The Unitarians

by Leonard Smith

Presents the history of the Unitarians in Europe, Great Britain and America.

Genres: History, Christianity

174 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

Reviews

[Jared · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book! Whereas many of the histories of Unitarianism are very complicated and detail oriented, Smith's volume is very easy to read and focuses on the major events. But while doing this he makes sure to describe the connections between things. One of the best strategies he uses is simply saying something like "Of course, there were other more minor issues involved in this dispute, but that goes beyond the scope of this work." Thus, Smith lets us know that there is more to the story but he doesn't get too bogged down into details.

The best feature of this book is the examination of Continental European Unitarianism, English Unitarianism and American Unitarianism. I have been independently studying Unitarianism for about 18 months and this is the first book that provides a solid understanding of the differences between Arianism, Sociniarism, Latitudinarians and Sabellianism. I also learned a great deal from Smith's discussion of the regional/social differences within the United States between Unitarianism in New England and the Priestly version of Unitarianism that was gaining popularity within elite circles.

In short, this was a great purchase and I plan to keep this book on my bookshelf for many years to come.