Theodore Parker

Theodore Parker ( born August 24, 1810 in Lexington, Massachusetts, † May 10, 1860 in Florence) was an American theologian, writer and abolitionist and belonged to the circle of the transcendentalists.

Theodore Parker studied after he first earned his living as a teacher in 1830 at Harvard University and later at the Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge / Massachusetts. He became a preacher in 1836 at a Unitarian church in Roxbury. His liberal religious views, which were also published in the Transcendentalist journal The Dial since 1840, attracted such offense, that he resigned from his position after a few years and switched to a Congregational church in Boston.

His sermon Boston The Transient and Permanent in Christianity in May 1841 became famous. It is considered a reason for the falling out with the Unitarians.

Parker traveled to England, Germany, France and Italy, and became familiar in particular with the German language and science. In 1844 he returned to Boston back, took his office as preacher on again, and devoted all his energies to the fight against slavery.

He died after a long illness during a vacation trip.

Selections

• A Discourse of Matters Pertaining to Religion, 1842