BUSHNELL, HORATIUS. - American Protestant writer, b. at Lichfield (Connecticut), 14 April 1802, d. at Hartford, 17 February 1876. He studied law at Yale University, and when he was about to devote himself to the bar, he changed his mind and began to study theology. In 1833 he was appointed Congregationalist minister of Hartford (Conn.). In those years the "Christian Alliance" was founded, an American Protestant association for combating Catholicism, condemned in 1844 by Pope Gregory XVI in the Encyclical Inter praecipuas; but B. wrote pamphlets and preached to recommend it. In 1845 he made a journey to Europe, then returning to his congregation of Hartford after a year's absence. In 1849 he published his first book, God in Christ, with doctrines that inclined toward anti-Trinitarianism. He was therefore accused before the central Congregationalist association of Hartford, but of the five judges, three declared that his errors were not fundamental. The accusation was presented again in 1850 to the general association of Connecticut, but this refused to intervene; a third attempt was made in 1852 before the general association of Danbury, but this declared that it was not a legislative or judicial body, and this in conformity with the doctrines of the Congregationalists concerning the absolute independence of the individual Congregations or Churches. From 1855 to 1856 he traveled through the United States, settling in California, where he worked for the founding of the University of California. In 1859 he retired to private life in his old congregation of Hartford, where he remained until his death. B. wrote many ascetical, moral, theological books, etc., and toward the end of his life he corrected some of his errors. The Protestant Benham says that these books contain good things, but must be read with caution.
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Camillo Crivelli