The UCC is both a very young tradition and a very old church. We are four traditions with significant history, filled with both beauty and ugliness, that combined to create something new, in 1957. As a former Catholic, I love and appreciate history, and where history matters most and is most fascinating is looking at how different strands change or end or wind into the present and the future, often in surprising ways. The UCC traces its roots back to four different denominations, each of which brought unique history and characteristics.
The UCC is a continuation of the four strands and is more than the four strands. The Congregationalists were our most famous progenitors. Most Americans have some exposure to the Congregationalists through …show more content…
The Catholic Worker House where I volunteered was called Amistad Catholic Worker, and I think that the Amistad case illustrates the best of our Congregational History. A statue of Joseph Cinque stands outside City Hall on Church Street. The Beinecke and Divinity School Library both hold writings of Jonathon Edwards, and I was able to see them when I took a course on Jonathon Edwards while at Yale …show more content…
Even within the four traditions, there is great complexity: much of which we might cite with pride and some we cannot. As we claim the Congregationalists, we must also claim what was sometimes terrible treatment of Native Americans and we have to claim the Salem witch trials. The four traditions story, of four traditions that became two and then one, is too neat for our complicated history. I love history and have studied it a great deal. I don’t yet have as strong a grasp of UCC history as I would like, and I look forward to learning
The UCC is a continuation of the four strands and is more than the four strands. The Congregationalists were our most famous progenitors. Most Americans have some exposure to the Congregationalists through …show more content…
The Catholic Worker House where I volunteered was called Amistad Catholic Worker, and I think that the Amistad case illustrates the best of our Congregational History. A statue of Joseph Cinque stands outside City Hall on Church Street. The Beinecke and Divinity School Library both hold writings of Jonathon Edwards, and I was able to see them when I took a course on Jonathon Edwards while at Yale …show more content…
Even within the four traditions, there is great complexity: much of which we might cite with pride and some we cannot. As we claim the Congregationalists, we must also claim what was sometimes terrible treatment of Native Americans and we have to claim the Salem witch trials. The four traditions story, of four traditions that became two and then one, is too neat for our complicated history. I love history and have studied it a great deal. I don’t yet have as strong a grasp of UCC history as I would like, and I look forward to learning