The following Chronology has been modified from
A
Chosen Faith by Buehrens and Church
and
Unitarian
Universalism: A narrative history by Bumbaugh.
182-251 Origen
of Alexandria proponent of universal salvation, i.e.,
universalism.
318 Arius taught that Jesus was not co-equal to God the
Father, not quite human nor divine. Followers were known as Arians.
325 Nicene Creed which established the
dogma of the Trinity was
adopted by Council of Nicea under Constantine the first Christian Roman
emperor. Unitarianism "the Arian heresy"
was no longer
allowed.
544 Universalism, the belief in universal salvation, was
condemned as heresy by EmporerJustinian in his Declaration of Faith. Those who were Unitarians or Universalist were
persecuted for centuries after.
1531 Michael Servetus publishes On the Errors of the
Trinity
1539 Katherine Vogel burned at the stake in
Poland for denying the Trinity.
1553 Servetus burned at
the stake in John
Calvin's protestant Geneva for denying the Trinity. His death
convinced many that one should not be killed because of religious
beliefs.
1566 Francis David preaches against the doctrine of
the Trinity in Transylvania.
1568 King John Sigismund of
Transylvania, a unitarian, issues the Declaration
of Turda an edict of religious tolerance.
However, he dies shortly after.
1579 Francis
David, condemned
as a heretic, dies in prison.
1579 Faustus
Socinus arrives in Poland
1654
John Biddle, founder of English Unitarianism, banished to the Scilly
Islands.
1658
In
Eighteenth-Century England and America
1703
Thomas Emelyn imprisoned at Dublin for anti-Trinitarian beliefs; birth
of Georges de Benneville, early universalist advocate .
1723
Georges de
Benneville preaches universalism in Europe; birth of Theophilus Lindsey,
later leader of London Unitarians.
1741
De Benneville emigrates to Pennsylvania; birth of John
Murray, founder of organized American Universalism.
1770
Murray emigrates to America; preaches
in Thomas Potter's chapel at Good Luck, NJ.
1779
First Universalist congregation in America gathered at Gloucester,
Mass., with Murray as minister.
1782
Judith Sargent Stevens (later
Murray) publishes a Universalist
Catechism
1785
Liturgy of King's Chapel,
Boston, revised to omit references to the Trinity.
1787
King's Chapel congregation ordains James Freeman as its minister,
becoming Anglican in worship, congregational in polity, and unitarian in
theology.
1790
Universalists adopt Philadelphia
Articles of Faith
1794
Joseph
Priestley, British Unitarian minister and scientist, emigrates to
Pennsylvania.
1796
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia organized with Priestley's
encouragement.
In
Nineteenth-Century America
1802
The oldest Pilgrim
church in America (founded at Plymouth in 1620) becomes unitarian.
1803
Universalists at convention in Winchester, N.H., adopt a confession
of faith.
1804
President
Thomas Jefferson compiles his own version of the Gospels,
The Jefferson
Bible, inspired by Priestley.
1805
Universalist Hosea
Ballou publishes A Treatise on the Atonement, rejecting the
doctrine of the Trinity;
Henry Ware, Sr., a unitarian, elected Hollis Professor of Divinity at
Harvard.
1819
William
Ellery Channing preaches 'Unitarian Christianity" in Baltimore,
helps gather first Unitarian Church in New York City.
1825
The American Unitarian Association founded.
1833
The General Convention of Universalists in the United States founded.
1838
Ralph
Waldo Emerson one of the key originators of American
Transcendentalists presented the "Divinity
School Address" at Harvard.
1841
Theodore
Parker's "Transient and Permanent in Christianity"
preached in South Boston.
1844
Meadville Theological School a Unitarian school established in
Meadville PA
1850
Death of Margaret Fuller, author of Woman in the Nineteenth Century.
1863
Ordination of Olympia
Brown as Universalist minister
first woman to be regularly ordained by any denomination.
1864
Death of Thomas
Starr King, Universalist minister and pastor of the First Unitarian
Church of San Francisco, who "saved California for the Union."
1865
National Conference of Unitarian Churches, organized by Henry Whitney
Bellows, gives Unitarians a more effective denominational structure.
1866
Organization of the Universalist General Convention (renamed in 1942 the
Universalist Church in America).
1867
Organization of the Free Religious Association.
1881
Lombard College's Universalist Divinity School established in Chicago.
Meadville joined Lombard in Chicago in 1926 to form Meadville
Lombard Theological School.
1884
Death of Emerson;
American Unitarian Association becomes a congregational and
representative body, later absorbing the National Conference;
Publication of Ten Great Religions, by James
Freeman Clarke.
1890
Universalists establish churches in Japan.
1893
World
Parliament of Religions held in Chicago, organized by Unitarian
minister Jenkin Lloyd Jones.
1899
A joint commission first discusses merger of Unitarian and Universalist
movements.
In
Twentieth-Century America
1900
The International
Congress of Free Christians and Other Religious Liberals formed
(later the International Association for Religious Freedom).
1902
Beacon Press launched, broadening
the American Unitarian Association's publishing program.
1908
Unitarian Fellowship for Social Justice organized by John
Haynes Holmes (also a founder of the NAACP , the ACLU, and the
Fellowship of Reconciliation).
1923
Norbert
Capek's Service of Flower
Communion first celebrated in Prague
1931
Second Commission on Unitarian-Universalist merger.
1933
Human
Manifesto I published
1935
Washington Statement
of Faith adopted by Universalists.
1936
American Unitarian Association Commission on Appraisal issues report.
1937
Frederick May Eliot elected president of AUA (d. 1957).
1939
Unitarian Service Committee
organized. They adopted the Flaming
Chalice as their logo.
1944
Church of the Larger Fellowship
organized to serve Unitarians living in areas without Unitarian
congregations.
1946
The Universalists adopt the Off-Centered
Cross as their symbol
1950’s
A. Powell Davies, minister of All Souls, Washington, D.C., inspires
the founding of ten suburban congregations; fellowship movement
organized under Monroe Husbands.
1961
The Consolidation
of the Unitarian and Universalist Faiths resulting in the Unitarian
Universalist Associationwith Dana McLean Greeley as first president.
1963
Hymns for the Celebration of Life published.
1965
James
Reeb killed at Selma, Alabama.
1969
Robert Nelson West elected second UUA president; controversy over black
empowerment vs. integration.
1973
Human
Manifesto II published
1977
Paul Carnes elected third UUA president; dies in office in 1979.
1979
Eugene Pickett elected fourth UUA president.
1985
William F. Schulz elected fifth UUA president; new statement of
Principles and Purposes adopted.
1993
John A. Buehrens elected sixth UUA president. Denise Davidoff elected
fifth moderator.
Singing the Living Tradition published.
1995
Statement of principles and purposes amended to include the sixth
source, the spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions.
2003
Humanist
Manifesto III published