The Annual Bellows Lecture: “Reconstructing our Unitarian History: Perils and Possibilities”
May 16 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm EDT
The Annual Bellows Lecture sponsored by the All Souls Historical Society will be given on
FRIDAY, MAY 16TH
by Rev. Wayne B. Arnason:
“Reconstructing our Unitarian History: Perils and Possibilities”
As a congregation that has held famous leaders and events, All Souls Church has a monumental place in the history of Unitarianism. The approach we often take to teaching our history has also been “monumental”. Monumental histories focus on the “great ones”, the people who achieved or represent major milestones that define the chapters of our common story. The peril of the monumental approach to history is leaving out stories and characters that don’t fit our heroic narratives. Can the history of our faith be reconstructed as our values and our perspectives change? Drawing on new research and challenging projects in historical renovation, this lecture will explore whether constructing a new story requires tearing down an old one. As a case study in historical reconstruction, we will examine the relationships of the ministers of All Souls Church to Rev. Egbert Ethelred Brown, minister of the Harlem Unitarian Church from 1937 to 1956.
The Rev. Dr. Wayne Arnason retired in 2016 from a forty-year career in Unitarian Universalist ministry serving in both parish ministry and in staff and governance roles in the Unitarian Universalist Association. Since retiring, he has taken up his passion for history. A graduate of the Harvard Divinity School, Wayne Arnason was recognized by Meadville Lombard Theological School in 2014 with their honorary doctorate degree for his lifetime of service. Arnason has published an institutional history of the liberal religious youth movement entitled We Would Be One (2005) and an internally published history of the UUA’s Ministerial Fellowship Committee entitled In Fellowship (2020). He is part of a team presenting the 2025 Minns Lectures entitled “Deconstructing Unitarian Anti-Racist Mythologies 1860-1920”. He currently volunteers as the Archivist of the UU Congregation in Charlottesville VA and is married to our Targeted Senior Minister, Rev. Kathleen Rolenz.