Welcome

Ralph Waldo Emerson
courtesy of the Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School

The Emerson that emerges from these pages is a flesh and blood Emerson, a man of strong convictions and wide associations, one who experienced personal losses as well as public acclaim, a deeply spiritual person who was also a prominent citizen, rooted in his community and actively engaged in the issues of his time.

This is also a fresh Emerson. Thanks to a new generation of scholarship and the availability of lectures never before published, Unitarian Universalists today are invited to discover an Emerson we never knew before—in many ways a new Emerson for a new century, and more timely than ever.

Our profound thanks to Bonnie Hurd Smith and her advisors, Rev. Frank Schulman and Robert D. Richardson, Jr., for this tribute to the living legacy of Ralph Waldo Emerson. We are also grateful for the financial support of the Fund for Unitarian Universalism which made this project possible.

The Reverend Dr. Barry M. Andrews

Chair, Emerson Bicentennial Committee