Scholars have noted the link between nineteenth-century Transcendentalists and twenty-first century Nones. In fact, you might think of Nones–it’s more correct to call them Spiritual Independents–as the New Thoreaus. A new book from the University of Chicago Press, The Delight Makers: Anglo-American Metaphysical Religion and the Pursuit of Happiness explores the links the connect the Transcendentalists and the Nones, including a shared focus on spiritual delight. The author is Catherine Albanese (University of California, Santa Barbara). Here’s the publisher’s description:

An ambitious history of desire in Anglo-American religion across three centuries.
 
The pursuit of happiness weaves disparate strands of Anglo-American religious history together. In The Delight Makers, Catherine L. Albanese unravels a theology of desire tying Jonathan Edwards to Ralph Waldo Emerson to the religiously unaffiliated today. As others emphasize redemptive suffering, this tradition stresses the “metaphysical” connection between natural beauty and spiritual fulfillment. In the earth’s abundance, these thinkers see an expansive God intent on fulfilling human desire through prosperity, health, and sexual freedom. Through careful readings of Cotton Mather, Andrew Jackson Davis, William James, Esther Hicks, and more, Albanese reveals how a theology of delight evolved alongside political overtures to natural law and individual liberty in the United States.