FAITH LIKE A RIVER
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults
WORKSHOP 1: WADING IN – AN INTRODUCTION
2011
BY JACKIE CLEMENT ALISON CORNISH
© Copyright 2011 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 10:52:15 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? — Paul Gauguin
This workshop explores Unitarian Universalist history as one current in the stream of human history, with its own themes of thought and action that swirl, eddy, and bubble to prominence at different points in time. A selection of stories from our faith heritage offers not only a grounding of knowledge, but also insights into contemporary issues, practices, challenges, and trends in our faith movement.
The workshop presents an overview and a time line which will help the group place events in historical context as they are explored in future workshops. Because the activities in this workshop provide a foundation for subsequent workshops, there are no alternate activities.
Before leading this workshop, review the Accessibility Guidelines for Workshop Presenters in the program Introduction. Make preparations needed to accommodate individuals who may be in the group.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: W.H.G. Carter and a Step Toward Reconciliation | 25 |
Activity 2: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? | 25 |
Activity 3: Time Line of UU History | 20 |
Activity 4: Building a Group Covenant | 25 |
Faith in Action: Sharing Insights from UU History | |
Closing | 10 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Reflect on a time when you learned something new about the history of your congregation, or about Unitarian Universalism, that shifted your sense of identity as a Unitarian Universalist.
What feelings were associated with the shift? If you heard a story of achievement and courage, did you feel unexpectedly proud? If you heard a story about a time when our forebears fell short of Unitarian Universalist ideals, you may have felt chagrined or sad. Perhaps, if you learned a story of a wrestling to find the right thing to do in the face of difficult choices, you might have felt a connection to the struggles of others. Recall the circumstances of your new learning and the feeling you had in response.
You may wish to ask participants to engage in this same spiritual practice so that they, too, arrive at the workshop centered and ready to engage with the material and the group.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Welcome everyone to the workshop as they enter. Ask them to sign in, make name tags, and pick up the schedule handout from the welcome table. Draw their attention to the posted agenda for this workshop.
Including All Participants
Write the agenda in large, clear lettering and post it where it will be easily visible to all participants. Provide name tags large enough and markers bold enough so names will be easily visible.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Light the chalice with these words from the Rev. Lee Bluemel, used with permission:
We light our chalice,
This ancient symbol of communion and equality,
Symbol of mystics and heretics,
Reformers and refugees,
Artists, activists and Unitarian Universalists everywhere.
ACTIVITY 1: W.H.G. CARTER AND A STEP TOWARD RECONCILIATION (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce the story with these or similar words:
History is not "what happened," but what is remembered and recorded, or forgotten and ignored. It is about point of view. The historical adventure is a process of discovery and rediscovery for each person, for each generation. Studying Unitarian Universalist history together will give us opportunities to encounter anew the stories of our faith and consider what to make of them and what to do because of them.
In this series of workshops, you may hear stories that are familiar to you. Some have been well documented and passed along to us as the truth of our past. They include women, men, youth, events, movements, and conflicts that created our inheritance and form our collective Unitarian Universalist story.
Also included are lesser-known stories from our faith tradition. You may hear a story of a forgotten person, someone whom history has left outside the mainstream. You may hear a familiar story, but told from an unfamiliar perspective. Some of the stories re-open chapters from our history which have been pushed to the side, perhaps because Unitarian Universalists were uncomfortable about what happened and what it might reveal about ourselves or our forebears.
It's important to remember that this program is not a comprehensive survey of Unitarian Universalist history, nor does it offer the final word on any of these stories. This program explores Unitarian Universalism as one current flowing in the stream of religious history. We will see certain themes, whirlpools and eddies of thought and action that appear and re-appear in different times and places. We will have opportunities to engage personally with our history by sharing own stories, reflections, and questions.
We will explore difficult stories, where the actions of our predecessors, seen through the lens of time, fall short of our contemporary hopes and ideals. Former UUA President the Reverend William Sinkford, speaking of our past efforts to bring justice to all, reminded us that whether we succeeded or failed is perhaps less important than the fact that we stayed engaged. By returning together to difficult stories—such as the story we will hear now—we contribute our own engagement to the ongoing stream of our UU history.
Read aloud the story of W. H. G. Carter and the Cincinnati congregations, inviting several volunteers to read the different parts.
After the reading, offer a time of response and discussion, guided by these questions:
Including All Participants
Do not put any participant on the spot to read aloud. Use only volunteers and, if possible, give them the material in advance.
Ask readers to speak slowly and clearly so all can hear.
ACTIVITY 2: WHERE DO WE COME FROM? WHAT ARE WE? WHERE ARE WE GOING? (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce the activity with these or similar words:
There are many ways we can connect to our Unitarian Universalist heritage. One is by hearing stories such as "W.H.G. Carter and a Step Toward Reconciliation." Another is by seeing the ways we, ourselves, take our place in the long line of Unitarian Universalists. To connect our lives to theirs, we share our stories with one another, stories that reflect experiences when we found ourselves knowing better what it is to be a Unitarian Universalist.
Invite participants to take a few moments to think about a time when knowing something about the history of Unitarian Universalism made a difference to them personally or to their congregation.
After a few moments of silence, explain that together you will create a litany, sharing stories about personal connections to our collective history and using a chant as a refrain between the stories. Tell the group you have brought some stories to share aloud, and, interspersed with these, volunteers will be invited to share brief stories of their own.
Distribute copies of Singing the Journey. Lead participants in Hymn 1003, "Where Do We Come From?" Sing together, with the help of a vocalist or accompanist if you have made those arrangements, or read the words aloud together.
Distribute the handout. Read aloud, or invite volunteers to read, each of the brief stories. After each story, sing or say the refrain in unison. As the handout prompts, after several stories have been read aloud, invite volunteers from the group to share their own stories.
ACTIVITY 3: TIME LINE OF UU HISTORY (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Say, in your own words:
The study of history—the record of events that have happened in the past—can be approached in many different ways. While this program explores history thematically, grouping stories and information around broadly defined subjects, it is helpful to have a time line of events for reference. This is particularly important as we explore the paths of Unitarianism and Universalism separately, prior to their convergence and consolidation into one faith tradition.
Indicate the Time Line of UU History. Allow participants to identify events familiar to them and new information.
Invite participants to add congregational and personal information to the time line. When was the congregation established? The building built? Does their own family heritage include Unitarians, Universalists, or Unitarian Universalists? Where on the time line do these individuals belong?
ACTIVITY 4: BUILDING A GROUP COVENANT (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Read aloud, or say in your own words:
Our Unitarian Universalist tradition is covenantal. Walter Herz offers this definition of a covenant: "the common understandings, agreements, and promises made, one to another, that define our mutual obligations and commitments to each other as we try to live our faith and vision." Because much of this program will touch on our Unitarian Universalist understanding of covenant, and because covenants are foundational in Unitarian Universalist faith communities, let us establish a covenant before beginning our work together.
Invite participants to suggest guidelines for how they will be with each other during these workshops. Use these questions:
Write all suggestions on newsprint. Then, add any items from the list you prepared. Ask participants if they have concerns about or difficulty agreeing to any item listed. Discuss those items and amend the covenant by consensus, as needed.
On a new sheet of newsprint, rewrite the covenant title and list the agreed-on items. Read the covenant aloud and ask for verbal assent from each participant.
Save the written covenant to post in future workshops.
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Taking It Home. Announce the date, time, and place of the next workshop and any other "housekeeping" information. Request or remind volunteers if you want participants to read material aloud or perform other roles at the next meeting.
Invite participants to gather around the chalice. Distribute copies of Singing the Living Tradition and lead the group to read in unison Reading 456, "We extinguish this flame," by Elizabeth Selle Jones. Extinguish the chalice.
FAITH IN ACTION: SHARING INSIGHTS FROM UU HISTORY
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Create and implement a plan to share a story from Activity 1 of this workshop with your congregation, perhaps with the youth group; a children's, youth, or adult religious education group; during worship; or via the congregational website or newsletter. Think about how you can share the story in a way that communicates the importance of knowing more about Unitarian Universalist history.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
After the workshop, co-leaders should talk together to evaluate this workshop and plan future workshops. Use these questions to guide your shared reflection and planning:
TAKING IT HOME
Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? — Paul Gauguin
Consider where your personal Unitarian Universalist identity comes from. What has it made of you? How does it lead you into the future? Write your reflections in your journal or engage friends and family members in conversation.
FAITH LIKE A RIVER: WORKSHOP 1:
STORY: W.H.G. CARTER AND A STEP TOWARD RECONCILIATION
Adapted from "A Step Toward Racial Reconciliation" by David Whitford, UU World, May/June 2002, used with permission.
Reverend W.H.G. Carter was a big man with a big personality. Light-skinned, six-feet-two, a man of charm, energy, imagination, and learning, he towered over his wife, Beulah, who was only five feet tall, and their 15 children. He trained as a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal church, following in his father's footsteps, but never served as a minister in that denomination. He disagreed with many beliefs of the African Methodist Episcopal church, starting with the divinity of Jesus. As an adult, Reverend Carter worked as a photographer, a mural painter, a teacher, a postal worker, a funhouse operator and a real estate speculator. Like his maternal grandfather, William Henry Gray—a free-born African American—Carter was a political activist. He sold a tip sheet to horse race gamblers, kept a roulette wheel in his church (to make the point that gambling in and of itself was not sinful), and operated a friendly neighborhood pool hall (no swearing allowed).
Reverend Carter moved with his wife and children to Cincinnati in 1918. That same year, Reverend Carter founded a Unitarian Church in Cincinnati. Called the Church of the Unitarian Brotherhood, it was probably the only African American Unitarian church in America at that time. Along with overseeing the work of the Unitarian church he founded in Cincinnati's West End, he ran four times as a Republican candidate for the city council, although he never won. He founded a fraternal order called the Grand Order of Denizens, whose initials spelled G.O.D, and was a dedicated provider of food, money, clothing, and advocacy to poor blacks in Cincinnati.
At the time, other Unitarians knew about the church and its founder, but turned their backs because the church was African American and poor. Twenty years later, a representative of the American Unitarian Association came to investigate, but the conclusion of the official report was, "I do not recommend Unitarian fellowship for Mr. Carter or subsidy for his movement." In other words, there was no ministerial degree for Reverend Carter, and no money for his church. Shortly afterwards, the Church of the Unitarian Brotherhood closed down.
Fast forward 80 years. It's 1998, and the Reverend Sharon Dittmer tells the story of W.H.G. Carter's Church as part of her sermon at the North Hill Fellowship in Cincinnati. Sitting in one of the pews that day was Walter Herz, a church historian. He had never before heard this story of how prejudice had shut down an African American Unitarian congregation, right in his own city, until Reverend Dittmar gave her talk that day. It surprised and intrigued him, but also made him deeply sad.
Leslie Edwards was also surprised to hear about Reverend W.H.G. Carter in a sermon. "That's my grandfather you were talking about," said Mr. Edwards to a hushed congregation during the discussion afterward. "I never thought I'd hear his name mentioned in a Unitarian church." Mr. Edwards was a member of the board of Northern Hills Fellowship.
"We can't let this drop," Mr. Herz said. "We ought to find out more about this family." So Mr. Edwards and Mr. Herz decided to find out more. What they found out sparked an extraordinary act of reconciliation involving two mostly white Unitarian Universalist congregations, five generations of a remarkable African American family, a city scarred by police brutality and race riots, and Unitarian Universalism as a faith.
Mr. Herz and Mr. Edwards shared with their congregation what they had learned about Reverend W.H.G. Carter— what kind of person he was, how he had lived his life, and the whole sad story of what had happened to his African American Unitarian church. Other church members started wondering what to do. The most important part, they decided, should be an apology to the Carter family. They felt that, as a congregation, they wanted to admit what they called the "stain on the Unitarian Movement and on our local Unitarian Churches occasioned by our rejection of Carter's Brotherhood Church sixty years ago."
Mr. Herz and Mr. Edwards's church set up a weekend of activities. They invited more than 100 members of the Carter family. An African American minister, Reverend Mark Morrison-Reed, came down from his Unitarian Universalist church in Toronto and gave a Sunday morning sermon which he called "The Burden of Guilt." Here's part of what he said:
Remembering the past with regret can strengthen the resolve to do the only thing we can do together to shape a more just tomorrow. For in that moment when the one person feels hurt and the other feels sympathy, a bond is established. That connection can be built upon. And as the relationship grows, we can move beyond avoidance, guilt, and self-hatred, and let go of the anger and recrimination to embrace the only things that can sustain us over the long haul— the love of God, which we find in one another, and our shared vision of tomorrow...
Nobody knew if it would really happen, if one of the Carter family members might accept the apology. Then another person rose to the pulpit. She was Starita Smith of Denton, Texas, a mother with two grown children, and a great-granddaughter of W.H.G. Carter. As she began to speak, people still were not sure. She said she was skeptical about "apologies to black people for everything from slavery to neglect of Africa. We read the headlines and we say, 'So what changes now?'" She said she expected more from Unitarian Universalists. She continued:
You are supposed to be the most liberal of the mainstream denominations. It is very meaningful to me that you took the initiative to acknowledge a history that must be embarrassing for you, and to attempt to make amends in the present for what was wrong in the past....
But we must also acknowledge that racial reconciliation, true racial reconciliation, requires commitment.... I hope you will reflect on this weekend often and let it galvanize you. I hope that it will cause you to go beyond the comfortable friendships you have with your black Unitarian friends to attempt to bring honesty, light, and compassion into the thorny arena of race relations beyond the boundaries of your church.
We Carters encourage you to continue to look into your hearts, ask difficult and complex questions, and take action. We accept your apology.
The silence in the sanctuary was broken by a sudden burst of applause. Starita Smith found herself in the arms of the church's minister, Reverend Sharon Dittmar. The minister's black robe enveloped them both. "When the hug seemed to go on a beat or two too long," Starita Smith later wrote, "it dawned on me that she was crying and leaning on me for support."
FAITH LIKE A RIVER: WORKSHOP 1:
HANDOUT 1: LITANY — WHERE DO WE COME FROM? WHAT ARE WE? WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Stories in this litany are used by permission.
"A Child Discovers She's Not Alone" by Rev. Pat Guthmann Haresch
I remember in my UU childhood, I went to a grade school where there weren't any other UU kids, and sometimes that felt isolating. My grade school was Horace Mann Elementary and there was a big portrait of him in the hallway by the administrative offices. One day my mom said, "Well, there is another UU at your school," and she told me about Horace Mann being Unitarian and his historical importance. Every time I went to the gym, I saw his portrait, and was filled with pride, and didn't feel alone."
SING Hymn 1003 or SAY the lyrics in unison.
"A Congregation Finds Strength and Inspiration" by Rev. Jackie Clement
Plenty of churches struggle with tight budgets and pledge shortfalls, and one of the churches I served as interim minister was no exception. When the congregation learned the amount they would have to raise in order to settle a new minister spirits were pretty low. It didn't seem possible. But then we found a story in the church archives. In 1893 the church needed 4,000 dollars worth of repairs. Can you imagine how much money 4,000 dollars was at the end of the nineteenth century? To raise the money the church decided to hold bean suppers. One problem was that the church had no water, so water had to be carried in buckets from a nearby home and heated on a stovetop boiler. Another problem was that a bean supper went for 10 cents! But they did it; they raised 4,000 dollars, one dime at a time. If they could do that, the current congregation could raise what was necessary to call a minister. And they did!
SING Hymn 1003 or SAY the lyrics in unison.
(Facilitator: Invite a participant to share a story.)
SING Hymn 1003 or SAY the lyrics in unison.
"A Call to Work for Women's Rights" by Sara Eskrich
I tell people that I've always been a feminist. However, it was in my young adolescence, when a member of my congregation performed a monologue of the life of Olympia Brown that I really heard my call to feminism. I realized that my budding feminism was firmly rooted in my faith tradition. The fight of the Rev. Olympia Brown to become the first ordained minister, as well as her integral role in the women's suffrage movement, gave me a religious and moral framework within which to discuss and act on the importance of women's rights in my heart and soul.
SING Hymn 1003 or SAY the lyrics in unison.
"The Flaming Chalice" by Alison Cornish
Growing up as a Unitarian Universalist, I remember our worship services being without rituals, save for the singing of hymns. In college, I attended a fairly conservative UU congregation, where the liturgy was largely unchanged from the nineteenth century. So it was a surprise to see, in my first "adult" congregation, a chalice being lit at the beginning of every service. I thought it must be something this church, in its independence and creativity, chose to do.
It was many years before I learned the true story of the flaming chalice symbol, designed by Hans Deutsch to be used by the Unitarian Service Committee (USC) on their documents as they worked to secure safe passage for World War II refugees. That historical story I knew much about—from the records, it seems very likely that safe passage from Austria for my great-aunt, and possibly my grandparents as well, was the work of the Unitarian Service Committee.
I cannot light a chalice or see a chalice lit without thinking about the work of the USC, the saving work it represents, and my connection to this faith.
SING Hymn 1003 or SAY the lyrics in unison.
(Facilitator: Invite a participant to share a story.)
SING Hymn 1003 or SAY the lyrics in unison.
(Facilitator: Invite a participant to share a story.)
SING Hymn 1003 or SAY the lyrics in unison.
FAITH LIKE A RIVER: WORKSHOP 1:
HANDOUT 2: TIME LINE OF UU HISTORY
You can Download a word document of this timeline here. Timeline of UU History (at www.uua.org/documents/tapestry/uu_history_timeline.doc) (pdf) (at www.uua.org/documents/tapestry/uu_history_timeline.pdf)
Date | Historical and Religious Events | Unitarian | Universalist | Unitarian Universalist |
230 C.E. | Origen, Of Principles | |||
260 | Sabellius | |||
| Paul of Samosata | |||
325 | Council of Nicea | Arius | ||
431 | Council of Ephesus reaffirms doctrine of trinity | |||
451 | Council of Chalcedon reaffirms doctrine of trinity | |||
543 | Justinian's edict condemns Origen's doctrine | |||
544 | Church Council declares universal salvation a heresy | |||
927-70 | Bogomils (followers of Paul of Samosata and Manichaean; precursors of Cathars, Waldenses, Anabaptists) | |||
1328-84 | John Wycliff | |||
1453 | Constantinople falls to Muslim Turks | |||
1455 | Gutenberg Bible | |||
1517 | Martin Luther publishes 95 Theses, launching the Reformation | |||
1527 | Charles V's sack of Rome | Martin Cellarius publishes On the Works of God, earliest antitrinitarian book | ||
1531 | Michael Servetus, On the Errors of the Trinity | |||
1534 | Church of England separated from Rome | |||
1535 | Calvin, Institution of Christian Religion | |||
1539 | ||||
1542 | Inquisition assigned to Holy Office by Paul III | |||
1543 | Copernicus, Revolutionisbus Orbium Coelestorum | |||
1545-63 | Council of Trent (Counter-Reformation) | |||
1549 | Book of Common Prayer, Church of England | |||
1553 | Servetus burned at the stake, Geneva | |||
1550 | Council of Venice | |||
| Church of Strangers, London | |||
1566 | Frances David preaches against the doctrine of the trinity | |||
1568 | Edict of Torda | |||
1579 | Death of Frances David | |||
1585 | Rakow Press established | |||
1591 | Socinian church in Krakow destroyed by mob | |||
1605 | Racovian Catechism | |||
1611 | King James-authorized English translation of Bible is published | |||
1619 | First Africans arrive in Virginia w/same status as English indentured servants | |||
1620 | Plymouth Plantation founded | |||
1628 | Massachusetts Bay Colony founded as a self-governing theocracy | |||
1635 | Colony of Rhode Island established | |||
1637 | Samuel Gorton driven out of MA for religious radicalism in espousing universal salvation | |||
1638 | Diet of Dees | |||
1642-60 | English Civil Wars | |||
1647 | John Biddle, XII Arguments Drawn Out of the Scriptures | |||
1648 | Cambridge Platform | |||
1649 | Act for Religious Toleration passed by Maryland Assembly | |||
1654 | John Biddle banished to Scilly Isles | |||
1658 | Polish Diet banishes Socinians | |||
1681 | Wiliam Penn receives royal tract of land, founding the Pennsylvania colony | |||
1703 | Thomas Emlyn imprisoned in Dublin | |||
1730s, '40s | The Great Awakening | |||
1736 | Charles and John Wesley arrive in Georgia | |||
1741 | George de Benneville emigrates to Pennsylvania | |||
1742 | Charles Chauncey, Enthusiasm Described and Cautioned Against | |||
1743 | Christopher Sower bible | |||
1753 | George deBenneville, The Everlasting Gospel | |||
1759 | James Relly, Union | |||
1770 | John Murray emigrates to the American colonies | |||
1774 | Essex St. Chapel established in London | |||
1776-83 | American War of Independence | |||
1777 | Caleb Rich organizes General Society to ordain ministers | |||
1778 | ||||
1779 | First Universalist congregation in the Americas, Gloucester, Massachusetts | |||
1785 | Universalist Conference at Oxford, Massachusetts | |||
1787 | King's Chapel ordination of James Freeman | |||
| Elhanan Winchester, The Universal Restoration | |||
1790 | Judith Sargent Murray, On the Equality of the Sexes | |||
| Philadelphia Convention adopts declaration of faith | |||
1791 | Joseph Priestly's library burned in Birmingham, England | |||
1793 | Fugitive Slave Law | New England Convention of Universalists | ||
1796 | First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia | |||
1800-40 | Second Great Awakening | |||
1802 | Oldest Pilgrim church in America (f. 1620, Plymouth, Massachusetts) becomes Unitarian | |||
1803 | Louisiana Purchase | Winchester (New Hampshire) "Confession of Faith" | ||
1804 | "Jefferson" Bible | |||
1805 | Hosea Ballou, A Treatise on the Atonement | |||
1805 | Henry Ware, Sr. appointed as Hollis Professor of Divinity, Harvard | |||
1811 | Harvard Divinity School established | |||
1812 | War of 1812 | |||
1817 | Restorationist Controversy begins | |||
1818 | Dedham case | |||
1819 | Toleration Act in New Hampshire, "Disestablishment" | Channing preaches "Unitarian Christianity," Baltimore, Maryland | Universalist Magazine weekly paper established | |
1820 | Berry Street Conference | |||
1821 | The Christian Register first published | |||
1825 | Erie Canal completed | British and Foreign Unitarian Association founded | ||
| American Unitarian Association founded | |||
1827 | Unitarian Sunday School Society founded | |||
1831 | William Lloyd Garrison began publishing The Liberator | |||
1832 | First recorded meeting of Unitarians in Montreal | |||
1833 | Disestablishment of Congregational churches in Massachusetts | Lydia Maria Child, An Appeal in favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans | General Convention of Universalists in U.S. founded | |
1838 | Ralph Waldo Emerson preaches "Divinity School Address" | |||
1840-60 | 4.2 European immigrants, mostly German and Irish, arrive in the U.S. | |||
1841 | Theodore Parker preaches "Transient and Permanent in Christianity" | |||
| Church of the Disciples established in Boston | |||
1842 | First permanent Unitarian church in Canada established in Montreal | |||
1843 | Universalist church established in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | |||
1844 | Meadville Theological School established, Meadville, Pennsylvania | |||
1845 | Margaret Fuller, Women in the Nineteenth Century | |||
1846 | Adin Ballou, Christian Non-Resistance | |||
1848 | Seneca Falls Convention | |||
1852 | Western Unitarian Association founded | Tufts College established, Medford, Massachusetts | ||
1856 | Antoinette Louisa Brown Blackwell ordained | St. Lawrence University and Theological School established, Canton, New York | ||
1859 | Charles Darwin, Origin of the Species | |||
1860-90 | 10 million Northern European and 1 million Scandinavian immigrants arrive in the U.S. | |||
1860 | Thomas Starr King arrives in California | |||
1861-64 | American Civil War | |||
1862 | Universalist Publishing House established | |||
1863 | Ordination of Olympia Brown | |||
1865 | National Conference of Unitarian Churches founded | |||
1866 | Universalist General Convention | |||
1867 | Free Religious Association founded | |||
1869 | Women's Centenary Aid Association | |||
1870 | Centennial Convention (Gloucester, Massachusetts) | |||
1880 | Women's Auxiliary Conference | |||
1884 | James Freeman Clarke, Ten Great Religions | |||
1887 | Western Conference, The Things Most Commonly Believed Today Among Us | |||
1888 | Universalism declared the "6th largest denomination in the U.S." | |||
1889 | Young People's Christian Union | |||
1890 | Universalists establish churches in Japan | |||
1893 | World Parliament of Religions held at the Columbian Exposition of the Chicago World's Fair | |||
1896 | U.S. Supreme Court's Plessy v. Ferguson decision legalizes racial segregation | Young People's Religious Union | ||
1900-17 | New wave of immigration, primarily from Southern and Eastern Europe | |||
1900 | International Congress of Free Christians and Other Religious Liberals | |||
1902 | Beacon Press established | |||
1904 | Starr King School for the Ministry established, Berkeley, California | |||
1915 | D.W. Griffith's movie The Birth of a Nation - revived the KKK | |||
1917-18 | U.S. Involvement in WW I | |||
1917 | Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianizing the Social Order | Universalist Declaration of Social Principles drafted by Clarence Skinner | ||
1919 | 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote | |||
1919-33 | Prohibition | |||
1925 | Scopes Trial | National Conference and AUA merge | Universalists consider merger with Congregationalists | |
1929 | Stock market crash, start of the Great Depression | |||
1937 | New Beacon Series of religious education materials launched | |||
1933 | First Humanist Manifesto | |||
1936 | "Unitarians Face a New Age" published | |||
1937 | Universalists consider merger with Unitarians (previous overtures 1899, 1925) | |||
1939 | Unitarian Service Committee organized | |||
1940 | Universalist Service Committee organized | |||
1941-45 | U.S. Involvement in WW II | |||
1942 | Norbert Capek dies at Dachau | Universalist Church of America | ||
1944 | Church of the Larger Fellowship organized | |||
1945 | Humiliati founded | |||
1949 | Unitarian Fellowship Movement founded | |||
1953 | Council of Liberal Churches (federation of Unitarian and Universalist publications, education and PR) | |||
1954-55 | Brown v. Board of Education | |||
1956 | Interstate Highway Act/start of urban renewal | |||
1961 | Unitarian Universalist Association formed | |||
1961 | Canadian Unitarian Council organized | |||
1962 | Canadian Unitarian Council officially relates to UUA | |||
1962-65 | Second Vatican Council | |||
1963 | Unitarian Universalist Service Committee | |||
1964-73 | U.S. Involvement in Vietnam War | |||
1965 | James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo die at Selma, Alabama | |||
1967 | Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus organized | |||
1973 | Second Humanist Manifesto | |||
1977 | Women and Religion resolution passed at General Assembly | |||
1985 | Principles and Purposes adopted | |||
1995 | Principles and Purposes amended |
FAITH LIKE A RIVER: WORKSHOP 1:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: SCHEDULE TEMPLATE
WORKSHOP | TITLE | DATE/TIME |
1 | Wading In — An Introduction | |
2 | Against the Flow — Orthodoxy and Heresy | |
3 | Rising Tides — Reason as a Religious Source | |
4 | The Verdant Springs — Reform(ation) | |
5 | God's Gonna Trouble the Water — Martyrs and Sacrifice | |
6 | Shall We Gather at the River? — Religious Tolerance | |
7 | We're all Swimming in the Stream Together — Covenant | |
8 | Gently Down the Stream — Polity | |
9 | Rise in the Sea — Unitarianism | |
10 | Rise in the Sea — Universalism | |
11 | As Tranquil Streams That Meet and Merge — Consolidation | |
12 | I've Got Tears Like the Raindrops — Freedom | |
13 | Mirages and Oases — Idealism and Utopianism | |
14 | The Seven Seas — Globalization | |
15 | The Water Is Wide — Multiculturalism | |
16 | Ripples in the Water — The Evangelists | |
FIND OUT MORE
This is a general bibliography for Unitarian Universalist history. The Find Out More sections of individual workshops offer thematic resources.
For the duration of this program, you may wish to borrow these key resources from your congregational library or your minister. All can be purchased from the UUA Bookstore.
General Unitarian, Universalist and Unitarian Universalist History
An Heretical History (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=149), video produced for the Fusion Series, Rockford, Illinois
Buehrens, John A. and Forrest Church, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=385) (Boston: Beacon Press, 1998)
Bumbaugh, David, Unitarian Universalism: A Narrative History (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=394) (Chicago: Meadville Lombard, 2000)
Cassera, Ernest, ed. Universalism in America: A Documentary History of a Liberal Faith (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=648) (Boston: Skinner House, 1997)
Emerson, Dorothy May, ed. Standing Before Us: Unitarian Universalist Women and Social Reform, 1776-1936 (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=650) (Boston: Skinner House, 1999)
Harris, Mark W., The A to Z of Unitarian Universalism (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=1158) (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2004)
Howe, Charles A., For Faith and Freedom: A Short History of Unitarianism in Europe (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=600) (Boston: Skinner House, 1997)
Howe, Charles A., The Larger Faith: A Short History of American Universalism (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=601) (Boston: Skinner House, 1993)
Morris, Leslie Takahashi, James (Chip) Roush, and Leon Spencer, The Arc of the Universe is Long: Unitarian Universalists, Anti-Racism and the Journey from Calgary (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=1044) (Boston: Skinner House, 2009)
Morrison-Reed, Mark D., Black Pioneers in a White Denomination (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=553) (Boston: Skinner House, 1992)
Parke, David, ed., The Epic of Unitarianism: Original Writings from the History of Liberal Religion (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=599) (Boston: Beacon Press, 1957)
Wright, Conrad, ed. A Stream of Light: A Short History of American Unitarianism (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=646) 2ed. (Boston: Skinner House Books, 1975; 1989)
Websites
Unitarian Universalist Historical Society (at www25.uua.org/uuhs/), including the Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography (at www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/)
Unitarian Universalist Religious Education History Group (at www.uurehistory.org/)
Unitarian Universalist Women's Heritage Society (at www.uuwhs.org)