Caleb Rich (born 1 August 1750) was an American minister who was influential in the formation of the Universalist Church.
Rich was born in Sutton, Massachusetts and was the son of Rev. Elisha Rich and Mary Davis. His father being a Baptist and his mother an adherent of the "standing order," he probably became accustomed to hearing discussions of religious questions in his boyhood. He had a speculative and inquiring mind, and as appears readily accepted the views of the opposers of orthodoxy of the day in general, although on special points of doctrine he held views peculiar to himself. He was nominally a Baptist, and retained his connection with that denomination until after his removal to Warwick at about twenty-one years of age. There his peculiar notions became so offensive that he and also his brother Nathaniel were brought before the church "for errors in doctrine," and on the charge, were set aside. Soon after, in 1773, these brothers with one or two associates formed the new society at Warwick, and Caleb became the minister.
In 1775, at the Lexington Alarm, he marched as a minuteman, under Capt. Wright, for Cambridge, and after being there a few weeks obtained a furlough and went to visit among his relatives at Sutton and Oxford. His friends would hear him explain his new doctrine; and therefore from house to house in Sutton, Oxford, Charlton, Thompson and Douglas, he opened and expounded his theories, until on his return to the camp, he says, "the brethren numbered forty or fifty." On his return to Warwick he renewed his labors with increased zeal. There his ordination as a minister occurred in 1781. After having remained in Warwick about thirty years, he removed to Shoreham, Vt, and later to New Haven, Vt, in which place and vicinity he continued to preach, as his health permitted. He was familiar with the scriptures, delighted in arguments of doctrine subjects, and was more than an ordinary man as a thinker, but as a preacher he did not excel. Rev. W. S. Balch, from whose sketch of him these notes are in part compiled, says: "He was the real founder of American Universalism." (now known as the Universalist Church)
Hosea Ballou D.D. was an American Universalist clergyman and theological writer.
The Rev James Alexander Haldane aka Captain James Haldane was a Scottish independent church leader following an earlier life as a sea captain.
John Murray was one of the founders of the Universalist denomination in the United States, a pioneer minister and an inspirational figure.
The Universalist Church of America (UCA) was originally a Christian Universalist religious denomination in the United States. Known from 1866 as the Universalist General Convention, the name was changed to the Universalist Church of America in 1942. In 1961, it consolidated with the American Unitarian Association to form the Unitarian Universalist Association.
The Young People's Christian Union (Y.P.C.U.), organized in 1889, was a Universalist youth group created to develop the spiritual life of young people and advance the work of the Universalist church. Soon after it was founded, the Y.P.C.U. focused its attention on missionary work. It was instrumental in the founding of new southern churches and the creation of a Post Office Mission for the distribution of religious literature.
Abner Kneeland was an American evangelist and theologian who advocated views on women's rights, racial equality, and religious skepticism that were radical for his day. As a young man, Kneeland was a lay preacher in a Baptist church, but he converted to Universalism and was ordained as a minister. Later in life, he rejected revealed religion and Universalism's Christian God. Due to provocative statements he published, Massachusetts convicted Kneeland under its rarely used blasphemy law. Kneeland was the last man in the United States jailed for blasphemy. After his sentence, he founded a utopian society in Iowa, but it failed shortly after his death.
Joshua Toulmin of Taunton, England was a noted theologian and a serial Dissenting minister of Presbyterian (1761–1764), Baptist (1765–1803), and then Unitarian (1804–1815) congregations. Toulmin's sympathy for both the American (1775–1783) and French (1787–1799) revolutions led the Englishman to be associated with the United States and gained the prolific historian the reputation of a religious radical.
Rev. William Winterbotham was a British Baptist minister and a political prisoner.
Christian universalism is a school of Christian theology focused around the doctrine of universal reconciliation – the view that all human beings will ultimately be saved and restored to a right relationship with God. "Christian universalism" and "the belief or hope in the universal reconciliation through Christ" can be understood as synonyms. Opponents of this school, who hold that eternal damnation is the ultimate fate of some or most people, are sometimes called "infernalists."
John Howard Hinton was an English author and Baptist minister who published, along with many other works, The History and Topography of the United States of North America together with his brother Isaac Taylor Hinton (1799-1847). He is the father of surgeon James Hinton and grandfather of mathematician and science fiction author Charles Howard Hinton.
Liberty Universalist Church and Feasterville Academy Historic District is a national historic district located near Winnsboro, Fairfield County, South Carolina. The property encompasses four buildings constructed between 1831 and 1845. They are the Liberty Universalist Church and three buildings associated with the Academy: a boarding house, a kitchen, and a school building. The buildings were constructed by the Feaster family.
Elhanan Winchester was an American theologian who explored numerous theological paths before becoming an advocate for universal restoration. As a result, Winchester is considered among the early leaders of American Universalism.
Richard Wright was an English Unitarian minister, and the itinerant missionary of the Unitarian Fund, a missionary society established in 1806.
Caleb Ashworth, D.D. was an English dissenting tutor.
William Vidler was an English nonconformist minister and editor, ultimately of universalist views.
Joseph Fort Newton (1880–1950) was an American Protestant minister and a prominent Masonic author.
The First Universalist Church of Atlanta, organized in 1895, re-established a Universalist presence in Atlanta, Georgia. Initial missionary efforts in 1879 were short-lived and failed to establish a permanent presence in the city. With the explicit assistance the Young People's Christian Union, this second missionary effort enabled the Universalists to sustain their presence and construct a church building on East Harris in 1900. The Universalists occupied the church until 1918 when they merged with Atlanta's Unitarians.
James Harington Evans (1785-1849) was ordained as a Church of England clergyman in 1810. During his early years as a curate he suffered a crisis following the death of his first child. One of his parishioners suggested he study a volume of sermons by the Rev John Hill (1711–46). As he read his well-being improved and he started to question some of the doctrinal beliefs in the Church of England. He shared these ideas with his congregation, causing a split in the community and was asked by his rector to leave. Within a few years he became a Baptist minister and the pastor of John Street Chapel in Bloomsbury, where he remained for thirty years. After his death it was said of him that, he was to be admired in almost everything except his Nonconformity.
Christian universalism was a theology prevalent in the early United States coinciding with the founding of the Latter Day Saint movement in 1830. Universalists believed that God would save all of humanity. Universalism peaked in popularity during the 1820s and 1830s, and the idea of universal salvation for all humanity was hotly debated. Several revelations of the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, Joseph Smith, dealt with issues regarding Universalism, and it was a prominent heresy in the Book of Mormon. Smith's father was a Universalist, while his mother was a traditional Calvinist, creating strain in the Smith family home.
Daniel Bragg Clayton, commonly known as D.B. Clayton, was an American Southern Universalist minister who was instrumental in spreading and defending Universalism in the South. He was a self-taught scholar on the scriptural justification of universal salvation and frequently debated this theological topic with clergy of other denominations.