Our Liberal Movement In Theology - Chiefly As Shown In Recollections Of The History Of Unitarianism In New England Chiefly As Shown in Recollections of the History of Unitarianism in New England

THE following correspondence sufficiently explains the circarnstaneos which liavo led to the publi cation of this volume - DIVINITYS CHOOLH, ARVARUDN IVERSITY, CAMBRIDG I E f, a y 10, 1882. DEAR SIR, - We, the undersigned, wishing to possess the Lectures on the Liberal IIovement in Theology, recently delivered before the Divinity School of Harvard University, in a more per nanent form, express our earnest desire for the publicatioii of the same. Very truly yours, H. PRICE C OLLIER, JOHN A . TUNIS, CHARLES F. RUSSELL, Committee for the School. CAMBRIDG M E, a y 14, 1882. MY DEAR FRIEND - S, Y our very kind letter gives me the opportunity, which I am delighted to embrace, of le vi lwlgit h you a memento of the four years I have passed, most agreeably, in connection with this School. Trusting that you may all have the privilege of doing your share in that noble and nlost interesting work, of which I have attempted to trace some of the antecedents and conditions, , I am, with the sincerest regard, Your friend, J. H. ALLEN. iv PREFATORY NOTE, These circumstances will explain, if they do not justify, a more personal tone in these Lectures than would belong to a purely historical or critical review. In fact, the value of the volume, if it has any, turns mainly on its being, in good part, made up of remiiliscences and personal testimony. It is, besides, in some sense the final link in a series, of which Hebrew Men and Times makes the first, and the third, under the title The Middle Age, is now in press. I will only add, that some passages may perhaps be recognized as having appeared here and there in print. In particular, most of the article on Unitarianism in a pamphlet entitled Three Phasesof Modern Theology has been included here and the Lecture on The Gospel of Liberalism is substantially the same with the Address to the Alumni of this School delivered in 1880. By the kindness of Dr. Hedge I am permitted to add in the form of an Appendix, with some revision and addition by his hand, his recent Memorial Address on Bellows and Emerson. HARVARDDI VINITY S CHOOL, CAMBRID J G u E ne, 10, 1882. CONTENTS . OUR LIBERAL MOVEMENT IN THEOLOGY. - ANTECEDENTS. T HERE are two ways of looking at any form of religious thought that appears in history. One is, to see it as a fixed type of opinion the other is, to see it as a phase in the development of religious truth. One sees it in the distinct outline it has taken in creed or symbol, as set forth by its recognized interpreters the other sees it as one stage of a movement that began long before there was any record of it, and will continue so long as men think at all seriously on religious things. The former way has been much more common. It corresponds with the absolute temper in which religious opinion has generally been held, and with that aim at absolute truth, and the faultless statement of it, which men have thought their highest duty. What is naturally fluent, and by the very laws of thought must change contiilually as the bearings of all our knowledge change, men have contiriually endeavored to fix in rigid forms that could not be altered or lost. ANTECEDENTS. So we find the history of religious thought chiefly made up of the recital of creeds, with the story of the controversies that have grown out of them, or else have been reconciled in them...