Liberal Christianity and spiritism: the convergences between William Ellery Channing and Allan Kardec
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
In 1869, in a recommendation of books of interest to the spiritualist public, Allan Kardec wrote that the “moral philosophy” of the American pastor William Ellery Channing was “the purest form of Spiritism”. This article starts from this fact to analyze the similarities between Kardec's thought and liberal Christianity (or Unitarianism) in the United States, of which Channing was the most famous representative in the first half of the 19th century. To this end, first, a definition of the term “liberal Christianity” is provided; then, some of its intellectual roots in Anglo-American Christian thought are traced and, finally, some elements of its version of Christianity are compared with Kardec's reading of this religious tradition through, mainly, a representative text of each author in this regard, namely: Unitarian Christianity (1819) and The Gospel according to Spiritism (in the definitive version of 1866). In the end, it is observed that some of the theses and approaches proposed by Kardec had already been circulating for decades in the American Protestant milieu, not being restricted solely to “moral philosophy”.
Downloads
Article Details
There is access to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
I acknowledge that Horizonte is licensed under a CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE - ATTRIBUTION 4.0 INTERNATIONAL (CC BY 4.0):
References
AHLSTROM, Sydney E. The Scottish Philosophy and American Theology. Church History. Sep., 1955, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Sep., 1955), pp. 257-272. Disponível em: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3162115. Acesso em: 26/10/2023.
AHLSTROM, Sydney; CAREY, Jonathan. An American Reformation: A Documentary History of Unitarian Christianity. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1985.
AUBRÉE, Marion; LAPLANTINE, François. A mesa, o livro e os espíritos. Gênese, evolução e atualidade do movimento social espírita entre França e Brasil. Maceió: UFAL, 2009.
BRAUDE, Ann. Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth-Century America. Indiana University Press, 2001.
CHANNING, W. E. Le Christianisme Libéral. Précedé d’une introduction par M. Edouard Laboulaye. Paris: Charpentier, 1866.
CHANNING, William Ellery. Unitarian Christianity. 1819. Disponível em: https://uuwestport.org/unitarianchristianity. Acesso em 29/10/2023.
CHANNING, William Ellery. The Complete Works of William Ellery Channing: Including The Perfect Life and Containing a Copious General Index and a Table of Scripture References. London & New York: Routledge & Sons; London & Edinburgh: Williams & Norgate, 1884.
DORRIEN, Gary. The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805-1900. Louisville & London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.
HIMMA, Kenneth Einar. Design Arguments for the Existence of God. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Disponível em: https://iep.utm.edu/design-arguments-for-existence-of-god. Acesso em: 14/10/2023.
HOLIFIELD, E. Brooks. Theology in America: Christian Thought from the Age of Puritans to the Civil War. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2003. (Edição Kindle.)
KARDEC, Allan. Le livre des esprits. E. Dentu, 1857. Disponível em: https://kardecpedia.com/obras-de-kardec/o-livro-dos-espiritos/premiere-edition/download/10. Acesso em: 29/10/2023.
KARDEC, Allan. A gênese, os milagres e as predições segundo o Espiritismo. Brasília: FEB, 1996.
KARDEC, Allan. O livro dos médiuns, ou, Guia dos médiuns e evocadores: espiritismo experimental. Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2003.
KARDEC, Allan. O Espiritismo na sua expressão mais simples e outros opúsculos de Kardec. Brasília: FEB, 2013a.
KARDEC, Allan. O livro dos espíritos. Brasília: FEB, 2013b.
KARDEC, Allan. O evangelho segundo o Espiritismo. Brasília: FEB, 2018.
KARDEC, Allan. Obras póstumas. Brasília: FEB, 2019a.
KARDEC, Allan. Revista espírita. Jornal de estudos psicológicos. Ano quarto – 1861. Brasília: FEB, 2019b.
LANGFORD, Michael J. The Tradition of Liberal Theology. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 2014.
LIVINGSTON, James C. Modern Christian Thought: The Enlightenment and the Nineteenth Century. 2. ed. Fortress Press, 2006.
MEYER, D. H. The Saint as Hero: William Ellery Channing and the Nineteenth-Century Mind. Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 8 (1973), pp. 171-185. Disponível em: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1180550. Acesso em: 12/11/2023.
MONROE, John Warne. Laboratories of Faith: Mesmerism, Spiritism, and Occultism in Modern France. Cornell University Press, 2007.
NELLEN, Hank. Minimal Religion, Deism and Socinianism: On Grotius’s Motives for Writing De Veritate. Grotiana 33, 2012, pp. 25-57.
OLSON, Roger C. História da teologia cristã: 2000 anos de tradição e reformas. São Paulo: Vida, 2001.
PIMENTEL, Marcelo Gulão. O método de Allan Kardec para investigação dos fenômenos mediúnicos (1854-1869). Dissertação (Mestrado em História). Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde/Núcleo de Pesquisas em Espiritualidade e Saúde, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. 156 p. 2014.
PUGH, Ben. Atonement Theories: A Way Through the Maze. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2014. (Edição Kindle.)
ROBINSON, David (ed.). William Ellery Channing: Selected Writings. New York; Mahwah, 1985.
SHARP, Lynn L. Secular Spirituality: Reincarnation and Spiritism in Nineteenth-Century France. Lexington Books, 2006. (Edição Kindle.)
STEWART, M. A. Religion and Rational Theology. In: BROADIE, Alexander; SMITH, Craig (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment. Cambridge University Press, 2019.
TROELTSCH, Ernst. Protestantism and Progress. A Historical Study of the Relation of Protestantism to the Modern World. With a New Introduction by Howard G. Schneiderman. Routledge, 2017.
WILBUR, Earl Morse. A History of Unitarianism: In Transylvania, England and America, Volume II. Beacon Press, 1977. Transcrição do Internet Archive. Disponível em: https://archive.org/details/historyunitarianism2. Acesso em: 27/11/2023.