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Showing posts from May, 2019

The Five Points of Unitarian Christianity

( I'm republishing this essay on here as it's another one of those important historical documents that I believe is only on one website, and I want to make sure it stays available to all - SL ) The Five Points of Calvinism and the Five Points of the New Theology by James Freeman Clarke (1885) (With a few minor updates to the language by Mercy Aiken) "And thou shalt make . . . five pillars, and overlay them with gold, . . . and shalt cast five sockets of brass for them." -- Exodus xxiv.,37 The number five has acquired as great significance in theology as it has in nature. The largest family of plants is that of which the flowers have five petals; and the most popular theology of modern times is that of Calvin with its five points of doctrine. These five points of Calvin relate to Absolute Decrees, Atonement by Christ for the Elect only, Original Sin, Effectual Calling, and the Perseverance of Saints. The main and essential doctrines of Orthodoxy in the pa