Between Faith and Unbelief: American Transcendentalists and the Challenge of Atheism

by Elisabeth Hurth

This book sets out to shed light on what ios specific to American Transcendentalism by comparing it with the atheistic vision of German philosophers and theologians like Ludwig Feuerbach and Arthur Schopenhauer.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

My rating reflects my appreciation for the solid scholarship in this book. Hurth is both well read and deeply insightful. She masterful navigates the subtle nuances of philosophical, theological, and semantic difference. Her study aims to distinguish theological Transcendentalism by comparing it to the atheistic ideas of the German Philosophers and theologians that influenced Transcendentalist thinkers. Hurth finds that Transcendentalism emerged out of a discursive context that nurtured likewise nurtured modern atheism. The small gap between idealism and atheism was feared by nineteenth century contemporaries - including several Transcendentalist theologians. The miracle controversy, Higher Criticism, and the rejection of historical Christianity, as well as rise of humanism in theological thought were in close tension with atheism, opening for the ideological rejection of God's possible existence. However, Hurth rightly concludes that Transcendentalism was in fact a refutation of atheism. Her study focuses on Transcendentalist theologians Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Parker, and Orestes Brownson, with attention to George Ripley, James Freeman Clarke, Frederick Henry Hedge, and Bronson Alcott. This book is an important contribution on Transcendentalist scholarship. With that said, the material is dense and subtly nuance, making for a slow and exacting read. I can not say that this is a book I *enjoyed* reading, but it is a rewarding read and an admirable work.