The Unitarian Universalist Historical Society has released the latest issue of its journal (volume XXXI, 2006-2007). The main article is by Rev. Raymond Hopkins, a retired UU minister, who was the first Executive Vice-President of the UUA and therefore the highest placed Universalist in the newly merged denomination. A witness and participant in [...]
The term “fundamentalist” appeared less than a century ago, in relation to the Christian publishing venture known as The Fundamentals. These were released as a series of pamphlets in the 1910s. They were designed to provide clear, intelligent, orthodox pronouncements on Protestant Christianity–specifically, they served as repudiations of liberal Protestantism, threatening scientific advancements (such [...]
Reading through works on Buddhism by 19th century Unitarians and their liberal religious kin is a humbling exercise. Their hermeneutical tunnel vision is at times painful to behold, particularly because it raises obvious doubts about our own understandings. The only consolation can be that in the modern academy we at least attempt a [...]
Conrad Wright’s 1970 collection of essays The Liberal Christians is a classic of American church history, especially for those of us who work on the more liberal streams of the tradition. Wright is a major historian of Unitarianism in particular, and it is with the Unitarians that The Liberal Christians is concerned. Perhaps [...]
From James Pike it’s now time to take a look at Thomas Merton, a convert to Roman Catholicism who, strangely enough, ended up creating a sort of liberal Catholicism from inside a monastic cell in Kentucky. Perhaps it is significant that his journey to Catholicism took him through many other religious bodies, including liberal [...]
Yesterday’s brief discussion of You and the New Morality pointed out some ways in which Bishop James Pike’s concerns and approach to religion differ from those of Leary and his fellows, who were explored in previous posts. The contrast between these two camps continues with Pike’s book If This Be Heresy. Unlike the [...]
James Pike was a famous religious liberal of the mid-20th century and the Bishop of California for the Episcopal Church in the 1960s. With Pike we have entered a different realm of religion than that we explored with Leary, Dass, and Ginsberg. While each of them had views and experiences particular to themselves [...]
Many religiously significant visions and experiences take place during moments of heightened emotion and energy, but few commentators would be as frank as Allen Ginsberg in admitting that their defining spiritual breakthrough occurred while masturbating. Abandoned by his lover Neal Cassady, left behind by friends William Burroughs (Mexico), Jack Kerouac (Long Island), and Herbert [...]
Here’s one more counter-culture revolutionary for us to ponder. Allen Ginsberg, like Timothy Leary and Ram Dass, seems on paper to have many of the qualities we associate with liberal religion. To some, the main problem with these fellows is their use of psychedelic drugs to stimulate or enhance religious experiences. For [...]
This is the second and final post on Ram Dass. The Only Dance There Is is comprised of edited transcripts of two talks Ram Dass gave in the mid-1970s before audiences of health care professionals and scientists (as well as a large number of hippie and general public attendees). The topics covered include [...]
