Category: Universalist identity

Lent for Universalists?

A friend asked me: did Universalists observe Lent? In my reading, they did not observe in the “giving up” sense but did, in the twentieth century anyway, have meditation manuals and special devotional services — say, by the Women’s Association. And of course Maundy Thursday, important also as a day for welcoming new members.

Ballou’s Treatise on Atonement online

Thanks to Unitarian Universalist minister and blogger Dan Harper for putting up the all-typed-out version of the 1832 edition of Hosea Ballou’s Treatise on Atonement. If you had looked at the library of your everyday nineteenth-century Universalist, it would have included the Bible, a Life of Murray and perhaps this. Thanks! and enjoy.

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost preparation

September 25, 2011 is the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost. The collects, though similar, have very different meanings. Interesting. An intended key to Universalism, perhaps. Also, today (September 19) is the twelfth anniversary of my ordination. Free Church Book of Common Prayer (1929) Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope,… Continue reading Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost preparation

Statements of faith Universalists have professed

So what do Universalist Christians believe, today and historically? The Rob Bell controversy has brought out some affirmations of universal salvation on the ‘net, both within and (largely) outside the Unitarian Universalist Association. And with it — as if we returned to antebellum America — sharp and untrue denunciations of Universalism, and claims about what… Continue reading Statements of faith Universalists have professed

Bleg: old Universalist rules of fellowship

For the uninitiated, a bleg is a blog beg. And so I’m begging. I’m on the look out for Universalist church rules of fellowship and other organic governing documents, roughly for the period from 1910 to 1959. Documents from the immediate post-WWII era are especially desirable. Hard as the devil — so to speak —… Continue reading Bleg: old Universalist rules of fellowship

Mirroring a Universalist site; a test of Amazon S3 etc.

I’ve mentioned before how I want to learn how to use the cloud-based Amazon S3 service to host static websites (that is, those whose content doesn’t change based on user interaction.) Well, I’ve done it, and in the process have put a domain I’ve had long reserved into use and have mirrored content from UniversalistChurch.net… Continue reading Mirroring a Universalist site; a test of Amazon S3 etc.

Fresh crop of universalists?

There’s some buzz, buzz, buzz because evangelical darling Rob Bell may (or may not) be a universalist. That tickles me, not because “our” number might be increased by one, but because this kind of proclamation is so common in Universalist history and was vital in its self-defense. (Style point: I use universalist to describe the… Continue reading Fresh crop of universalists?

What hymns are distinctive for Unitarian and Universalist Christians? Lists proffered.

Yesterday, I blogged wondering what might constitute a Unitarian and Universalist Christian hymn corpus. In essence, this would seem to me to be those hymns most commonly found in Unitarian and Universalist hymnals (the Universalists wrote few enduring hymns themselves and tended to rely on the Unitarians as much as anyone) less those hymns commonly… Continue reading What hymns are distinctive for Unitarian and Universalist Christians? Lists proffered.