Join us at the UU Church (10 Church St., Gloucester, MA.) for a reading & discussion with author Lydia Willsky-Ciollo.

Free & Open to the Public

Through his love of nature, Thoreau developed a distinctly American theology of the wild. In Wildness, author Lydia Willsky-Ciollo traces Thoreau’s post-college years and his time at Walden Pond, as he evolved from hopeful writer to observant theologian. The focus of Thoreau’s theology—wildness itself— reflects a distinctly American set of tensions: progress vs. tradition, wilderness vs. civilization, and the individual vs. society. While remaining critical of dogma and institutions, he hoped his readers would pick up the pen where he left off and write their own theologies of wildness.

Lydia Willsky-Ciollo is Professor of Religious Studies and Director of American Studies at Fairfield University. She was raised in Bedford, Massachusetts and spent her summers in Lanesville with her grandparents, Robert and Lee Natti. As an American Religious Historian, she specializes in the 19th century with a focus on the religious thought of Unitarianism and Transcendentalism. In addition to Wildness, Lydia is author of American Unitarianism and the Protestant Dilemma.