Please Register ASAP

October 5, 2023

As I write this more than 150 people are registered for the third annual Unitarian Christian conference! We must give our “final” headcount to the awesome local caterers by the end of afternoon of Thursday, October 5, 2023—so please, if at all possible, register for the conference before then.  

We will still accept some registrations after that, but at some point the food will run short and you may have to pledge to be last in the food line. (And trust me, you don’t want to do that!) 

I’m looking forward to seeing new and old friends in Springfield, Ohio, October 19-21! To learn more about the conference and to register, go here.  

White vs. Tuggy debate: “Is Jesus Yahweh?” – March 9, 2024 in Houston, Texas

August 30, 2023

Back in 2017 I challenged Dr. James White to a debate. Now, God willing, it will happen, thanks to the efforts of host church Pastor Evan McClanahan. I am delighted to say that Unitarian Christian Alliance is co-sponsoring this debate. For those who can’t attend or catch the church’s livestream, you will eventually be able to see it on our excellent YouTube channel. Our topic will not be the Trinity, but rather the deity of Christ, in the form of the debate question Dr. White has chosen: “Is Jesus Yahweh?”

                I’ve been in a similar debate before (video, soon-to-be-reprinted book). In that debate I argued that a unitarian Christology is easily stated in the very words of Scripture, whereas any “two natures” theory depends on questionable inferences from what is actually written. I urged that my opponent Mr. Date was “reading between the lines,” whereas I was just reading the lines. I began by pointing out the obvious numerical distinctness of Jesus and God, summarized the clear New Testament teachings that Jesus is a very special man who is someone other than the one true God (a.k.a. the Father), and then explained the desperate morass which is traditional catholic “two natures” speculations.

                My approach will be different here. Dr. White has since his 1998 book endlessly hurled the accusation that every advocate for unitarian Christianity is “merely assuming” unitarianism and/or “merely assuming” that the human Jesus isn’t also divine. So I will argue in a style that undeniably does not assume such things. I will argue from more than a dozen facts about the New Testament, or rather classes of facts, each of which confirms the hypothesis that the authors believed that Jesus is a man who is not also divine over the hypothesis that they believed Jesus to be a “godman” (i.e. both human and divine). Dr. White has over the years urged that clearly it is “Philosophy” and not the New Testament which determines my views about God and Christ. But I will present a case for a non-divine, human Jesus which does not assume any controversial philosophical theses and which is based on a broad view of the whole New Testament, focusing on the many clear passages, and I will expose the many unjustifiable assumptions of Dr. White’s arguments for “the deity of Christ,” or as he prefers to say, that Jesus “is Yahweh.”

Tickets are available here; get them while they last!

Building Connections and Advancing Truth: New UCA Giving Options

August 23, 2023

The Unitarian Christian Alliance has been steadfast in its commitment of connecting unitarian Christians and promoting the teaching that God is singular, and Jesus is God’s son, our human Messiah. In pursuit of these vital objectives, the UCA is thrilled to introduce three new giving options, each providing a unique opportunity for donors to directly contribute to specific areas of our mission. These targeted funds allow you, our valued supporters, to actively participate in the growth of the UCA by investing in the initiatives that align most closely with your passions.

1. The International Conference Fund: Building Connections Worldwide

The UCA is committed to help forge relationships and share the truth among unitarian Christians, regardless of their geographical location. The International Conference Fund is designed to support efforts in hosting UCA Conferences outside of the United States. By contributing to this fund, you are helping us

  • Cover venue down payments and expenses
  • Offset meal costs
  • Provide financial assistance to attendees

Keeping conference costs low helps ensure that as many individuals as possible can attend and benefit from these events.

International UCA Conferences provide a remedy for the widespread isolation that afflicts so many, letting us come together to share, form friendships, and promote truth. Your support for the International Conference Fund directly contributes to these invaluable, in-person gatherings on a global scale.

2. The Marketing and Advertising Fund: Amplifying Our Message

Effective marketing and advertising are essential to reaching a broader audience with the truth. The Marketing and Advertising Fund is instrumental in

  • Creating compelling content
  • Promoting on various platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, and other online channels
  • Purchasing tools (e.g. animation software), and covering social media fees and other costs

Your support here directly translates into more people encountering the message of our marvelous, unique Creator and the extraordinary testimony of his authentically human son. It’s an investment in the future growth and impact of the UCA.

3. The Publishing Fund: Crafting Theological, Philosophical, and Historical Scholarship

Education is core to our mission, and the Publishing Fund plays a pivotal role in achieving this goal. This fund supports

  • Publishing and editing tools
  • Editing, design, and publishing costs
  • The valuable time of individuals like Dale Tuggy in creating high-quality and compelling books

When you contribute to the Publishing Fund, you become a partner in the dissemination of works designed to push back against the tumultuous slurry of Trinitarian academia and apologetics. Your support enables us to produce exemplary resources for those seeking to either deepen their understanding of unitarian Christianity, or to interrogate their own traditions.

Conclusion

The Unitarian Christian Alliance is excited to offer these three new giving options, empowering you to be directly involved in the areas that resonate most with you, ensuring that your giving goes exactly where you want to see truth flourish. These options exist in parallel with the UCA Operations Fund which is financed through membership subscriptions and other generous donations, and which covers website and podcast hosting, website development, and the annual UCA Conference.

Join us in building a brighter and bolder future for unitarian Christians where the truth of the Shema (Deut. 6:4) rings out, unmistakably clear and unhindered by traditional Christian speculations.

Registration is OPEN! UCA Conference: October 19-21, 2023

July 19, 2023

Tickets are NOW AVAILABLE for the third annual UCA Conference, in Springfield, Ohio, October 19-21, 2023!

You can register right HERE, right now!

The UCA Conference planning committee and the UCA Board of Directors have been hard at work bringing to life what is set to be a spectacular event full of fellowship, food, and teaching! This year, you’ll get the opportunity to network with like-minded believers; to learn about new ministries, projects, and opportunities; to be challenged by insightful academic presentations; and to be enriched by a variety of topical workshops hosted by Unitarian Christians from all over!

Please visit the Conference page for information and to register right away! And if you have contributed financially to the UCA, please use code “contributor” at checkout for a discount!

We can’t wait to see YOU in Springfield, Ohio this October 19-21!

Looking for a New Twitter Manager

June 3, 2023

Over the last two years our brother Manasseh has expertly managed the UCA Twitter account. During his tenure he has greatly improved the UCA’s visibility and reach. We’re so thankful for his service and hope to continue the legacy he has begun.

We’re seeking someone to take over the UCA Twitter account and so join us in advancing the truth of unitarian Christianity. Ideally this person would post once per day, showing the world that our organization is alive and active.

Posts can include polls, important scriptures, provocative questions, observations, links to resources, memes, and shared tweets by other unitarian Christians. Direct but kind and friendly interaction with trinitarian Tweeters is encouraged. To get an idea of what kinds of posts we’re looking for, visit our Twitter feed or see a few examples below. If you’re interested please contact me or the moderators of the UCA Facebook group.

If you’re interested in helping us carry the torch, email ??

Jesus is YHWH? – UCA team debate featuring Dustin Smith and William Barlow

March 31, 2023

Tune in April 2, Sunday night at 7pm CST for our very own Dr. Dustin Smith and Pastor William Barlow defending unitarianism and the true humanity of Jesus in a debate on the Gospel Truth youtube channel.

You can support our debaters by sharing the link widely on social media, watching live, winsomely participating in the youtube chat, and reaching out to encourage Dustin and Will. Please pray for God’s provision for all involved, and that the debate will contribute to the spread of the truth about the one true God, and the human Christ Jesus.

If you would like to participate in future debates, as debater, pit crew, behind the scenes support, or in other ways, please contact me at media@unitarianchristianalliance.org. Many hands make light work, and there is a massive work to be done indeed!

For more of Dr. Smith’s work, check out his Biblical Unitarian Podcast

And for more from Pastor Barlow, I recommend this series on Scripture and Science:

Introducing Regional UCA Conferences to Expand Connections Globally

March 22, 2023

The main UCA conference can only be in one location each year, so how can we facilitate in-person connections in other regions? Regional UCA Conferences! These conferences will be organized and hosted by a local group or church. The goals:

  1. Introduce the host group and their ministry to a wider audience.
  2. Allow UCA members within a region to gather and connect, experiencing similar elements of the main conference.

A UCA conference, by design, is not a denominational event. It’s an opportunity to connect with people from various backgrounds and practices and to advance the truth of the simple monotheism of our Lord Jesus.

A Regional UCA Conference is a partnership. The host group coordinates the details of the event, location, food, schedule, etc., and the UCA helps to promote it broadly, sends at least one board member, provides registration tools, and helps cover the expenses so the event is affordable.

These conferences will have some of the same features of the main conference, like ample time to visit, at least one scholarly or biblical presentation that advances the movement, and at least one practical workshop. The host group arranges the other activities of the event. For example, they may include other classes, panel discussions, roundtables, brainstorming sessions, Q&A, possibly offering a unique regional experience, other ways to get to know the host group and their ministries, or ways to learn more about each other.

If your group is interested, write conference@unitarianchristianalliance.org. Stacey Berger, our Conference Coordinator, will provide more information and help with questions.

We’re excited for the possibilities.

Call for UCA Conference Papers: deadline of August 1, 2023

March 3, 2023

The Board of the Unitarian Christian Alliance is pleased to announce a general call for papers to be presented at the third annual UCA conference in Springfield, Ohio, October 19–21, 2023. (Watch this blog for the opening of registration.)

  • The submission deadline is the end of the day (U.S. Eastern Standard / New York time) of August 1, 2023.
  • Please do not submit multiple papers.
  • Submissions will be blind-reviewed by a committee of three.
  • We are looking for scholarly (or at least: informed, insightful, and well-argued) papers which are also accessible to an educated lay audience on topics which can advance the cause of unitarian Christianity.
    • Topics may include but are not limited to: biblical theology, systematic theology, biblical studies, textual criticism, history of theology, history of unitarian Christianity, apologetics, Christian philosophy, analytic theology.
  • Authors may submit even if they are neither a member of the UCA nor a unitarian Christian.
  • Paper submissions must conform to the Chicago Manual of Style (Notes and Bibliography style, with footnotes and bibliography).
  • The main text should be no longer than 6,000 words, so that the presentation is no longer than 45 minutes.
    • Submitted papers longer than 6,000 (in the main text – so not including footnotes) will be automatically rejected. 
    • Authors should plan on about 10 minutes of audience Q&A after their talk. 
  • Papers may be read, although authors are encouraged to present the material in an engaging way.
    • Conference presentations will be video-recorded and may be posted on the UCA YouTube channel, and our social media committee may also snip out interesting “sound bites” for short videos. By submitting a paper, you agree that your presentation may be filmed and used in these ways by the UCA.
  • Still, a fully written paper must be submitted; an outline or proposal is not enough. 
  • Authors of accepted papers must supply a PowerPoint or Keynote or Google Slides (etc.) presentation to accompany their talk by the end of Friday, September 1, 2023. (This should be emailed to the address below.)
  • After removing any self-identifying features (e.g. your name, references to your other publications or other work), please email your submission to conference@unitarianchristianalliance.org.
    • Our conference coordinator will ensure that the papers are suitable for blind review and then pass them on to the committee.

The committee’s decisions will be emailed to authors by the end of Friday, August 15, 2023.

Save the date: UCA Conference 2023!

February 24, 2023
UCA Conferences Preview – Come join us!

The UCA Board is pleased to announce that our third annual conference will be hosted again this year by the Lawrenceville Church of God in Springfield, Ohio! The venue is excellent and the hosts are gracious. Stay tuned for plans to expand the locations and reach of future conferences.

Registration will open in the coming weeks.

Check-in for the conference will begin at 4:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, October 19, 2023, and the conference will end with the last session after dinner on Saturday, October 21.

Last year, attendees had the opportunity to attend church on Sunday at one of the several unitarian Christian groups in the area. It was a positive experience for many, and it will be an option again this year.

If your unitarian group, ministry, etc. would benefit from an opportunity to gather in person (e.g. a board meeting), the host church has generously offered to make rooms available before the conference starts that Thursday. If your team is already coming to the conference, get some extra work done! Please contact us at conference@unitarianchristianaliance.org.

Watch this space for coming announcements about submitting a paper to be presented. The deadline for submissions will be August 1, 2023 (one month longer than last year).

We hope to see you there!

He gets us because he’s one of us.

February 12, 2023

In present day American culture Jesus has to a large extent become an empty, comic character, a guy who occasionally appears in a robe and sandals who seems nice and harmless, and who is often thoughtlessly co-opted for political gain. This is tragic. We applaud the He Gets Us campaign for highlighting the many noble and endearing human qualities of the Lord Jesus Christ. We agree with them that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), who is coming back to rule the world under God (1 Corinthians 15:12-28). Someday every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:11). Jesus cannot remain an irrelevance.

But the He Gets Us campaign virtually ignores the confused and confusing catholic traditions about the Lord Jesus being a “godman,” an eternal divine person mysteriously united to an impersonal human nature (body and soul), the Second “Person” of the Trinity. This they sum up all-too-briefly by saying that in their view Jesus is “fully God and fully man.”

These traditions clash with the Bible and urgently need to be reformed. The New Testament, rightly understood, does teach Jesus to be “fully man,” i.e. a real human being. But it doesn’t teach that he’s “fully God.” Rather, in the Bible, the Father alone is the one true God (John 17:1-3). And being “fully God” clashes with Jesus being a real man, and with his having some of the very qualities which so endear Jesus to us, such as his faith in God, his victory over real temptation, his cooperation with and empowerment by God, and his real death for us.

Truly, Jesus gets us – and this because he really is one of us, a real human being. To help you to see the real Jesus of the New Testament, clearly distinguishing him from his and our God (John 20:17), we’ve created some short new videos inspired by the work of “He Gets Us.” In them we show how the New Testament Jesus is “One of Us.”

For more about the Unitarian Christian Alliance, see these videos below, or this podcast episode, or the Unitarian Christian Alliance podcast.