Comments on: Writing about Universalism: could use your help

By: Scott Wells

Scott Wells — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:51:41 +0000

@Steven. Amazon is a nightmare to work with and I doubt Powell’s would be that interested. Does the new edition have a ISBN, I wonder?

And where is this PBWiki? Readers want to know!

By: StevenRowe

StevenRowe — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:41:28 +0000

Currently, he second printing of A NEW UNIVERSALISM FOR A NEW CENTURY
is available from the folks at the Universalist Herald (see http://www.universalist-herald.net)
I do hope they get it on Amazon and Powells, etc.
I havent read it yet, but plan to get a copy at the Universalist Convocation in two weeks. (a new greatly revised edition of A HISTORY OF UNIVERSALISM IN NORTH CAROLINA has also been released - and I hear there’s a new book out on Inman’s Chapel).
In a more grandiose moment, I started a list on PBWiki where I was to feature all the Universalist books - with my commentary. A shorter version of this - maybe the Universalist books since, say, the bicentennial of the Universalists. or around 1990 - with short reviews might indeed serve a need.

By: Aaron Sawyer

Aaron Sawyer — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:43:17 +0000

Things I’m focused on right now:

Our cumbersome name and how well or not it describes the nature of modern congregations
Affirming and articulating our identity as a vision and not a reaction
Unity in a divided congregation
Embodiment of universal love
Individual vs. congregational UUism

By: John Simcox

John Simcox — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:14:52 +0000

I hadn’t heard of A.J. Mattill’s A NEW UNIVERSALISM FOR A NEW CENTURY. It’s a category of literature for which I’ve been searching. Many thanks for the word on that. I hope it will be among the books that will help us launch a movement. (I guess I’ll be open about my grandiosity today.)

Scott, I’d like to see articles that bring to light all of the books on universalism that have been written in the last decade or so. Those of us who are universalists need to somehow become more aware of each other.

                                                  Thanks,

                                                   John

By: Charlie Talbert

Charlie Talbert — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:25:09 +0000

I have been reading A.J. Mattill�s A New Universalism For A New Century.

It�s helped me appreciate Universalism�s emphasis on reverence for life, which is different than � and glossed over by � the interdependent web principle that Unitarian Universalists sometimes use to justify cruelty to others.

Mattill writes:

�If, then, a New Universalism for a New Century is to include reverence for life, it must include a vegetarian/fruitarian diet as a religious practice� And probably more than any other practice, vegetarianism would bring about attitudes which are conducive to harmonious and peaceful relations among individuals and ultimately among nations. On the other hand, cruelty to animals brutalizes the perpetrators and results in cruelty to humans. If we act inhumanely toward other species for our own amusement, clothing, food, greed, and profit, we cannot sustain compassion for our own species, for cruelty is indivisible, and cannot be turned off like a faucet when we turn from animals to humans�The slaughterhouse is a prelude to the battlefield.�

I�d like to see your thoughts about this and others aspects of Universalism�s relevance for those of us who do not subscribe to a creed.

By: StevenRowe

StevenRowe — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:06:27 +0000

From Jaume’s profound question, I go to ask much less so. With the Georgia Universalist Convention now inactive, I wonder if you could talk about your experiences with that organization. I know the state conventions were much more important in the 19th century, but what if anything do you feel it offered at the time of your Georgia experiences?

By: Jaume

Jaume — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:28:39 +0000

I must admit that my Universalist interests are focused upon ancient times. I think that Universalism has an escathology that Unitarianism has usually lacked, and I am particularly fascinated by Origen’s apokatastasis (the cycle of descent and ascent of all souls). What I have read from 19th-century Universalism seems to me less profound, and perhaps your wisdom can help me appreciate better what our recent Universalist forebears can say that goes beyond the “no hell” motto and the trivial anecdotes that are usually found in UU texts and sermons.

By: shaktinah

shaktinah — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:33:03 +0000

Hi Scott, namaste.

As someone who does not believe in an after-life, I like to frame the discussion on Universalism in terms of what it means in this life: no one is saved unless everyone is saved.

Even if one does believe in an after-life, it would not preclude this approach. As someone once said (I don’t remember who), Universalists believe that we’re all going to end up in the same place so we might as well learn to get along now.

Don’t know if this helps. shrug

cheers.