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2023/01/05

The Philosophy and Foundation of the New Thought Movement

The Philosophy and Foundation of the New Thought Movement


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"For the light of wisdom will light up the dark dens of superstition."" --Phineas P. Quimby

About New Thought - The philosophy of New Thought and the origins of the new thought movement.



What is New Thought?

New Thought, sometimes known as Higher Thought (not to be confused with 'New Age'), is a spiritual and philosophical movement based on religious and metaphysical concepts, along with the ideas of mental science. The New Thought Movement mainly originated in the United States during the 19th century. But despite its name, New Thought is actually not new; Most of the ideas, principles and core teachings that shaped the New Thought Movement are rooted in ancient wisdom. These ancient teachings can be found in the heart of almost all religious and spiritual traditions throughout the world.

New Thought itself is not considered a religion or denomination in itself, because 'New Thought' is simply ancient wisdom being exressed in a new way, but there are several religious organizations or movements that have New Thought roots. New Thought has been referred to as "The Religion of Healthy-Mindedness" by William James in his classic work, Varieties of Religious Experience. As a spiritual movement, New Thought also helped guide a variety of social changes throughout the 19th, 20th, and into the 21st centuries. New Thought directly influenced the growing movement of "Mental Sciences" of the mid-19th century, which would later become known as the New Thought Movement. The mental-healing movement was a protest against old beliefs and methods, particularly the old-school medical practice and the old theology of the time.


“The Science of Mind is the study of Life and the nature of the laws of thought; the conception that we live in a spiritual Universe; that God is in, through, around and for us.”-- Ernest Holmes

The Early Development of the New Thought Movement

The New Thought Movement is a spiritually-focused or philosophical interpretation of New Thought beliefs developed in the 1800's, mainly originating in the United States. The movement also had roots in England where the term Higher Thought was often preferred. The rise of the New Thought Movement came as a result of the reaction of conscious thinking people during the middle of the 19th century who were revolting from the rigid religious doctrine, towards a blending of scientific and philosophical ideals. The New Thought movement is generally considered to have its origins in the mental healing practices of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby and the transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

During its early development, the ideas of the New Thought were mostly presented in books, magazines and leaflets. It was not setup specifically to be any form of an organized religion or religious group. The ideas of the New Thought movement were spread on a world-wide scale mainly through lectures, books and journals. Today, the movement consists of a loosely allied group of religious denominations, 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 branches and religious denominations within the New Thought movement are Religious Science (or, The Science of Mind), Unity Church (or, Unity Society of Practical Christianity), and the Church of Divine Science. There are also a number of smaller groups, most of which are incorporated in the International New Thought Alliance. New Thought churches are non-judgmental, open congregations, where everyone is made to feel special, welcome and loved.



Although the New Thought Movement is often considered to be a single movement, the thoughts and ideas can be somewhat varied between groups. But there are common beliefs that are present within every group which form the basic ideology of the New Thought Movement in general.
The Foundation of New Thought Philosophy

New Thought, or, the New Thought Movement is often confused with the "New Age", or the New Age Movement. New Thought is actually more of a perennial philosophy **; in essence, it is the thread of truth that is woven through all the world's great spiritual traditions. The spiritual teachings and philosophies that shaped much of New Thought itself has ancient roots that can be traced back for centuries. The principles found within the new thought are universal and can be found throughout various religious traditions and spiritual philosophies throughout the world.

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, teaching and healing one another, and that our mental states are carried forward into manifestation and become our experience in daily living. New Thought also believes that each person is divinely endowed with the right to happiness and the power of choice, enjoying equal access to the creative potential of spiritual and metaphysical laws.
Principles and Beliefs

New Thought promotes the ideas that Infinite Intelligence, or God, is everywhere, 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.

New Thought embraces the idea the God (Spirit, Divine Mind, or however It is termed) is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient; and God is in all and all is in God.



In New Thought, God is regarded as Eternal and the Cause and Source of All. This emphasis on God as absolute Good is common in New Thought, as well as in mainline Christianity. However, in the mainline doctrine, God’s goodness is often contrasted with some independently existing evil (personified as satin or the devil), or in a dualistic context. In the New Thought idea of ultimate oneness, "God is Good and God is all there is," and evil is often regarded as the byproduct of human consciousness, or of separation (separation from God).




The main beliefs embraced by New Thought are:

* Infinite Intelligence or God is omnipotent and omnipresent.
*Spirit is the Ultimate Reality.
*True human self-hood is divine.
*Divinely attuined through is a positive force for good.
*Disease is mental in origin.
*Right thinking has a healing effect.
*There is power in meditation, prayer and positive thinking.



New Thought embraces the idea that God is present within, but infinitely exceeding, the manifest universe. Just as the physical universe can be described by the observed physical laws, the spiritual universe is believed to be organized by metaphysical laws that can be activated through the use of spiritual practices to consciously create life experience. New Thought also focuses on individual 'inner' transformation as the way to achieve transformation in the external world. New Thought teaches that everything begins in the mind, and that events in the "outer" world reflect the atmosphere of the "inner" world; The macrocosm of human collective consciousness is regarded as inseparable from the microcosm of individual thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs. Through a shift in consciousness, conditions can be altered – for the individual, and thus for the collective.



In 1914 the New Thought Alliance was formed. In 1916 the Alliance agreed to a set of codes that would be central to the ideas of most new thougth groups, and in 1917 a “Declaration of Principles” was adopted. These principles were modified in 1919 and remained in use until revised during the 1950's and again in January 2000.
The Shaping of the Early New Thought Teachings

A majority of the early New Thought movement was based on the work and beliefs of Phineas Parker Quimby, a healer and mesmerist in the late 19th century. Quimby's metaphysical healing practices mingled with the Mental Science teachings of Warren Felt Evans, a Swedenborgian minister. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, has often referred to Quimby as an inspiration for her theology. Baker was also a patient of Quimby's and shared his view that diease is rooted in a mental cause; this idea is a common in most new thought belief.

By the beginning of the 20th Century, 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 (established in 1888) and Church of Divine Science (established in 1889), followed by Religious Science (established in 1927).



Unlike many other spiritual and religious movements and organizations at the time, many of New Thought's 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.

Before anyone practiced New Thought as a set of beliefs there were a few influential figures whose teachings later contrinuted significantly to the movement. The founder of the 18th century New Church, Emanuel Swedenborg, influenced many of the New Thought author's writings on the Bible. Ralph Waldo Emerson was also influential, as his philosophical movement of transcendentalism is incorporated throughout New Thought. Frank Mesmer's work on mesmerism (hypnosis) inspired the work of Phineas P. Quimby, who is widely recognized as the founder of the early New Thought movement.
The Religious and Philosophical Influences of New Thought

Many New Thought groups have their roots in Christianity, and many of the most influential early leaders of the movement were Christian Americans that did not agree with the institutionalized version of Christianity at that time. The New Thought movement was also influenced by the romanticism and idealism of the 19th century that came as a reaction against the religious skepticism of the previous century. This entire fruitful period saw the birth of not only New Thought, but also Christian Science, Theosophy, Transcendental Meditation, and other related movements. New Thought is related to Christian Science (founded by Mary Baker Eddy) both historically and philosophically, although there are some differences between the two; Christian Science places more of an emphasis on the doctrines and is more organizationally structured, while New Thought adherants do not oppose modern medicine to the extent that Christian Scientists do.

Much of the New Thought's philosophy was largely influenced by the Bible; the Christian bible is the primary text of many New Thought groups, especially Unity and Divine Science. New Thought was also influenced by the philosophical ideas of Plato and Hagel, certain aspects of Swedenborgianism and some elements of oriental or eastern spiritual teachings.



Many of the New Thought writings focus on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the ancient wisdom of many of the great master teachers throughout the ages such as Buddha, Krishna and Mohammad. The principles of New Thought are to be found in Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Zen, Hinduism, and many philosophical and theological works. Rooted in Socrates' notion of universal science, early New Thought leaders shared a Romantic interest between metaphysics and American Christianity. In addition to New Thought, Christian Science, transcendental meditation, theosophy, and other movements were born from similar interests, all in the late 18th and early 19th century.
The Growth and Evolution of New Thought

New Thought is also largely a movement of the printed word. The 1890's and the first decaded of the 20th century saw many New Thought books and magazines published on the topics of self-help, personal and financial succes, self-realization, and developing the mind through the principles of science and spirituality. Popular New Thought authors who furthered the growth of the movement in the written form include: Napoleon Hill, Wallace Wattles, Joseph Perry Green, Frank Channing Haddock, and Thomas Troward, William Walker Atkinson, and Elizabeth Towne.

As humanity gains greater understand of the world, New Thought iself will evolve to assimilate the new knowledge. New Thought can be likened to a process in which each individual--even the New Thought Movement itself--is "new every moment" and will be a continuous revelation, with new insights being received by indiviuals continuously over time.



New Thought publishing and educational activities reach approximately 2.5 million people annually. The largest New Thought-oriented denomination is Seicho-no-Ie. Other prominant groups within the New Thought movement include Jewish Science, Religious Science, Centers for Spiritual Living and Unity. 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.

The Influence of New Thought Beliefs

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.

There are also many contemporary authors and teachers illustrating the principles of New Thought through their work, including but not limited to: Wayne Dyer, Caroline Myss, Suze Orman, Ram Dass, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Thomas Moore, Iyanla VanZant, Christiane Northrop, Neale Donald Walsh, John Gray, Stephen Covey, Greg Levoy, Colin Tipping, Gabrielle Roth, Gary Zukav, Larry Dossey, Jack Canfield, Bernie Siegel, Julia Cameron, Marianne Williamson, Gregg Braden, Fritjof Capra, Louise Hay, Alan Cohen, Deepak Chopra, Jerry Jampolsky, Don Miguel, Bruce Lipton, Ruiz Elisabet Sahtouris, Barbara Fields, Fred Alan Wolf, Eckart Tolle, Jean Houston Peter Russell,Patrick, Harbula, Raphael Cushnir, Walter Starcke, Anthony Robbins, Peter Drucker, Esther & Jerry Hicks and the teachings of Abraham.

Visit NewThoughtTransformation.com for a list of contemporary New Thought writers and teachers.
New Thought as a Perennial Philosophy

[**] The Perennial philosophy originates from neo-Platonism and Christianity. In the early 19th century this idea was popularised by the Transcendentalists. Towards the end of the 19th century the Theosophical Society further popularized the concept under the name of "Wisdom-Religion" or "Ancient Wisdom".

Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) argued that there is an underlying unity to the world, the soul or love, which has a counterpart in the realm of ideas. Platonic Philosophy and Christian theology both embody this truth. Ficino was influenced by a variety of philosophers including Aristotelian Scholasticism and various pseudonymous and mystical writings. Ficino saw his thought as part of a long development of philosophical truth, of ancient pre-Platonic philosophers (including Zoroaster, Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus, Aglaophemus and Pythagoras) who reached their peak in Plato. The Prisca theologia, or venerable and ancient theology, which embodied the truth and could be found in all ages, was a vitally important idea for Ficino.

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94), a student of Ficino, went further than his teacher by suggesting that truth could be found in many, rather than just two, traditions. This proposed a harmony between the thought of Plato and Aristotle, and saw aspects of the Prisca theologia in Averroes, the Koran, the Cabala among other sources. [Source Wikipedia.org]
RESOURCES:


An A-Z List of New Thought Authors along with their Published Writings

Articles About The New Thought Movement and New Thought Philosophy

Videos About New Thought including Spiritual New Thought Sermons & Teachings




MISCELLANEOUS:

What Is New Thought? -- Trailer for the Documentary

New Thought For Dummies with Roger Teel

Memorial Pages of the Divine Science Ministers Association


New Thought - Wikipedia

New Thought - Wikipedia

New Thought

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The New Thought movement (also Higher Thought)[1] is a spiritual movement that coalesced in the United States in the early 19th century. New Thought was seen by its adherents as succeeding "ancient thought", accumulated wisdom and philosophy from a variety of origins, such as Ancient GreekRomanEgyptianChineseTaoistVedicHindu, and Buddhist cultures and their related belief systems, 

primarily regarding the interaction between thought, belief, consciousness in the human mind, and the effects of these within and beyond the human mind. 

Though no direct line of transmission is traceable, many adherents to New Thought in the 19th and 20th centuries claimed to be direct descendants from those systems.

Although there have been many leaders and various offshoots of the New Thought philosophy, the origins of New Thought have often been traced back to Phineas Quimby, or even as far back as Franz Mesmer. Many of these groups are incorporated into the International New Thought Alliance.[2][3] The contemporary New Thought movement is a loosely allied group of religious denominations, authors, philosophers, and individuals who share a set of beliefs concerning metaphysicspositive thinking, the law of attractionhealinglife forcecreative visualization, and personal power.[4]

New Thought holds that 

Although New Thought is neither monolithic nor doctrinaire, in general, modern-day adherents of New Thought share some core beliefs:

  1. God or Infinite Intelligence is "supreme, universal, and everlasting";
  2. divinity dwells within each person, that all people are spiritual beings;
  3. "the highest spiritual principle [is] loving one another unconditionally... and teaching and healing one another"; and
  4. "our mental states are carried forward into manifestation and become our experience in daily living".[5][6]

William James used the term "New Thought" as synonymous with the "Mind cure movement", in which he included many sects with diverse origins, such as idealism and Hinduism.[7]

Overview[edit]

William James, in The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), described New Thought as follows:

[F]or the sake of having a brief designation, I will give the title of the "Mind-cure movement." There are various sects of this "New Thought," to use another of the names by which it calls itself; but their agreements are so profound that their differences may be neglected for my present purpose, and I will treat the movement, without apology, as if it were a simple thing.

It is an optimistic scheme of life, with both a speculative and a practical side. In its gradual development during the last quarter of a century, it has taken up into itself a number of contributory elements, and it must now be reckoned with as a genuine religious power. It has reached the stage, for example, when the demand for its literature is great enough for insincere stuff, mechanically produced for the market, to be to a certain extent supplied by publishers – a phenomenon never observed, I imagine, until a religion has got well past its earliest insecure beginnings.

One of the doctrinal sources of Mind-cure is the four Gospels; another is Emersonianism or New England transcendentalism; another is Berkeleyan idealism; another is spiritism, with its messages of "law" and "progress" and "development"; another the optimistic popular science evolutionism of which I have recently spoken; and, finally, Hinduism has contributed a strain. But the most characteristic feature of the mind-cure movement is an inspiration much more direct. The leaders in this faith have had an intuitive belief in the all-saving power of healthy-minded attitudes as such, in the conquering efficacy of courage, hope, and trust, and a correlative contempt for doubt, fear, worry, and all nervously precautionary states of mind. Their belief has in a general way been corroborated by the practical experience of their disciples; and this experience forms to-day a mass imposing in amount.[8]

History[edit]

Origins[edit]

The New Thought movement was based on the teachings of Phineas Quimby (1802–1866), an American mesmerist and healer. Quimby had developed a belief 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.[9] 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 put it into 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.[10][11]

During the late 19th century, the metaphysical healing practices of Quimby mingled with the "Mental Science" of Warren Felt Evans, a Swedenborgian minister.[citation needed] Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, has sometimes been cited as having used Quimby as inspiration for theology. Eddy was a patient of Quimby's and shared his view that disease is rooted in a mental cause. Because of its theism, Christian Science differs from the teachings of Quimby.[12]

In the late 19th century, New Thought was propelled by a number of spiritual thinkers and philosophers and emerged through a variety of religious denominations and churches, particularly the Unity Church and Church of Divine Science (established in 1889 and 1888, respectively), followed by Religious Science (established in 1927).[13] 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 FillmoreMalinda Cramer, and Nona L. Brooks;[13] with many of its churches and community centers led by women, from the 1880s to today.[14][15]

Growth[edit]

New Thought is also largely a movement of the printed word.[16]

Prentice Mulford, through writing Your Forces and How to Use Them,[17] a series of essays published during 1886–1892, was pivotal in the development of New Thought thinking, including the Law of Attraction.

In 1906, William Walker Atkinson (1862–1932) wrote and published Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World.[18] Atkinson was the editor of New Thought magazine and the author of more than 100 books on an assortment of religiousspiritual, and occult topics.[19] The following year, Elizabeth Towne, the editor of The Nautilus, 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."[20]

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.[16] One Unity Church magazine, Wee Wisdom, was the longest-lived children's magazine in the United States, published from 1893 until 1991.[21] Today, New Thought magazines include Daily Word, published by Unity and the Religious Science magazine; and Science of Mind, published by the Centers for Spiritual Living.

Major gatherings[edit]

The 1915 International New Thought Alliance (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.[22] By 1916, the International New Thought Alliance had encompassed many smaller groups around the world, adopting a creed known as the "Declaration of Principles".[13] 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".[13]

Beliefs[edit]

The chief tenets of New Thought are:[23]

  • 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[edit]

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 claimed "continuous revelation", with new insights being received by individuals continuously over time. Jean Houston has spoken of the "possible human", or what we are capable of becoming.[24]

Theological inclusionism[edit]

The Home of Truth has, from its inception as the Pacific Coast Metaphysical Bureau in the 1880s, under the leadership of Annie Rix Militz, disseminated the teachings of the Hindu teacher Swami Vivekananda.[25] It 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".[26][failed verification] Joel S. Goldsmith's The Infinite Way incorporates teaching from Christian Science, as well.

Therapeutic ideas[edit]

Divine Science, Unity Church, and Religious Science are organizations that developed from the New Thought movement. Each teaches that Infinite Intelligence, or God, is the sole reality. New Thought adherents believe that sickness is the result of the failure to realize this truth. In this line of thinking, healing is accomplished by the affirmation of oneness with the Infinite Intelligence or God.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed] 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.[27]

Criticism[edit]

While the beliefs that are held by practitioners of the New Thought movement are similar to many mainstream religious doctrines, there have been concerns raised among scholars and scientists about some of the views surrounding health and wellness that are perpetuated by the New Thought movement. Most pressing is the New Thought movement's rejection of empirically supported scientific theories of the causes of diseases. In scientific medicine, diseases can have a wide range of physical causes, from abnormalities in genes and in cell growth that cause cancer, to virusesbacteria, and fungi that cause infections, to environmental toxins that can damage entire organ systems.[28][29][30] While it has been empirically supported that the psychological and social health of a person can influence their susceptibility to disease (e.g., stress can suppress immune function, which increases risk of infection),[31] critics allege that mental states are not the cause of human disease, as is claimed by the New Thought movement.[citation needed]

Equally concerning, critics argue, is the New Thought movement's emphasis on using faith and mental states as treatments for all human disease. While it has been supported that the use of relaxation therapy and other forms of alternative health practices are beneficial in improving the overall well-being of patients with a wide variety of mental and physical health conditions (e.g., cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder), these practices are not effective in treating human disease alone, and should be undertaken in conjunction with modern medical therapies that have empirical support.[32] This rejection of scientifically supported theories of disease and disease treatment is worsened by the New Thought movement's assertion that mental states, attitudes, and faith in New Thought are the sole determinants of health.

The New Thought movement has received criticism akin to that levied against the holistic health movement that in claiming that sickness is caused by a person's attitudes, mental states, and faith, it is easy to place blame on patients for not adopting a correct attitude, thought processes, and/or lifestyle.[33] Blame can have powerful psychological effects – with stress and isolation seen in victim blaming being the largest issues that arise and the most concerning in terms of effect on patients' health.[34]

Movement[edit]

New Thought publishing and educational activities reach approximately 2.5 million people annually.[35] The largest New Thought-oriented denomination is the Japanese Seicho-no-Ie.[36] Other belief systems within the New Thought movement include Jewish ScienceReligious ScienceCenters for Spiritual Living and Unity. Past denominations have included Psychiana and Father Divine.

Religious Science operates under three main organizations: the 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.[37] 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.[38] 

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. The Universal Foundation for Better Living, or UFBL, was founded in 1974 by Johnnie Colemon in Chicago, Illinois after breaking away from the Unity Church for "blatant racism".[39]

See also[edit]

Persons[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Dresser, Horatio Willis (1919), A History of the New Thought Movement, TY Crowell Co, p. 154, In England the term Higher Thought was preferred at first, and this name was chosen for the Higher Thought Centre, the first organization of its kind in England. This name did not however represent a change in point of view, and the movement in England has been similar to the therapeutic movement elsewhere.
  2. ^ Melton, J. Gordon; Clark, Jerome & Kelly, Aidan A. New Age Almanac; New York: Visible Ink Press (1991); pg. 343. "The International New Thought Alliance, a loose association of New Thought institutions and individuals (approximately 350 institutional members), exists as a voluntary membership organization [to advance New Thought ideals]."
  3. ^ Conkin, Paul K. American Originals: Homemade Varieties of Christianity, The University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, NC (1997); pg. 269. "An International New Thought Alliance still exists, with offices in Arizona, a periodical, and around 200 affiliated societies, some of which still use the label 'church'".
  4. ^ Lewis, James R; Peterson, Jesper Aagaard (2004), Controversial New Religions, p. 226.
  5. Jump up to:a b Declaration of PrinciplesInternational New Thought Alliance, 2008–2009.
  6. Jump up to:a b "Statement of beliefs", New Thought info, 2008–2009.
  7. ^ James, William (1929), The Varieties of Religious Experience, New York: U Virginia, pp. 92–93, archived from the original on 2012-07-09
  8. ^ James, William (1902), The Varieties of Religious Experience, New York: U Virginia, pp. 92–93, archived from the original on 2012-07-09.
  9. ^ "Phineas Parkhurt Quimby"MSN Encarta. Archived from the original on August 29, 2009. Retrieved November 16, 2007.
  10. ^ Phineas, Quimby (2008). "Christ or Science"The Quimby Manuscripts. Forgotten Books. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-60506-915-9. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
  11. ^ "The Quimby Manuscripts". New Thought Library. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  12. ^ "Quimby’s son and defender said categorically, 'The religion which [Mrs. Eddy] teaches certainly is hers, for which I cannot be too thankful; for I should be loath to go down to my grave feeling that my father was in any way connected with "Christian Science." ...In [Quimby's method of] curing the sick, religion played no part. There were no prayers, there was no asking assistance from God or any other divinity. He cured by his wisdom.'" (Dresser, Horatio W., ed. The Quimby Manuscripts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company Publishers, 1921. - p436). "Christian Science is a religious teaching and only incidentally a healing method. Quimbyism was a healing method and only incidentally a religious teaching. If one examines the religious implications or aspects of Quimby’s thought, it is clear that in these terms it has nothing whatever in common with Christian Science." (Gottschalk, Stephen. The Emergence of Christian Science in American Religious Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. p. 130). A good composite of both Quimby, and the incompatibility of his ideas and practice with those of Eddy, can be found in these sources: Taves, AnnFits, Trances, & Visions: Experiencing Religion and Explaining Experience from Wesley to James. Princeton University Press 1999 (pp 212-218); Peel, Robert. Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Discovery. Boston: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966 (chapter: "Portland 1862"); Gill, Gillian. Mary Baker Eddy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus Books, 1998 (pp 131-146 & 230-233).
  13. Jump up to:a b c d Lewis, James R.; J. Gordon Melton (1992). Perspectives on the New Age. SUNY Press. pp. 16–18. ISBN 0-7914-1213-X.
  14. ^ Harley, Gail M.; Danny L. Jorgensen (2002). Emma Curtis Hopkins: Forgotten Founder of New ThoughtSyracuse University Press. p. 79. ISBN 0-8156-2933-8.
  15. ^ Bednarowski, Mary Farrell (1999). The Religious Imagination of American Women. Indiana University Press. p. 81ISBN 0-253-21338-X.
  16. Jump up to:a b Moskowitz, Eva S. (2001) In Therapy We Trust, The Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-6403-2, p. 19.
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General bibliography[edit]

  • Albanese, Catherine (2007), A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical ReligionYale University Press.
  • Anderson, Alan and Deb Whitehouse. New Thought: A Practical American Spirituality. 2003.
  • Braden, Charles S. Spirits in Rebellion: The Rise and Development of New Thought, Southern Methodist University Press, 1963.
  • Judah, J. Stillson. The History and Philosophy of the Metaphysical Movements in America. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1967. Review by Neil Duddy.
  • McFaul, Thomas R (September–October 2006), "Religion in the Future Global Civilization", The Futurist.
  • Mosley, Glenn R (2006), The History and Future New Thought: Ancient Wisdom of the New Thought Movement, Templeton Foundation Press, ISBN 1-59947-089-6
  • White, Ronald M (1980), "Abstract"New Thought Influences on Father Divine (Masters Thesis), Oxford, OH: Miami University.
  • Albanese, Catherine (2016), The Spiritual Journals of Warren Felt Evans: From Methodism to Mind CureIndiana University Press.

External links[edit]