"May we not see God?": Henry David Thoreau's Doctrine of Spiritual Senses
This article argues that Henry David Thoreau believed in the essential unity of the five senses and privileged each as a source of wild and divine knowledge, which, when combined, created a full picture that might result in a true approximation of God in and beyond nature - the hallmark of Thoreau&#...
| Published in: | Harvard theological review |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
2021
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| In: |
Harvard theological review
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Thoreau, Henry David 1817-1862
/ Spiritual senses
/ Wildheit
/ Transcendentalism
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| RelBib Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history NAB Fundamental theology ZD Psychology |
| Further subjects: | B
Incarnation
B The Fall B Spiritual Senses B Henry David Thoreau B Transcendentalism B wildness |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article argues that Henry David Thoreau believed in the essential unity of the five senses and privileged each as a source of wild and divine knowledge, which, when combined, created a full picture that might result in a true approximation of God in and beyond nature - the hallmark of Thoreau's fundamentally incarnational theology. Thoreau treated each sense not only as a source of divine knowledge but as a site of theological discourse: for touch, the relationship between sin and grace; for smell, the conundrum of an eternal divinity acting in historical time; for taste, the efficacy of sacraments; for hearing, the possibility of continuing revelation; and for sight, the ability for human beings to actually see God. The senses were the practical entry point to Thoreau's theological system, which was concerned with the discovery and redemption of internal "wildness" and reconnection to the mysterious, divine source of that wildness, to the unaccountable in nature. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-4517 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Harvard theological review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0017816021000171 |