Category: Universalism

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Request from readers

It’s taking a bit of effort get back into writing, and I would appreciate any requests for research, elaboration or commentary.

More thoughtful work takes more time, of course. I’m thinking about the tension between “denominational Universalism” (what I do here) and “neo-Universalism” (as I call it) which makes up the bulk of Universalist Christian interest today, and often comes with an Evangelical background. Also working on Christmas worship suitable for singles or couples. Not Universalist per se, but anticipating an unmet need: worship in a time of fracture and decline.

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Generative AI for Universalism

Explainer graphic as sample of generative AI

I’m more than a little suspicious about generative artificial intelligence: a mix of feelings about slop culture; the devaluation of mental work; the risks both to property rights and open culture; the risks to our economy; and the pressure on our environment, among others. Do the risks outweigh the opportunities? And will it assemble fantasy facts and spurious citations? Better to look, and review than wonder and let my imagination wrongly overvalue or undervalue it.

But where to begin? A few months ago, I used ChatGPT and a couple of image generators, but everything was vague or too uncanny. I came across a video produced by Google’s NotebookLM today, and thought I’d give it a try — with Universalism, of course.

My first attempt used a short prompt about the Winchester Profession. NotebookLM proposed a set of authority documents — one from one of my own sites — and I filtered out a couple of suspicious sources, but all the rest were denominational-adjacent. The results were disappointing, and the podcast-style audio was absolutely eerie. Because of the sources, Universalism was compared and contrasted with Unitarianism, which I hadn’t mentioned and attempts to filter Unitarianism out failed. The products reminded me of pamphlets — and a telling of liberal religion — that neither speaks to me, nor looks (as best I can tell) like the UUA today. If anything, it reminded me of pamphlets from twenty to fifty years past. Not useful.

So I asked for “Christian Universalism and not Unitarian Universalism” and this coughed up more theological sources: both patristic and current writers in a group I think of as neo-Universalist. The sources made the outcome, naturally enough. Generated audio and video is peppered with informal uses and verbal ticks which by definition is unnatural. I have a study guide that I’ll need to examine closely.

But this graphic looks pretty good to me. But Universalism historically has suffered a labor shortage, and the right tools may make more possible for its future, so worth more exploration and an examination of the risks and benefits.

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Finding a Universalist among the Esperantists

Well, I finally found a reference to a Universalist — in fact, a minister — in an Esperanto setting, and I wasn’t even looking. With the online publication of the main Universalist publication — alternately titled the Universalist Leader or the Christian Leader — I was able to look up question I had about the little-documented World War Two era. But I found a different answer

I took a family trip to New York last year, and we stayed in the Hotel New Yorker. Wasn’t there a Universalist conference there? So I searched for it by name. No Universalist conference during the war years, but the 1939 Esperanto Association of North America (EANA) had its annual meeting there, and the Rev. Cornelius Greenway, minister of the All Souls Universalist Church, Brooklyn (now incorporated in the All Souls Bethlehem Church) gave the sermon for the July 1 non-sectarian service there.

Was there more to learn? While the EANA went extinct decades ago, its rival, Esperanto-USA (formally the Esperanto League of North America), keeps copies of the EANA newsletter Amerika Esperantisto online because of its historical importance. The whole sermon was reprinted by request in that issue, but there are two odd things to note.

  1. Even though it was a non-sectarian service (nesekta diservo) Greenway cited the first two of the “Five Points” declaration in furtherance of his theme.
  2. Oh, and the sermon is entirely in English. Seems he and his family learned some Esperanto in his youth in the Netherlands but forgot it all. Not terribly auspicious, but then I may be the only Universalist minister with a working knowledge of Esperanto, and I wouldn’t dare preach in it. And Greenway’s experience in post-WWI peace negotiations would have meant a lot to the conference participants, two months before the European war would start.

So you can read the sermon (and an outline of the service, much of which was in Esperanto) in the newsletter, all in English, starting at page 3. It’s not a work for the ages, despite its reception at the time.

Other references to Universalism in the Leader convey half-hearted hopes for its use in peace work; its use as a metaphor for something of universal interest; and — oddly — a quotation to advertise (a sample) the then-denominational St. Lawrence University. It seems Universalist knew about Esperanto, but didn’t know it and certainly didn’t use it for church work.

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“Catholic Universalism” (1888)

Over the years, I’ve run across Henry I. Cushman’s 1888 essay “Catholic Universalism” but never sat down and read it from beginning to end in one sitting. I’ve learned the best way for me to do so is to prepare a transcription for the web, and this is the result of that effort.

Cushman was part of that generation of liturgically-minded and -productive Universalists and this essay show his influence.

I’ve added links where helpful and marked page breaks in the original in square brackets.

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More “Universalist Leader” issues online

Last night after midnight, more intellectual property entered the public domain. In the United States, generally speaking these are items published in 1929. As in other years, I will see if there any new Universalist works of interest. (More about that later.) But while looking at the Internet Archive, I see that issues of the main Universalist denominational magazine, variously entitled The Christian Leader or The Universalist Leader were posted there earlier in 2024.

Click here to see the issues from 1926 to 1952. Earlier issues are in the public domain and are available elsewhere, and later issues — leading to the consolidation with the Unitarian Register are available online at the Harvard-Andover Library. I wrote about these in 2023.

The big gain, of course, are the years during the Great Depression and World War Two. These were difficult for the Universalist General Convention/Universalist Church in America, and there is remarkably little online about then. Or there was until now; Universalists communicated policy focus and decisions through these magazines, not to mention the changing tone in theological and social matters. These issues will make an interesting read.

Want to know what else is available to share and reuse freely? See this helpful review at Duke Law’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain.

Public Domain Day 2025

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The Affirmation of Social Principles (1943)

There was only one Universalist national meeting during the Second War War. They were biennial, and the 1941 and 1945 meetings just book-ended the United States participation in the war. I’ve not been able to read the Christian Leader, the denominational newspaper from that period and so much of what I have been able to discern has been from the record of that one meeting, in New York, held at the Church of the Divine Paternity, now known as Fourth Universalist. It was thinly attended — 117 delegates; there was a war on, after all — but plenty occurred. The denomination formally adopted new bylaws as the Universalist Church of America for one. The delegates approved the following Affirmation of Social Principles for another, which I’ve attached below. It’s worth noting how they were already looking past the war years to a new age, and a spirit which surely persisted into consolidation with the Unitarians.

At some point I’ll get this on one of my documents sites, but since those could use a cleanup, I’ll post it here first.

Read more: The Affirmation of Social Principles (1943)

THE AFFIRMATION OF SOCIAL PRINCIPLES

of

THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF AMERICA

Adopted at New York City October, 1943

We Universalists avow our faith in the supreme worth of every human personality, and in the power of men of good will and sacrificial spirit to overcome all evil and progressively establish the Kingdom of God. This faith is being challenged on every side. We therefore re-affirm our historic stand and call upon our people to think through and act upon that faith.

Now is the time for greatness. There have been few if any periods in the entire history of the human race when men have had such an opportunity to mold the future. We stand at the great divide. On one side lies a land of promise, an unprecedented opportunity to build a better world than has ever been known. On the other side lies a return to the old order with its greed, poverty and war.

The hour for decision is at hand. We must move backward toward the old or forward toward the new. It is a fateful decision to make, for destiny will be determined by it; but we cannot and would not escape the responsibility.

Partialism cannot solve the problems of today and tomorrow. Partialism limits, divides and excludes. It emphasizes nationalism, racism, classism, sectarianism, caste and privilege, and it inevitably issues in conflict. Partialism is the underlying philosophy of an old order which was founded on a technological and sociological isolationism which no longer exists. It is discredited and impotent, It cannot construct, a unified and universalized civilization, but will lead us backward to the past. That way lies disaster.

The peoples of the world have built an interdependent and integrated culture. Nations, races, classes share a common heritage of science. Airplanes have abolished boundaries. Radios have brought the voice of every people into our homes. Industry has distributed far and wide the commodities of inventive genius. Music, art and education speak a common language.

The only possible philosophy for a better world is universalism. It alone is realistic and creative. In it lies the hope of mankind; without it we are doomed.

This faith means that, the whole is greater than the parts. It is the philosophy and the religion of the all-inclusive. It interprets life in terms of the universals and the unities. It levels barriers, abjures prejudice, and renounces all that sets man against his fellow man. It endeavors to integrate humanity into one harmonious co-operating unity.

This faith demands that the common humanity of all races be recognized.

This faith demands that all men of all classes, races, creeds, shall abjure war as a method of solving international disputes and shall affirm their faith in the possibility of progressively building a lasting peace.

This faith demands that we must build an international order in which the sovereign power to settle international disputes resides in a league or assembly of all peoples.

This faith demands that the physical resources of the earth be so used that all men everywhere shall have the essentials of a good life.

This faith demands that we must build an economic order based on the abundant life for all rather than upon the acquisitive power of the few.

This faith demands that the human resources of society, such as education, culture, the arts, be made progressively available to all.

We here and now call upon all fellow Universalists to unite in a great and consecrated movement to make these things come to pass.

In the field of social welfare:

  1. We must acquaint ourselves with the faith and practice of other religionists that we may help to overcome the destructive force of religious prejudice.
  2. We must recognize that today Americans of Negro, Indian and Oriental descent, and many not yet citizens, are suffering from unjust forms of discrimination. We must combat every such form of race prejudice by practical steps which shall achieve a just status for these, our brethren.
  3. We must work for such forms of social betterment and security as will enable the American family to provide conditions of housing, food, education and recreation consistent with constructive religious living.
  4. We must work for the strengthening of the spiritual foundations of the American home that all members of the family may be growing Christian persons.
  5. We must engage in sacrificial and informed community activity which will produce wholesome and progressive results in the areas of planning, relief, reconstruction and recreation.
  6. We must study the complex problems of labor, management and capital so that we can intelligently bring the insights of Christian ethics to bear on the problems of economic justice for all members of society.
  7. We must recognize the importance of a strong, independent, land-owning farm folk to the future health and well-being of a growing democracy. To this end we recommend support of such legislation and other organized activities as help to increase the number of family-sized and family-owned farms.
  8. We must welcome and encourage the growth of the co-operative movement as a check on unwholesome economic practices vice to producers and consumers alike.
  9. We must work for improved educational opportunities for young and old, and for a freedom in teaching which puts no restriction upon the authority of truth known or to be known.
  10. We must condemn as destructive to the best interests of society all forms of gambling and small games of chance which are an attempt to get something for nothing, and we must work for more stringent laws governing such practices.
  11. We must advance the cause of temperance through wise legislation pertaining to the manufacture, distribution, advertising and sale of alcoholic beverages and we must promote a sustained and scientific educational program dealing with the personal and social effects of intemperance.
  12. We must avoid both sentimentality and vindictiveness in our attitudes toward criminals. To this end we must give enlightened support to penologists, jurists and trained social workers who seek to develop scientific, humane and ethical treatment of actual and potential criminals and so promote the cause of corrective penology.
  13. We must commit ourselves and encourage others to consistent obedience to law lest we and our society suffer the consequences of disorder and unrestraint.
  14. We must recognize the fact that there is no common judgment among Christians as to one’s personal duty when called for military service and we call our people to be true in policy and action to a basic law of our church, Article XII of the Laws of Fellowship, which grants full fellowship to conscientious objectors in time of war.
  15. We must increase our participation in government as individuals and as representatives of groups of citizens, and must as a denomination and as local churches know and speak our mind on significant public questions.

In the field of international relations:

  1. We must inform ourselves concerning the problems of today’s world.
  2. We must co-operate in establishing an international organization which shall be truly democratic and all-inclusive. In this world organization there must be some internationally organized power to restrain those who threaten the peace of mankind; there must be provision for peaceful change, for the regulation of currencies, tariffs and other economic concerns by international agreement, and for equal opportunity for all to share the natural resources of the earth.
  3. We must be prepared to continue in a spirit of self-sacrifice after the fighting ends to provide food, medical care, and the materials and leadership for reconstruction in all devastated lands.

In the field of international church extension:

  1. We must evaluate the work which we have done in Japan and Korea and decide whether or not to re-establish any or all of it, and we must study opportunities offered in the post-war period for new approaches to the Japanese through educational and social work.
  2. We must consider new opportunities in world mission, and take our share in the responsibility of Christians for relief, reconstruction and education.

We, therefore consecrate ourselves to the task of building, under God, a universal brotherhood.

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What I’m reading

I’m currently reading

Talbott, Thomas. Understanding the Free-Will Controversy: Thinking through a Philosophical Quagmire. Cascade Books, 2022.

Why? Because while the charge that Universalism violates human will has never impressed me much, neither did “classic” Universalists give it the consideration it deserves. Talbott presents a small but dense work, and as a well-known figure among neo-Universalists deserves a careful read. Or two.

Lynskey, Dorian. The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell’s 1984. Doubleday, 2019.

I’ve stumbled back on Orwell’s masterwork and I want to appreciate it as an adult. As a reflection on the current infatuation with authoritarianism but also, in light of World War Two anniversaries, of Orwell’s postwar Britain.

Parks, Tim. Italian Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo. W. W. Norton and Company, 2013.

Trains and Italy? What more do you want?

It’s worth noting I got the Talbott work on sale from Wipf and Stock, of which Cascade in an imprint. They are the de-facto Neo-Universalist Publishing House among other niches, so if you’re reading this, you should get on their mailing list now.

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“Missing” Georgia churches found

As many of you know, I am from Georgia and started my career there. I even worked to an ill-fated and later abandoned master’s degree in church history; my thesis would have been about Universalist churches in the antebellum South. But resources were harder to get thirty years ago, and so left that behind, went to seminary instead.

Between those researches and recent (say, 1980s) UUA directories, I knew there were churches that had been in Georgia for which there was little evidence. Two that kept coming back up was the one in Allatoona, in the northern part of the state, and the one in Senoia, south of Atlanta.

I always wondered what happened to them. The last I heard of the Senoia church was that it was rented to a Pentecostal church, so I assumed it was still in those hands or demolished. In other parts of the South, I’ve seen a gap in a cemetery where a church should be; been shown by an elder where an extinct church turned into a house (and the graveyard into a vegetable garden); and once unwisely drove up a logging road to find the grafitti-ed ruins of an abandoned meeting house. Times takes our little works away.

In a moment of free-form web browsing last week, I visited the Georgia Digital Library and looked up the Universalists and got my answer.

The Allatoona church is in rough shape, but evidently is or was on the radar of historic preservationists. There’s even a picture.

No picture but a happier outcome for the Senoia church. According to the September 27—October 1, 2004 issue of the “Preservation Georgia online” newsletter, the church was given in trust by the last members and has been converted to a private home.

“Harmony Church, a former Revolving Fund property of The Georgia Trust, will be featured this October on an episode of HGTV’s Building Character. The show highlights properties that have been transformed into one-of-a-kind private homes and the owners who rehabilitated them.

…

Located in Senoia, the 1896 Harmony Church was built by a Universalist congregation that came to Coweta County from South Carolina. Last used regularly in the 1980s, the surviving members of the congregation donated the church to The Georgia Trust’s Revolving Fund in 2002. The vernacular religious architecture of the 1,450-sq.-ft. church has been retained, as have its original windows, doors and hardwood floors. While the pews and pulpit were removed, the interior is still paneled entirely in wood.”

I’ve not found that clip online, but Harmony is a typically Universalist church name. In any case, it’s good to know what happened to them.