 The context of the term in the above examples relates to the tension from the 1830s onward between more traditional and relatively scripture-fundamentalist Unitarians and those advocating a freer approach such as transcendentalists Theodore Parker and James Martineau.This conflict came to a head in 1876 when Robert Spears resigned from the British and Foreign Unitarian Association and, with the support of Sharpe, a former president of the Association, began to publish a rival magazine.In this context, Sharpe is referred to again by John M. Robertson (1929) as a "Biblical Unitarian,"  and adds that Sharpes' magazine, "The Christian Life", was largely aimed at combatting growing agnosticism in Unitarian pulpits.