John Weiss
John Weiss was a notable figure in the radical Unitarian movement during the 1860s and 1870s, recognized for his commitment to social reform and original thought in religion. Born in Boston on June 28, 1818, he was influenced by the Transcendentalist tradition, carrying on the legacies of earlier writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Theodore Parker. Weiss is perhaps best known for his two-volume work, "Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker," published in 1863, which memorialized the influential Unitarian thinker.
Educated at Harvard University, Weiss's career included teaching and serving as a Unitarian pastor, though his progressive views on issues like slavery created tensions within his congregations. He was an advocate for women's rights, proposing suffrage for women in his 1869 essay "Woman Suffrage." Additionally, Weiss was involved with the Free Religious Association and contributed writings to reform-oriented publications like The Radical. His literary interests spanned Shakespeare, reflected in his collection "Wit, Humor, and Shakespeare: Twelve Essays," and he published extensively in various periodicals. Despite his departure from formal church roles, Weiss remained active in the Boston literary and reform circles until his later years.
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John Weiss
Writer
- Born: June 28, 1818
- Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
- Died: March 9, 1879
- Place of death: Boston, Massachusetts
Biography
John Weiss was a member of a prominent group of radical Unitarian writers active in the 1860’s and 1870’s. He carried on the traditions of earlier Transcendentalist writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Theodore Parker. Although he is well known for his two- volume memorial to Parker, Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker (1863), Weiss was also an original thinker on the subject of religion and was concerned with social reform.
Weiss was born in Boston on June 28, 1818. His father was a barber and his paternal grandfather and great-uncles were German political exiles. His family later moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, where Weiss began to prepare for admission to Harvard University. He entered the university in 1837, and his classmates included writers Henry David Thoreau and Charles Stearns Wheeler. After graduating from Harvard, he taught school in Boston and Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, before entering Harvard’s divinity school. In 1842, Weiss and Wheeler traveled to Heidelberg. The trip reinforced Weiss’s attitude about the importance of German culture, and he began to edit and translate German literature.
After his return to the United States, Weiss became pastor at the Unitarian church in Watertown, Massachusetts. However, his opinions on slavery and other social issues put him at odds with his congregation He left the church in 1845 but returned there the following year until he accepted a position at New Bedford, where he stayed until 1859. He returned to Watertown for a third time in 1862, but in 1869 he left the institutional church. He never preached again because he felt his own thinking made him incapable of fulfilling the obligations associated with being a pastor. Little is known about Weiss’s life after this period, except that he stayed in the Boston area, where he lectured on William Shakespeare and Greek religion and was well known as a member of literary and reform groups.
In 1865, Weiss found a creative outlet for his outspoken ideas on reform. He began to write for a publication called The Radical, published by Sidney Morse. Weiss was an early advocate for women’s rights. In his 1869 essay, “Woman Suffrage,” he proposed extending the vote to women and called for an overall change in the attitude toward women. Weiss and several other like-minded reformers formed a group called the Free Religious Association and their opinions were often printed in The Radical.
Weiss advanced the Transcendentalist movement by vigorously attacking the Unitarian beliefs on the scripture and church traditions. He intimately connected nature and God, and his hatred for the institution of slavery led him to call for abolition. Although he is best known for his book on Parker, he was also interested in literature. He published his lectures on Shakespeare in a volume entitled Wit, Humor, and Shakespeare: Twelve Essays. In addition to his books, Weiss is known for his sermons and essays that were published in the Christian Examiner and The Atlantic Monthly.