Edutainment > Unitarian Universalist Church of Nantucket

The Unitarian Church - Nantucket Fall
by Tom Kristensen
copyright Tom Kristensen

Tom Kristensen, born 1962, is a young artist from Australia, working in the tradition of Japanese woodblock printmaking. On this page, he writes about his latest two prints "Unitarian Universalist Church of Nantucket". The design available in two color versions shows the old Unitarian Universalist Church of Nantucket in Massachusetts, U.S.A..

Protestant Roots

The Reformation of the early 16th century bought chaos to Europe as Protestant faith challenged the Catholic orthodoxy. In 1534 Henry the VIII separated England from Rome when he was denied an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The King replaced the Pope as head of the state church. Catholics and nonconforming Protestants were persecuted. The bloody power struggle continued over the decades as various monarchs altered in their beliefs.

Puritan Protestants were generally unhappy with the Church of England feeling that the reformation had not gone far enough. Separatist Protestants came to believe that there were irreconcilable differences between the state church and their own beliefs. Under the 1559 Act of uniformity it was illegal to not attend the official Church of England services and ministers conducting unofficial services were later executed for sedition. In 1607 Pilgrim separatists began to leave England for Amsterdam to escape the persecution. Within a decade the Pilgrims were looking to new horizons and planning to leave Europe behind.

Settlement in America

The Unitarian Church - Nantucket Spring
by Tom Kristensen
copyright Tom Kristensen

In 1607 the Virginia Company working under the royal charter of King James established the first successful English colony in America. The site was Jamestown on the James River. A second company was then set up by the financial backers of the Pilgrim Fathers to found the new colony of Plymouth in 1620. King James was prepared to overlook the history of religious separatism but granted his charter on the condition that the religion of the settlers was not officially recognised.

Further Divisions

In practical terms the English colonies developed under a policy of benign neglect that allowed the existence of religious diversity. However, the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts Bay believed in collective discipline and were intolerant of other marginalised congregations. In search of peace and toleration Quakers and Baptists moved offshore and settled Rhode Island. In 1659 Nantucket Island was settled under the governance of New York. Religious life on the island tolerated plurality and there was separation of the church and from the politics of government.

Religion on Nantucket

Of the 3000 native inhabitants of Nantucket some 300 were converted to an Anabaptist form of Christianity by 1674. During the 1700's the island was swept by waves of enthusiasm generated by tours of travelling Quakers and Methodist Society preachers. Different churches were established for the spiritual needs of different groups. The Congregationalist Movement continued to meet and worship in a self-governing church that believed no spiritual authority should stand between God and the congregation. Important decisions on the life of the church were decided by a vote of the church proprietors.

Establishment of the Unitarian Church

The church on 11 Orange Street was built in 1809 to house a faction who had split from the First Congregationalist Church. This Second Congregationalist Society called their new church building The South Church Meeting House and in 1837 the proprietors opted to sign a covenant with the Unitarian Church of Harvard.

The beautiful timber building, now known as the Unitarian Universalist church, was built for people who were unimpressed by the edifice of a structured church. During the 1800's it was extensively remodelled and it stands now as the oldest and grandest of the big churches built on Nantucket. Inside is the Goodrich organ, the oldest intact pipe organ built in America. The church tower stands 109 feet and 5 1/2 inches from the ground and serves as a navigational aid, a watchtower, a clock tower and bell tower. Under the golden dome is a Portuguese bell that still strikes the hour 156 times every day. The clock housed in the tower is owned and maintained by the town of Nantucket who pay an annual rent to the church.

The South Church still aims "to guide children and adults in a supportive and affirming educational environment in keeping with Unitarian Universalist principles, exposing them to many beliefs and cultures, and encouraging them to discern what is ethical, valid and just in life."

Tom Kristensen
August 2008

The artist was first discovered by Eric van den Ing, co-author of a classic ukiyo-e book "Beauty and Violence" and owner of Saru Gallery. After Eric van den Ing had placed Tom's woodblock prints on his online gallery, a few days later a collector had bought the whole set. Mr. van den Ing seems to have a "magic hand" for new artists. He was the first, and before artelino, to introduce Paul Binnie in 2000 to a larger online community of friends of Japanese prints.

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