BUSHNELL, HORATIUS

BUSHNELL, Horatius. — American Protestant writer, b. at Lichfield (Connecticut), 14 Apr. 1802, d. at Hartford, 17 Feb. 1876. He studied law at Yale University, and when about to enter the legal profession, changed his mind and took up the study of theology. In 1833 he was appointed Congregationalist minister at Hartford (Conn.). In those years the “Christian Alliance” was founded, an American Protestant association to combat Catholicism, condemned in 1844 by Pope Gregory XVI in the Encyclical *Inter praecipuas*; but B. wrote pamphlets and preached in its favor. In 1845 he made a trip to Europe, returning after a year’s absence to his Hartford congregation. In 1849 he published his first book *God in Christ*, containing doctrines tending toward antitrinitarianism. 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 renewed in 1850 before 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, in accordance with Congregationalist doctrine regarding the absolute independence of individual congregations or churches. From 1855 to 1856 he traveled through the United States, settling in California, where he worked for the foundation of the University of California. In 1859 he retired to private life in his old Hartford congregation, where he remained until his death. B. wrote many ascetical, moral, theological books, etc., and toward the end of his life corrected some of his errors. The Protestant Benham says that these books contain good things, but must be read with caution.