Transcendentalism

10/1/2023

A school of American theological and philosophical thought

known as transcendentalism emerged in the 19th century. It
combined Unitarianism and German Romanticism with a
reverence for nature and a sense of self-sufficiency. The
movement's main proponent was the author Ralph Waldo
Emerson. It began as a loose association in Massachusetts in the
early 1800s and developed into a formal organization in the
1830s.

The Origins of Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism has its origins in New England

of the early 1800s and the birth of Unitarianism. It
was born from a debate between “New Light”
theologians, who believed that religion should
focus on an emotional experience, and “Old Light”
opponents, who valued reason in their religious
approach.

These “Old Lights” became known first as “liberal

Christians” and then as Unitarians, and were
defined by the belief that there was no trinity of
father, son and holy ghost as in traditional
Christian belief, and that Jesus Christ was a mortal.

Thinkers in the movement embraced ideas

brought forth by philosophers Immanuel
Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,
poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ancient Indian
scripture known as the Vedas and religious
founder Emanuel Swedenborg.
Transcendentalists advocated the idea of a
personal knowledge of God, believing that
no intermediary was needed for spiritual
insight. They embraced idealism, focusing
on nature and opposing materialism.

The Transcendental Club

Frederic Henry Hodge, a writer and preacher from Bangor,

Maine, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Unitarian ministers
George Ripley and George Putnam departed a celebration
of Harvard's bicentennial on September 12, 1836, to meet at
Willard's Hotel in Cambridge.
The four reconnected at Ripley's home in Boston a week
later. Many Unitarian preachers, thinkers, writers, and
reformers attended this conference of a much bigger group.
The "Transcendental Club" would hold 30 additional
sessions over the course of the following four years, with a
fluctuating membership that always included Emerson,
Ripley, and Hodge.
The sole rule that was adhered to was that no one would be
permitted to attend if their presence stopped the group
from discussing a certain subject. Emerson's 1836 article
"Nature" outlined Transcendentalist theory as it had
developed during club meetings.
This group stopped meeting in 1840, but they continued to
work on the Transcendentalist-focused journal The Dial,
which was first edited by member and early feminist
Margaret Fuller and later by Emerson.
Transcendentalism Fades Out

Transcendentalism is regarded to have faded a little in the 1850s,

especially after Margaret Fuller tragically perished in a shipwreck in
1850. Even though its members continued to be prominent figures in
the public spotlight, the group never came together again.
 Citation
1. https://www.history.com/topics/19th-
century/transcendentalism#:~:text=Transcen
dentalism%20is%20a%2019th%2Dcentury,of
%20Unitarianism%20and%20German%20Ro
manticism.