UU CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY RESOURCES 

  

Resources For Unitarian Universalist Christian Theology:

  1. An American Reformation: A documentary history of Unitarian Christianity; ed. Sydney Ahlstrom with Jonathan Sinclair Carey. Includes good introductory essay about the cultural and theological roots of our faith community in the U.S. especially in the 18th and 19th century. Essays with a particular theological thrust by ministers and professors on the nature of God, Creation, humanity, reason and revelation, the Incarnation, Christ, The Holy Spirit, Baptism, Communion, Regeneration, mission of the church, ethics.
  2. Christology in American Unitarianism: an anthology of 19th and 20th century Unitarian theologians, by Prescott Wintersteen published by the UUCF; foreward by George Huntston Williams. Focusing on William Ellery Channing, Andrews Norton, Henry Ware Jr., and John Gorham Palfrey; Ralph Waldo Emerson and Theodore Parker, James Freeman Clarke and Frederic Henry Hedge, Henry Whitney Bellows, Francis Greenwood Peabody, Francis Christie, Clayton R. Bowen, William Wallace Fenn, Charles E. Park.
  3. The UU Christian Reader, published by UUCF in 1995 50th anniversary commemoration anthology. Section on God and Theology, our faith, contemporary Unitarian Universalism and Christianity, the Bible, Church, Spiritual Practice. 
  4. Sources of Christian Theology in America, ed. Mark Toulouse and James O. Duke. Includes essays by the following persons in our particular tradition from the colonial period to contemporary times: Charles Chauncy, William Ellery Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Orestes Augustus Brownson, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Lydia Maria Child, Henry Nelson Weiman.
  5. Three volume set of books by Gary Dorrien (who is Episcopalian and one of the keynote speakers at a UUCF Revival Event) called The Making of American Liberal Theology. First volume includes foundations of Unitarian theology with Channing, Emerson and Parker. Third volume focuses on UU James Luther Adams; with some mention of process theologians Weiman and Charles Hartshorne; and full chapters on contemporaries Forrest Church and Thandeka.
  6. Process and Reality by Alfred North Whitehead.
  7. Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes by Charles Hartshorne, among others.
  8. James Luther Adams’ collections of essays: The Examined Faith, The Prophethood of all Believers, James Luther Adams papers and JLA seven essays (last two published by UUCF).
  9. Special issue of UU Christian Journal on Frederic Henry Hedge including George Huntston Williams essay on Rethinking Unitarianism Relationship to Protestantism.
  10. George Huntston Williams' The Radical Reformation for its history of theology among us in Europe; likewise the Conrad Wright books exploring history of theology of Unitarianism in U.S.: The Liberal Christians, The Beginnings of American Unitarianism, Streams of Light, and Three Prophets of Religious Liberalism: Channing, Emerson, Parker; Daniel Walker Howe’s The Unitarian Conscience; David Parke’s Epic of Unitarianism, selected writings over four hundred years looking at theological issues. Also on Universalist history and its theologies (see below for more online resources) The Larger Faith by Charles Howe, Universalism in America by Ernest Cassara.
  11. Faith Without Certainty byPaul Rasor, and the UU Christian Journal issue with three of Rasor’s essays on postmodernism and liberal religion.
  12. Thandeka’s The Embodied Self drawing from Schleirmacher, and her essay on the future of liberal theology in the Jan. 2009 issue of the journal Theology and Philosophy.
  13. Rebecca Parker and Rita Nakashima Brock’s books Saving Paradise and Proverbs of Ashes.
  14. Forrest Church’s books Bringing God Home, The American Creed, The Essential Tillich, God and Other Famous Liberals, and The Cathedral of the World: A Universalist Theology.
  15. A Feminist Ethic of Risk by Sharon Welch.
  16. See particularly Gary Dorrien’s three volume history of American liberal theology for biographical and analytical pieces on many of the theologians who have not been in or associated with Unitarian Universalism but whose work has been instrumental to the theological formation particularly of UU Christians; feminist, liberation, cultural biblical theologians.
  17. Online source of Universalist Theology and more links listed at http://universalistchurch.net/, and more links and sources especially the theological debates in the 19th century, at this blog spot. Also good links on many facets of Universalist Christian theology at Fire and Rose.
  18. Christian Voices in Unitarian Universalism, edited by Kathleen Rolenz, Skinner House. Personal journeys and personal theologies of contemporary UU Christians. 

Which additional theologians across the religious affiliation spectrum have been meaningful to your development as a UU Christian? Send submissions to Rev. Ron Robinson, executivedirector@uuchristian.org:

Ron Robinson: Beyond ones mentioned above, also Peter C. Hodgson, Paul Ricoeur, Karl Rahner, David Tracy, Kathryn Tanner, Peter C. Hodgson, Jean Luc Marion, Jurgen Moltmann, William Stringfellow, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the later work of Karl Barth, Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, Stanley Hauerwas;

Rich Koster, editor of The Universalist Herald: Leslie Weatherhead, Joachim Jeremias, Marcus Barth, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin; also check out the list of books on Universalist theology prepared by Ken Vincent at http://www.universalist-herald.net/Books.html.

Kristen Grassel: I was very moved by Reform theologian Jurgen Moltmann's eschatology; His book, "The Spirit of Life" is particularly eloquent. For ecumenism, I'd include Kathryn Spink's biography of Brother Roger of Taize, "A Universal Heart," which provides an inspiring narrative of Br. Roger's journey toward reconciliation. Finally, I'd recommend Howard Thurman's "Jesus and the Disinherited."