People, Ideas, and Movements That Shaped New Thought
Institutional structures and groups within New Thought.
Explore the origins, teachings, and lasting influence of Religious Science, the New Thought movement founded by Ernest Holmes in 1926 with his seminal work The Science of Mind. Trace its evolution from a philosophical system to an institutionalized denomination and its impact on modern self-help culture.
After Ernest Holmes’s death in 1960, the Religious Science movement split into two major organizations—the United Church of Religious Science and Religious Science International—before reuniting in 2011 as Centers for Spiritual Living. This article traces that evolution, examining the institutional growth, internal tensions, and eventual merger that shaped the movement’s modern identity.
This article traces the transatlantic journey of New Thought from its American metaphysical roots to its establishment in Europe, examining the roles of key figures, publications, and organizations such as the International New Thought Alliance and Christian Science.
Malinda Cramer’s Home College of Divine Science, founded in San Francisco in 1888, was a pioneering institution that systematized New Thought teachings and helped launch the Divine Science movement, leaving a lasting imprint on American metaphysical religion.
Founded in 1892 by Malinda Cramer, the International Divine Science Association was the first umbrella organization of the New Thought movement. It hosted landmark congresses and unified metaphysical healers, paving the way for later groups like the International New Thought Alliance.
Ernest Holmes transformed the New Thought movement by synthesizing its diverse teachings into The Science of Mind, founding Religious Science and influencing generations of metaphysical and self-help thinkers.
Divine Science emerged from the independent spiritual healings of Malinda Cramer and Nona Lovell Brooks, who united to form a New Thought movement emphasizing the omnipresence of God and mental healing. This article traces its origins, institutional growth, and lasting influence on American metaphysical religion.
Unity, founded by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore in 1889, grew from a Kansas City prayer group into a global New Thought denomination. This article traces its origins, key teachings, institutional development, and lasting influence on affirmative prayer and modern spirituality.
The late-1880s rupture between Mary Baker Eddy and her student Ursula Gestefeld was not merely a personal quarrel but a theological watershed that compelled the emerging New Thought movement to codify its own identity, distinct from Christian Science, and ultimately shaped its institutions, publications, and self-understanding.
Emma Curtis Hopkins, called the ‘teacher of teachers,’ founded the College of Metaphysical Science in Chicago in the 1880s, where she trained and ordained hundreds of New Thought leaders, including the founders of Unity and Religious Science. This article explores the college’s origins, teachings, and lasting influence on the New Thought movement.