Orville Dewey
Orville Dewey (1794-1882) was a notable American Unitarian minister, educator, and author, hailing from Massachusetts. He graduated as valedictorian from Williams College and later from Andover Seminary, where he developed a critical perspective on traditional doctrines, leading to his embrace of Unitarianism. His marriage to Louisa Farnham connected him to prominent literary circles, including figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Catharine Maria Sedgwick, aligning him with the broader movements of American Romanticism and Transcendentalism.
Dewey served as a pastor in various churches in Boston and New York, gaining recognition for his sermons and lectures, including those at Harvard University. His literary contributions included several published works, notably essays and sermons that explored theological and social issues. After experiencing a personal crisis from overwork, Dewey published a travelogue detailing his observations during a European tour. He was also active in social reform, advocating for the poor and opposing slavery. Dewey is remembered for his profound reflections on human nature and religion, which influenced the literary landscape of the American Renaissance.
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Orville Dewey
Writer
- Born: March 28, 1794
- Birthplace: Sheffield, Massachusetts
- Died: March 21, 1882
Biography
Orville Dewey was born to a well-to-do farm family in Massachusetts in 1794. After acquiring an excellent early education, he entered Williams College and graduated as valedictorian when he was twenty years old. While in college, an extended attack of the measles greatly weakened his eyes, and he was troubled with poor sight the rest of his life. He graduated from Andover Seminary in 1819, and worked as an educator and pastor; it was at this time that he expressed doubts in the doctrine of the trinity and became a Unitarian.
In 1820, he married Boston native Louisa Farnham, a relative of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Massachusetts essayist, poet, Unitarian, and founder of Transcendentalism. As some critics have pointed out, American Romanticism and Transcendentalism are closely connected to the advent of Unitarianism in New England. Dewey’s life and influence bears out this theory, given that his social circle and congregations would at various times include such literary luminaries as fiction writer Catharine Maria Sedgwick, poet William Cullen Bryant, and Unitarian minister and novelist William Ware.
Dewey became well known for his sermons and served as pastor for several churches in Boston and New York. He lectured often in a variety of places, including Harvard University, where he earned a doctorate of divinity, and he placed articles frequently in The Christian Examiner and The North American Review. After a breakdown brought on by overwork, he toured Europe and in 1836 published his travelogue, The Old World and the New: Or, A Journal of Reflections and Observations Made on a Tour in Europe. Dewey would often return to Europe to refresh himself, and lived there for almost two years from 1841 to 1843.
The bulk of his published works were reprinted sermons and other essays about ecclesiastical considerations. In 1835, he published Discourses on Various Subjects; he followed this volume in 1841 with a selection of sermons in Discourses on Human Life, which appear to have made a profound impact on Emerson. Dewey would go on to publish three more well-received books of sermons and religious thought in the later 1840’s: Discourses and Reviews upon Questions in Controversial Theology and Practical Religion (1846), Discourses on Human Nature, Human Life, and the Nature of Religion (1847), and Discourses on the Nature of Religion, and on Commerce and Business: With Some Occasional Discourses (1848).
The last of the three demonstrates Dewey’s keen interest in reforming society. He worked to aid the poor in New York and Boston. Although he would at times be attacked for favoring gradual emancipation of slaves, he was nevertheless adamantly opposed to the institution of slavery. Above all, he is remembered as a man of profound and contemplative thought whose understanding of the universe he found about him had a lasting effect on the writers of the American Renaissance.