윌리엄 채닝

소개

윌리엄 채닝(William Ellery Channing, 1780년 4월 7일 ~ 1842년 10월 2일)은 19세기 초반에 활동하였던 미국의 대표적인 유니테리언주의 설교자이다. 그의 설교는 당대에 가장 유니테리언을 잘 설명한 자유주의 신학자였다. 그의 사상은 초월주의에 영향을 미쳤고, 그의 설교는 미국의 유니테리언주의의 설립에 가장 큰 공헌을 하였다. 후에 유니버설리스트와 합병을 하여 유니테리언 유니버설리스트로 명칭을 바꾸게 된다.

William Ellery Channing was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. Channing was known for his articulate and impassioned sermons and public speeches, and as a prominent thinker in the liberal theology of the day. His religion and thought were among the chief influences on the New England Transcendentalists although he never countenanced their views, which he saw as extreme. His espousal of the developing philosophy and theology of Unitarianism was displayed especially in his "Baltimore Sermon" of May 5, 1819, given at the ordination of the theologian and educator Jared Sparks (1789–1866) as the first minister of the newly organized First Independent Church of Baltimore.