Robinson Ch 10 Liberal Religion and Reform

This chapter looks at the contributions of the Unitarians and the Universalists to social justice through three lenses:

1.  Universlism's Social Conscious
2.  Feminism
3.  Social Gospel (and the ethic of individualism)

The chapter opens by portraying the Universalist's lack of dissent amongst its ranks (when compared to the Unitarians) as possibly lackluster, so it was nice to see that they actually had an argument.  Funny that both protagonists had the odd surname of Ballou.

Aiden Ballou's social action rallying call came from his theology which can be summed up by saying that "we much not only preach, but live what we have received as truth".  Like Hosea, he based his theology in scripture and considered himself Christian.

American feminism found a home in both Unitarianism (through its stress on education and literacy) and Universalism (through its loose structure that permitted for a lot of different interpretations of influence).

American adoption of a social gospel found a home in Francis Greenwood Peabody, whose father was the minister at King's Chapel.  While a professor at Harvard, he wrote Jesus Christ and the Social Question, which more or less launched the social gospel. This was very interesting to me as I had previously been under the impression that the social gospel was an evangelical movement.  This movement was critical and revolutionary in implementing a tie between ethics and politics (which interestingly was apparently not there, or lacking before!)

The last part of the chapter I found particularly interesting as it credits Clarence Skinner with transforming the theological concept of universal salvation into a working philosophy aimed at people here on this world.  This was very intriguing to me because prior to reading this, I was unaware that these two concepts were as separate as they apparently had been.  I wonder what Universalism looked like in both worship and lived life to a pre-Skinner congregant.  I can definitely see how pre-Skinner universalism provided fertile ground for one whose philosophy (theology) started with "a belief in man".

Meadville refused Olympia Brown in the same way they had almost refused Egbert Brown, because their prospects for ministry were so slight.

Interesting quotes:  In the 19th century, theology was more speculative for the Unitarians but more pragmatic for the Universalists.

The rise of an uncontrolled laissez-faire capitalism accentuated the moral and ethical implications of economic power….