Unittarianism Vs Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism is a literary movement of writers and philosophers beginning in the 19th century near New England. Transcendentalism is an extremely cumbersome word that is used to describe very simplistic ideology. Transcendentalism is knowledge of the physical world around an individual that transcends or delves beyond the physicality of the world, reaching further than just what one sees, hears, tastes, or feels. This richer understanding of the greater world is derived in the understanding of intuition and imagination, rather than logic or rationalization (Uhshistory.com, 2010). The Transcendental movement began as an effort to allow individuals to gain trust in themselves and to be their own authoritative voice on what is right or wrong.

Unitarianism was the most commonly held religious movement in Boston, Massachusetts in the early 19th century. Transcendentalism was not outwardly in sharp contrast with Unitarian beliefs, rather it developed because of Unitarian beliefs. Unitarians had an emphasis on free conscience and the true value of intellectual reasoning (Britannica, 2017). The Transcendentalists were not pleased with the temperance, and calm rationalism of the Unitarians, rather Transcendentalists yearned for enveloping spiritual experience. Transcendentalism was not a counter movement to Unitarianism, it more parallelled the Unitarian

From 1830 to 1855 there was an ongoing conflict between older and newer emerging generations. A new national culture was beginning to form derived in native materials, away from previous colonial rule. In the modest home of George Ripley in Boston, Massachusetts, individuals most closely associated with this way of thinking met in a loose group known as the Transcendental Club (Wikipedia, 2018). This club attracted a variety of strong minded individuals such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Peabody, George Ripley, and W.E. Channing.

The Transcendental Club served as a meeting ground for young thinkers. Furthermore, this club provided a safe area for organization for these thinker’s ideas and frustrations. In particular, their frustrations with the general state of American culture as well as the American society of the time, centered around the failings of Unitarianism. Many American journals of the time refused to accept any submissions from Transcendentalist writers, which pushed them to establish their own periodical. The first issue of the Transcendental periodical, The Dial, was published in July,