Michael Servetus (c.1506-October 27, 1553), a Spaniard martyred in the Reformation for his criticism of the doctrine of the trinity and his opposition to infant baptism, has often been considered an early unitarian. Sharply critical though he was of the orthodox formulation of the trinity, Servetus is better described as a highly unorthodox trinitarian.…
Von Ogden Vogt (February 25, 1879-August 2, 1964), or V. Ogden Vogt as he preferred, was minister at the First Unitarian Church of Chicago for two decades, a lecturer on Religion and Fine Art at the Chicago Theological Seminary, and the author of books and articles on church art, architecture, liturgy, and worship.…
Henry Noble Couden (November 21, 1842 – August 22, 1922) was Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives for twenty-five years (1895-1921). After being blinded in a Civil War battle he returned to school to study for the Universalist ministry.
Laelius Socinus, or Lelio Sozzini, (January 29, 1525-May 4, 1562), a peripatetic Italian Bible scholar, was a pioneer theologian of the radical branch of the Reformation. In his few surviving writings he laid the foundation for the unitarian theology that his nephew Faustus Socinus later promulagated in Poland.…
Charles Rhind Joy (December 5, 1885- September 26, 1978) was a Unitarian minister, American Unitarian Association official, and an international humanitarian worker affiliated with the Unitarian Service Committee, Save the Children Federation, and CARE. He wrote popular articles for magazines and authored numerous books.
John Murray (December 10, 1741-September 3, 1815), a preacher from the British Isles, became the most widely-known and respected voice of American Universalism during the last three decades of the eighteenth century. The legal conflict surrounding his ministry was instrumental in undermining the monopoly of the established church in Massachusetts and in bringing about the legal organization of the first Universalist churches in New England.
Peter Charadon Brooks Adams (June 24, 1848-February 14,1927) was a lawyer, historian, and writer, who served as an informal adviser to President Theodore Roosevelt. Although reared Unitarian, he was agnostic for many years. Late in life he returned to the Unitarian fold at the family church in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Henry Wilder Foote (February 2, 1875-August 27, 1964) was a Unitarian minister, scholar, teacher, and hymnologist. As Chair of a joint Universalist and Unitarian commission on hymnals, he oversaw the editorial compilation and production of Hymns of the Spirit (1937) which became the standard hymnbook used by both groups up to their 1961 consolidation.
Stephen Fritchman (May 12, 1902-May 30, 1981) was a Unitarian minister. During the 1940s, he was Director of Youth Work and editor of The Christian Register for the American Unitarian Association (AUA). After being ousted as editor in 1947 in a dispute over editorial supervision of the Register (The Fritchman Affair), he returned to the pulpit as minister at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles.…
Lon Ray Call (October 6, 1894-October 7, 1985) was a Unitarian minister and denomination official best known for his evangelism. Instrumental in the development of the fellowship movement, he spent much of his professional life on the move, giving sermons, organizing churches and founding lay-led fellowships.…
The journalist, historian, novelist, Henry Brooks Adams ( February 16, 1838-March 27, 1918) was the son of Civil War diplomat Charles Francis Adams and Abigail Brooks Adams. His grandfather, John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States.
William Phillip Jenkins (October 28, 1911-December 13, 1985) was a Unitarian minister active in denominational leadership. He was influencial in the development of Unitarianism in Canada after World War II and active in the 1961 consolidation of the Unitarians and the Universalists.…