James Freeman Clarke (April 4, 1810 – June 8, 1888), an American preacher and author.
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Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, James Freeman Clarke attended the public Latin school of Boston, graduated from Harvard College in 1829, and Harvard Divinity School in 1833. Ordained into the Unitarian church he first became a active minister at Louisville, Kentucky, then a slave state and soon threw himself into the national movement for the abolition of slavery.
In 1839 he returned to Boston, where he and his friends established (1841) the Church of the Disciples which brought together a body of people to apply the Christian religion to social problems of the day. One of the features which distinguished his church was Clarke's belief that ordination could make no distinction between him and them. They also were called to be ministers of the highest religious life. Of this church he was the minister from 1841 until 1850 and from 1854 until his death. He was also secretary of the Unitarian Association and, in 1867-1871 professor of natural religion and Christian doctrine at Harvard.
Contributing essays to The Christian Examiner, The Christian Inquirer, The Christian Register, The Dial, Harper's, The Index, and Atlantic Monthly; in addition to sermons, speeches, hymnals, and liturgies, he published 28 books and over 120 pamphlets during his life time. Clarke edited the Western Messenger, a magazine intended to carry to readers in the Mississippi Valley simple statements of liberal religion, and what were then the most radical appeals to national duty, and the abolition of slavery. Copies of this magazine are now of value to collectors as they contained the earliest printed poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson, a personal friend and a distant cousin.[1] Clarke became a member of the Transcendental Club alongside Emerson and several others.[2] Many of Clarke's earlier published writings were addressed to the immediate need of establishing a larger theory of religion than that espoused by people who were still under the influence Calvinism, or as an American phrase states the "Hard-shelled Churches."
For the Western Messenger, Clarke requested written contributions from Margaret Fuller and published Fuller's first literary review. Having first met her in his youth he often remarked that she had "a most powerful influence" on his life. Fuller, one of the first American feminists, was indeed a remarkable woman and far ahead of her time. Letters exchanged during this chaste and lovng relationship have long been of interest to Fuller scholars.
In 1855, Clarke purchased the former site of Brook Farm, intending to start a new Utopian community there. This never came to pass, instead the land was offered to President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War; the Second Massachusetts Regiment used it for training and named it "Camp Andrew".[3]
In the great moral questions of his time, Clarke was seen as an advocate of human rights. In 1877, despite being a BLS alumni, he served on a committee of the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women which was greatly instrumental in establishing Girls' Latin School in 1878. Tempered and moderate in his views on life, he was a reformer and a conciliator and never had to carry a pistol as fellow preacher Theodore Parker did. He published but few verses, but at heart was a poet. A diligent scholar, among the books by which he became well known is one called Ten Great Religions (2 vols, 1871-1883). James Freeman Clarke was one of the first Americans to explore and write about Eastern religions.
James Freeman Clarke (April 4, 1810 – June 8, 1888) was an American preacher and author.
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Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).
JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE (1810-1888), American preacher and author, was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on the 4th of April 1810. He was prepared for college at the public Latin school of Boston, and graduated at Harvard College in 1829, and at the Harvard Divinity School in 1833. He was then ordained as minister of a Unitarian congregation at Louisville, Kentucky, which was then a slave state. Clarke soon threw himself heart and soul into the national movement for the abolition of slavery, though he was never what was then called in America a "radical abolitionist." In 1839 he returned to Boston, where he and his friends established (1841) the "Church of the Disciples." It brought together a body of men and women active and eager in applying the Christian religion to the social problems of the day, and he would have said that the feature which distinguished it from any other church was that they also were ministers of the highest religious life. Ordination could make no distinction between him and them. Of this church he was the minister from 1841 until 1850 and from 1854 until his death. He was also secretary of the Unitarian Association and, in1867-1871professor of natural religion and Christian doctrine at Harvard. From the beginning of his active life he wrote freely for the press. From 1836 until 1839 he was editor of the Western Messenger, a magazine intended to carry to readers in the Mississippi Valley simple statements of "liberal religion," involving what were then the most radical appeals as to national duty, especially the abolition of slavery. The magazine is now of value to collectors because it contains the earliest printed poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was Clarke's personal friend. Most of Clarke's earlier published writings were addressed to the immediate need of establishing a larger theory of religion than that espoused by people who were still trying to be Calvinists, people who maintained what a good American phrase calls "hard-shelled churches." But it would be wrong to call his work controversial. He was always declaring that the business of the Church is Eirenic and not Polemic. Such books as Orthodoxy: Its Truths and Errors (1866) have been read more largely by members of orthodox churches than by Unitarians. In the great moral questions of his time Clarke was a fearless and practical advocate of the broadest statement of human rights. Without caring much what company he served in, he could always be seen and heard, a leader of unflinching courage, in the front rank of the battle. He published but few verses, but at the bottom he was a poet. He was a diligent and accurate scholar, and among the books by which he is best known is one called Ten Great Religions (2 vols., 1871-1883). Few Americans have done more than Clarke to give breadth to the published discussion of the subjects of literature, ethics and religious philosophy. Among his later books are Every-Day Religion (1886) and Sermons on the Lord's Prayer (1888). He died at Jamaica Plain, Mass., on the 8th of June 1888.
His Autobiography, Diary and Correspondence, edited by Edward Everett Hale, was published in Boston in 1891. (E. E. H.)
   | Ten Great Religions - Ten Great Religions by James Freeman Clarke - Project Gutenberg |
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