Can Theology Make Us Sick?

Photograph of Ralph Waldo Emerson House, Concord, Massachusetts, USA. Courtesy Daderot. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

The essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson are the perfect cure for the tangled mess of hidebound rules and superstition we often mistake for theology today. In this episode, we’ll explore a brief passage from Emerson’s essay, “Spiritual Laws.” His take on just what those are—and the mistakes we make in their identification—is still fresh 183 years after he set down his pen.

Note, the “simple mind” we talk about in this essay is a positive attribute, and to be envied. Emerson believed the greater our simplicity, the greater our freedom.

Oh, and apologies, by the way—my nasal twang is especially prominent in this episode. Score it all under “allergies,” my friends. I used a different bell today, too, which in real life sounds clear and bright, but in the playback sounds flat and clattery. Sorry about that! Back to the original bell next time.