Known today primarily as the main force behind the communal experiment in transcendental socialism called Brook Farm, George Ripley's efforts as a literary critic and scholar are of real significance in that they mirror paramount intellectual concerns of nineteenth-century America. Ralph Waldo Emerson once commented that a biography of Ripley would provide a "fine historiette of the age."

Ripley's life can be divided into three phases. In the first phase he served as Unitarian minister from his ordination in November 1826 until his resignation from Boston's Purchase Street Church in May 1840. During this time he composed thirteen controversial essays for the Christian Examiner, wrote Discourses on the Philosophy of Religion Addressed to Doubters Who Wish to Believe (1836), edited Specimens of Foreign Standard Literature (1838-1845), debated theological principles with Andrews Norton in a series of published letters, participated in the Transcendental Club, and, in 1840, helped Emerson and Margaret Fuller edit...