I just came across a quotation from Adams' autobiography in 1756 where he seemingly notes Mayhew's direct influence on his own unitarianism:
17. Wednesday. A fine morning. Proceeded on my journey towards Braintree. Stopped to see Mr. Haven,1 of Dedham, who told me, very civilly, he supposed I took my faith on trust from Dr. Mayhew, and added, that he believed the doctrine of the satisfaction of Jesus Christ to be essential to Christianity, and that he would not believe this satisfaction unless he believed the Divinity of Christ. Mr. Balch was there too, and observed, that he would not be a Christian if he did not believe the mysteries of the gospel; that he could bear with an Arminian, but when, with Dr. Mayhew, they denied the Divinity and satisfaction of Jesus Christ, he had no more to do with them; that he knew not what to make of Dr. Mayhew’s two discourses upon the expected dissolution of all things. They gave him an idea of a cart whose wheels wanted greasing; it rumbled on in a hoarse, rough manner; there was a good deal of ingenious talk in them, but it was thrown together in a jumbled, confused order. He believed the Doctor wrote them in a great panic. He added further that Arminians, however stiffly they maintain their opinions in health, always, he takes notice, retract when they come to die, and choose to die Calvinists. Set out for Braintree, and arrived about sunset.
5 comments:
True, but in his entire public life, John Adams never came out as a unitarian. So too, Mayhew's great theological heavy lifting
http://hushmoney.org/UnlimitedSubmission_Mayhew.htm
is a scriptural argument why revolution is OK, even under Roman 13. It is not related to his unitarianism per se.
TVD wrote: "in his entire public life, John Adams never came out as a unitarian."
Not true (see below - signing a unitarian church membership book more than qualifies as an explicit acknowledgement).
But his wife Abigail did "come out," and if any founding couple seemed to be of one mind and one heart (after airing their differences in their voluminous correspondence), it was them.
"John and Abigail Adams were active members of the First Parish Church in Quincy, which was already unitarian in doctrine by 1753. Although she did not sign the membership book (John did), she attended the church, supported it, and showed active concern and care for its ministry. She is a celebrated figure in her congregation's tradition.
Abigail's theology is clearly stated in her correspondence. Writing to her son, John Quincy Adams, on May 5, 1816, she said, "I acknowledge myself a unitarian—Believing that the Father alone, is the supreme God, and that Jesus Christ derived his Being, and all his powers and honors from the Father."
http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/abigailadams.html
TVD wrote: "in his entire public life, John Adams never came out as a unitarian."
Not true (see below - signing a unitarian church membership book more than qualifies as an explicit acknowledgement).
That's your assertion. But have you anything where Adams publicly asserts his disbelief in Jesus's divinity during his public life? Of course not--it would have cost him votes. Even Jefferson kept that stuff under wraps.
And that was the nature of my comment.
I don't dispute that John and Abigail had unitarian beliefs. But her acknowledgement of them in 1816 is irrelevant, which was my point in specifying his "public life," which ended with John Adams's election loss to Jefferson in 1800.
Readers should also be aware that the unitarianism of Founding era New England was not the same as the Joseph Priestley variety of unitarianism,* which held that Jesus was merely human.
http://americancreation.blogspot.com/2010/02/who-were-unitarians.html
"The word UNITARIANISM, as denoting this opposition to Trinitarianism, undoubtedly expresses the character of a considerable part of the ministers of this town and its vicinity, and the commonwealth...We both agreed in our late conference, that a majority of our brethren believe, that Jesus Christ is more than man, that he existed before the world, that he literally came from heaven to save our race, that he sustains other offices than those of a teacher and witness to the truth, and that he still acts for our benefit, and is our intercessor with the Father. This we agreed to be the prevalent sentiment of our brethren."
BF mine. It's time we start making necessary distinctions on this theology stuff, lest we get swallowed in the lazy bandying about of imprecise terminology.
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*While president, John Adams refused to set foot in the Priestleyite church in Philly, though he visited all the rest.
TVD –You asserted that “in his entire public life, John Adams never came out as a unitarian,” and I stated that Adams signed the membership book of the First parish Church in Quincy, MA. That is a public act - end of story. It has nothing to do with which branch of Unitarianism (liberal Congregationalism vs Socianian/Priestley) Adams adhered to.
I agree that “it's time we start making necessary distinctions on this theology stuff, lest we get swallowed in the lazy bandying about of imprecise terminology.” But let’s at least acknowledge that the issue of Unitarian identity was contested in the late 18th and early 19th centuries between Arians, Socinians and other Anti-Trinitarians.
I don’t think we’ll ever know what John Adams believed about Jesus Christ’s divinity. But the evolving religious environment he lived increasingly viewed Jesus as sent into the world by God to set an example of the life one must strive to lead, and left the divinity question open to private judgment on these and other theological points.
Stupid quibbling with my phrasing. Give us a break. Did John Adams ever publicly deny the Trinity? Was he accused of infidelity by others?
Do you have any facts on this besides paraphrasing the Unitarian Universalist website? In quite a few churches, Trinitarians and non-Trinitarians sat side by side, the issue skated around.
My original statement
"in his entire public life, John Adams never came out as a unitarian."
stands unless you do a better job of attacking it.
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