Unitarianism, Unitarianism

This version of unitarianism is more commonly called Nontrinitarianism, rather than Unitarianism.

In this article, Unitarianism as a theology is referred to as simply Unitarianism, while those who belong to a Unitarian Church (and most specificially, a church that is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association) are referred to as Unitarian Universalists.

This is because over time, some Unitarians and many Unitarian Universalists have moved away from the traditional Christian roots of Unitarianism. For example, in the 1890s the American Unitarian Association began to allow non-Christian and non-theistic churches and individuals to be part of their fellowship.

However, he is not eternal, but had a beginning of existence. This theology is commonly called Arianism, but there are many varieties of this form of Unitarianism, ranging from the belief that the Son, before he came to earth, was a divine spirit of the same nature as God to the belief that he was an angel or other lesser spirit creature of a wholly different nature from God, and Arius' views represent only one variation of this theology.

This concept could be referred to as "elevated subordinationism." It is associated with early church figures such as Justin Martyr, Lucian of Antioch, Eusebius of Caesarea, Arius, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Asterius the Sophist, Eunomius, and Ulfilas, as well as Felix, Bishop of Urgel and others who believed that Jesus was God in his divine nature but his divinity in his human nature was through adoption. Arian ideas persist among Unitarians in Transylvania, Hungary, France, and several countries in Africa. Famous 19th century Arian Unitarians include Andrews Norton See his book, A Statement of Reasons for Not Believing the Doctrines of Trinitarians (1859) and Dr. William Ellery Channing. See his famous sermon, "Unitarian Christianity" in The Works of W.E. Channing, D.D (1841) 19th century Unitarians often claimed Isaac Newton, but his Arian ideas predate Unitarianism.

In theological Unitarianism, the most weight regarding the accounts of Jesus, his character, and his life is given to the four canonical Gospels (Mark, Mathew, Luke, and John). Other sources of information about Jesus including newly discovered Gospels that were not included in the original canon of the Bible (e.g. Nag Hammadi Library) are also generally accepted.

Unitarianism is outside of the fellowship of these traditions. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant creeds of various stripes insist on trinitarian belief as an essential of Christianity and basic to a group's continuity of identity with the historical Christian faith.

Source: Wikipedia > Unitarianism