New Thought
Encyclopedia
New Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.
Although New Thought is neither monolithic nor doctrinaire
, in general modern day adherents of New Thought believe that "God" or "Infinite Intelligence" is "supreme, universal, and everlasting", that divinity
dwells within each person, that all people are spiritual beings, that "the highest spiritual principle [is] loving one another unconditionally ... and teaching and healing one another", and that "our mental states are carried forward into manifestation and become our experience in daily living".
The New Thought movement is a spiritually-focused
or philosophical interpretation of New Thought beliefs. Started in the early 19th century, today the movement consists of a loosely allied group of religious denomination
s, secular membership organization
s, authors, philosophers, and individuals who share a set of beliefs concerning metaphysics, positive thinking
, the law of attraction, healing
, life force, creative visualization
, and personal power. The three major religious denominations within the New Thought movement are Religious Science
, Unity Church
and the Church of Divine Science. There are many other smaller churches within the New Thought movement, as well as schools and umbrella organizations.
, in The Varieties of Religious Experience
, described New Thought as follows:
system that included the tenet that illness originated in the mind
as a consequence of erroneous beliefs and that a mind open to God
's wisdom could overcome any illness.
His basic premise was “The trouble is in the mind, for the body is only the house for the mind to dwell in…Therefore, if your mind had been deceived by some invisible enemy into a belief, you have out into it the form of a disease, with or without your knowledge. By my theory or truth, I come in contact with your enemy, and restore you to health and happiness. This I do partly mentally, and partly by talking till I correct the wrong impression and establish the Truth, and the Truth is the cure.”
During the late 19th century the metaphysical healing practices of Quimby mingled with the "Mental Science" of Warren Felt Evans
, a Swedenborgian
minister.
New Thought was propelled along by a number of spiritual thinkers and philosophers and emerged through a variety of religious denominations and churches, particularly the Unity Church
, Religious Science
, and Church of Divine Science. Many of its early teachers and students were women; notable among the founders of the movement were Emma Curtis Hopkins
, known as the "teacher of teachers", Myrtle Fillmore
, Malinda Cramer
, and Nona L. Brooks
; with many of its churches and community centers led by women, from the 1880s to today.
, financial success, and will-training books. New Thought authors such as of Napoleon Hill
, Wallace Wattles
, Perry Joseph Green, Frank Channing Haddock
, and Thomas Troward
were extremely popular.
In 1906, William Walker Atkinson
(1862–1932) wrote and published Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World. Atkinson was the editor of New Thought magazine and the author of more than 100 books on an assortment of religious, spiritual
, and occult
topics. The following year, Elizabeth Towne
, the editor of The Nautilus Magazine, a Journal of New Thought
, published Bruce MacLelland's book Prosperity Through Thought Force, in which he summarized the "Law of Attraction" as a New Thought principle, stating "You are what you think, not what you think you are."
These magazines were used to reach a large audience then, as others are now. Nautilus magazine, for example, had 45,000 subscribers and a total circulation of 150,000. One Unity Church
magazine, Wee Wisdom, was the longest-lived children's magazine in the United States, published from 1893 until 1991. Today, New Thought magazines include the Daily Word
published by Unity and the Religious Science magazine, Science of Mind
, published by the United Centers for Spiritual Living.
(INTA) conference – held in conjunction with the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
, a world's fair
that took place in San Francisco – featured New Thought speakers from far and wide. The PPIE organizers were so favorably impressed by the INTA convention that they declared a special "New Thought Day" at the fair and struck a commemorative bronze medal for the occasion, which was presented to the INTA delegates, led by Annie Rix Militz
. By 1916, the International New Thought Alliance had encompassed many smaller groups around the world, adopting a creed known as the "Declaration of Principles". The Alliance is held together by one central teaching: that people, through the constructive use of their minds, can attain freedom, power, health, prosperity, and all good, molding their bodies as well as the circumstances of their lives. The declaration was revised in 1957, with all references to Christianity removed, and a new statement based on the "inseparable oneness of God and Man".
There are regular conventions and conferences today, including those hosted by the major denominations, Agape International Spiritual Center
, and others.
has spoken of the "possible human", or what we are capable of becoming.
, has disseminated the teachings of the Hindu
teacher Swami Vivekananda
, is one of the more outspokenly interfaith of New Thought organizations, stating adherence to "the principle that Truth is Truth where ever it is found and who ever is sharing it". Joel S. Goldsmith
's The Infinite Way
incorporates teaching from Christian Science
, as well.
is accomplished by the affirmation of oneness with the Infinite Intelligence or God.
John Bovee Dods
(1795–1862), an early practitioner of New Thought, wrote several books on the idea that disease
originates in the electrical impulses of the nervous system
and is therefore curable by a change of belief. Later New Thought teachers, such as the early 20th century author, editor, and publisher William Walker Atkinson
, accepted this premise. He connected his idea of mental states of being with his understanding of the new scientific discoveries in electromagnetism
and neural processes.
and Unity
. According to the Association for Global New Thought
, there are 800 to 900 Unity churches, 600 to 700 Religious Science venues, and 300 to 400 independent mininstries in the United States. A recent survey found that approximately 250,000 people attend at least one New Thought service a month. Publishing and educational activities reach approximately 2.5 million people annually. Other belief systems within the New Thought movement include Jewish Science
, Religious Science
, and Seicho-no-Ie
. Past denominations have included Psychiana
and Father Divine
.
Religious Science operates under three main organizations: the United Centers for Spiritual Living; the Affiliated New Thought Network; and Global Religious Science Ministries. Ernest Holmes
, the founder of Religious Science, stated that Religious Science is not based on any "authority" of established beliefs, but rather on "what it can accomplish" for the people who practice it. The Science of Mind
, authored by Ernest Holmes, while based on a philosophy of being "open at the top", focuses extensively on the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Unity, founded by Charles
and Myrtle Fillmore
, identifies itself as "Christian New Thought", focused on "Christian idealism", with the Bible as one of its main texts, although not interpreted literally. The other core text is Lessons in Truth by H. Emilie Cady
.
Although New Thought is neither monolithic nor doctrinaire
Doctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...
, in general modern day adherents of New Thought believe that "God" or "Infinite Intelligence" is "supreme, universal, and everlasting", that divinity
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
dwells within each person, that all people are spiritual beings, that "the highest spiritual principle [is] loving one another unconditionally ... and teaching and healing one another", and that "our mental states are carried forward into manifestation and become our experience in daily living".
The New Thought movement is a spiritually-focused
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
or philosophical interpretation of New Thought beliefs. Started in the early 19th century, today the movement consists of a loosely allied group of religious denomination
Religious denomination
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition, and identity.The term describes various Christian denominations...
s, secular membership organization
Membership organization
A membership organization is a broad term for a group or body which has members. Typically any member of the public can join and a membership fee or "subscription" is payable, but arrangements vary widely...
s, authors, philosophers, and individuals who share a set of beliefs concerning metaphysics, positive thinking
Positive Thinking
Positive Thinking... or Positive Thinking may refer to one of two songs:*Positive Thinking *Positive Thinking...
, the law of attraction, healing
Healing
Physiological healing is the restoration of damaged living tissue, organs and biological system to normal function. It is the process by which the cells in the body regenerate and repair to reduce the size of a damaged or necrotic area....
, life force, creative visualization
Creative Visualization
Creative visualization refers to the practice of seeking to affect the outer world via changing one's thoughts. Creative Visualization is the basic technique underlying positive thinking and is frequently used by athletes to enhance their performance. The concept originally arose in the US with...
, and personal power. The three major religious denominations within the New Thought movement are Religious Science
Religious Science
Religious Science, also known as Science of Mind, was established in 1927 by Ernest Holmes and is a spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical religious movement within the New Thought movement. In general, the term "Science of Mind" applies to the teachings, while the term "Religious Science"...
, Unity Church
Unity Church
Unity, known informally as Unity Church, is a religious movement within the wider New Thought movement and is best known to many through its Daily Word devotional publication...
and the Church of Divine Science. There are many other smaller churches within the New Thought movement, as well as schools and umbrella organizations.
Overview
William JamesWilliam James
William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...
, in The Varieties of Religious Experience
The Varieties of Religious Experience
The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature is a book by the Harvard University psychologist and philosopher William James that comprises his edited Gifford Lectures on "Natural Theology" delivered at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland between 1901 and 1902.These lectures...
, described New Thought as follows:
Origins
The earliest identifiable proponent of what came to be known as New Thought was Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802–66), an American philosopher, mesmerist, healer, and inventor. Quimby developed a beliefBelief
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.-Belief, knowledge and epistemology:The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy....
system that included the tenet that illness originated in the mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
as a consequence of erroneous beliefs and that a mind open to God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
's wisdom could overcome any illness.
His basic premise was “The trouble is in the mind, for the body is only the house for the mind to dwell in…Therefore, if your mind had been deceived by some invisible enemy into a belief, you have out into it the form of a disease, with or without your knowledge. By my theory or truth, I come in contact with your enemy, and restore you to health and happiness. This I do partly mentally, and partly by talking till I correct the wrong impression and establish the Truth, and the Truth is the cure.”
During the late 19th century the metaphysical healing practices of Quimby mingled with the "Mental Science" of Warren Felt Evans
Warren Felt Evans
Warren Felt Evans was an American author of the New Thought movement. He became a student of the movement in 1863, after seeking healing from its founder, Phineas P. Quimby...
, a Swedenborgian
Swedenborgian
A Swedenborgian is the doctrines, beliefs, and practices of the Church of the New Jerusalem, and is an adjective describing a person or an organization that understands the Bible through the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg....
minister.
New Thought was propelled along by a number of spiritual thinkers and philosophers and emerged through a variety of religious denominations and churches, particularly the Unity Church
Unity Church
Unity, known informally as Unity Church, is a religious movement within the wider New Thought movement and is best known to many through its Daily Word devotional publication...
, Religious Science
Religious Science
Religious Science, also known as Science of Mind, was established in 1927 by Ernest Holmes and is a spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical religious movement within the New Thought movement. In general, the term "Science of Mind" applies to the teachings, while the term "Religious Science"...
, and Church of Divine Science. Many of its early teachers and students were women; notable among the founders of the movement were Emma Curtis Hopkins
Emma Curtis Hopkins
Emma Curtis Hopkins organized New Thought and was a primary theologian, teacher, writer, feminist, mystic and prophet who ordained women at what she named the Christian Science Theological Seminary of Chicago...
, known as the "teacher of teachers", Myrtle Fillmore
Myrtle Fillmore
Mary Caroline "Myrtle" Page Fillmore was co-founder of Unity, a church within the New Thought movement, along with her husband Charles Fillmore. Prior to that time, she worked as a schoolteacher....
, Malinda Cramer
Malinda Cramer
Malinda Elliott Cramer was a founder of the Church of Divine Science, a healer, and an important figure in the early New Thought movement.- Biography :...
, and Nona L. Brooks
Nona L. Brooks
Nona Lovell Brooks , described as a "prophet of modern mystical Christianity", was a leader in the New Thought movement and a founder of the Church of Divine Science.- Biography :...
; with many of its churches and community centers led by women, from the 1880s to today.
Growth
New Thought is also largely a movement of the printed word. The 1890s and the first decades of the 20th century saw many New Thought books published on the topics of self-helpSelf-help
Self-help, or self-improvement, is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders...
, financial success, and will-training books. New Thought authors such as of Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Hill was an American author who was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature. He is widely considered to be one of the great writers on success...
, Wallace Wattles
Wallace Wattles
Wallace Delois Wattles was an American author. A New Thought writer, he remains personally somewhat obscure, but his writing has been widely quoted and remains in print in the New Thought and self-help movements....
, Perry Joseph Green, Frank Channing Haddock
Frank Channing Haddock
Frank Channing Haddock was an influential New Thought and self-help author, best known for his series, The Power-Book Library.-Early life and career:...
, and Thomas Troward
Thomas Troward
-Background:Troward was a divisional Judge in British-administered India. His avocation was the study of comparative religion. Influences on his thinking, as well as his later writing, included the teachings of Christ, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism....
were extremely popular.
In 1906, William Walker Atkinson
William Walker Atkinson
William Walker Atkinson was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is also known to have been the author of the pseudonymous works attributed to Theron Q...
(1862–1932) wrote and published Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World. Atkinson was the editor of New Thought magazine and the author of more than 100 books on an assortment of religious, spiritual
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
, and occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
topics. The following year, Elizabeth Towne
Elizabeth Towne
Elizabeth Towne was an influential writer, editor, and publisher in the New Thought and self-help movements.-Career:Both Elizabeth Towne and her second husband William E. Towne were for many years associated with the International New Thought Alliance , and served on its board in various capacities...
, the editor of The Nautilus Magazine, a Journal of New Thought
The Nautilus (Magazine)
The Nautilus was a magazine of the New Thought Movement, founded in 1898 by Elizabeth Towne. In May 1900, Towne moved the magazine to Holyoke, Massachusetts, which became its permanent home until its discontinuation in August 1953, when Towne retired from publishing at the age of 88...
, published Bruce MacLelland's book Prosperity Through Thought Force, in which he summarized the "Law of Attraction" as a New Thought principle, stating "You are what you think, not what you think you are."
These magazines were used to reach a large audience then, as others are now. Nautilus magazine, for example, had 45,000 subscribers and a total circulation of 150,000. One Unity Church
Unity Church
Unity, known informally as Unity Church, is a religious movement within the wider New Thought movement and is best known to many through its Daily Word devotional publication...
magazine, Wee Wisdom, was the longest-lived children's magazine in the United States, published from 1893 until 1991. Today, New Thought magazines include the Daily Word
Daily Word
The Daily Word is a daily inspirational message provided by the Unity Church of Christianity. Themes include inner peace, hope, healing, guidance, and others. It is distributed via magazine, website, and e-mail.-History:...
published by Unity and the Religious Science magazine, Science of Mind
Science of Mind (magazine)
Science of Mind is a religious magazine published bi-monthly by the United Centers for Spiritual Living. Themes include inner peace, hope, healing, guidance, and others...
, published by the United Centers for Spiritual Living.
Major gatherings
The 1915 International New Thought AllianceInternational New Thought Alliance
The International New Thought Alliance is an umbrella organization for New Thought adherents "dedicated to serving the New Thought Movement’s various branches, organizations and individuals".- History :...
(INTA) conference – held in conjunction with the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915)
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California between February 20 and December 4 in 1915. Its ostensible purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase its recovery...
, a world's fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
that took place in San Francisco – featured New Thought speakers from far and wide. The PPIE organizers were so favorably impressed by the INTA convention that they declared a special "New Thought Day" at the fair and struck a commemorative bronze medal for the occasion, which was presented to the INTA delegates, led by Annie Rix Militz
Annie Rix Militz
Annie Rix Militz was an author and early organizer of the New Thought Movement. She is best known as the founder of Home of Truth...
. By 1916, the International New Thought Alliance had encompassed many smaller groups around the world, adopting a creed known as the "Declaration of Principles". The Alliance is held together by one central teaching: that people, through the constructive use of their minds, can attain freedom, power, health, prosperity, and all good, molding their bodies as well as the circumstances of their lives. The declaration was revised in 1957, with all references to Christianity removed, and a new statement based on the "inseparable oneness of God and Man".
There are regular conventions and conferences today, including those hosted by the major denominations, Agape International Spiritual Center
Agape International Spiritual Center
Agape International Spiritual Center is a transdenominational congregation in Culver City, California. Founded in 1986 by Michael Bernard Beckwith, it currently has approximately 9,000 members who follow its New Thought spirituality. Beckwith leads the congregation along with his wife, Ricki...
, and others.
Belief systems
The chief tenets of New Thought are:- Infinite Intelligence or God is omnipotent and omnipresent.
- Spirit is the ultimate reality.
- True human self-hood is divine.
- Divinely attuned thought is a positive force for good.
- All disease is mental in origin.
- Right thinking has a healing effect.
Evolution of thought
Adherents also generally believe that as humankind gains greater understanding of the world, New Thought itself will evolve to assimilate new knowledge. Alan Anderson and Deb Whitehouse have described New Thought as a "process" in which each individual and even the New Thought Movement itself is "new every moment". Thomas McFaul has hypothesized "continuous revelation", with new insights being received by individuals continuously over time. Jean HoustonJean Houston
Jean Houston is an American scholar, lecturer, author and philosopher who has helped pioneer and motivate the human potentials movement. As a teacher and visionary thinker, Houston holds conferences and seminars with social leaders, educational institutions and business organizations worldwide...
has spoken of the "possible human", or what we are capable of becoming.
Theological inclusionism
The Home of Truth, which, from its inception as the Pacific Coast Metaphysical Bureau in the 1880s, under the leadership of Annie Rix MilitzAnnie Rix Militz
Annie Rix Militz was an author and early organizer of the New Thought Movement. She is best known as the founder of Home of Truth...
, has disseminated the teachings of the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
teacher Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda , born Narendranath Dutta , was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission...
, is one of the more outspokenly interfaith of New Thought organizations, stating adherence to "the principle that Truth is Truth where ever it is found and who ever is sharing it". Joel S. Goldsmith
Joel S. Goldsmith
Joel Solomon Goldsmith was a author, teacher, spiritual healer, mystic, and founder of The Infinite Way movement.- Early years :...
's The Infinite Way
The Infinite Way
The Infinite Way is a New Thought spiritual movement created by 21st century spiritualist Joel S. Goldsmith. According to Goldsmith, "The Infinite Way is a spiritual teaching consisting of principles which anyone may follow and practice, irrespective of his religious affiliation...
incorporates teaching from Christian Science
Christian Science
Christian Science is a system of thought and practice derived from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and the Bible. It is practiced by members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist as well as some others who are nonmembers. Its central texts are the Bible and the Christian Science textbook,...
, as well.
Therapeutic ideas
Divine Science, Unity Church, and Religious Science are organizations which developed from the New Thought movement. Each teaches that Infinite Intelligence or God is the sole reality. There are New Thought adherents believe that sickness is the result of the failure to realize this truth. In this line of thinking, healingFaith healing
Faith healing is healing through spiritual means. The healing of a person is brought about by religious faith through prayer and/or rituals that, according to adherents, stimulate a divine presence and power toward correcting disease and disability. Belief in divine intervention in illness or...
is accomplished by the affirmation of oneness with the Infinite Intelligence or God.
John Bovee Dods
John Bovee Dods
John Bovee Dods was a philosopher, spiritualist, mesmerist, and early psychologist. He was born in New York City and died in Brooklyn , but much of his productive life was spent in Maine.Dods' was a prolific writer...
(1795–1862), an early practitioner of New Thought, wrote several books on the idea that disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
originates in the electrical impulses of the nervous system
Nervous system
The nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous...
and is therefore curable by a change of belief. Later New Thought teachers, such as the early 20th century author, editor, and publisher William Walker Atkinson
William Walker Atkinson
William Walker Atkinson was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is also known to have been the author of the pseudonymous works attributed to Theron Q...
, accepted this premise. He connected his idea of mental states of being with his understanding of the new scientific discoveries in electromagnetism
Electromagnetism
Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
and neural processes.
Movement
As a movement, New Thought has two large denominations, Centers for Spiritual LivingCenters for Spiritual Living
The Centers for Spiritual Living, or CSL, is a religious denomination promoting Religious Science that was founded by Ernest Holmes in 1949...
and Unity
Unity Church
Unity, known informally as Unity Church, is a religious movement within the wider New Thought movement and is best known to many through its Daily Word devotional publication...
. According to the Association for Global New Thought
Association for Global New Thought
The Association for Global New Thought, or AGNT, is an organization of ministers, lay people, heads of other New Thought organizations, and people of all faiths dedicated to "conscious co-creation"...
, there are 800 to 900 Unity churches, 600 to 700 Religious Science venues, and 300 to 400 independent mininstries in the United States. A recent survey found that approximately 250,000 people attend at least one New Thought service a month. Publishing and educational activities reach approximately 2.5 million people annually. Other belief systems within the New Thought movement include Jewish Science
Jewish Science
Jewish Science is a Judaic spiritual movement comparable with the New Thought Movement. Many of its members also attend services at conventional synagogues....
, Religious Science
Religious Science
Religious Science, also known as Science of Mind, was established in 1927 by Ernest Holmes and is a spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical religious movement within the New Thought movement. In general, the term "Science of Mind" applies to the teachings, while the term "Religious Science"...
, and Seicho-no-Ie
Seicho-No-Ie
Seicho-no-Ie, sometimes rendered Seicho-no Iye , is a syncretic, nondenominational, monotheistic, New Thought religion, one of the Shinshūkyō in Japan that have spread since the end of World War II...
. Past denominations have included Psychiana
Psychiana
Psychiana was a New Thought denomination created in 1928 by Frank Bruce Robinson , with headquarters in Moscow, Idaho. It began and largely remained a mail-order enterprise, recruiting people through advertising in popular magazines and through direct mail solicitations.The first advertisement for...
and Father Divine
Father Divine
Father Divine , also known as Reverend M. J. Divine, was an African American spiritual leader from about 1907 until his death. His full self-given name was Reverend Major Jealous Divine, and he was also known as "the Messenger" early in his life...
.
Religious Science operates under three main organizations: the United Centers for Spiritual Living; the Affiliated New Thought Network; and Global Religious Science Ministries. Ernest Holmes
Ernest Holmes
Ernest Shurtleff Holmes was an American writer and spiritual teacher. He was the founder of a Spiritual movement known as Religious Science, a part of the greater New Thought movement, whose spiritual philosophy is known as "The Science of Mind." He was the author of The Science of Mind and...
, the founder of Religious Science, stated that Religious Science is not based on any "authority" of established beliefs, but rather on "what it can accomplish" for the people who practice it. The Science of Mind
The Science of Mind
The Science of Mind is a book by Ernest Holmes. It proposes a science with a new relationship between humans and God. Holmes, the founder of Religious Science, originally published it in 1926. A revised version was completed by Holmes and Maude Latham and published in 1937.Holmes' writing details...
, authored by Ernest Holmes, while based on a philosophy of being "open at the top", focuses extensively on the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Unity, founded by Charles
Charles Fillmore (Unity Church)
Charles Sherlock Fillmore , born in St. Cloud, Minnesota, founded Unity, a church within the New Thought movement, with his wife, Myrtle Page Fillmore, in 1889...
and Myrtle Fillmore
Myrtle Fillmore
Mary Caroline "Myrtle" Page Fillmore was co-founder of Unity, a church within the New Thought movement, along with her husband Charles Fillmore. Prior to that time, she worked as a schoolteacher....
, identifies itself as "Christian New Thought", focused on "Christian idealism", with the Bible as one of its main texts, although not interpreted literally. The other core text is Lessons in Truth by H. Emilie Cady
H. Emilie Cady
Harriet Emilie Cady was an American homeopathic physician and author of New Thought spiritual writings. Her 1896 book Lessons in Truth, A Course of Twelve Lessons in Practical Christianity is now considered the core text on Unity Church teachings...
.
See also
- New religious movementNew religious movementA new religious movement is a religious community or ethical, spiritual, or philosophical group of modern origin, which has a peripheral place within the dominant religious culture. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may be part of a wider religion, such as Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism, in...
- PanentheismPanentheismPanentheism is a belief system which posits that God exists, interpenetrates every part of nature and timelessly extends beyond it...
- Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
- UniversalismUniversalismUniversalism in its primary meaning refers to religious, theological, and philosophical concepts with universal application or applicability...