WHAT MOVES US
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults
WORKSHOP 3: HOSEA BALLOU
BY REV. DR. THANDEKA
© Copyright 2013 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 11:51:03 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
There is an immortal desire in every soul for... happiness. — Hosea Ballou, in A Treatise on Atonement
This workshop introduces Hosea Ballou's Theology of Happiness. The workshop tests the relevance of Ballou's theological legacy for our religious lives as Unitarian Universalists today. Ballou was the most influential and singularly important Universalist preacher, public theologian, editor, author, and pastor in 19th-century America. He believed human happiness is a mandate of liberal faith. We have a God-given right to be happy, Ballou insisted. Do you agree?
Before leading this workshop, review the Accessibility Guidelines for Workshop Presenters found in the program Introduction.
Preparing to lead this workshop
Read the Hosea Ballou (at www25-temp.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/hoseaballou.html) entry in the Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography. Read the Story, "Hosea Ballou's Converstion," Handout 1, Introducing Hosea Ballou, and Handout 2, Excerpt from A Treatise on Atonement, a selection from early Universalist leader Hosea Ballou's most influential work. Use these questions to help you understand the passages in the handout. You may wish to write your responses in your theology journal.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Introducing Hosea Ballou | 5 |
Activity 2: The Story of Hosea Ballou's Conversion | 10 |
Activity 3: Personal Experience | 30 |
Activity 4: Testing Ballou | 35 |
Closing | 5 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Reflect on the following questions, looking for connections between your theology and Ballou's. You may wish to write your reflections in your theology journal.
WORKSHOP PLAN
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
We are here to abet creation and
to witness to it,
to notice each other's beautiful
face and complex nature
so that creation need not play to
an empty house.
Description of Activity
Welcome participants. Invite a participant to light the chalice while you read aloud this passage from A Treatise on Atonement, by Hosea Ballou:
There is an immortal desire, in every soul, for future existence and happiness: For the truth of this assertion I appeal to the consciences of my readers. Why should the Almighty implant this desire in us, if he never intended to satisfy it?
Invite participants to join in reading aloud the opening words you have posted on newsprint, "We are here to abet creation" by Annie Dillard.
ACTIVITY 1: INTRODUCING HOSEA BALLOU (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that in this workshop participants will explore theological insights from the life and work of Hosea Ballou and use these to guide their own exploration of human happiness as an emotional foundation for liberal faith.
Project or distribute copies of Leader Resource 1. Introduce Hosea Ballou, one of the founders of American Universalism, using these or similar words:
Hosea Ballou preached his liberal faith to everyday people, men and women of the laboring classes. He was a self-educated man from rural New Hampshire and Massachusetts who was spurned by the Boston Unitarian elite. Thanks in no small part to Ballou, by the end of the 19th-century one out of every eight Americans called themselves Universalists.
He was an author, a public lecturer, an itinerant preacher, editor of various Universalist journals, and minister of the Second Universalist Society of Boston for a quarter of a century until his death in 1852, at age 81. His most important theological work was A Treatise on Atonement.
Ballou insisted that human beings are created to be fulfilled and happy. He rejected the belief that human nature is fallen (the doctrine of original sin) and subject to eternal damnation. He believed a loving God would not condemn humanity to eternal damnation.
Ballou believed human emotions prompt us to moral or immoral actions, so we are invited to strengthen the emotions that reap happiness for self and others. He believed we have a God-given right to be happy. God is love, Ballou insisted, and when we feel this love we are happy.
Distribute Handout 1, which contains more detail about Ballou. Invite participants to read it at home.
ACTIVITY 2: THE STORY OF HOSEA BALLOU'S CONVERSION (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute copies of the story, "Hosea Ballou's Conversion." Read the story aloud.
ACTIVITY 3: PERSONAL EXPERIENCE (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Tell participants that Hosea Ballou believed our personal desires motivate our actions and all of these desires—for example, benevolence, greed, self-sacrifice, love—boil down to one: the personal desire to feel internally happy. Invite them to recall two personal experiences, one which they believe was motivated by a personal desire for happiness and one which they believe was not. Allow five minutes for participants to write or draw about these experiences in their journals.
Post the newsprint you have prepared. When the five minutes are up, sound the bell or chime if you have one. Call participants' attention to the newsprint by reading the questions aloud. Invite participants to move into groups of three to reflect together on each of the questions. Explain the group process using these or similar words:
Each person in your group is invited in turn to offer personal reflections in response to the first set of questions. The group's major role here is active, caring listening, rather than discussion or debate about what others share.
After all have responded to the first set of questions, move on to the second set, with each person in turn responding to these. So all may have an opportunity to respond, please limit your individual speaking time to about three minutes for each set of questions. You may wish to appoint a timekeeper or share that responsibility to ensure that all have time to speak.
Give the small group part of this activity 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, signal the group to move into the second set of questions. Signal the group again when time is up.
ACTIVITY 4: TESTING BALLOU (35 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite the large group to discuss the family and social messages they receive about happiness, using these questions:
Distribute Handout 2 and read aloud the sections in bold text in the handout, inviting participants to read the remainder at their leisure.
Give participants a minute or two to reflect on Ballou's thoughts in their journals. Then invite volunteers to share their reflections with the larger group. Ask: Does Ballou's writing draw into sharper focus any of those family and social messages we have received or currently receive about the right to human happiness?
Explain that this exercise invites participants into deep listening and sharing; they are to share their own thoughts and feelings, rather than comment on the feelings and insights of others. Encourage each person in turn to share their reflections and to listen deeply with an open heart and an open mind while others speak. Allow at least five seconds between shared thoughts or feelings. If there is time, invite a new round of sharing in which participants may share their new thoughts and feelings based on what they have learned from the first round of personal reflections.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather participants around the altar or centering table. Affirm the good work that participants have done in this workshop.
Distribute the Taking It Home handout. Explain that each workshop will provide a Taking It Home handout with ideas for continuing to explore the workshop's subject with friends, co-workers, housemates, and family. Mention that the Faith in Action activities included in the handout offer another extension opportunity.
Offer a benediction from Hosea Ballou: Reading 705, in Singing the Living Tradition. Extinguish the chalice and invite participants to go in peace.
Including All Participants
Be sure to be inclusive of people with a variety of living situations—for example, living alone, with a significant other, in a multigenerational family, or with housemates—in the way you explain the Taking It Home activities.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
After the workshop, co-leaders should make a time to get together to evaluate this workshop and plan future workshops. Use these questions to guide your shared reflection and planning:
TAKING IT HOME
There is an immortal desire in every soul for... happiness. — Hosea Ballou, in A Treatise on Atonement
Think of something you might do that could increase the happiness of others or yourself. Then, do it, as a personal faith project to explore your own "theology of happiness." You might pick up a cup of coffee for a co-worker when you buy your own and give it to them as an unasked for, unexpected gift. You might decide to ask a person how they are and really listen, asking more questions to demonstrate interest rather than trying to break into the narrative with your own personal tale. Perhaps, on a particular day, you will figure out how to make a comment or request in a positive, supportive manner to bring happiness rather than guilt, shame, anger, or other negative responses.
After doing this faith project, decide how your own theology of happiness might inform a regular spiritual practice.
Faith in Action
Alone or with others, commit to noticing what makes you happy and what increases your happiness by increasing the happiness of others. Make a practice of deepening and increasing your experience of happiness and the happiness of others—a spiritual practice. Make time with others to share your experiences of happiness. Consider journaling about your happiness experiences.
WHAT MOVES US: WORKSHOP 3:
STORY: HOSEA BALLOU'S CONVERSION
In 1789, Hosea Ballou attended the Baptist revival held in his hometown of Richmond, New Hampshire. Moved by the preaching during this event, which was touted as "The Great Reformation," Ballou, age 19, stepped forward to be baptized. Like his friends and the hundred or so others around him who also stepped forward to be saved, Ballou had been gripped by fear. But unlike the others professing their new, aching need for God's forgiveness and grace, Ballou was not fearful enough. He did not feel what he was supposed to feel: gut-wrenching fear. He believed the dominant Calvinist theology of his era which claimed God separated the elect from the damned before they were born and that except for these chosen few, all were doomed to eternal damnation, fire and brimstone for their sins. Yet, he did not feel clenched in the grip of an angry, vengeful, wrath-filled God described by the two preachers who led the revival. Ballou was upset because he wasn't upset enough. People were supposed to be terrified of this God and fearful that they might not be one of His chosen people.
Ballou described his predicament years later, in a letter to a friend: "I was much troubled in my mind because I thought I did not stand in such fear of the divine wrath as I ought to do, or as others had done before they found acceptance with God." Worse yet, the doctrines he was now supposed to believe about God and Christ rung hollow.
To figure out what was going on, Ballou turned to the Bible to make sense of the doctrines of his newly professed faith. His mind became troubled anew. It seemed to him that nothing in the Bible supported belief in the Baptist doctrines he was supposed to espouse: belief in eternal damnation for all human beings except a preordained "elect" few; belief in the sacrifice of Christ to reconcile an aggrieved God to sinful man; belief that Christ as the Son of God was also, at the same time, his own Father. Ballou's keenly rational mind rejected such notions as illogical and thus patently absurd. The Bible seemed to affirm Universalism—universal salvation for all—and Unitarianism—the unity of the Godhead rather than in a Triune God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
With these discoveries, Ballou felt happy. Happiness abounded in his heart. And he now knew why he had not felt fearful enough: There was nothing to fear. The God of wrath preached by angry ministers was a human-made God, a false God. By removing the false teachings and the errant theology, Ballou felt the God of love. Ballou felt loved and he was happy. But when Ballou tried to explain to local ministers what he felt and what he had discovered, they screamed at him about his burgeoning Universalist faith, rather than reason with him over the interpretation of biblical texts. So Ballou's Universalism and Unitarianism took firmer hold of his heart and his mind and his new, liberal faith now flowed forth from happiness. He believed that all human beings would be blessed in their afterlife. God condemns no one to eternal punishment and damnation. Universal salvation, Ballou discovered, is a grace-filled gift of an eternally loving God for humanity.
Ballou finally believed that our personal desires motivate our actions and all of them (benevolence, greed, self-sacrifice, love, etc.) boil down to one: the personal desire to feel internally happy.
WHAT MOVES US: WORKSHOP 3:
HANDOUT 1: INTRODUCING HOSEA BALLOU
Hosea Ballou preached his liberal faith to everyday people, men and women of the laboring classes. He was a self-educated man from rural New Hampshire and Massachusetts who was spurned by the Boston Unitarian elite. But in no small part thanks to Ballou, by the end of the 19th century, one out of every eight Americans called themselves Universalists.
He was an author, a public lecturer, an itinerant preacher, editor of various Universalist journals and minister of the Second Universalist Society of Boston for a quarter of a century until his death in 1852, at age 81.
Hosea Ballou's most important theological work was A Treatise on Atonement. In this work he defined theology as a science of human experience. Theology is not a speculative art, it is always about human experience, so, he concluded, "we ought not to argue [over religious matters of] truth which we have no knowledge of by experience."
Ballou insisted that human beings are created to be fulfilled and happy. In Ballou's own words: "... if the Almighty, as we believe him to be, did not possess power sufficient to make all his creatures happy, it was not an act of goodness in him to create them... . If it be granted that God has both power and will to save all men, it is granting all I want for a foundation of my faith." Ballou rejected the beliefs that human nature is fallen (doctrine of original sin) and that human beings are subject to eternal damnation (doctrine of the elect and the damned).
Ballou believed that human emotions prompt us to moral or immoral actions, so we are invited to strengthen the emotions that reap happiness for self and others. In Ballou's words: "We cannot be profitable to others unless we savor of the Spirit within us."
Ballou believed we have a God-given right to be happy. God is love, Ballou insisted. And when we feel this love we are happy.
Ballou, in sum, believed that a loving God would not condemn humanity to eternal damnation. Get rid of errant theology, Ballou said, and you will get rid of the clergy, politicians, and public figures who stoke fear in order to keep their own vested interests, personal greed, and moral corruption from public view.
Ballou's legacy to us as Unitarian Universalists today is our awareness of our God-given right to be happy. Hosea Ballou made human happiness a mandate of liberal faith.
WHAT MOVES US: WORKSHOP 3:
HANDOUT 2: EXCERPT FROM A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT
From Hosea Ballou, A Treatise on Atonement in which, The Finite Nature of Sin is Argued, Its Cause and Consequences as such; The Necessity and Nature of Atonement; And its Glorious Consequences in the FINAL RECONCILIATION OF ALL MEN TO HOLINESS AND HAPPINESS (Boston: Universalist Publishing House, 1902, 14th Edition), pp. 33-36.
The bold type in parts of the text is not original. It was added for Activity 4.
Man's major object, in all he does, is happiness; and were it not for that, he never could have any other particular object. What would induce men to form societies; to be at the expense of supporting government; to acquire knowledge; to learn the sciences, or till the earth, if they believed they could be as happy without as with? The fact is, man would not be the being that he now is, as there would not be any stimulus to action; he must become inert, therefore cease to be. As men are never without this grand object, so they are never without their wants, which render such an object desirable. But their minor objects vary, according as their understandings vary, and their passions differ. Then, says the objector, there is no such thing as disinterested benevolence. I answer, words are used to communicate ideas; there is that often in our experience, which is meant by disinterested benevolence. An American is traveling in Europe; he meets in the street a young and beautiful fair, bathed in tears, her breast swollen with grief, and her countenance perfectly sad. His heart, fraught with the keenest sensibility, is moved compassionately to inquire the cause of her grief; he is informed that her father, in a late sickness, became indebted to his physician twenty guineas, for which he was that hour committed to gaol, when he had but partially recovered his health. Our traveller no sooner hears the story than he advances the twenty guineas to discharge the debt, and gives her fifty more as a reward for her generous concern. As our traveller did not expect any pecuniary reward, either directly or indirectly, his charity is called disinterested benevolence. But, strictly speaking, he was greatly interested; he was interested in the afflictions of father and child; their relief was his object, and charity his passion. Now did he not act for his own happiness? Yes, as much as ever a man did in life. What must have been his misery, possessing the same disposition, without the means to relieve? And what a sublime satisfaction he enjoyed by the bestowment of his favor! Sacred truth informs us, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
We find some men honest and industrious who think, and think justly, that happiness is not to be found in any other way. Others are indolent and knavish, and they expect to obtain happiness in so being. But they are deceived in their objects, and will finally learn that they must be, what conscience has often told them they ought to be, honest and just, in order to be happy.
The objector will say, to admit that our happiness is the grand object of all we do, destroys the purity of religion, and reduces the whole to nothing but selfishness. To which, I reply, a man acting for his own happiness, if he seek it in the heavenly system of universal benevolence, knowing that his own happiness is connected with the happiness of his fellow-men, which induces him to do justly and to deal mercifully with all men, he is no more selfish than he ought to be. But a man acting for his own happiness, if he seek it in the narrow circle of partiality and covetousness, his selfishness is irreligious and wicked.
I know it is frequently contended that we ought to love God for what he is, and not for what we receive from him; that we ought to love holiness for holiness' sake, and not for any advantage such a principle is to us. This is what I have often been told, but what I never could see any reason for, or propriety in. I am asked if I love an orange; I answer I never tasted of one; but I am told I must love the orange for what it is! Now I ask, is it possible for me either to like or dislike the orange, in reality, until I taste it? Well, I taste of it, and like it. Do you like it? says my friend. Yes, I reply, its flavor is exquisitely agreeable. But that will not do, says my friend; you must not like it because its taste is agreeable, but you must like it because it is an orange. If there be any propriety in what my friend says, it is out of my sight. A man is travelling on the sands of Arabia, he finds no water for a number of days; the sun scorches and he is exceedingly dry; at last he finds water and drinks to his satisfaction; never did water taste half so agreeably before. To say that this man loves the water because it is water, and not because of the advantage which he receives from it, betrays a large share of inconsistency. Would not this thirsty traveller have loved the burning sand as well as he did the water if it had tasted as agreeably and quenched his thirst as well? The sweet Psalmist of Israel said, "O taste and see that the Lord is good." And an apostle says, "We love him because he loved us first." What attribute do we ascribe to God that we do not esteem on account of its advantage to us? Justice would have been no more likely to be attributed to the Almighty than injustice if it had not first been discovered that justice was of greater advantage to mankind than injustice. And so of power, were it of no more advantage to human society than weakness, the latter would have been as likely to have been esteemed an attribute of God as the former. If wisdom were of no greater service to man than folly, it would not have been adored in the Almighty any more than folly. If love were no more happifying to man than hatred, hatred would as soon have been esteemed an attribute of God as love.
Undoubtedly the Almighty loves without an influential object, as it would be erroneous to suppose that an infinite being could be operated upon. He loves because His nature is to love. An apostle says, "God is love." The sun does not shine because our earth influences it; it is the nature of the sun to shine. But all created beings love because of influential objects; and they always love according to the influence which objects have on their minds and passions. It seems, then, says the objector, that our vices are not to be attributed to the devil, but to the influence which objects have on our minds. Surely the reader ought to expect that after I have denied the existence of a being, I should, likewise, deny his power.
WHAT MOVES US: WORKSHOP 3:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: HOSEA BALLOU PORTRAIT
WHAT MOVES US: WORKSHOP 3:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: BALLOU'S THEOLOGY IN THE CONGREGATION
This is a 30-minute activity.
Materials
Preparation
Description
If you have made copies of Leader Resource 1, distribute them. Read aloud this excerpt from Hosea Ballou's A Treatise on Atonement:
I know it is frequently contended that we ought to love God for what he is, and not for what we receive from him; that we ought to love holiness for holiness' sake, and not for any advantage such a principle is to us. This is what I have often been told, but what I never could see any reason for, or propriety in. I am asked if I love an orange; I answer I never tasted of one; but I am told I must love the orange for what it is! Now I ask, is it possible for me either to like or dislike the orange, in reality, until I taste it? Well, I taste of it, and like it. Do you like it? says my friend. Yes, I reply, its flavor is exquisitely agreeable. But that will not do, says my friend; you must not like it because its taste is agreeable, but you must like it because it is an orange. If there be any propriety in what my friend says, it is out of my sight. A man is travelling on the sands of Arabia, he finds no water for a number of days; the sun scorches and he is exceedingly dry; at last he finds water and drinks to his satisfaction; never did water taste half so agreeably before. To say that this man loves the water because it is water, and not because of the advantage which he receives from it, betrays a large share of inconsistency. Would not this thirsty traveller have loved the burning sand as well as he did the water if it had tasted as agreeably and quenched his thirst as well? The sweet Psalmist of Israel said, "O taste and see that the Lord is good." And an apostle says, "We love him because he loved us first." What attribute do we ascribe to God that we do not esteem on account of its advantage to us?
Engage participants to respond to this reading by guiding a whole-group discussion with these questions:
Allow ten minutes for discussion.
Then, invite participants to move into groups of four, arranging themselves so each group includes people with as wide a range of experiences in the congregation as possible. Ask participants to take into account one another's age, gender, and primary type of congregational involvement (for example, the music program, religious education for children, adult programs, social justice work) and try to group themselves with people whose experiences have been different from their own. Arranging themselves may require participants to ask questions and learn new things about one another—so much the better!
Once the groups have formed, invite them to consider the ways in which Ballou's theology is manifested in various areas of congregational life. Remind them that Ballou's theology includes the human right to happiness.
Give the groups about ten minutes to work. Then invite groups to come together and share. List the responses on newsprint. Note responses that are repeated group to group and those which are unique to particular groups.
Seek assent from the group to publish the lists in the congregation's newsletter along with a brief explanation of Ballou's theology of happiness. Ask a volunteer to transcribe the lists and send them to the newsletter editor, or offer to do it yourself.
WHAT MOVES US: WORKSHOP 3:
LEADER RESOURCE 3: ENGAGING AS RELIGIOUS PROFESSIONALS
This is a 30-minute activity.
Materials
Preparation
Description
Invite participants to meet in groups of three or four and respond to Ballou's theology of happiness. Ask them to use the posted questions to guide their discussion. After 20 minutes, invite the groups to come together and to share insights or observations.
FIND OUT MORE
The Ballou Family (at www25-temp.uua.org/uuhs/duub/listaf.html), online Dictionary of Unitarian Universalist biography
Ballou, Hosea. A Treatise on Atonement in which, The Finite Nature of Sin is Argued, Its Cause and Consequences as such; The Necessity and Nature of Atonement; And its Glorious Consequences in the FINAL RECONCILIATION OF ALL MEN TO HOLINESS AND HAPPINESS (at books.google.com/books?vid=HARVARD32044016976474&printsec=titlepage#PPA39,M1) (Boston: Universalist Publishing House, 1902, 14th edition).
Ballou, Maturin M. Biography of Hosea Ballou (at books.google.com/books?vid=HARVARD32044077885010&printsec=titlepage#PPP5,M1), by His Youngest Son, Maturin M. Ballou (Boston, 1852).
Cassara, Ernest. Hosea Ballou: The Challenge to Orthodoxy (Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1982).
Whittemore, Thomas. Life of Rev. Hosea Ballou (at books.google.com/books?vid=HARVARD32044054739743&printsec=titlepage#PPA4,M1); with accounts of His Writings, and Biographical Sketches of His Seniors and Contemporaries in the Universalist Ministry, 4 volumes, 1854-55; vol. 1 (1854).