The American Unitarian Reform blog has added two new variations of the Two Trees symbol, using a more modernist graphic style suited to educational materials for kids and teens. The first is a general Unitarian Reform image, the second a specifically American Unitarian Reform version.
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AUR is proud to present our new blog banner, combing symbols throughout our history that demonstrate dedication to true Christian monotheism.
The Two Trees symbol, drawn from the allegory of humanity’s dawn in the Garden of Eden, stresses Reform Unitarianism’s emphasis on complementary virtues, which are seen in the Two Trees of Eden, the serpent and dove of Jesus’ ministry, the twin cherubim atop the Ark of the Covenant, Faith and Hope, and the Lion-Lamb/Alpha-Omega imagery associated with Christ. It is only by reconciling what seem to be contrary virtues that one can find the One God behind all things.
On the far right is an ancient Macedonian image of Jesus praying to God in the Garden of Gethsemane, not only a key passage demonstrating the subordinate relationship between God the Father and the Son of God, but also the climax of the moral and spiritual ministry of Jesus, the moment of “Thy Will Be Done.”
On the far left is an Arian church in Ravenna (now controlled by Trinitarians and called San Apollinare Nuovo) built during the reign of Theodoric, representing the continuation of original Christianity into the early Middle Ages before the complete suppression of Unitarian theology and the beginning of the Dark Ages.
Finally, at the bottom is a portrait of Jonathan Mayhew, the Father of American Unitarianism, who coined the battle cry “No taxation without representation” and wrote a sermon against the Divine Right of Kings entitled A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers, which president John Adams later called the “spark that ignited the American Revolution.”
During the the Sermon on the Mount, while expounding on anger, adultery, oaths, and retaliation, Jesus repeatedly emphasized the importance of intention over action. It is not the act of adultery that makes us adulterers, but the desire. It is not the voicing of our hatred that is the sin, but the hatred itself.
The moral character behind our decisions, that inner seed of the actions which are regulated by Law, was at the core of Jesus’s teachings. Continue reading
Not wanting to imply that the power of Salvation was in the hands of those who condemned and executed Jesus, Reform Unitarianism shies away from using the cross as a symbol.
In fact, the earliest Christians used a variety of symbols, from fish and loaves to peacocks; the cross was not common until well into the 4th Century, when Tertullian conflationism reached its apostatic peak in the First Nicene Council of Constantinople and tyrannical Edict of Thessalonica.
Using symbols other than the cross is a long-established Christian tradition. In that tradition, Reform Unitarianism seeks symbols with deep Christian meaning as alternatives to the cross.
The Two Trees are but one example of a repeating pattern of imagery in Christianity of complementary opposites that when combined signify holiness, particularly its arrival or return: lion and lamb, alpha and omega, serpent and dove. The twin cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant, from between which came the Voice of God, were said to symbolize God’s beneficent and punitive aspects.
When Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise for having eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, God set a Cherub with a flaming sword “turning in all directions” at the entrance to block them from returning. Some churches hold that Jesus, who brought humanity the fruit of the Tree of Life, removed this sword. Reform Unitarianism, holding that the Salvation offered by Jesus is no easy task, views this sword as a potent symbol of the spiritual difficulties facing the devoted Christian.
Herman Melville once stated that “one who desires to be impartially just in the expression of his views, moves as among sword-points presented on every side.” This is true in religion as it is in politics. Navigating the sacred road to Paradise between decisive Faith and open-minded Hope, between creedal sectarianism and vacuous creedlessness, between too much emphasis on the shrewdness of serpents and too much emphasis on the innocence of doves, one must be ready to face the sword.
The symbol of the Two Trees reminds us to be cautious and yet courageous.
