calvin developed a systematic theology of Augustinian Protestantism with reference to Augustine of Hippo 's notion of original sin. Calvin believed that humans inherit Adamic guilt and are in

6407-442: Is what Paul means, when he says: 'So then as through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to condemnation; even so through one act of righteousness the free gift came unto all men to justification of life. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous,' Rom. 5:18, 19." The Fall also resulted in an "original pollution", which involves

6556-501: 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

6705-507: The Council of Trent states that "whereas all men had lost their innocence in the prevarication of Adam [...] although free will, attenuated as it was in its powers, and bent down, was by no means extinguished in them." Judaism does not see human nature as irrevocably tainted by original sin, while for the Apostle Paul , Adam's act released a power into the world by which sin and death became

6854-556: 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

7003-572: The Image of God . The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (the story of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden ), and in texts such as Psalm 51:5 ("I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me") and Romans 5:12–21 ("Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned"). The specific doctrine of original sin

7152-630: 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

7301-626: 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 ,

7450-565: 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

7599-469: 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

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7748-584: 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

7897-514: 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

8046-614: 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

8195-590: 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

8344-546: 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

8493-515: 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 ,

8642-402: 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

8791-403: 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

8940-647: The actual sins that a person commits. The absence of sanctifying grace or holiness in the new-born child is an effect of the first sin, for Adam, having received holiness and justice from God, lost it not only for himself but also for humanity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church sets forth the Roman Catholic doctrine of original sin in brief. By his sin Adam, as the first man, lost the original holiness he had received from God, not only for himself but for all humans. Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice; this deprivation

9089-414: 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

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9238-497: The libido ("concupiscence"), which makes the original sin pass from parents to children, is not a libido actualis , i.e. sexual lust, but a libido habitualis , i.e. a wound of the whole of human nature. Augustine insisted that concupiscence was not "a being" but a "bad quality", the privation of good or a wound. He admitted that sexual concupiscence ( libido ) might have been present in the perfect human nature in paradise , and that only later it became disobedient to human will as

9387-619: The ophitic event , Haag never makes any reference to the discontinuity of the loss of access to the tree of life . Genesis 2:17 states that, if one ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil , one would surely die, and the adverb indicates that, by avoiding this type of choice, one would have the possibility but not the certainty of accessing to the other tree. Therefore, in 1970 Latin American biblical scholar Carlos Mesters wondered if "Eden [is] golden age or goad to action", protology or eschatology , nostalgia for an idealized past or hope for something that has yet to happen as it

9536-488: 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

9685-423: 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,

9834-538: The unitary nature of God as the singular and unique creator of the universe , believe that Jesus Christ was inspired by God in his moral teachings and that he is the savior of humankind, but he is not equal to God himself. Accordingly, Unitarians reject the Ecumenical Councils and ecumenical creeds , and sit outside traditional, main-stream Christianity. Unitarianism was established in order to restore " primitive Christianity before later corruptions set in". Likewise, Unitarian Christians generally reject

9983-440: The " limbo of infants ". The Catechism of the Catholic Church , declares: "As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them," allow us to hope that there

10132-414: The 4th century. The idea developed incrementally in the writings of the Early Church Fathers in the centuries after the New Testament was composed. The late 1st- or early 2nd-century Didache 's seemingly exclusive preference for adult baptism offers evidence that its author may have believed that children were born sinless. The authors of the Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas , also from

10281-489: 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

10430-404: 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

10579-456: 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

10728-457: The Fall describes every human person's existential situation. Karl Barth rejected the concepts of original guilt and original corruption for being, as he thought, deterministic and undermining human responsibility; instead, he advanced, as noted by Loke, "an alternative conception of Original Sin ( Ursünde ) which rests upon the idea that God sees, addresses, and treats humanity as a unity on account of

10877-499: 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

11026-482: The Hewley Trust. She died in 1710. Portraits of Sir John Hewley and his wife are preserved in the vestry of St. Saviourgate Chapel . On 13 January 1704–5 Sarah, Lady Hewley conveyed to trustees a landed estate, of which the income was, after her death, to be devoted to benevolent objects, including the support of ‘poor and godly preachers for the time being of Christ's holy gospel.’ The benefactions were increased by

11175-489: The Protestant interpretation of Augustine characteristic of Luther and Calvin which involves total depravity, or a complete loss of freedom to will rightly. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that "by yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state. [... Original] sin is called "sin" only in an analogical sense: it

11324-573: 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

11473-564: 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

11622-641: 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

11771-537: 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

11920-471: 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

12069-662: The absence of original righteousness and the presence of an active disposition towards sin. The pervasive nature of this pollution in the human race is emphasized with the term "total depravity", that is, the notion that the corruption of original sin extends to every part of man's nature, and that there is nothing in man which can vindicate him before God. The effect of total depravity is "total inability", which means that, although fallen man may perform natural, civil and externally religious goods or virtues, yet he cannot do any act which pleases God and he cannot even begin to love God rather than himself. The Reformed conception of free will

12218-435: The apostle says: “Judgment from one offence to condemnation,” [Romans 5:16] and again a little after: “By the offence of one upon all persons to condemnation.” [Romans 5:18] Augustine's view was that human procreation was the way the transmission was being effected. He did not blame, however, the sexual passion itself, but the spiritual concupiscence present in human nature, soul and body, even after baptismal regeneration. This

12367-412: 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

12516-617: The body, but all those conscious thoughts and volitions which spring from original sin." This reflects the Reformed conflation of concupiscence with sin proper. The original formularies of the Church of England also continue in the Reformation understanding of original sin, which is evident in Article 9 ("Of Original or Birth-sin") of the Thirty-nine Articles . Original Sin standeth not in

12665-648: 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

12814-456: The cosmic dimension of the Fall, namely that since Adam, human beings are born into a fallen world, but held fast to belief that man, though fallen, is free. They thus did not teach that human beings are deprived of free will and involved in total depravity , which is one understanding of original sin among the leaders of the Reformation . During this period the doctrines of human depravity and

12963-461: The disobedience that is universal." For Barth, Adam did not pass on sin as corruption. In response to Augustine's problem of the inexplicability of original sin, Loke responds that God is not the first cause of evil, rather created libertarian agents who freely choose evil are the first causes of evil. In the theology of the Roman Catholic Church , original sin is the absence of original holiness and justice into which humans are born, distinct from

13112-566: 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

13261-642: The effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all."). However, Pelagians and modern interpreters such as M. Eugene Boring argue that Paul's meaning

13410-517: The effects of Original Sin". Furthermore, it explicitly denies that guilt is inherited from anyone, maintaining that instead humanity inherits its own fallen nature. In this it differs from the Reformed position that each person actually inherits Adam's guilt, and teaches instead that "original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants [...] but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man". This view, that human beings do not bear guilt for

13559-432: 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

13708-427: 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 "

13857-492: The fall, man thus kept his natural abilities of reason, will and passions. Rigorous Augustine-inspired views persisted among the Franciscans , though the most prominent Franciscan theologians, such as Duns Scotus and William of Ockham , eliminated the element of concupiscence and identified original sin with the loss of sanctifying grace. Eastern Christian theology has questioned Western Christianity's ideas on original sin from

14006-653: The flesh. This corruption is repeatedly designated by Paul by the term sin (Gal. 5:19); while the works which proceed from it, such as adultery, fornication, theft, hatred, murder, revellings, he terms, in the same way, the fruits of sin, though in various passages of Scripture, and even by Paul himself, they are also termed sins. The defining doctrinal statement of the Counter-Reformation , the Council of Trent (1545–1563), while not pronouncing on points disputed among Roman Catholic theologians, opposes Protestantism in stating that "whereas all men had lost their innocence in

14155-564: The following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk;) but it is the fault and corruption of the Nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit; and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerated; whereby

14304-506: The following passages, the first and last of which explain why the sin is described as "original": Genesis 3, the story of the Garden of Eden, makes no association between sex and the disobedience of Adam and Eve, nor is the serpent associated with Satan , nor are the words "sin," "transgression," "rebellion," or "guilt" mentioned. The words of Psalm 51:5 read: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me", but while

14453-492: 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

14602-586: The human race, all whom he represented inherit the guilt of his sin by imputation . Redemption by Jesus Christ is the only remedy. Calvin defined original sin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion as follows. Original sin, then, may be defined a hereditary corruption and depravity of our nature, extending to all the parts of the soul, which first makes us obnoxious to the wrath of God, and then produces in us works which in Scripture are termed works of

14751-517: The idea of hereditary sin, also linking it, like Cyprian, to infant baptism, but as a shift from earlier proponents of a transmitted sin, he argued that Adam's sin was solely his own fault, in his attempt to attain equality with God, rather than the fault of the devil. One contemporary of Ambrose was Ambrosiaster , the first to introduce a translation of Romans 5:12 that substituted the language of all being in death "because all sinned" to "in him all sinned". Augustine's primary formulation of original sin

14900-507: The infinitely valuable blood shed by the Lord could purchase. Thomas Aquinas maintains "that Christ is the head of the Church, and that the grace that he possesses as head is passed on to all the members of the Church because of the organic conjunction that obtains within the Mystical Body." Quoting 1 John 2:2 , Aquinas declares that the passion of Christ satisfied superabundantly for the sins of

15049-423: The inherently sinful nature of human flesh were taught by Gnostics , and orthodox Christian writers took great pains to counter them. Thus Christian apologists such as Justin insisted that God's future judgment of humanity implied humanity must have the ability to live righteously. Tertullian , perhaps the first to believe in hereditary transmission of sin, did so on the basis of the theory of traducianism ,

15198-506: 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

15347-419: The late 1st or early 2nd centuries, assumed that children were born without sin. However Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch , from the same period, took universal sin for granted but did not explain its origin from anywhere; and while Clement of Alexandria in the late 2nd century did propose that sin was inherited from Adam, he did not say how. The biblical bases for original sin are generally found in

15496-565: The lust of the flesh, called in the Greek, phronema sarkos , (which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire, of the flesh,) is not subject to the Law of God. And although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized, yet the Apostle doth confess, that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin. However, more recent doctrinal statements permit

15645-445: The meaning of the word "concupiscence" is the movement of the sensitive appetite contrary to the operation of the human reason. The apostle St Paul identifies it with the rebellion of the "flesh" against the "spirit". "Concupiscence stems from the disobedience of the first sin. It unsettles man's moral faculties and, without being in itself an offence, inclines man to commit sins." Augustine believed that unbaptized infants go to hell as

15794-418: 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

15943-500: The natural lot of mankind, a view which is evident in 2 Esdras , 2 Baruch and the Apocalypse of Moses . Paul uses much of the same language observed in 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch, such as Adam-death associations. He also emphasizes the individual human responsibility for their sins when he described the predominance of death over all "because all have sinned" ( Romans 5:12 ). Early Christianity had no specific doctrine of original sin prior to

16092-437: The necessary help of God's grace, the ability to lead a morally good life, thus denying both the importance of baptism and the teaching that God is the giver of all that is good. According to this understanding, the influence of Adam on other humans was merely that of bad example, thus, original sin consists in imitation of Adam. Augustine held that the effects of Adam's sin are transmitted to his descendants not by example but by

16241-412: The original sin inexplicable given the understanding that Adam and Eve were "created with perfect natures" which would fail to explain how the evil desire arose in them in the first place. Augustine also identified male semen as the means by which original sin was made heritable, leaving only Jesus Christ, conceived without semen, free of the sin passed down from Adam through the sexual act. This sentiment

16390-493: The original sin of a child as distinct from the fault of Adam, but rather as one of its effects. The effects of Adam's sin according to the Catholic Encyclopedia are the following. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that every human person born on earth is made in the image of God. Within man "is both the powerful surge toward the good because we are made in the image of God, and the darker impulses toward evil because of

16539-415: The original sin, in which pure affections were wounded by vice and became disobedient to human reason and will. As long as they carry a threat to the dominion of reason over the soul, they constitute moral evil, but since they do not presuppose consent, one cannot call them sins. Humanity will be liberated from passions, and pure affections will be restored only when all sin has been washed away and ended, that

16688-408: The outset and does not promote the idea of inherited guilt. In Cur Deus Homo , Anselm of Canterbury explained that after the original sin of Adam and Eve, the sacrifice of Christ's passion and death on the cross was necessary for the human race to be restored to the possibility of entering Paradise for eternal life. Indeed, a life of infinite duration required infinite merits of salvation that only

16837-457: 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

16986-436: The prevarication of Adam [...] although free will, attenuated as it was in its powers, and bent down, was by no means extinguished in them." The Council also condemned the teaching that in baptism the whole of what belongs to the essence of sin is not taken away, but is only cancelled or not imputed, and declared the concupiscence that remains after baptism not truly and properly "sin" in the baptized, but only to be called sin in

17135-468: The question; "Is original sin in Scripture?" According to his exegesis, Genesis 2:25 would indicate that Adam and Eve were created from the beginning naked of the divine grace , an originary grace that, then, they would never have had, and much less would have lost due to the subsequent events narrated. On the other hand, while supporting a continuity in the Bible about the absence of preternatural gifts ( Latin : dona praeternaturalia ), with regard to

17284-408: 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

17433-477: The sense that it is of sin and inclines to sin. In 1567, soon after the close of the Council of Trent, Pope Pius V went beyond Trent by sanctioning Aquinas' distinction between nature and supernature in Adam's state before the Fall, condemned the equating of original sin with concupiscence, and approved the view that the unbaptized could have right use of will. The Catholic Encyclopedia states, "Whilst original sin

17582-554: The sin of Adam, is also held in Eastern Orthodoxy. The Roman Catholic Church teaches, "By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free." The Roman Catholic Church has always held baptism to be for the remission of sins including the original sin, and, as mentioned in Catechism of the Catholic Church , infants too have traditionally been baptized, though not held guilty of any actual personal sin. The sin that through baptism

17731-610: The sin of one, and not rather on account of their own sins, if this passage is to be understood of imitation , and not of propagation? But mark what follows: “And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift; for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the grace is of many offences unto justification.” [Romans 5:16] Now let them tell us, where there is room in these words for imitation . “By one,” says he, “to condemnation.” By one what except one sin? [...] That person, therefore, greatly deceives both himself and others, who teaches that they will not be involved in condemnation; whereas

17880-410: The speaker traces their sinfulness to the moment of their conception, there is little to support the idea that it was meant to be applicable to all humanity. In the 4th century, Augustine would use texts such as Romans 5:16–18 to justify his theory of original sin as originating in propagation since Adam rather than being merely imitation of Adam as Pelagius claimed ("And the free gift is not like

18029-600: 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

18178-401: The term "original sin" as "misleading and unprecise". Benedict does not require a literal interpretation of Genesis, or of the origin of evil, but writes, "How was it possible, how did it happen? This remains obscure. Evil is not logical. Only God and good are logical, are light. Evil remains mysterious. It is presented as such in great images, as it is in chapter 3 of Genesis, with that scene of

18327-448: The theory that each individual's soul was derived from the soul of their two parents, and therefore, because everyone is ultimately a descendant of Adam through sexual reproduction, the souls of humanity are partly derived from Adam's own soul—the only one directly created by God, and as a sinful soul, the derived souls of humanity, too, are sinful. Cyprian , on the other hand, believed that individuals were born already guilty of sin, and he

18476-477: The two trees, of the serpent, of sinful man: a great image that makes us guess but cannot explain what is itself illogical." Article 1 of the Formula of Concord , an authoritative statement of Lutheran doctrine, teaches that original sin "is a root and fountain-head of all actual sins." There are two elements of original sin in Reformed theology: original guilt and original pollution . The term "guilt" refers to

18625-452: The very fact of generation from that ancestor ( propagation ). A wounded nature comes to the soul and body of the new person from their parents, who experience libido (or "concupiscence"). Augustine frequently cited Romans 5 to refute the Pelagian theory of imitation. But observe more attentively what he says, that “through the offence of one, many are dead.” For why should it be on account of

18774-620: The views of Augustine, as he declared that all humanity is implicated in Adam's downfall. On the precise nature of Adam's sin, Augustine taught that it was both an act of foolishness ( insipientia ) and of pride and disobedience to God of Adam and Eve. He thought it was a most subtle work to discern what came first: self-centeredness or failure in seeing truth, as he wrote to the Pelagian bishop Julian of Eclanum . The sin of Adam and Eve would not have taken place if Satan had not sown into their senses "the root of evil" ( radix mali ). The sin of Adam

18923-509: 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

19072-543: 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

19221-511: The whole world. The death of Christ was necessary only as a result of God's free decision to redeem humankind in a suitable manner, showing forth both the justice and the mercy of God. Both Martin Luther (1483–1546) and John Calvin (1509–1564) represent a radical Augustinian shift: equating concupiscence with original sin, maintaining that it destroyed free will and persisted after baptism. Luther asserted that humans inherit Adamic guilt and are in

19370-602: 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,

19519-662: 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

19668-411: The world by the envy of the devil" (2:23–24), Ecclesiasticus 25:24 states that "Sin began with a woman, and we must all die because of her" (25:24). The notion of the hereditary transmission of sin from Adam was rejected by both 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch in favor of individual responsibility for sin. Despite describing death as having come to all men through Adam, these texts also held to the notion that it

19817-468: The world. Furthermore, Pelagius argued, sin was spread through example rather than hereditary transmission. Pelagius advanced a further argument against the idea of the transmission of sin: since adults are baptized and cleansed of their sin, their children are not capable of inheriting a sin that the parents do not have to begin with. Opposition to Augustine's ideas about original sin, which he had developed in reaction to Pelagianism , arose rapidly. After

19966-712: 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)

20115-452: Was an early father appealed to by Augustine on the doctrine of original sin, although he did not believe that Adam's sin was as severe as later tradition would hold and he was not wholly clear about its consequences. One recurring theme in Irenaeus is his view that Adam, in his transgression, is essentially a child who merely partook of the tree ahead of his time. Origen of Alexandria had

20264-417: Was based on this mistranslation of Romans 5:12. This mistranslation would act as the basis for Augustine's complete development of the doctrine of original sin, and Augustine would quote Ambrosiaster as the source. Some exegetes still justify the doctrine of original sin based on the wider context of Romans 5:12–21. Hilary of Poitiers did not clearly articulate a concept of original sin, though anticipates

20413-522: Was because, according to Augustine, sexual desire is only one—though the strongest—of many physical realizations of that spiritual libido. Christian parents transmit their wounded nature to children, because they give them birth, not the "re-birth". Augustine used the Ciceronian Stoic concept of passions to interpret Paul's doctrine of universal sin and redemption. In that view, sexual desire itself as well as other bodily passions were consequences of

20562-709: Was developed in the 3rd century struggle against Gnosticism by Irenaeus of Lyons , and was shaped significantly by Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD), who was the first author to use the phrase "original sin". Influenced by Augustine, the Councils of Carthage (411–418 AD) and Orange (529 AD) brought theological speculation about original sin into the official lexicon of the Church . Protestant Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin equated original sin with concupiscence (or 'hurtful desire'), affirming that it persisted even after baptism and completely destroyed freedom to do good, proposing that original sin involved

20711-445: Was echoed as late as 1930 by Pope Pius XI in his Casti connubii : "The natural generation of life has become the path of death by which original sin is communicated to the children." Adam and Eve, via sexual reproduction, recreated human nature. Their descendants now live in sin, in the form of concupiscence, a term Augustine used in a metaphysical , not a psychological sense. Thomas Aquinas explained this by pointing out that

20860-556: 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

21009-636: 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

21158-657: 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

21307-969: 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

21456-499: 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

21605-420: Was supported by Peter Lombard and others, but was rejected by the leading theologians in the next century, most notably by Thomas Aquinas . Aquinas distinguished the supernatural gifts of Adam before the fall from what was merely natural, and said that it was the former that were lost, privileges that enabled man to keep his inferior powers in submission to reason and directed to his supernatural end. Even after

21754-550: Was that by a judgment of the House of Lords (5 August 1842) three Congregationalists, three orthodox Presbyterians, and one Baptist were appointed trustees. The income of the trust was then £2,830. As a direct consequence of the legal ruling, a group including Edwin Wilkins Field pressed for legislation. The immediate purpose was to have a retrospective element attached to the date (1813) on which Unitarianism obtained legal tolerance as

21903-707: Was the first Christian author to discuss the story of Adam's fall after Paul. In Justin's writings, there is no conception of original sin and the fault of sin lies at the hands of the individual who committed it. In his Dialogue with Trypho , Justin wrote "The Christ has suffered to be crucified for the race of men who, since Adam, were fallen to the power of death and were in the error of the serpent, each man committing evil by his own fault" (chapter 86) and "Men   [...] were created like God, free from pain and death, provided they obeyed His precepts and were deemed worthy by Him to be called His sons, and yet, like Adam and Eve, brought death upon themselves" (chapter 124). Irenaeus

22052-566: Was the first to add the concept of inherited guilt ( reatus ) from Adam whereby an infant was eternally damned at birth. Augustine held the traditional view that free will was weakened but not destroyed by original sin until he converted in 412 AD to the Stoic view that humanity had no free will except to sin as a result of his anti-Pelagian view of infant baptism. Augustine articulated his explanation in reaction to his understanding of Pelagianism that would insist that humans have of themselves, without

22201-498: Was the first to link his notion of original guilt with infant baptism . Cyprian writes that the infant is "born has not sinned at all, except that carnally born according to Adam, he has contracted the contagion of the first death from the first nativity." Another text to assert the connection between original sin and infant baptism was the Manichaen Letter to Menoch , although it is of disputed authenticity. Ambrose accepted

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