The Universalist Movement in America, 1770-1880.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (214 pages)
- Religion in America Series .
- Religion in America Series .
Intro -- Contents -- Introduction -- ONE: Calvinism Improved -- TWO: The Challenge of Communal Piety -- THREE: Controversy and Identity -- FOUR: Universal Redemption and Social Reform -- FIVE: Universalism and Spiritual Science -- SIX: Winning the Battle, Losing the War -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y.
In this volume Ann Lee Bressler offers the first cultural history of American Universalism and its central teaching -- the idea that an all-good and all-powerful God saves all souls. Although Universalists have commonly been lumped together with Unitarians as liberal religionists, in itsorigins their movement was, in fact, quite different from that of the better-known religious liberals.Unlike Unitarians such as the renowned William Ellery Channing, who stressed the obligation of the individual under divine moral sanctions, most early American Universalists looked to the omnipotent will of God to redeem all of creation. While Channing was socially and intellectually descended fromthe opponents of Jonathan Edwards, Hosea Ballou, the foremost theologian of the Universalist movement, appropriated Edwards's legacy by emphasizing the power of God's love in the face of human sinfulness and apparent intransigence. Espousing what they saw as a fervent but reasonable piety, manyearly Universalists saw their movement as a form of improved Calvinism.The story of Universalism from the mid-nineteenth century on, however, was largely one of unsuccessful efforts to maintain this early synthesis of Calvinist and Enlightenment ideals. Eventually, Bressler argues, Universalists were swept up in the tide of American religious individualism andmoralism; in the late nineteenth century they increasingly extolled moral responsibility and the cultivation of the self. By the time of the first Universalist centennial celebration in 1870, the ideals of the early movement were all but moribund. Bressler's study illuminates such issues as therelationship between faith and reason in a young, fast-growing, and deeply uncertain country, and the fate of the Calvinist heritage in American religious history.
9780198029748
Universalist churches -- United States -- History -- 18th century. Universalism -- History -- 18th century. Universalist churches -- United States -- History -- 19th century. Universalism -- History -- 19th century. United States -- Church history -- 18th century. United States -- Church history -- 19th century.