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Channing, William Ellery
Channing, William Ellery (1780–1842), clergyman and author, leader of American Unitarianism.Born in Newport, Rhode Island, Channing graduated from Harvard College in 1793. In 1803, he was ordained minister of the Federal Street Church (now the Arlington Street Church) in Boston. He engaged in theological debates with the Calvinist Congregationalists; his Unitarian Christianity (1819) was widely circulated. During the 1820s, he led in the development of a distinct Unitarian denomination, which he hoped would remain a branch of Christianity. Channing accepted the Bible as divine revelation and strongly believed in free will.
Channing wrote on a wide variety of subjects, and his essays won international attention. His social views, derived from his religious principles, called for the full development of the potential of every human being; “Self‐Culture” (1838) expressed this belief. Channing supported many reform causes; his antislavery statements offended conservatives, even within his own congregation. Channing synthesized Protestantism's moralism with the Enlightenment's commitment to human dignity. The transcendentalists admired him, although he never became one of them. He influenced such contemporaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Senator Charles Sumner, Horace Mann, Lydia Maria Child, and Dorothea Dix. As a result, his cultural significance far transcends the small Unitarian denomination he helped found. See also Religion; Transcendentalism; Unitarianism and Universalism. Bibliography Jack Mendelsohn , Channing: The Reluctant Radical, 1971. Daniel Walker Howe |
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Paul S. Boyer. "Channing, William Ellery." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Paul S. Boyer. "Channing, William Ellery." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-ChanningWilliamEllery.html Paul S. Boyer. "Channing, William Ellery." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-ChanningWilliamEllery.html |
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Channing, William Ellery
Channing, William Ellery (1780–1842), born in Rhode Island, became pastor of a Boston Congregational church (1803). In his sermon at the ordination of Jared Sparks (1819), he clearly indicated his break with orthodox Calvinism, and from this date he was considered the “apostle” of Unitarianism and the leading opponent of Calvinism. As a stimulating force in the intellectual life of Massachusetts, he did much to prepare the way for Transcendentalism and other advanced social and cultural movements. His idealism and opposition to dogmatism may be observed in such sermons as the Baltimore Sermon (1819); The Moral Argument Against Calvinism (1820), in which he denies that human nature is essentially depraved; and Unitarian Christianity Most Favorable to Piety (1826). In his Remarks on American Literature (1830), he asks for a literary Declaration of Independence. His pamphlets on pacifism, antislavery, temperance, public education, and labor conditions are included in his collected Works (6 vols., 1841–43).
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Cite this article
James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Channing, William Ellery." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Channing, William Ellery." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-ChanningWilliamEllery.html James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Channing, William Ellery." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-ChanningWilliamEllery.html |
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Channing, William Ellery
Channing, William Ellery (1780–1842). American Christian pastor, originally a Congregationalist: in the schism between conservatives and liberals, Channing espoused the liberals, rejecting the Trinity and the radical consequence of original sin. He is thus regarded as a leading Unitarian thinker, but he said that he belonged only to ‘the community of free minds’. He supported social reform, though not at first the abolition of slavery. Rebuked for this, he published Slavery (1835), which became a key text for the opponents of slavery.
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JOHN BOWKER. "Channing, William Ellery." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN BOWKER. "Channing, William Ellery." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-ChanningWilliamEllery.html JOHN BOWKER. "Channing, William Ellery." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-ChanningWilliamEllery.html |
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William Ellery
William Ellery 1727–1820, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Newport, R.I. While a member of the Continental Congress (1776–81, 1783–85), Ellery distinguished himself in committee work pertaining to naval and commercial affairs.
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"William Ellery." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "William Ellery." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Ellery-W.html "William Ellery." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Ellery-W.html |
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