| 释义 |
Unitarian, n. and a.|juːnɪˈtɛərɪən|
[Partly, in theol. use, f. mod.L. unitari-us (1656: f. L. ūnitās unity) + -an, partly f. unit-y n. + -arian. So F. unitarien a. and n. Cf. unitary a.]
A. n.
1. Theol.
a. One who affirms the unipersonality of the Godhead, especially as opposed to an orthodox Trinitarian; spec. a member or adherent of a Christian religious body or sect holding this doctrine.
1687[? S. Nye] Brief Hist. Unitarians 109 The Polonian Unitarians were..zealous.., the Unitarians of Transylvania were more moderate. Ibid. 117 The Unitarians, vulgarly called Socinians. 1697Stillingfl. Disc. Trinity 22 Our Vnitarians own the Ebionites as their Predecessors. 1705T. Emlyn Vind. Worship Christ 1/1 Mr. B. flatters himself upon this head, as tho he had quite baffled the Cause of the Unitarians. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. i. 8 Eusebius [had] prejudice against the unitarians of his own time. 1787Hawkins Life Johnson (ed. 2) 233 In his religious principles he [Dr. E. Barker] professed himself an unitarian. 1813J. Adams Wks. (1856) X. 50 The dissenters of all denominations in England, and, especially, the Unitarians, are cowed. 1837H. Martineau Soc. Amer. III. 279 The Unitarians, the religious body with which I am best acquainted. 1889Ch. Q. Rev. April 35 We may roughly state these three conceptions [of Christianity] as (1) the Unitarian, which conceives of Christ as an exhalted human teacher merely; (2) the Protestant,..(3) the Catholic.
b. In wider use, as applied to any non-Christian monotheist, esp. a Muslim.
1708Ockley Saracens 227 Abu Obeidah sent Abdo'llah Ebn Kort with an Express to Omar..begging his Prayers and some fresh Recruits of Vnitarians (a Title they glory in, reckoning themselves the only Asserters of the Unity of the Deity). 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. lix. VI. 105 His preachers..called aloud on the unitarians, manfully to stand up against the Christian idolaters. 1819W. J. Fox Lect. iv. Wks. 1865 I. 211 Five different classes of Unitarians, who are out of the pale of Christianity. 1909G. K. Chesterton Orthodoxy viii. 249 The real Unitarians who with scimitar in hand have laid waste the world.
2. One who believes in or favours some theory or system based upon unity:
a. Philos. (See quot. and monist). rare.
1836–7Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xvi. (1859) I. 295 The Realists or Substantialists are again divided into Dualists, and into Unitarians or Monists, according as they are, or are not, contented with the testimony of consciousness to the ultimate duplicity of subject and object in perception.
b. In miscellaneous uses.
1847Emerson Poems, Blight 27 The old men studied magic in the flower..And an omnipotence in chemistry, Preferring things to names, for these were men, Were unitarians of the united world. 1865Mansfield Salts 254 A compound, which even by the unitarians, must be called a double salt. 1904Brit. Med. Jrnl. 10 Sept. 572 In this toxin-antitoxin discussion there has been a tendency to ascribe to us the position of ‘unitarians’ in contradistinction to the ‘pluralists’.
c. An advocate of national or political unity; one who supports the union of several states into one confederation under a central government.
1832Ann. Reg. 1831 Hist. xv. 464/2 The Unitarians were dispossessed of the government of that province [sc. Entre-rios, Argentina], and the preponderance of Buenos Ayres restored. 1862Times 9 April, Garibaldi..said all great Italians had been unitarians. 1865Cornh. Mag. Aug. 249 As a unitarian and partisan of centralization he hurled anathemas at all autonomous cities and provinces. 1882–3in Schaff's Encycl. Relig. Knowl. III. 2422/2 There is also a political party in Buenos Ayres..devoted to centralization in government, called Unitarians.
d. A critic who ascribes the Iliad and the Odyssey to the same author. Opp. separatist n. 1 f. Cf. chorizontes n. pl.
1959Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Mar. 138/4 Any Unitarian must depend very largely on demonstrating some recognizable pattern or design in the Homeric poems as evidence of single authorship. 1976[see separatist n. 1 f].
B. adj.
1. Theol.
a. Of or pertaining to, connected with, the Unitarians or their doctrines; of the nature of, characteristic of, Unitarianism.
1687[? S. Nye] Brief Hist. Unitarians 36 The Unitarian Doctrine has been reduced so low by the Persecutions of Rome [etc.]. 1691W. Nicholls Answ. Naked Gospel 101 Whilst Faustus kept close in Italy, the Unitarian Cause was carried on by others. 1705T. Emlyn (title), Vindication of the Worship of the Lord Jesus Christ on Unitarian Principles. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. i. 8 What could this be but the proper unitarian doctrine? 1819M. Stuart Lett. to W. E. Channing 144 The younger preachers of Unitarian sentiments. 1824Longfellow in Life (1891) I. v. 52 Our little Unitarian Society at Bowdoin. 1889Ch. Q. Rev. April 35 The Unitarian conception of our Lord's Person and Office.
b. Of persons: Accepting, professing, or advocating the doctrines of Unitarianism; belonging to a religious body or sect of Unitarians.
1691W. Nicholls Answ. Naked Gospel 96 The most remarkable of this sort of Unitarian Hereticks. 1765[W. Hopkins] Attempt (title-p.), A Friendly Dialogue between a common Unitarian Christian and an Athanasian. 1793Kippis Biog. Brit. (ed. 2) V. 596 Dr. Bennet..laid himself open to the strictures both of Trinitarian and Unitarian Divines. 1815W. J. Fox Serm. 38 The general character of Unitarian professors and converts. 1876Fox Bourne Locke II. xii. 240 Thomas Firmin..the excellent unitarian merchant.
c. In wider use (see A. 1 b).
1780Wesley Hymn, ‘Sun of unclouded righteousness’ iii, Stretch out thy arm, thou triune God, The Unitarian fiend expel, And chase his doctrine back to hell.
2. Of or pertaining to, involving, based or founded upon, characterized by, unity (in various senses); unitary:
a. Philos. Monistic. rare.
1836–7Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xxiii. (1859) II. 78 He would..be forced to admit one or other of the unitarian conclusions of materialism or idealism.
b. Of systems, theories, etc.
1845Lowell Lett. (1894) I. 102 My system is fully as unitarian as your own. 1875Encycl. Brit. I. 460/2 These two theories, the one dualistic, the other unitarian, strangely foreshadow the discoveries of modern dynamics. 189319th Cent. Aug. 249 Under the unitarian system we no longer divide the molecule.
c. Advocating, promoting, or directed towards national unity, union, or centralization in government or administration.
1865Morn. Star 10 Feb., The King of Unitarian Italy. 1877Academy 10 Nov. 1/1 The unitarian movement of twenty years later differed..from the revolution which enthroned the triumvirate at Rome.
d. Applied to the theory that the Iliad and the Odyssey are the work of a single person. Cf. Homeric question s.v. Homeric a., and sense A. 2 d above.
1865M. Pattison in North British Rev. June 277 Even on the more special question of the origin of the Homeric poems,..we may safely say that no scholar will again find himself able to embrace the unitarian hypothesis. |