Dr. Shirley's Web Courses
REL 107 - Introduction to Religion
Week 5 - Quakers, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, Unitarian-Universalists
Textbook Readings
Course Notes
- Quakers - The Religious Society of Friends
- George Fox in England in the seventeenth century began preaching against organized churches, professing a doctrine of the Inner Light.
Quakers rely on the Inner Light, the voice of God's Holy Spirit speaking within each person.
Meetings are characterized by quiet meditation without ritual, music, or sermons.
Quakers are active in peace, education, and social welfare movements; they refuse to bear arms or swear an oath .
Quakers do not celbrate religious festivals such as Christmas and Easter, nor do they practice baptism, nor celebrate Communion
- Mormons - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, The Community of CHrist
- In the 1820s, Joseph Smith had a vision of the Angel moroni, leading him to discover some golden tablets with The Book of Mormon inscribed on them.
Church headquarters were established in upstate New York in 1830, then in Ohio in 1831; after two more attempts to establish a permanent home for the church (the second resulting in Smith's death at the hands of a mob), Salt Lake City, Utah, was founded in 1847 under the leadership of Brigham Young.
Faith is based on the Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price, all of which are considered to be inspired scripture.
Stress is placed on revelation through the connection of spiritual and physical worlds and through proselytizing
Members abstain from alcohol and tobacco and stress community self-reliance
Rites include baptism, laying on of hands, and communion; a secret temple holds other ceremonies, including baptism for the dead
- Seventh Day Adventists
- Grew out of the teachings of William Miller in New York State in the 1840s - he believed that Christ would return within seven days. Those who believed him cleaned up their lives in preparation, and even though the Second Coming did not happen when William Miller thought it would, his followers found that they liked living clean lives, and the denomination was formally founded in 1863.
The Bible is the only creed
Tthe Second Coming of Jesus is emphasized; members abstain from alcoholic beverages and tobacco;
Baptism and communion are practiced.
- Jehovah's Witnesses
- Founded by Charles T. Russell in the United States in the late nineteenth century.
Belief is in the imminent Second Coming of Christ and the potential salvation of mortal souls during the millennium
All members are ministers who proselytize their faith with door-to-door missionary work
Members refuse service in the armed forces, will not salute national flags or participate in politics, will not accept blood transfusions (but will accept all other forms of medical treatment), and discourage smoking, drunkenness, and gambling
The meeting place is called a "Kingdom Hall" and generally has no windows
- Christian Science
- Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian Science in 1866, and published her book "Science and Helath, with Key to the Scriptures" in 1875. In 1879 Mary Baker Eddy established "The First Church of Christ, Scientist" in Boston (now referred to as "the Mother Church", and in 1908 started publication of "The Christian Science Monitor" newspaper
Basic tenets are that God, Father-Mother of all, is completely good and wholly spiritual; all God's creation, including the true nature of every person, is the flawless, spiritual likeness of the Divine; Since God’s creation is good, evils such as disease, death, and sin cannot be a part of fundamental reality; Disease, death, etc. are the result of living apart from God; Prayer is seen as a central way to come closer to God and heal human ills
Sunday Church Services consist of a Bible Lesson-Sermon, using both the Bible and Science and Health, with prayer, hymn singing, a solo, and a collection
- Unitarians, Unitarian-Universalists
- Unitarianism derw out of the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the 16th century.
The first Unitarian congregation in England was founded in 1774
The Universalist Church of America was founded in 1793, and the American Unitarian Association in 1825. These two organisations merged in 1961, to form the Unitarian Universalist Association
In 1819 William Ellery Channing preached a sermon on "Unitarian Christianity" which set out the basic tenets for the American church : Rejection of the Trinity, and stress on the Unity of God; The importance of human reason in understanding the Bible; The importance of human nature in discovering religious truth; God as having the nature of a loving parent; The rejection of origianl sin
There is no Unitarin creed - there is no list of things necessary for a Unitarian to believe
Not all Unitarians believe in God; some relate to God as the Father-Mother; others relate to God as the Holy Spirit
Unitarians typically beleive that Jesus was a man, but was not divine, and did not rise from the dead
InterNet Links for this assignment
This Week's Assignment : Twenty Questions
- When, where, and by whom were the Quakers founded
- How do Quakers view the authority of the Bible
- What happens at a typical Quaker meeting
- What are some of the main ethical and social issues which Quakers uphold
- Where, when, and by whom was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints founded
- Who led the Mormons after the death of Joseph Smith, and wehre did he lead them
- Which Books are regarded as authoritative for the Mormons
- What do Mormons believe about God
- What do Mormons believe about human existence (the "three stages of human life")
- Where, when, and by whom was the Adventist Church founded
- Who else in the Advent Church is regarded as having a special gift of prophecy, and what did she write
- Which day of the week is the Sabbath for Adventists
- Where, when, and by whom were the Jehovah's Witnesses started
- What do Jehovah's Witnesses believe about Jesus
- What do Jehovah's Witnesses believe about God's purposes for the earth
- Where, when, and by whom was Christian Science organized
- What are the authoritative writings for Christian Scientists
- What are the main tenets of Christian Science
- How did the Unitarian Church develop, from the 16th century to today
- What are the main teachings of the Unitarian-Universalist Church
Remember to cite your sources
Use MSWord or a text editor such as Notepad to prepare and save your work, then send it as an Attachment to, or pasted into, an email message to Dr. Rollinson at rel107@hellokitty.com, rel107@mail2world.com, and rel107@catholic.org.
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Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
Dr. Rollinson
Department of Religion
ENMU
Portales, NM 88130
Last Updated: August 20, 2007
