David Dowling
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780300197440
- eISBN:
- 9780300206760
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300197440.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
This chapter focuses on Ralph Waldo Emerson's mentorship of Ellery Channing the younger, who entered the former's life as a poet apprentice after Henry David Thoreau. It begins by assessing ...
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This chapter focuses on Ralph Waldo Emerson's mentorship of Ellery Channing the younger, who entered the former's life as a poet apprentice after Henry David Thoreau. It begins by assessing Channing's efforts to make a favorable first impression on Emerson and his eventual immersion in transcendentalism as a romantic poet. It then examines the change in Emerson's theory of poetry, particularly after he undertook the poetic apprenticeship of Channing, and why Channing's poetic composition process appealed to Emerson. The chapter concludes by describing Channing's relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne.Less
This chapter focuses on Ralph Waldo Emerson's mentorship of Ellery Channing the younger, who entered the former's life as a poet apprentice after Henry David Thoreau. It begins by assessing Channing's efforts to make a favorable first impression on Emerson and his eventual immersion in transcendentalism as a romantic poet. It then examines the change in Emerson's theory of poetry, particularly after he undertook the poetic apprenticeship of Channing, and why Channing's poetic composition process appealed to Emerson. The chapter concludes by describing Channing's relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne.
David F. Holland
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199753611
- eISBN:
- 9780199895113
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199753611.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter traces the intellectual history of the canon among liberal Christians of the nineteenth century. Beginning with Hicksite Quakers, it moves through William Ellery Channing's Unitarianism, ...
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This chapter traces the intellectual history of the canon among liberal Christians of the nineteenth century. Beginning with Hicksite Quakers, it moves through William Ellery Channing's Unitarianism, the Transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Theodore Parker, the transition from Transcendentalism to Catholicism of Orestes Brownson, and finally the liberal congregationalism of Horace Bushnell. It demonstrates how the convergence of various intellectual trends in the nineteenth century—such as skepticism, sentimentalism, and biblical criticism—combined to push prominent American thinkers toward a concept of an open canon.Less
This chapter traces the intellectual history of the canon among liberal Christians of the nineteenth century. Beginning with Hicksite Quakers, it moves through William Ellery Channing's Unitarianism, the Transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Theodore Parker, the transition from Transcendentalism to Catholicism of Orestes Brownson, and finally the liberal congregationalism of Horace Bushnell. It demonstrates how the convergence of various intellectual trends in the nineteenth century—such as skepticism, sentimentalism, and biblical criticism—combined to push prominent American thinkers toward a concept of an open canon.
Molly Oshatz
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199751686
- eISBN:
- 9780199918799
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199751686.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter introduces the antebellum antislavery moderates, including William Ellery Channing, Moses Stuart, and Francis Wayland. It explores the moderates’ theological roots in New England ...
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This chapter introduces the antebellum antislavery moderates, including William Ellery Channing, Moses Stuart, and Francis Wayland. It explores the moderates’ theological roots in New England Calvinism and their predominantly Congregationalist, New School Presbyterian, and Baptist denominational identities. The chapter concludes by attending to historians’ harsh judgments of the moderates and arguing for a more nuanced portrayal of their contribution to antislavery.Less
This chapter introduces the antebellum antislavery moderates, including William Ellery Channing, Moses Stuart, and Francis Wayland. It explores the moderates’ theological roots in New England Calvinism and their predominantly Congregationalist, New School Presbyterian, and Baptist denominational identities. The chapter concludes by attending to historians’ harsh judgments of the moderates and arguing for a more nuanced portrayal of their contribution to antislavery.
John Beer
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184362
- eISBN:
- 9780191674228
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184362.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This chapter focuses on William Ellery Channing, his visit to Europe, and his meetings with Wordsworth and Coleridge. Channing's religious views had made him a controversial figure: his early ...
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This chapter focuses on William Ellery Channing, his visit to Europe, and his meetings with Wordsworth and Coleridge. Channing's religious views had made him a controversial figure: his early training had been for the Congregational Church, but he had increasingly urged on his contemporaries the advantages of a more liberal Christianity and in 1819, when he preached a sermon at the ordination of Jared Sparks and wrote two articles, ‘Objections to Unitarian Christianity Considered’ and ‘The Moral Argument against Calvinism’; it became clear that his orientation was changing. He objected to the name ‘Unitarian’, disliking it for its abstraction as much as the term ‘Trinitarian’, and believing that the differences between the churches were largely verbal. He objected still more to Calvinism, with its doctrine of predestination: if that were true, he thought, existence would be a curse.Less
This chapter focuses on William Ellery Channing, his visit to Europe, and his meetings with Wordsworth and Coleridge. Channing's religious views had made him a controversial figure: his early training had been for the Congregational Church, but he had increasingly urged on his contemporaries the advantages of a more liberal Christianity and in 1819, when he preached a sermon at the ordination of Jared Sparks and wrote two articles, ‘Objections to Unitarian Christianity Considered’ and ‘The Moral Argument against Calvinism’; it became clear that his orientation was changing. He objected to the name ‘Unitarian’, disliking it for its abstraction as much as the term ‘Trinitarian’, and believing that the differences between the churches were largely verbal. He objected still more to Calvinism, with its doctrine of predestination: if that were true, he thought, existence would be a curse.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226533230
- eISBN:
- 9780226533254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226533254.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter chronicles the emergence of spirituality as a marker of liberal Protestant piety in the U.S. It describes the shift the ontological status of spirituality from one signifying a quality ...
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This chapter chronicles the emergence of spirituality as a marker of liberal Protestant piety in the U.S. It describes the shift the ontological status of spirituality from one signifying a quality of God to a practice of human immunization. This chapter analyzes the theological abstractions of William Ellery Channing and Boston Unitarianism and discusses the conceptual life of spirituality within a burgeoning spiritualist subculture.Less
This chapter chronicles the emergence of spirituality as a marker of liberal Protestant piety in the U.S. It describes the shift the ontological status of spirituality from one signifying a quality of God to a practice of human immunization. This chapter analyzes the theological abstractions of William Ellery Channing and Boston Unitarianism and discusses the conceptual life of spirituality within a burgeoning spiritualist subculture.
David Dowling
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780300197440
- eISBN:
- 9780300206760
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300197440.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
This chapter focuses on Ralph Waldo Emerson's mentorship of Henry David Thoreau, with particular reference to the perils of the latter's experience as poet in training. It begins by analyzing “Sic ...
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This chapter focuses on Ralph Waldo Emerson's mentorship of Henry David Thoreau, with particular reference to the perils of the latter's experience as poet in training. It begins by analyzing “Sic Vita,” a love poem written for Emerson's sister-in-law Lucy Jackson Brown, but also intended to court Emerson with the hope of initiating a poetic apprenticeship. It then explores the steps taken by Thoreau to professionalize the poetic craft in his career. Finally, it examines Ellery Channing's usurpation of Emerson's mentorship that resulted in Thoreau's liberation from the pursuit of Emersonian poetry.Less
This chapter focuses on Ralph Waldo Emerson's mentorship of Henry David Thoreau, with particular reference to the perils of the latter's experience as poet in training. It begins by analyzing “Sic Vita,” a love poem written for Emerson's sister-in-law Lucy Jackson Brown, but also intended to court Emerson with the hope of initiating a poetic apprenticeship. It then explores the steps taken by Thoreau to professionalize the poetic craft in his career. Finally, it examines Ellery Channing's usurpation of Emerson's mentorship that resulted in Thoreau's liberation from the pursuit of Emersonian poetry.
David Dowling
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780300197440
- eISBN:
- 9780300206760
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300197440.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
In the late 1830s, Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, poet, lecturer, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement, publicly called for a radical nationwide vocational reinvention, and an ...
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In the late 1830s, Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, poet, lecturer, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement, publicly called for a radical nationwide vocational reinvention, and an idealistic group of collegians eagerly responded. Assuming the role of mentor, editor, and promoter, Emerson freely offered them his time, financial support, and antimaterialistic counsel, and profoundly shaped the careers of his young acolytes—including Henry David Thoreau, renowned journalist and women's rights advocate Margaret Fuller, and lesser-known literary figures such as Samuel Ward and reckless romantic poets Jones Very, Ellery Channing, and Charles Newcomb. This book's history of the professional and personal relationships between Emerson and his protégés—a remarkable collaboration that alternately proved fruitful and destructive, tension-filled and liberating—is a fascinating true story of altruism, ego, influence, pettiness, genius, and the bold attempt to reshape the literary market of the mid-nineteenth century.Less
In the late 1830s, Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, poet, lecturer, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement, publicly called for a radical nationwide vocational reinvention, and an idealistic group of collegians eagerly responded. Assuming the role of mentor, editor, and promoter, Emerson freely offered them his time, financial support, and antimaterialistic counsel, and profoundly shaped the careers of his young acolytes—including Henry David Thoreau, renowned journalist and women's rights advocate Margaret Fuller, and lesser-known literary figures such as Samuel Ward and reckless romantic poets Jones Very, Ellery Channing, and Charles Newcomb. This book's history of the professional and personal relationships between Emerson and his protégés—a remarkable collaboration that alternately proved fruitful and destructive, tension-filled and liberating—is a fascinating true story of altruism, ego, influence, pettiness, genius, and the bold attempt to reshape the literary market of the mid-nineteenth century.
Kevin Butterfield
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226297088
- eISBN:
- 9780226297118
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226297118.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
The first generations of American citizens learned a great deal about how to join together in ways voluntary, effective, and safe for both the republic and the individual citizen. Something new did ...
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The first generations of American citizens learned a great deal about how to join together in ways voluntary, effective, and safe for both the republic and the individual citizen. Something new did appear in the 1830s, however, when temperance and antislavery societies that were organized around a pledge—a public confession of faith in the cause and an internalized commitment to both personal and societal transformation—brought a novel and powerful kind of voluntary membership to the United States. And thus the post-Revolutionary emphasis on procedure and law-minded practices in American civil society sowed the seeds of its own historical obscurity, for the associational diversity that it nurtured had produced new ways of thinking about the meanings of voluntary membership, new ways of joining together. The pluralism of antebellum American civil society had opened the door to something new and radically transformative.Less
The first generations of American citizens learned a great deal about how to join together in ways voluntary, effective, and safe for both the republic and the individual citizen. Something new did appear in the 1830s, however, when temperance and antislavery societies that were organized around a pledge—a public confession of faith in the cause and an internalized commitment to both personal and societal transformation—brought a novel and powerful kind of voluntary membership to the United States. And thus the post-Revolutionary emphasis on procedure and law-minded practices in American civil society sowed the seeds of its own historical obscurity, for the associational diversity that it nurtured had produced new ways of thinking about the meanings of voluntary membership, new ways of joining together. The pluralism of antebellum American civil society had opened the door to something new and radically transformative.
Paul C. Gutjahr
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199740420
- eISBN:
- 9780199894703
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199740420.003.0027
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
Chapter twenty-seven examines Hodge’s first article on the issue of slavery. Hodge remained largely consistent on his views of slavery throughout his life, and they are most clearly sent down in his ...
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Chapter twenty-seven examines Hodge’s first article on the issue of slavery. Hodge remained largely consistent on his views of slavery throughout his life, and they are most clearly sent down in his 1836 Repertory article entitled “Slavery.” Hodge believed that if the Bible nowhere condemned slavery, then neither could the Presbyterian Church. For a time, he and others at Princeton were ardent supports of the American Colonization Society. Their more proslavery stances put them in conflict with the more progressive antislavery views of the New School.Less
Chapter twenty-seven examines Hodge’s first article on the issue of slavery. Hodge remained largely consistent on his views of slavery throughout his life, and they are most clearly sent down in his 1836 Repertory article entitled “Slavery.” Hodge believed that if the Bible nowhere condemned slavery, then neither could the Presbyterian Church. For a time, he and others at Princeton were ardent supports of the American Colonization Society. Their more proslavery stances put them in conflict with the more progressive antislavery views of the New School.
Stephen P. Shoemaker
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199683710
- eISBN:
- 9780191823923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199683710.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies, Theology
This chapter considers an unlikely trio of groups who opposed the Evangelical Protestant mainstream in nineteenth-century America: the Unitarians, the Quakers, and the Shakers. Each had to navigate ...
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This chapter considers an unlikely trio of groups who opposed the Evangelical Protestant mainstream in nineteenth-century America: the Unitarians, the Quakers, and the Shakers. Each had to navigate two different forms of dissent: the external and the internal. When deciding how best to revise or contradict the hegemonic forms of Protestantism, these groups had certain goals and methods for interacting with those outside their fellowship. In time, they each also had to face a more pernicious adversary, the second generation of dissenters that grew within their own ranks. While these disparate traditions may appear to have little in common, each body faced many of the same questions as they asserted their distinct form of external cultural and religious correction. When articulating a theological vision that went against the mainstream, they had to determine how to serve that particular vision in a culture that did not share their theological views. Some withdrew from contact with outsiders and used their enclaves as a way to practise and preserve their vision of orthodoxy and orthopraxy. On the other hand, there were groups that deliberately sought to model correct religion for others, and thereby hoped to transform other religious groups by disseminating their theological vision beyond the confines of any type of self-imposed seclusion. As the decades passed, though, both sorts of groups were surprised by the inevitable challenges to their founding orthodoxy from within their own membership. This dissent among dissenters was, of course, an outgrowth of the very impulse that stood behind the earlier establishment of the group. Subsequent generations of membership often failed to realize that belonging to a group of dissenters might require adherence to a detailed theological vision. This tension between founding theology and ongoing interpretation could leave a Dissenting group hierarchy in the awkward position of having to restrict innovation, an irony not lost on subsequent generations of members. This chapter asks how Unitarians, Shakers, and Quakers in nineteenth-century America addressed these two aspects of Dissent: external and internal. How did each group perceive their relationship to American culture and other more mainstream religious groups? How did they encounter and negotiate dissent from within their ranks? In each group there was an evolution over the course of the nineteenth century that complicates any interpretation of these multifaceted embodiments of Protestant Dissenting traditions in the United States.Less
This chapter considers an unlikely trio of groups who opposed the Evangelical Protestant mainstream in nineteenth-century America: the Unitarians, the Quakers, and the Shakers. Each had to navigate two different forms of dissent: the external and the internal. When deciding how best to revise or contradict the hegemonic forms of Protestantism, these groups had certain goals and methods for interacting with those outside their fellowship. In time, they each also had to face a more pernicious adversary, the second generation of dissenters that grew within their own ranks. While these disparate traditions may appear to have little in common, each body faced many of the same questions as they asserted their distinct form of external cultural and religious correction. When articulating a theological vision that went against the mainstream, they had to determine how to serve that particular vision in a culture that did not share their theological views. Some withdrew from contact with outsiders and used their enclaves as a way to practise and preserve their vision of orthodoxy and orthopraxy. On the other hand, there were groups that deliberately sought to model correct religion for others, and thereby hoped to transform other religious groups by disseminating their theological vision beyond the confines of any type of self-imposed seclusion. As the decades passed, though, both sorts of groups were surprised by the inevitable challenges to their founding orthodoxy from within their own membership. This dissent among dissenters was, of course, an outgrowth of the very impulse that stood behind the earlier establishment of the group. Subsequent generations of membership often failed to realize that belonging to a group of dissenters might require adherence to a detailed theological vision. This tension between founding theology and ongoing interpretation could leave a Dissenting group hierarchy in the awkward position of having to restrict innovation, an irony not lost on subsequent generations of members. This chapter asks how Unitarians, Shakers, and Quakers in nineteenth-century America addressed these two aspects of Dissent: external and internal. How did each group perceive their relationship to American culture and other more mainstream religious groups? How did they encounter and negotiate dissent from within their ranks? In each group there was an evolution over the course of the nineteenth century that complicates any interpretation of these multifaceted embodiments of Protestant Dissenting traditions in the United States.
