By HH Mohrmen
Every year, Unitarians in Meghalaya and Assam celebrate their church anniversary on September 18. In the past, during such occasions, only the local aspects of the church’s history, which began in 1887, were typically discussed. This inadvertently leaves out the broader history of the Church, which can actually be traced back to early Christianity which was also diverse in its beliefs and practices.
The Many Sects and Different Christology
The earliest Christian church, founded in Jerusalem, was led by the apostles, particularly James the Just, and was centered on the teachings of Jesus and his apostles. They met in homes for prayer, breaking bread, and teaching. Early Christians saw themselves as part of the Jewish tradition but believed that Jesus was the Messiah. They continued to worship in Jewish temples and synagogues while also developing new practices around the Eucharist (the Lord’s Supper).
In the early Christian period, several sects and movements emerged as the new faith spread across the Roman Empire and beyond. These groups often had differing interpretations of doctrine, theology, and practice. Some of the key early Christian sects included the Jewish Christians, who were the earliest followers of Jesus and saw Christianity as a continuation of Judaism. They adhered to Jewish law and customs while accepting Jesus as the Messiah.
Gnosticism was a broad and diverse movement that emphasized esoteric knowledge (gnosis) as the key to salvation. Gnostics had a dualistic view of the world, seeing it as a battle between good (the spiritual realm) and evil (the material realm). They believed that Jesus came to impart secret knowledge that would allow people to escape the material world.
Marcionism, founded by Marcion of Sinope in the 2nd century, taught that the God of the Old Testament was a separate and inferior deity compared to the God of the New Testament. Marcion rejected the Hebrew Bible and its God, focusing instead on the teachings of Paul and a revised version of Luke’s Gospel.
The Pauline Christians, followers of Paul the Apostle, emphasized faith in Jesus Christ over the strict observance of Jewish law. His teachings became the foundation of much of modern Christian theology. Paul preached that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ, not by adhering to Jewish law, and he advocated for the inclusion of Gentiles (non-Jews) in the Christian community.
Arianism, although it emerged slightly later (in the 4th century), had roots in early debates about the nature of Christ. Founded by Arius, a priest from Alexandria, Arianism argued that Jesus, while divine, was not co-eternal with God the Father. Arians believed that Jesus was a created being and not equal to God the Father, a view opposed by the orthodox belief in the Trinity. Arianism was a major controversy in the early church, leading to the Council of Nicaea in 325, where it was condemned as heretical.
The Arian Controversy and the Nicene Creed
The disagreements over Christological models came to a head in the early 4th century in what became known as the Arian controversy. This was the most intense and consequential theological dispute in early Christianity, led by two protagonists: Arius (c. 250–336) and Athanasius (c. 293–373). Both were learned, self-confident, and unyielding. Both were from Alexandria—Arius a distinguished churchman and scholar, and Athanasius a brilliant theologian.
Arius’s Christology was a mixture of adoptionism and logos theology. His basic notion was that the Son came into being through the will of the Father; therefore, the Son had a beginning. Although the Son existed before all eternity, he was not eternal, and Father and Son were not of the same essence. In Jesus, who suffered pain and wept, the logos became human.
Athanasius, on the other hand, believed that God had to become human so that humans could become divine. At the heart of Athanasius’s Christology was a religious rather than speculative concern. This led him to conclude that the divine nature in Jesus was identical to that of the Father, and that Father and Son shared the same substance. He insisted on the need for the Nicene homoousios to express the Son’s unity with the Father.
The controversy not only deeply agitated and bitterly divided the Christian community, but it also threatened the political stability of the Roman Empire. Eager for a resolution, Emperor Constantine convened and presided over the Council of Nicaea, which formulated the Nicene Creed, affirming the Athanasian position.
According to his biographer Eusebius of Caesarea, Constantine sought to reconcile the two sides by suggesting the use of the word homoousios, which was accepted by all in attendance, with the exception of Arius and two Libyan bishops. The Western bishops, who, like most of the bishops in attendance, had not given much thought to the issue, were not troubled by Constantine’s term, which they understood as equivalent to the Latin word substantia, used by Tertullian to describe the two substances of Jesus.
The Nicene Creed states that Jesus is “eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.”
From Nicaea to Chalcedon
The decision in favor of the Athanasian view at Nicaea did not immediately end the controversy. For more than a century, the church wavered. The Council of Ariminum (359) all but reversed Nicaea, and the emperor in Constantinople turned the Athanasian majority into a minority. Constantine himself leaned toward Arianism later in his reign, and his eventual successor, his son Constantius, was openly Arian. The Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon were milestones in the history of Christology. The key terms at the center of those turbulent controversies were homoousios (“of the same substance” or “of the same essence”) and homoiousios (“of like essence”).
These great debates did not involve only theologians and churchmen. The common people were also caught up in the arguments, even demonstrating in the streets with banners and chants in support of one side or the other. The Arians, moreover, engaged the public in a relentless fight against the main supporters of the Nicene decision.
The Origin of Unitarianism
The Unitarian movement has its roots in the post-Reformation period, arising in response to the doctrinal disputes of the time, particularly concerning the nature of God and the Trinity. Unitarianism, which rejects the traditional Christian doctrine of the Trinity, emphasizes the unity of God and the humanity of Jesus.
The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century sparked widespread theological debate, leading to the questioning of many established doctrines of the Catholic Church. Early Unitarians were influenced by Renaissance humanism, which emphasized a return to the original texts of the Bible and critical thinking. They argued that the doctrine of the Trinity was a later development and not part of the original Christian message.
One of the most important figures in the early development of Unitarianism was Michael Servetus (1511–1553), a Spanish physician and theologian. In his book On the Errors of the Trinity (1531), Servetus rejected the traditional doctrine of the Trinity, arguing for the unity of God and seeing Jesus as a human being who was divinely inspired.
Fausto Sozzini (also known as Faustus Socinus, 1539–1604), an Italian theologian, was another key figure. He fled to Poland, where he became a leader among the Polish Brethren, a group of radical reformers who rejected the Trinity and predestination. Sozzini’s ideas laid the theological foundation for later Unitarian movements.
In Transylvania (modern-day Romania), Unitarianism took root under the leadership of Ferenc Dávid (1510–1579). Dávid was initially a Calvinist but later embraced anti-Trinitarian views. In 1568, with the support of the Unitarian-leaning king, John Sigismund Zápolya, Transylvania became the first place in the world to legally recognize Unitarianism alongside other Christian denominations.
In England, Unitarianism emerged more slowly, influenced by the growing rationalism of the Enlightenment and religious toleration. One of the earliest advocates of Unitarianism in England was John Biddle (1615–1662), often called the “Father of English Unitarianism.” Joseph Priestly (24 March 1733 -6 February 1804) credited with independent discovery of oxygen was also a Unitarian minister.
By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Unitarianism spread to America, particularly in New England, where it became a major theological force. William Ellery Channing (1780–1842), whose sermon “Unitarian Christianity” delivered in 1819 became a defining statement of American Unitarian beliefs, emphasized the moral teachings of Jesus, the unity of God, and the importance of reason and individual conscience in religion.
Unitarianism in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills and Karbi Anglong
In these hills, Unitarianism was founded by Hajom Kissor Singh Nongbri, who, in search of his spiritual home, found solace in Unitarian beliefs. It was through an American minister in Kolkata that he was introduced to Unitarianism. From him, Singh was able to get his hands on Unitarian Christianity, which had a great influence on his beliefs. This led to the founding of the Unitarian Church in Jowai on September 18, 1887. The story of Unitarianism is the saga of a free spirit in search of a spiritual home.