Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Divinity School Address” was presented to the graduating class of Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 15, 1838. Formally titled “Acquaint Thyself First Hand with Deity,” it was published two months later with a single run of 1,000 copies and later anthologized in a reprinting of Emerson’s Nature in 1849. The speech was an immediate flashpoint within the Divinity school and with Unitarian scholars. Even though Emerson, a previous Unitarian Minister and graduate of the Harvard Divinity School, was selected by the graduating class to speak, the themes challenged current Unitarian views of Christ and traditional church practices, causing a significant backlash from ministers and theologians. Emerson’s arguments were controversial, namely regarding the failures of “historical Christianity” through the Overemphasis of the Divinity of Jesus and the Ineffectiveness of Modern Teachings. These arguments are couched in Emerson’s assertion of the Inherent Virtue of All Beings, a hallmark of transcendentalist thought.

This guide is based on the American Unitarian Association print edition, cited by page numbers.

At the height of the Massachusetts summer, Emerson begins his speech with descriptions of the season, its flora and fauna, and the respect owed to nature for its perfection. This perfection is also granted to the man-made world, as he asserts that the goodness of man and nature is apparent in both the industriousness of man and the richness of the natural world. Emerson then shifts his focus from the physical world to the inner world, stating that laws that govern the natural world receive their true beauty by gifting humans the “sentiment of virtue” (2).

Virtue, Emerson argues, is impossible to express in language, though people know it from birth and can witness it through acts and thoughts. It is the root of all religion because it arises from a Divine Law, which he states is both universal, existing outside of time and space, and intrinsic, inherently available to each man. The greatest gift of man, therefore, is his soul, and it is by following one’s own soul that each man is a God unto himself. This is further evidenced by the agreement of the “holy bards” (6), Emerson’s term for the progenitors of the world’s various religions, and through reliance on one’s own intuition. The common inspiration behind man’s intuition is nature’s beauty and the “holy bards”; he calls these sources of inspiration the “Supreme Wisdom.” It is through this wisdom that all things find their virtue and have access to the divine.

Yet, Emerson argues that the church has devalued individual intuition, which keeps the religious man from being virtuous. He terms these issues with “historical Christianity.” They are the Overemphasis of the Divinity of Christ and the lack of human intuition in religious teaching.

Emerson explains that the humanity of Jesus is overlooked and replaced by an overemphasis on his divinity. He believes that the humanness of Jesus is the most salient example of the worth of all men. He complains that Jesus is no longer a brother or friend to humanity but a “demigod” who is seen as outside of the natural order of the world. The revelations of Christ are therefore unique and only accessible to him. Yet, Emerson argues, the “divine bards,” of which he considers Christ to be one, attest that divinity does not lie with a single divine figure but with each individual man. Consequently, men are capable of natural goodness, beauty, and truly virtuous actions.

The second issue with historical Christianity that Emerson notes comes from the first. Emerson complains that religious teachers of the day (specifically Unitarian ministers) no longer rely on what he calls “the open soul” or “Moral Nature” in their teachings (11). They instead rely on formality (obeying Christian rituals and observances without thinking about their meaning) and dogmas for their teachings. The minister who is true will teach as one who has experienced life, Emerson argues. The minister will speak passionately about their own direct relationship with God with beauty and fervor. This is a minister who is in tune with the beauty of the natural world. Ultimately, he can only express pity toward the pulpit that ignores the soul and preaches only Christian discipline.

Emerson’s remedy to the problem, he says, is the soul. He contrasts the church with the soul, and therefore, it is the soul that he believes is needed to make the church vibrant and effective once again. Emerson invokes man as the “wonderworker”: as the one who, following their soul, can remake the old, staid religion into a breathing entity. Otherwise, Emerson argues, Christianity is about as effective as the religious ruins of ancient peoples. He states that the listener, the college graduates before him, are also “holy bards” as divine as Jesus and capable of leading others not by tradition, but by their own moral intuitions.

Emerson, then, outlines the two forms available to them to begin anew: The Sabbath and the institution of preaching. Emerson ends with a call for a “new Teacher” who will follow the natural laws—in other words, a preacher who will teach from their own divine inspiration of the beauty and oneness of the divine whole.