Unitarians - An Introduction
Unitarians
believe Jesus Christ was sent by God to lead men into the way, the truth,
and the life, but do not regard him as divine. Unitarians place great
emphasis on individual freedom of belief, and leave each member to "seek
the truth for himself."
The Unitarian view was expounded as early as the fourth century by Arius of Alexandria, who taught that Jesus was sent from God, but was not actually God incarnate. Similar views continued to be manifested over the centuries by English and European intellectuals.
The Unitarian movement first emerged as an organized denomination in 1819, under the leadership of William Ellery Channing. Later in the nineteenth century, Unitarian ideas were expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Theodore Parker.
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