Endless Seeker: The Religious Quest of Ralph Waldo Emerson

This book offers a systematic study of Emerson as a religious thinker and analyzes him as a case study in expressive religious individualism. By filling an important gap in Emersonian criticism, it not only throws new light on Emerson’s thought but also offers a critique of the individualistic ideology he first formulated. The text studies the development of his thought in three life periods. The author argues a consistent method runs through all three periods of Emerson’s development, a method he called spiritual discernment , although he modified the method as his thought matured. The final chapter suggests that Emerson’s attempt to live a religion of expressive individualism had tragic consequences.