Christian Conversion, the Double Consciousness, and Transcendentalist Religious Rhetoric
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2017, Vol 8, Issue 8
Abstract
Despite the theological gulf that separated the Transcendentalists from their Puritan predecessors, certain leading Transcendentalists—Emerson, Fuller, and Thoreau among them—often punctuated their writings, published and private, with literary representations of dramatic episodes of spiritual awakening whose rhetorical structure sometimes betrays suggestive parallels with traditional, recognizably Christian, forms of conversion rhetoric. While all of these Transcendentalists clearly showcase representations of dramatic religious experience in their work, this reliance on Christian rhetorical patterns is most obvious in the early writings of Emerson and Fuller. Thoreau’s constructions reflect little ostensible Christian influence, yet even here, thematic continuities with earlier forms of religious self-expression are discernible.
Authors and Affiliations
Alan Hodder
Keywords
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- EP ID EP25756
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8090163
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