[2][3] His knowledge of German was to serve him well both in hymnody — he translated Luther's "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God") into the most popular English version — and in philosophy, where it allowed him a greater familiarity with Kant than most of the Americans of his day.

Its first official meeting was attended by Amos Bronson Alcott, Orestes Brownson, James Freeman Clarke, and Convers Francis as well as Hedge, Emerson, and Ripley.

[5] Hedge wrote: "There was no club in the strict sense... only occasional meetings of like-minded men and women", earning the nickname "the brotherhood of the 'Like-Minded'".

[8] He became alienated from the group's more extreme positions in the 1840s and did not publish in the Transcendental journal The Dial, despite his friendship with its editor Margaret Fuller, saying he did not want to be associated with the movement in print.

"[10] In 1849 he preached a sermon, published as a pamphlet, on Joshua Young's ordination as pastor to his first parish, Boston's New North Church.

[14] Besides essays on the different schools of philosophy, notably magazine articles on St. Augustine, Leibniz, Schopenhauer, and Coleridge, and other contributions to periodicals in prose and poetry, he published:[2] He also wrote hymns for the Unitarian church, and assisted in the compilation of a hymn-book (1853), and published numerous translations from the German poets, including Martin Luther's Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott ("A Mighty Fortress is Our God").