Upchurch
Papa Funkosophy
My wife and I are attending a class at church about the origins and background of the Unitarian church. We've only been to one class so far, but it's been incredibly interesting (I'm used to these things being dead boring).
Anyway, I've heard Unitarianism called a "liberal religion" before, but I always took it in the social/political sence. I mean, any church that accepts just about any take on religion sounds pretty "liberal" to me. But that's not the definition of the word as used here, it turned out.
"Orthodoxy" translates to "the correct (i.e. only) way to praise God." Orthodox religion, then, teaches the orthodoxy, but also focuses on answering the question, "What is the nature and will of God?" "Heresy", which I always assumed means to disobey, actually only means "to choose". So, from an orthodox point of view, heresy does mean to disobey if you choose anything other than the orthodoxy.
Liberal religon has a different focus. Instead of focusing on God like orthodox religion does, it focuses on the question "What is the nature of human nature?" It is how one answers that question that determines how one "praises God," for whatever definition of the word "God" is derived from one's understanding of the nature of human nature.
So, in a way, Unitarianism is all about heresy, about choice. Pretty cool, huh?
Anyway, I've heard Unitarianism called a "liberal religion" before, but I always took it in the social/political sence. I mean, any church that accepts just about any take on religion sounds pretty "liberal" to me. But that's not the definition of the word as used here, it turned out.
"Orthodoxy" translates to "the correct (i.e. only) way to praise God." Orthodox religion, then, teaches the orthodoxy, but also focuses on answering the question, "What is the nature and will of God?" "Heresy", which I always assumed means to disobey, actually only means "to choose". So, from an orthodox point of view, heresy does mean to disobey if you choose anything other than the orthodoxy.
Liberal religon has a different focus. Instead of focusing on God like orthodox religion does, it focuses on the question "What is the nature of human nature?" It is how one answers that question that determines how one "praises God," for whatever definition of the word "God" is derived from one's understanding of the nature of human nature.
So, in a way, Unitarianism is all about heresy, about choice. Pretty cool, huh?
