Theodore Parker

Born in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1810, Theodore Parker became one of the most prominent Unitarian ministers of his time. Largely self-educated before attending Harvard Divinity School, he built a reputation as an impressive scholar, preacher, and public speaker.

Parker was closely associated with Transcendentalism, but he was never only a thinker on the sidelines. He questioned traditional Christian doctrine, emphasized conscience and direct spiritual experience, and drew large audiences with sermons that combined religion, politics, and social criticism.

He is especially remembered for his outspoken opposition to slavery and his wider work as a reformer. Parker died in Florence in 1860, but his influence lasted well beyond his lifetime, in part through phrases and ideas that later appeared in some of the most famous American speeches about justice and freedom.