Recently, I received some email from a congregation of Universalists overseas, asking a very simple question: "Was there a set of Biblical rationale for the Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association?" This was an amazingly profound question. The Principles are part of the basis by which members of the Unitarian Universalist Association are gathered. They were last overhauled in 1985, and revised most recently in 1993. They are meant to be flexible, and to express a sense of what is commonly held in various Unitarian Universalist congregations, rather than to prescribe a creed. Some people use them as the starting place for theological discussions, but I have found them a rather bland collection, especially when compared to the traditional Universalist professions, one of which we use in worship. They seem to me more of a peace treaty, like "You'll believe this, and I'll believe that, but we can still work together." Nevertheless, they are the basis of the bond of the Association, and if our church is a member of it, we should find ways appropriate to our own tradition to interpret them. Like the questioner, we should look for reflections of the Principles in the Bible.
          Why the Bible? Isn't it just a book? This is a big question for Unitarians and Universalists, because it questions what we consider valuable and appropriate for including as the building blocks when determining truth. Thanks to John Wesley and the Methodists, we have a "quadrilateral" - a four-part system - for sorting incoming material. These parts are the Bible, tradition, experience, and reason. All are important, but of these, Protestantism attests, the Bible is the most important. It is the Word of God. Universalism (and Unitarianism) usually dissents, giving priority to reason. This might be chopping things too finely, and perhaps we can restructure the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, into two parts: "what have we known?" and "how do we know we know it?" The Bible is the knowledge of God from a set of peoples in ancient times. Tradition is how Christianity has known God from then to the present. Experience is our own knowledge of God. Reason is the best way to sort through what we know, and to dertermine what is true.
          Every group of people who read the Bible will sort though it, with a selective eye. This includes those who claim to believe every word. Somehow even they will fall on a favorite passage, like John 3:16, or a tidbit from Romans or Hebrews. Universalists read the Bible and see the love of God and the reconciliation of all beings. Some passages might give reasonable people a reason to believe in Hell, or God's exclusivity, but I cannot. My own experience, and the hope of Christians in other times and places, suggest otherwise. Like Hosea Ballou, I look at the evidence and conclude - no, believe! - that God is good, and good for all.
          To examine grand questions the same way - sometimes with heart-breaking honesty - is the task of systematic theology. It is the work of many lifetimes. Making that accomplishment a reality in practical living is even harder. So for now, let us take a little bit at a time, and ask "How does the Bible speak to us?" and "How - and in what ways - can we know it is true?
          Next time: The First Principle, "The inherent worth and dignity of every person"