Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Theology and the UU 7 Principles

Daniel Harper in Yet Another Unitarian Universalist Blog, speaking about Unitarian Universalist theology, says ...

Oh, and forget trying to base theology on the "Seven Principles." While Christian theologians do tend to ground their theology in interpretations of their sacred texts, the "Seven Principles" are excerpts from the UUA's bylaws, and -- alas -- lack the poetry and human depth of the Christian and Hebrew scriptures. The "Seven Principles" function fairly well as a profession of faith (thought I still prefer the old Universalist Winchester Profession for sheer poetry, even though I pretty much disagree with it) -- but the "SevenPrinciples" are definitely not theology. Indeed, I sometimes wonder if one of the things keeping Unitarian Unviersalists from doing theology in our local congregations is that we make the false assumption that the "Seven Principles" are sufficient. They aren't. They say "what," but not "why" or "how" or "when."

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 7:25 AM