Thoreau's God

Richard Higgins is a former staff writer at the Boston Globe and the author or editor of four books, including Thoreau and the Language of Trees. His articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Century, and American Scholar.

• Introduction: Thoreau’s Religious QuestOne: An Offering to the GodsTwo: The Shaping of a SeekerThree: To Reverence, Not to FearFour: The Seen and the UnseenFive: A Puritan Golden CalfSix: Rejecting RepentanceSeven: “Dealt With by Superior Powers”Eight: A Pantheon with an Open RoofNine: Thoreau’s GodTen: To “Fable the Ineffable”Eleven: An Immortal CompanionTwelve: Thoreau and the “Prince of Radicals”Thirteen: An Inkwell in HeavenFourteen: “Go Thou My Incense”Fifteen: “I Hear the Unspeakable”Sixteen: “A Place beyond All Place”Seventeen: Thoreau’s Refining FireAcknowledgmentsA Note on SourcesNotesIndex

"Thoreau’s God is impressive in scope. Through extensive research and review of Thoreau’s voluminous writing, Higgins chronicles the lifelong evolution of his belief, from his early disparaging of Christianity and the church to his 'eclectic, experiential, noninstitutional spirituality' which is so popular today.”