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Many leading literary and scientific figures have been Unitarians, including Emerson's contemporaries [[Oliver Wendell Holmes]] (1809–1894), a poet who was the father of the justice; and Henry W. Longfellow (1807-1882), along with many scholars and educators. Unitarians include four presidents : [[John Adams]], [[John Quincy Adams]], [[Millard Fillmore]], and [[William Howard Taft]].
Many leading literary and scientific figures have been Unitarians, including Emerson's contemporaries [[Oliver Wendell Holmes]] (1809–1894), a poet who was the father of the justice; and Henry W. Longfellow (1807-1882), along with many scholars and educators. Unitarians include four presidents : [[John Adams]], [[John Quincy Adams]], [[Millard Fillmore]], and [[William Howard Taft]].
===Liberal theology====
William Ellery Channing, in his 1819 sermon "Unitarian Christianity," did much to define Unitarianism. Channing described Jesus as a man sent by God to inspire moral excellence on earth by his exemplary virtue. Thus the connection between God, Jesus, and human beings was moral, with God's universal love transmitted throughout. Therefore, there was no need for the distinctions of a Trinity. Influences on Channing toward this Christology included the writings of [[Francis Hutcheson]] and Joseph Butler.<ref> Nian-Sheng Huang, "William Ellery Channing's Christology and Moral Power: Rereading 'Unitarian Christianity.'" ''Journal of Unitarian Universalist History'' 1999 26: 1-17.</ref>
Unitarian minister Theodore Parker (1810-60) viewed religion as an instinctive expression of human needs. Critics say he was following German philosopher [[Ludwig Feuerbach]] (1804-72) from Hegelian idealism into speculative atheism. Parker did agree with Feuerbach that religion was a spontaneous affair of the heart, but whereas Feuerbach believed that such concepts as God were an illusion without foundation, Parker consistently affirmed that human religious sentiment actually made the transcendent reality of God accessible to human beings.<ref> Elisabeth Hurth, "From Idealism To Atheism: Theodore Parker and Ludwig Feuerbach." ''Journal of Unitarian Universalist History'' 1999 26: 18-46. </ref>
The controversy that greeted Ralph Waldo Emerson's delivery of the "Divinity School Address" in Boston in 1838 was a symptom of the erosion of basic assumptions about religion, truth, and social order. Emerson's radical assertion of the individual's ability to perceive spiritual truth without the aid of scripture both reflected and contributed to a growing split between liberal and conservative tendencies in Unitarian theology. But the address became a sensation throughout Boston because Emerson's transcendentalist attack on institutional religious authority resonated with two political movements of the 1830s that similarly challenged the political, cultural, and moral authority of Boston elites. The "Free Enquirers", led by former Universalist minister Abner Kneeland, an associate of the radical [[Frances Wright]], linked freethinking on social issues with a Tom-Paine-like radicalism akin to the Workingmen's movement. Abolitionists led by [[William Lloyd Garrison]] made a broad-based assault on legal authority, attacking even the legitimacy of the Constitution. This emergent discursive pluralism reflected the pervasive effects of the transformations wrought by Jacksonian politics.<ref> Mary Kupiec Cayton, "Toward a Democratic Politics of Meaning-Making: The Transcendentalist Controversy and the Rise of Pluralist Discourse in Jacksonian Boston." ''Prospects'' 2000 25: 35-68. 0361-2333 </ref>
Unitarians were among the first to accept Darwinian [[evolution]] views as applied to religion and "higher criticism" of the Bible and have continued to modify their theology to accord with new fads. Since the 1930s the Unitarians have been influenced greatly by religious humanism--the belief that mankind should set aside unsolvable theological problems and concentrate on the application of the scientific method to the task of creating a better life
Unitarians were among the first to accept Darwinian [[evolution]] views as applied to religion and "higher criticism" of the Bible and have continued to modify their theology to accord with new fads. Since the 1930s the Unitarians have been influenced greatly by religious humanism--the belief that mankind should set aside unsolvable theological problems and concentrate on the application of the scientific method to the task of creating a better life