Theodore Parker (1810-1860), American clergyman and militant, was a leading advocate of transcendentalism and a vocal abolitionist.

Theodore Parker was born in Lexington, Mass., on Aug. 24, 1810. His schooling was scanty, but he eagerly educated himself. By the time he was 17 he knew enough to teach school, and for the next 4 years he worked in local elementary schools. In 1830 he passed the entrance examinations for Harvard, but he did not have enough money to enroll as a resident student and so he continued with his teaching. In 1832 he opened his own school in Watertown, Mass. He also studied for the course examinations which Harvard allowed him to take.

Having accumulated a modest amount of money, Parker enrolled in the Harvard Divinity School in 1834. Although he later called it an "embalming" institution, he reveled in his studies. He learned no less than 20 languages there. The faculty was already discarding some...