‘The Good Minister’: Emerson, Hedge, and Transcendental Religion

Authors

Ryan Tobler, Brigham Young University
Paul Kerry, Brigham Young University

Keywords

American Transcendental movement, intellectual independence, transcendental religion

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

History

Abstract

It is usually literary historians, not religious ones, who address the American Transcendental movement of the early 19th century. Best known for the literary works and figures it produced, Transcendentalism is remembered as loose coalition of forceful thinkers that challenged and enhanced American conceptions of nature, ideal society, and intellectual culture. Some even regard the movement as the vehicle or the expression of America’s intellectual independence – the critical point of departure from derivative (European) strains of thought and the genesis of a distinctively American intellectual tradition. These high estimations make it critical to understand what Transcendentalism actually was, and what kind of formative influence it had on the developing American psyche.

Recommended Citation

Tobler, Ryan and Kerry, Paul (2013) "‘The Good Minister’: Emerson, Hedge, and Transcendental Religion," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 322.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/322