George de Benneville
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George de Benneville (
Christian Universalist preacher.[1]
Formative years
Born in
world religions. He shed his Huguenot religion, developed his own ideas about Christianity, and became a preacher
while still in his teens.
Religious life
De Benneville had a mystical experience and later a
near death experience
that he described in The Life and Trance of Dr. George De Benneville. These experiences convinced him that Hell was for purification, not punishment, and that, ultimately, all souls would be united with God.
He believed that
dualistic nature, and that the outer, flesh-and-blood person, subject to the evils of the world, could choose to do good or to do wrong, while the inner, spirit-like person, crafted by God and perfect, immaculate and holy, could never be damned. As a result, he was convinced that all human beings experienced salvation
.
He preached and practiced medicine in France and Germany, but as religious authorities across Europe grew more and more disturbed by the increasing visibility of
religious tolerance
.
After settling in
Oley, Berks County, using his free time to continue his Universalist
preaching.
de Benneville also socialized and traded
herbal preparations with Native American
groups in the area. His beliefs stressed that all people everywhere were loved by God, and that cultures, races, and genders had no bearing on the worth of a human being. He also believed that the physical body was merely one part of a person.
Death
de Benneville died at his home in Pennsylvania on March 19, 1793.
Notes
- ^ Kelly, Howard A.; Burrage, Walter L. (eds.). . . Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company.
Selected References
- Bell, Albert (1953). The Life and Times of Dr. George de Benneville. Boston.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Howe, Charles (1993). The Larger Faith - A Short History of American Universalism. Boston.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Scott, Clinton Lee (1957). The Universalist Church in America: A Short History. Boston.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Vincent, K. R. (2003). "The near-death experience and Christian Universalism". Journal of Near-Death Studies. 22: 57–71.
External links
- Morgan, John C.; Simonson, Nelson C. (August 27, 2003). "George de Benneville". Unitarian Universalist History & Heritage Society. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
- "Dr George de Benneville: Teacher, Healer and Preacher of Universalism in the Oley Valley, Pennsylvania". Berks County History Center and Museum. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
- Bell, Albert D. (1953). "The Life and Times of Dr George de Benneville 1703-93". Medicina Pennsylvania. Boston, MA, USA. Archived from the original on 2008-06-10. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
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