Walt Whitman, Minor Prophet: Founder of a Post-Christian Religious Myth - a podcast by Daniel Dal Monte

In this episode, I discuss Walt Whitman's for a post-Christian religion. Whitman was influenced by deism, which sought a rational religion that did not include elements of revelation. Whitman rejected the divinity of Christ as unscientific, and sought a religion based solely on rational views having to do with God as creator and a morality of respect for other people. The Deistic God establishes perfect laws for nature, and does not perform miracles, because this would suggest an imperfection. Whitman tranposed evolutionary theory into his view of reality, which he saw as continually progressing. The individual transcends continually old forms, and the individual is the final arbiter of religious truth. I wonder if this attitude, expressed in poems like "Song of Myself," does not resemble the sin of pride that caused God to banish Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.

---

This episode is sponsored by
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Further episodes of CultureCast

Further podcasts by Daniel Dal Monte

Website of Daniel Dal Monte