The Divinity School Address
Harvard Divinity School in the 1800s.
In 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson was asked by the senior class of Harvard Divinity School to deliver their graduation address. In the letter requesting his presence they asked for “the customary discourse on occasion of their entering upon the active Christian ministry.” Wanting to have a better understanding of the students’ desires and thoughts, Emerson met with them at least once prior to his speaking at their graduation.
On July 15, Emerson gave what became known as the “Divinity School Address” to the graduates, their families, and educators.
In this refulgent summer, it has been a luxury to draw the breath of life. The grass grows, the buds burst, the meadow is spotted with fire and gold in the tint of flowers. The air is full of birds, and sweet with the breath of the pine, a balm-of-Gilead, and the new hay. Night brings no gloom to the heart with its welcome shade. Through the transparent darkness the stars pour their almost spiritual rays. Man under them seems a young child, and his huge globe a toy. The cool night bathes the world as with a river, and prepares his eyes again for the crimson dawn. The mystery of nature was never displayed more happily.
He went on to argue that every person could have a relationship with the divine without the mediation of the church or clergy. His speech was so controversial that he was not invited back to his alma mater for another 30 years.
Emerson was surprised by the negative reactions to his address in the press and from the pulpit. However, not everyone disagreed with his ideas for change. Theodore Parker—a popular Unitarian minister and also an advocate for reform—wrote that Emerson “…surpassed himself as much as he surpasses others in the general way…so beautiful & just, so true…”
Emerson’s uncle Samuel Ripley—a minister in Waltham, Massachusetts—was supportive of him and remarked that he was proud that his nephew stood “firm and unmoved” and did not allow the negative response to bother him any more than “the whistling of the wind.” In fact, Emerson never joined the controversy or responded, declaring he was “merely an observer, a dispassionate reporter.”
— B. Ewen, Emerson House guide
