Glenn Clark (1882-1956)
Founder of "The Camps Farthest Out"
A Presbyterian, reared in the church, teaching in a Presbyterian college, and Sunday School teacher. For thirty years he was a professor of literature and athletic coach at Macalester College, A Presbyterian liberal arts college in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was highly influential in introducing New Thought ideas and techniques into the churches.
He was deeply religious and something of a mystic, a great believer in prayer. He first came into prominence through an article in the Atlantic Monthly, "The Soul's Sincere Desire"
In 1930 he organized a summer camp of his own in Koronis, Mn., to which he gave the name "Camp Farthest Out." By 1961 there were forty-one of them, meeting in almost every section of the country. He sometimes called the camps "laboratories for experimentation in the art of praying," as prayer and the disciplines of silence and meditation played such an important role.
In “A Man's Reach”, he wrote of being brought to an unusual interest in prayer, and it became his major concern and emphasis. It set him to reading especially the works of the mystics and about them and their approach to God. Among the books he read was “Life Understood” by F.L. Rawson, a onetime Christian Scientist, departed from that church, who had become an influential leader of New Thought in England. The thing that attracted Clark to Rawson, he says, was that "he believed one's prayers could be just as scientifically infallible as the laws of physics and chemistry."During a study group of Rawson’s book, the group would go into the silence, trying to feel the presence of God. The leader would then read a list of names of people to be prayed for, and the members of the group would use the technique of denials and affirmations. Clark discovered "that all Mankind was One, and if we cleared our own mind, the trouble of the one we prayed for would disappear. One strong denial and a number of positive affirmations seemed to be the most effective way to clear our minds."
This was (and is), of course, good metaphysical practice, employed by both Christian Science and New Thought, and Glenn Clark unhesitatingly adopted it and carried it into his own ministry and teaching.
Founder of "The Camps Farthest Out"
A Presbyterian, reared in the church, teaching in a Presbyterian college, and Sunday School teacher. For thirty years he was a professor of literature and athletic coach at Macalester College, A Presbyterian liberal arts college in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was highly influential in introducing New Thought ideas and techniques into the churches.
He was deeply religious and something of a mystic, a great believer in prayer. He first came into prominence through an article in the Atlantic Monthly, "The Soul's Sincere Desire"
In 1930 he organized a summer camp of his own in Koronis, Mn., to which he gave the name "Camp Farthest Out." By 1961 there were forty-one of them, meeting in almost every section of the country. He sometimes called the camps "laboratories for experimentation in the art of praying," as prayer and the disciplines of silence and meditation played such an important role.
In “A Man's Reach”, he wrote of being brought to an unusual interest in prayer, and it became his major concern and emphasis. It set him to reading especially the works of the mystics and about them and their approach to God. Among the books he read was “Life Understood” by F.L. Rawson, a onetime Christian Scientist, departed from that church, who had become an influential leader of New Thought in England. The thing that attracted Clark to Rawson, he says, was that "he believed one's prayers could be just as scientifically infallible as the laws of physics and chemistry."During a study group of Rawson’s book, the group would go into the silence, trying to feel the presence of God. The leader would then read a list of names of people to be prayed for, and the members of the group would use the technique of denials and affirmations. Clark discovered "that all Mankind was One, and if we cleared our own mind, the trouble of the one we prayed for would disappear. One strong denial and a number of positive affirmations seemed to be the most effective way to clear our minds."
This was (and is), of course, good metaphysical practice, employed by both Christian Science and New Thought, and Glenn Clark unhesitatingly adopted it and carried it into his own ministry and teaching.
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