Ballou, Hosea

Ballou, Hosea

(1771–1853) Universalist clergyman, theologian; born in Richmond, N.H. Raised in poverty, brought up a Baptist, and self-educated, he was for many years a circuit-riding preacher in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He settled in Boston, Mass., in 1817 where he helped found the Universalist Church, edited Universalist publications, and developed a liberal theology that denied original sin and the full deity of Christ. From 1827 until his death he was pastor of the Second Universalist Society of Boston.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.