This was delivered as a sermon in 1819. In it, he made a couple key points,
presumably in an effort to differentiate himself (and the liberals) from some
other viewpoint, which they presumably feared. The points he makes seem to be these:
1.
Scripture is important, especially the New
Testament,
2.
The bible is a book written by men and therefore
needs interpretiation (reason, Kant)
3.
If you do a good job interpreting scripture, you
can know God.
4.
Jesus is the greatest of all human teachers and
a moral pinnacle, uniquely special but not supernatural. God is loving father,
not a stern judge or a jealous tyrant.
5.
No original sin
6.
No predestination
7.
God’s grace isn’t relly necessary as human
goodness is inherent.
8.
In the end, God wants us to be tolerant,
open-minded, and non-dogmatic.
Served to put a stick in the ground
to segregate Unitarian/liberal ministers from the others by suggesting that
everyone [not just the clergy] can get value from scripture/religion. Like Kant, it’s OK to think for
yourself, as a matter of fact, God wants
you to think for yourself. Oh yea, and there is no trinity mentioned anywhere
in scripture.
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