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.Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate thesacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythmsof nature.Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennobles ourfaith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vi-sion.As free congregations we enter into this covenant, promising toone another our mutual trust and support.PurposesThe Unitarian Universalist Association shall devote its corporatepowers for religious, educational and humanitarian purposes.The pri-mary purpose of the Association is to serve the needs of its membercongregations, organize new congregations, extend and strengthen Uni-tarian Universalist institutions, and implement its principles.Preamble to the International Council of Unitarians andUniversalists (ICUU) Constitution, AdoptedMarch 23 26, 1995We, the member groups of the International Council of Unitarians andUniversalists, affirming our belief in religious community based on:" liberty of conscience and individual thought in matters of faith," the inherent worth and dignity of every person," justice and compassion in human relations," responsible stewardship of the earth s living system," and our commitment to democratic principles, APPENDIX " 549declare our purposes to be:" to serve the Infinite Spirit of Life and the human community bystrengthening the worldwide Unitarian and Universalist faith," to affirm the variety and richness of our living traditions," to facilitate mutual support among member organizations," to promote our ideals and principles around the world," to provide models of liberal religious response to the human con-dition which uphold our common values. BibliographyThere are rich resources for the study of Unitarian Universalist history.The European roots of Unitarianism were brilliantly scoured over manyyears by Earle More Wilbur, the former president of the Starr KingSchool.Wilbur wrote the two-volume A History of Unitarianism (1945,1952), which concentrated on Poland, Transylvania, and England with abrief section on America.This book has been the standard bearer for allEuropean studies of the roots of rational religion.George H.Williams ofHarvard Divinity School placed Unitarianism in the wider context of theReformation in his monumental work The Radical Reformation (1962), aterm he coined.Besides these standard works other books are listed in theCanadian, European, and Asian sections below.There is no good com-prehensive history of Unitarianism in Great Britain, although the archi-tectural history of Unitarian chapels, The Unitarian Heritage (1986), isespecially helpful in understanding the geographical and architectural riseand decline of the movement.An insightful recent work is Unitarian Per-spectives on Contemporary Religious Thought (1999), edited by GeorgeChryssides.A number of works about Joseph Priestley, the great chemistand Unitarian minister, have been published, including a brilliant newvolume by Jenny Uglow about the Lunar Society he belonged to.CalledThe Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World(2002), it also features material about Josiah Wedgwood, the famous Uni-tarian potter.The Center for Free Religion in Chico, California, has pro-duced a number of books in recent years on Unitarianism in Transylva-nia.These publications have been coordinated by Judit Gellerd, thedaughter of a Transylvanian Unitarian minister, and her husband, GeorgeM.Williams.The European background has been summarized in a briefhistory by Charles Howe, For Faith and Freedom (1997).There have been a number of general histories of Universalism.Themost comprehensive is the two-volume The Larger Hope (1979, 1985)551 552 " BIBLIOGRAPHYby Russell Miller, which superseded an earlier study by Richard Eddy,Universalism in America: A History (1884 1886).Miller s work pro-vides endless, encyclopedic detail about every aspect of Universalistdevelopment.This overall history has been adroitly condensed byCharles Howe, The Larger Faith (1993).Ernest Cassara has producedtwo important volumes.The best documentary history of Universalismis his Universalism in America (1971), and he also wrote the only mod-ern biography of the great Universalist leader, Hosea Ballou: The Chal-lenge to Orthodoxy (1961).Universalism has received much less schol-arly attention than its Unitarian counterpart, but two studies from thelast generation stand out.Stephen Marini in his Radical Sects of Revo-lutionary New England (1982) examined the evangelical roots of Uni-versalism in the hill country of New England through the life of CalebRich and his followers.More recently Anne Lee Bressler has con-tributed The Universalist Movement in America, 1770 1880 (2001),which explores the initial theological emphasis on the moral communityof all people in the Godhead in contrast to a focus on individual salva-tion found with other early liberals.The book also shows how the the-ological implications of universal salvation led to a leadership role inthe women s rights movement and how the desire to prove a scientificbasis for life after death led to an embrace of spiritualism by a few Uni-versalists.Peter Hughes has also written interesting essays on the his-tory of the Restorationist Controversy for the Journal of Unitarian Uni-versalist History.George H.Williams has contributed a brilliant essay,American Universalism (1971), which first appeared in the Journal ofthe Universalist Historical Society and was later published in bookform.There are fewer biographies of Universalist leaders than there arefor their Unitarian counterparts.One especially important work under-taken by the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society was CatherineHitching s biographical dictionary of Universalist and UnitarianWomen Ministers (1975).Many full-length biographies are listed in thebibliography below [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]