Journal

Kathleen Parker
Kathleen Parker, Editor

The Unitarian Universalist Studies Network – founded in 2021 via a merger of the UU History and Heritage Society and UU Collegium – is committed to encouraging valuable original research done to investigate our UU and liberal religious past and to integrate findings gained from serious exploration of ethics and theology. Our work is informed by our commitment to countering oppression in all of its intersecting forms in the belief that such study will critically challenge our sense of who we have been as a religious movement, and deepen our aspiration to be a just, inclusive, and beloved community as Unitarian Universalists today.

The Journal of UU Studies, our new journal title, will carry forward the tradition of excellence established by the Journal of Unitarian Universalist History (formerly the Proceedings of the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society).  Published once a year, the current issue will be sent to each of our members in late spring.  Membership in UUSN is $50 per year ($125 for three years); $30 per year for students and anyone on reduced income. Besides giving you access to the Journal, your membership will keep you informed via our newsletters (three per year) and support our work with the Dictionary of UU Biography and the Conrad Wright Lecture presented each year at General Assembly. 

Submission Process

  • The journal invites manuscripts – from academic and independent scholars, religious professionals, lay leaders, and students
  • Manuscripts should be prepared in Microsoft Word, in a length of approximately 20-35 pages in double spaced, size 12 typeface, with endnote citations using Chicago Manual of Style. 
  • Send manuscripts to  the editor, Kathleen Parker, via email at Journal@UUStudiesNetwork.org. 
  • Submissions will be reviewed by the editor and members of the editorial board, with potential edits worked out between individual authors and the journal editor in a collaborative and confidential process. 
  • Book reviews are also encouraged, focusing on works relevant to UU or liberal religious history, ethics, and theology.
  • Editorial Board: John Buehrens, Dean Grodzins, Cynthia Grant Tucker, David Hall, Mark Harris, Dan McKanan, Mark Morrison-Reed, Lewis Perry, Susan Ritchie, David Robinson.

Current Journal

Volume 45: 2022

Feature: Exposing and Repairing

  • Fred Muir – Seduced by the Sound of Science: Unitarians and Universalists in the Eugenics Era

Our Roots in Europe

  • Paul Riedesel – What Even a Little Religious Tolerance Can Do: Pietism in Germany an influence for American Universalism
  • Kazimierz Bem – Polish Brethren Exiles among Dutch Remonstrants
  • Lehel Molnar, et al – Transylvanian Unitarians Resisting and Surviving Authoritarian Times  (possible??)

Research Notes

  • Arliss Ungar — Freedom of the Pulpit at the Hollis Street Church, 1732-1887
  • Carol Hepokoski – The Finnish American Unitarian Congregations at Virginia and Alango, in the Iron Range of Minnesota

Book Reviews

  • Barry Andrews, American Sage, U. Mass. Press (2021)  Reviewed by Sarah Wider
  • Ann Marie Boys, American Unitarian Churches: Architecture of a Democratic Religion      Reviewed by Andrea Greenwood
  • Bill Bush, Beloved Community, A New History of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio                                                            Reviewed by Barbara Coeyman
  • Mark J.T. Caggiano, Faith on Trial Reviewed by Eric Isaacson and Susan Weaver
  • Eric Cervini, The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs the United States of America Reviewed by Mark Belletini
  • David Faflik, Transcendental Heresies: Harvard and the Modern American Practice of Unbelief      Reviewed by John Buehrens

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Contents of Past Journals

Full Text of Journals