Linking Love and Ethics

To love God means to love the highest possible good which we can imagine in all things. People often say,“I do not understand the love of God; what is the love of God?”

It would be more exact to say,”I cannot understand love in this world without the love of God.”

Real love of God is a moral feeling based on a clear understanding of His high, superior being; love of God coincides with the love of virtue, truth, and kindness.

William Ellery Channing Cited in Calendar of Wisdom

I might have introduced Channing before, as one of the principal founders of Unitarian Christianity in the USA, and as one of the often acknowledged pillars of American religious liberalism along with Emerson and Parker…

Today, I am reflecting on the moral dimension of his thinking in this quote or extract from his writings… Here there is a de-emphasis on sin and repentance, and a distinct lack of dwelling on the intricacies of theology; He was in favor of aligning any sense or any comprehension or appreciation of what loves is without also understanding divine love as being aligned with an aspiring desire for moral clarity and with a desire to attain the peace of living a virtuous life.

Channing being the most pious, rigorous, and devout of the Three “Prophets of Liberalism” made it clear that to live a truly religious life there can be no division between your theology and your morality. Being a staunch Abolitionist, he adds the dimension of equality, dignity and social justice as the rightful moral concerns for any aspiring Christian.

As I understand him, while the courageous dissent that ushered in Unitarian religion on the American landscape is his greatest contribution to the American religious landscape, the emphasis he placed on the virtuous life as opposed to the Calvinist dwelling on sin and our constant need for repentance was, and still is, invaluable.

His willingness to put forward the teachings about sanctification and aspiration that he outlined in his second most important sermon, “A Likeness Unto God” gives a more full expression of the value of human intention and elevates the understanding of “faith without works” in a way that allows what we do to speak louder than the words we use or say…

His objection to the Trinity, at first, rattled me and yet, since I was already exposed to Eastern thought and its approaches that do not dwell in greek metaphysics to explain its theology, I quickly embraced this thinking which neatly aligned me more with Jewish, esoteric, and Sufi teachings that I had more familiar with before attending seminary…

One lasting impression:

IF Christianity had not been so insistent on keeping or upholding a Trinitarian concept, would relationships to Judaism and Islam been much less contentious? I wonder how many people today, including those who would confidently call themselves “practicing Christians” could convincingly teach the concept of the Trinity to anyone?