Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality

by Leigh Eric Schmidt

Yoga classes and Zen meditation, New-Age seminars and holistic workshops, The Oprah Winfrey Show and books by Deepak Chopra—all are part of the ongoing religious experimentation that has surprisingly deep roots in American history. By tracing our unique spiritual heritage along its many colorful highways and eccentric byways, Restless Souls profiles a rich spirituality that is distinctively American.

Genres: History, Spirituality, Religion, Nonfiction, Academic

336 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

Reviews

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 4 out of 5]

American religious historiography is easily dominated by studies of Christianity. From the Mayflower Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock to the rise of Christian nationalism during the Trump presidencies, Christianity has woven itself indelibly into American culture. But other religions and metaphysical worldviews have always been present in America's spiritual tapestry and their narrative(s) is what historian Leigh Eric Schmidt traces in Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality. He chronicles the lives of such notable, unorthodox luminaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and Rufus M. Jones, as well as influential, though less famous, thinkers and writers including Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Carl H.A. Bjerregaard, Sarah Farmer, Annie Besant, Sara Bull, Swami Vivekanada, Horatio Dresser, Ralph Waldo Trine, Max Ehrmann, and Thomas R. Kelly. These thinkers espoused an astounding, dizzying array of beliefs about God, reality, and spiritual practices including New Thought, Transcendentalism, Unitarianism, Christian Science, Theosophy, Vedanta, Islam, Buddhism, Quakerism, Bahaism, and more - an unorthodox ecumenism from which the "Spiritual Left" (in contrast to the modern "Religious Right") of today are descended from. Schmidt also examines the significant circles and institutions that fostered and spread their kaleidoscope of spiritual beliefs, including the Transcendental Club, the religious centres of Greenacre and Trabuco, and the Quaker learning community at Pendle Hill in Pennsylvania. The new spirituality was marked by inclusivity of belief and cosmopolitanism and many of its leaders were reformers and political liberals, championing causes like abolition and women's suffrage.

The distinction between the Religious Right and the Spiritual Left is quite helpful. It reminds us that religious activism is not just the toil of Jerry Falwell Sr. and Paula White, but that it also includes "Albert Schweitzer, Mohandas Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King. Jr, and Howard Thurman" who are "patron saints for religious liberals. The convergence of political progressivism, socioeconomic justice, and mystical interiority was at the heart of the rise of a Spiritual Left in American culture" (p. 57). So too, even as an evangelical who is quite dismissive of these more esoteric belief systems, I read wincingly Schmidt's retort that:

Evangelical Protestantism, which has produced more than its share of critics of the "new spirituality," has also given rise to more than its share of Bible-based diets, gospels of wealth, and guides for the maximized erotic pleasures of married heterosexual couples. In other words, a therapeutic culture of self-realization and a consumer culture of self-gratification are at least as much "evangelical" as they are "liberal." Yoga studios and aromatherapy hardly hold a candle to the conglomerate of T-shirt fashions, aerobic videos, and apocalyptic best sellers that makes up the Christian Booksellers Association (pp. 21-22).

It was interesting reading this broader book alongside Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries, focused exclusively on Christian spirituality. As might well be expected, there were similarities and parallels between classic Christian spirituality and the "new spirituality" (many of the figures Schmidt recounts had, after all, grown up in religious households). Schmidt sees the "mystical" interpretation of Scripture as one of the foundational cornerstones of the new spirituality. Christian mystics believed that the biblical texts "were not transparent, but contained hidden or spiritual senses behind the surface of the literal" (p. 36). The insights of Christian mystics like Julian of Norwich, Thomas à Kempis, Johann Arndt, and Evelyn Underhill are valuable and profound, but biblical Protestants caution that departing from the literal interpretation has its dangers. The analogical interpretation that Fr. Hans Boersma witnesses in the Bible is often suspected by the "seriously dangerous literalism" of Iain Provan (Regent College inside baseball).

Another example of this was the place of solitude in the spiritual life, including the more drastic action of actual hermitage. Many Christians in antiquity sought out the advice of desert fathers and mothers like Anthony the Great and Simeon Stylites and monasticism became an integral part of the Christian Church but the Reformation(s) excoriated monasticism. Thinkers like Henry David Thoreau at Walden and William Rounseville Alger in his book The Solitudes of Nature and of Man; or, The Loneliness of Human Life advocated for solitude and the earlier Johnny Appleseed was, in effect, "canonized" into American culture for his reclusive cultivating of nurseries and gardening (p. 92). Individuals like Robert the Hermit and Sarah Bishop became famous for their solitary lives. Schmidt writes:

The Protestant suspicion of monasticism and the pained commiseration of reform-minded benefactors were less than promising for Thoreau's revaluing of solitude. Pity and Protestant polemic, however, were not the only responses that hermits evoked in the early republic; they also attracted journalistic sensation and touristic attention. Hundreds had apparently sought out Robert the Hermit, hoping to penetrate the veil of his mysterious isolation and gratify their curiosity, and Sarah Bishop, likewise, attracted those looking for a good excursion, a double marvel as a "woman hermit" (p. 73).

The beloved Quaker writer Richard J. Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, carefully notes that whereas Eastern meditation seeks to empty the mind, Christian meditation desires the mind filled with Christ. But:

At the turn of the twentieth century, the new sources of meditation for Americans were diverse: New Thought, Unitarianism, liberal Judaism, Theosophy, Vedanta, and South Asian Buddhism crisscrossed one another in an intensive series of encounters and innovations. However distinct the metaphysical starting points of the various movements were, they all shared an absorbing concern with the concentrated mind - a curiosity that flowed from overlapping impulses, desires, and anxieties. These exchanges were global in reach, but the larger dynamic that held them together - or, at minimum, made possible productive alliances - was religious liberalism's imagining of an essential, universal, and practical spirituality in which meditation would serve as a technique held in common...The practice of meditation, so conceived, helped make it possible to speak of a variety of religious experiences - whether Hindu, Buddhist, New Thought, or Christian - under the catchall of spirituality, a term that took on new significance through the shared practice of meditation and the enlightening experiences that flowed from it (pp. 170-72).

This new, universalistic conception of meditation also pointed to the ways that Americans were becoming concerned about their mental well-being and interior lives. It's little wonder that there soon emerged a thriving "self-help" genre of books, most notably Norman Vincent Peale's 1952 work The Power of Positive Thinking. Just as "spirituality" served as a catchall, the term "religion" morphed into something vaguer among religious liberals. Religion was now considered to be "the universal human search for meaning, and its archetype was the individual seeker. Religion, in effect, could be saved only if it became spirituality" (p. 228). Religion was no longer to be rigid and dogmatic but became a quest for the "seeker" who needed to journey down his or her own spiritual path.

Despite the welcoming ecumenism of the new spirituality, the movement(s) were not without their tensions. William Norman Guthrie, an Episcopal priest based in New York City, exemplified this. Schmidt writes of him:

Guthrie stumbled time and again in his codification of universalized scriptures, inclusive worship services, and fanciful pageants of comparative religion. What kind of leap was it to think that through an act of imaginative identification Christians could come to understand what it meant to be "a true Taoist" or "a true Buddhist"? How could Guthrie's wildly resilient faith in shared religious truths justify the collection of "separable lyrics" and "detached ritual morsels" as if other cultures were curio shops at his artistic disposal? Guthrie wanted Americans to be open and teachable, filled with Whitman's democratic and cosmopolitan sympathies and imbued with his sense that the best religion transcended the confines of exclusive creeds. Creating that kind of open spirituality was never an innocent endeavor, rife, as it so often was, with class privilege, racist myopia, and cultural hierarchy. Yet Guthrie's failings...do not lessen the importance of liberal attempts to appreciate diversity with simultaneously looking for ways to affirm religious unity across the bounds of difference. In decisive and enduring ways, these romantic souls confronted religious narrowness and bigotry with a positive vision of a cosmopolitan spirituality, the piety of the world (p. 140).

The most devastating schism among the new spirituality's leaders occurred when Sarah Farmer, the founder (1894) and architect of the Greenacre conference centre, converted to Bahaism. Greenacre was the most significant venue for the new spirituality's luminaries to convene their synods; philosophers, artists, poets, clergy, and visiting gurus from Asia all attended and exchanged ideas about religion and spiritual practices. But in 1900, while visiting overseas, Farmer met ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, becoming his devoted disciple. Previously content to enjoy the ecumenism of the new spirituality, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá admonished Farmer to instead favour the Baháʼí faith; "Here was the core tension: the liberal idealization of cosmopolitan variety in the expression of religious truth was paired with the ultimacy of the Baháʼí version of that truth" (p. 208). Ellen Beecher (a distant relative of the famous Beecher family) also embraced the Baháʼí faith: "Turning to the Baháʼí faith allowed Beecher, in effect, to recover a Calvinist sensibility that had become increasingly foreign to the liberal Protestant world she had hitherto inhabited. Her dramatic vision issued in a feeling of being chosen and not choosing, a recognition of God's utter sovereignty and her own sinfulness, an experience of self-emptying and not self realization" (p. 217). Farmer's comrades at Greenacre were alarmed for Farmer's fervency in following the teachings of Baháʼu'lláh; the New Thought and Transcendentalist circles at Greenacre formed an alliance to oppose Farmer who was later declared insane in 1910 and placed in an asylum. After her death in 1916, a struggle erupted over control of Greenacre with the Baháʼí contingent proving victorious and turning the site into a learning centre of the young faith.

Schmidt is a good writer with some crafty turns of phrase, but he also came across as somewhat irascible towards Thomas Kelly and, in the epilogue, towards those holding to more conservative or more Christian beliefs like David Brooks and Martin Marty. As an evangelical who considers New Age beliefs bunk, Schmidt's benign enthusiasm for the ecumenism of the "Spiritual Left" strikes me as intellectually weak and shallow; a Methodist and a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Baptist, actually respect one another more when they take their sharply distinct doctrines seriously rather than smilingly settling for a tepid tolerance that doesn't ask hard questions and which isn't demanding (Schmidt is critical of William Norman Guthrie's vague embraces of all religions as sources of universal truth; might he not turn that same scrutiny on himself?). I was also surprised that for all of the power the figures in Restless Souls placed upon experience (rather than, say, scriptural authority), Schmidt makes no mention of pentecostalism which was nascent when some of the later figures were alive. Perhaps these figures had never been exposed to pentecostalism, but I would be surprised if those seeking a novel spiritual awakening would have never considered charismatic Christianity as a possibility over a more staid form of biblical faith. I learned a lot about an alternative religious history of America (including that yoga was being practiced in the USA by at least the late 1800s).

[Larry Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me realize my spiritual quest was hardly unique or contemporary.
Very worthwhile read.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overview: In this chronological sketch of American spirituality, Leigh Schmidt argues that many of the sentiments and practices of the contemporary American "spiritual marketplace" are rooted in an indigenous tradition of seeker spirituality deriving from liberal Protestantism.

Argument: Schmidt's narrative takes place against a background of popular books and scholarship that refer to spirituality and individual religion as something new (a boomer fad), detrimentally individualistic, and imported. A representative of this work is Habits of the Heart by Robert Bellah et al., which presents liberal religion as a a narcissistic, solopsistic solvent corroding bonds of family and community. Bellah's thin reading and lack of attention to historical context make it easy for him and his fellows to ridicule seemingly narcissistic statements by spiritual practitioners (269-71). Similarly, in the case of The Making of the New Spirituality by James Herrick, all non-creedal spirituality "from Ralph Waldo Emerson to UFO aboductees" (285) is grouped together as an Other contrasted unfavorably with orthodox Christianity.
In contrast to readings such as these, Schmidt offers the construct of a "Spiritual Left" with deep roots in American religion and a consistent set of sensibilities, though not teachings. This Spiritual Left arose out of liberal Protestantism's desire for a religion that was both interior (possessing mystical sensitivity) and expansive (curious about world religions, yearning to overcome dogmatic and sectarian controversies). In the aftermath of the Enlightenment, religious liberals desired a religion amenable to the Age of Reason but also more than mere rationality, a combination of scientific realism and romantic impulse. Schmidt charts the Spiritual Left in four broad periods: "the Transcendentalists of the 1830s and 1840s, their radical heirs of the 1850s to 1880s, the realizing agents of liberalism’s universal vision between 1890 and 1910, and the seekers who brought to fruition the emergent spirituality after 1910" (14). These groups were linked through key personalities and a series of institutions, but even more so by a burgeoning literary tradition.

As the Spiritual Left ventured beyond orthodoxy, it had to appropriate or create terminology as well as refashion old concepts. "Mystical" referred to a type of exegesis practiced by (usually Catholic) Christians; "mystical theology" was bound up with classical theological ideals and the monastic traditions. The Spiritual Left had to disentangle these connections in order to arrive at an individual yet universal religious interiority that could be explored without dogmatic guidelines. Likewise, the term "seekers" that so aptly described the aims of many in the Spiritual Left had to be reappropriated from the Christian tradition, in which it named (rather accurately) a heresy. Also, the notion of solitude, central to Transcendentalist experience and all American spiritualists thereafter, had to be transformed from its original home in the Christian desert fathers and reshaped to meet the needs of Americans who did not desire to abnegate society but who did need a break from the hustle and bustle of modern life. Perhaps most significantly, meditation as a practice blended the Transcendentalist tradition of reflective interiority with specific techniques learned from the East: from Buddhists, Vedantists, yogis, and other spiritual masters.

Schmidt is extremely sympathetic to his subjects, but he does note tensions in the enterprise of individual spiritual exploration. Having set out to explore, is the point to find something or merely to go on exploring forever? If seekers did settle down, would those still seeking view it as a betrayal? Furthermore, practitioners disagreed over whether the quest for universal religion meant a homogenous transcending of all existing particular forms of religion or a principled pluralism that recognized validity in individual expressions. However, Schmidt considers these more problems for individuals or specific institutions than for society as a whole. He repeatedly remarks that seekers tended to be very socially engaged, contrary to the narcissistic portrait promoted by critics.

Method: In a work like this, the author's greatest task is showing that his subject exists as a definable entity rather than as a random collection of particulars. Schmidt tackles this problem by tracing the institutional ties that link people. He signals his intention to proceed in this fashion early on when he states that mysticism in America was born on May 20, 1838 in Medford Massachusetts, at a meeting of the Transcendental Club. Various institutions form the hubs from which individual biographies radiate. An especially important one for Schmidt's argument is Greenacre, a spiritual center that connects dots in his narrative. Owned by Sarah Parker from 1894 until her death in 1916, it was an experiment in comparative religion. Enshrining the memories of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman, it demonstrated continuity with the American spiritual tradition. Yet many of its guests were representatives from other religions, especially Eastern ones. Finally, Greenacre highlights the tensions of seeker spirituality, as Farmer eventually converted to Baha'i; the property passed into Baha'i ownership after her death, thus ending the experiment in comparative religion. Where insitutional ties are wanting, there are often literary ties, for example, a shared admiration for Swedenborg or Whitman.

Schmidt is sensitive to the gendered properties of seeker religion. Women occupy key roles in his narrative. Moreover, he stresses how seeker spirituality appealed to women who were shut out of leadership roles in traditional churches. Some seekers were influential in movements for women's equality, while many more were sympathetic. Class issues are not as pronounced in Schmidt's narrative. He does mention that much of this culture was perpetuated by books, a certain set of books. This requirement would seem to indicate that until the boomer generation, the Spiritual Left was an elite movement. His attention to biography and not to material culture or quantitative studies makes it difficult to know how representative his subjects are.

[Shane Wagoner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic history of American spirituality that reveals the deep roots of religious mysticism in our nation's past. Successfully refutes the charges of narcissistic individualism put forth by Robert Bellah and others.

[Yetiboy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very comprehensive. Perhaps too ambitious but not enough about each figure in terms of their thought. Reads like a PHD thesis.

[Sofia · Rating 1 out of 5]

actually had to peel my eyes open to read this which is sad because what it’s saying is important but goes on for foreverrrr

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[Teddee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally read this hoping to learn some of the history of the American Protestant tradition. Took a very different route than I expected. Liberal political impulses of the American Enlightenment on individual rights and human freedoms were also applied in the religious sphere. Idolatry and uncritical submission to authoritative interpretations were rejected by religious liberals. Emboldened by this rejection of religious authority, the individual became the ultimate arbiter of religious experience. The American Enlightenment at the time of the revolution produced support for toleration and also deism, a belief in religion consistent with science and reason, among some of the founding fathers. But the religious paths of many others took a different course, and skepticism of all religious authority allowed some to arrive at religious belief founded on personal mystical experience. Interestingly, mysticism became a religious defense of religion against attack by science, by offering anecdotal evidence of the spirit realm (p54). These seekers embraced mysticism, spirituality, transcendentalism (Emerson, Thoreau, Walt Whitman), hermits and solitude, and even Eastern religions and practices such as meditation under the idea that a universal unifying truth underlay all religious traditions (e.g. Unitarians). Still these notions of tolerance sometimes were at strict odds with the traditions these seekers embraced, and some turned back to single parochial and exclusive worldviews. And so this book was mainly a history of the American spiritual left, those who embraced radical individual mystical experience, what most of us assume is a recent tradition of "New Agers" and related seekers but is in fact an American tradition arising directly out of American Protestantism in the 1800s. What this book failed to answer for me was why the spiritual left branched off onto this deeply personal mystical path and what social or historical trends may have caused this, or if mysticism is simply the tail end of a normal distribution in any population.

[Dan Gorman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schmidt makes a good argument for the importance of religious liberalism — individuals choosing their own beliefs, instead of participating in the groups that society or peers mandate — as the core of U.S. religious history. I don't agree that liberalism is the key trend; I think combination/experimentation and immigration are also super important to shaping American religious life. Nonetheless, I like how Schmidt documents how terms such as mysticism and spirituality evolved away from Christian definitions to convey a personal search for religious meaning. The book is organized topically, and chapters have an elliptical style, moving forward and back in chronology. Given the range of religions in America, it can be hard to show how ideas or events link together multiple traditions, and that problem is apparent in the book. Religious seekers' admiration for Emerson, Whitman, and less famous individuals such as Thomas Wentworth Higginson surfaces often enough that we can see the importance of Northeastern Transcendentalism in sparking the search for personal religion. At the same time, readers might yearn for more examples of spiritual seeking not located in the Northeast!

Update, 6/28/2019: While I still find the book's elliptical structure challenging and question the centrality of liberalism in America, I found that I liked the book more upon reading it again. I can see how Schmidt pinpoints key groups and events that crystallized the liberal movement between 1838 and 1950. In order, they are: the Transcendental Club (Emerson), the Free Religious Association (Higginson), the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions, Greenacre Farm (1894–1916, probably the key liberal religious forum), the Boston Metaphysical Club, the Society for Ethical Culture, and Haverford College as a hub of Quaker spirituality.

[Susie Meister]

Schmidt takes a different approach to the american spirituality than did Roof by couching it in culturally and intellectual history. He describes the growth of spirituality as connected to liberal progressivism and the religious left. Schmidt believes the personalized spirituality that has grown in popularity but has roots in transcendentalism and other traditions inevitably leads to social activism. Schmidt believes his Restless Souls fused civic engagement and liberal religious traditions.

[Cynical · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very interesting, and serves as a good reminder that the American religious tradition isn't just Puritans and neocons. I think the only disappointment here is that there was much more to say about every topic--not Schmidt's fault--so it feels like a bare-bones survey at some points. Overall, it's a valuable read.

[B · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's not that it wasn't good...

it's just that...

well, let me put it this way: authors of historical events do one of two things

1. They gussy it up far too much and the message gets lost
2. They stick to the cold, hard facts and no one gives a shit

This book got lost in the latter category and drowned there.

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

"'The chief cause of our failure to lead a blessed life,' he [William Alger] wrote, 'is the immodesty of our demands, and their fitfulness. Happiness cannot consist of orgasms.'" (87)

"'The emancipation from the idea of Self is the real bliss. ... It is ignorance that makes one think that there is bliss in the idea of "I am I."'" (170, quoting Anagarika Dharmapala)

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent! Insightful, witty, and a pleasure to read. This is an important history of American Spirituality, beginning with Transcendentalism and ending with twenty-first century spiritual seekers. Schmidt deftly contextualizes the evolution of alternative American spirituality within broader cultural movements. His narrative is fluid and enthralling. Very well done.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written fascinating look at American spirituality as opposed to American religion. Leigh Schmidt discusses mysticism, solitude, piety and all the facets of spirituality up to and including Oprah. It's a wonderful look at our evolving nature.

[Nikki Moore]

My minister wrote "Restless Souls was the best book I read about religion last year." Recommendations don't get better than that!

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan. Mainly a book of biographical sketches of people involved in the spiritual movement from 1800-now.

[Maurice]

Couldn’t finish. Very dry and too scholarly.

[Dagoberto]

A book about spirituality in America that isn't boring? Say it ain't so!

[Christopher Horton]

Couldn't finish; did not enjoy at all.