People, Ideas, and Movements That Shaped New Thought
The International New Thought Alliance (INTA), founded in 1914, served as the first successful umbrella organization for the disparate branches of the New Thought movement. This article traces its origins, key figures, publications, and major events, showing how it fostered cooperation while preserving diversity.
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby’s ‘Science of Health’ challenged 19th-century medicine by asserting that disease originates in false beliefs and that healing comes through correcting the mind. This article traces its origins, key teachings, and profound influence on the New Thought movement.
Unity School of Christianity, founded by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore in 1889, grew from Kansas City prayer meetings into an international New Thought movement. This article traces its origins, key teachings, publications, and global expansion, highlighting its enduring influence on metaphysical Christianity.
Genevieve Behrend, a French-born author and teacher, became the only personal pupil of Thomas Troward, the renowned New Thought philosopher. Her story of visualizing her way to Cornwall and her subsequent book ‘Your Invisible Power’ shaped the mental science movement.
Published in 1917 after Thomas Troward’s death, ‘The Law and the Word’ is a cornerstone of New Thought literature, synthesizing Eastern philosophy and Western science to explore the creative power of thought. This article traces its historical context, key concepts, and lasting influence on the movement.
Warren Felt Evans’s 1873 treatise Mental Medicine stands as a pivotal yet often overlooked text in the New Thought movement, bridging earlier metaphysical traditions and the later mental healing schools. This article explores its historical context, core ideas, and enduring influence.
Explore how German Idealism, mediated through Romanticism, Transcendentalism, and Swedenborgianism, profoundly shaped the mental healing philosophy of the New Thought movement, especially through the writings of Warren Felt Evans.
The New Thought movement, known for its emphasis on the power of the mind, traces its lineage back to Franz Anton Mesmer’s 18th-century theory of animal magnetism. This article explores how a discredited medical theory about an invisible universal fluid evolved into the metaphysical principles that shaped New Thought, from Phineas Quimby’s mental healing to modern law of attraction teachings.
Emma Curtis Hopkins, known as the ‘mother of New Thought,’ taught and ordained the founders of Unity, Religious Science, and other major metaphysical movements. This article traces her life, teachings, and enduring legacy.
Explore the intertwined yet distinct histories of New Thought and Christian Science, from shared roots in 19th-century idealism and mental healing to their divergent paths, key figures, and lasting impact on American metaphysical religion.