The purely spiritual message of Jesus Christ began to be
clouded over as the years passed and those who had known him personally
disappeared. Early in the 4th century Christianity was made an established and
subsidized church by Constantine, and after that the Spiritual Idea rapidly
faded out. As the centuries passed, the Spiritual Idea would emerge from time
to time here or there among small groups of people (of which the 17th century Quakers
are probably the most notable) but it was not until modern New Thought appeared a hundred years ago in New
England that the Spiritual Idea became fairly wide-spread in the world. This is
really the Second Coming of the Christ prophesied by Jesus himself.
Like all significant
movements it came into the race mind through several different channels at
about the same time. No one person can be said to have "originated"
it. Emerson may be
regarded as the prophet of the movement. Phineas
Parkhurst Quimby
did practical healing in Portland, Maine, and
taught several students who afterwards went out and spread the teaching in
different ways. The New England Transcendentalist Movement was really part of
the same current of thought, and included in addition to Emerson himself,
Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, Thoreau, Theodore
Parker and others.
New Thought as such has always been a practical
movement and has stood for healing, and in this respect gradually
separated itself from those who were primarily concerned with philosophical
speculation.
Doubtless,
it was, in part, a reaction to the terrible Calvinism which had gripped New
England for so long.
What we call New Thought is, of course, only the
primitive New Testament teaching restated in modern form. It is essentially a
Back-to-Jesus movement.
In the 1880's there were several independent leaders
teaching New Thought. One of these, Mrs. Emma Curtis Hopkins, had a genius for inspiring teachers. She might be called
the teacher's teacher (Teacher
of Teachers). About 1886 she held a class of 15
or 20 people in Chicago and most of these students went out and started a movement
of some kind for spreading the Truth. Several of today's well known
organizations spring from that class.
New Thought or Christian metaphysics was taken to England in the
late 80's by two or three people who had studied with Mrs. Hopkins, or independently. The best known was Frances Lord [1] who wrote a text book that had considerable vogue in
its day. Since that time there have always been several metaphysical centers in
London. The best known has been the old Higher Thought Centre which began in the late 90's in Kensington and is still
continuing under the name of New Thought at 6 Henrietta Place, Cavendish
Square. Miss Alice Callow, the original secretary, still lives in London and
continues her interest in the movement. Judge Troward joined this center on his return from India, and
delivered some of his lectures there.
The New Thought movement does not seem to have been influenced in any
way by the other churches. Its approach to God is radically different. On the
other hand, all the orthodox churches have been influenced to a greater or
lesser extent by New Thought.
New Thought ideas have been appearing more and more in sermons and
religious books during the last forty years. Gradually, and almost
unconsciously it has helped to wear down the old theology in its various forms,
and today we find New Thought ideas (although not so designated) in religious
writings of every kind. They also turn up regularly in newspaper editorials and
political speeches. New Thought books are actually used in the pulpits of a number of
orthodox churches today with credit being honorably given.
This kind of
infiltration is the way in which the
New Thought movement
has chiefly influenced the world. The number of people calling themselves
New Thoughters
has always been comparatively small, but their
indirect influence has been correspondingly large.
New Thought Centers
have been most successful when the teachings has been kept strictly on the
Christ lines, extraneous subjects being excluded, and where, in consequence,
good healing work has been done. One good healing in a Center brings more
converts then a hundred sermons.
____________________________________
Dr. Fox is the Pastor
of the Church of the Healing Christ, New York City, which holds its Sunday and
Wednesday services in the Manhattan Opera House. Dr. Fox is also a member of
the Executive Board of the I.N.T.A. http://www.ppquimby.com/inta/inta001.htm
[1](Henrietta) Frances Lord (1848 - 1923) was
a British translator and feminist. She rose to particular prominence as the
first translator of Ibsen’s works, including in 1882 Nora (later A
Doll’s House). In 1885 she translated Ghosts.
By
1883 Frances Lord was a theosophist and
inspired Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her daughter, Harriot Stanton Blatch to study Blavatsky. It was while she was in America, 1887-8, visiting Mrs.
Stanton and her daughter that she discovered Christian Science.
Christian Science Healing: Its Principles and
Practices (1888)
[Partial Contents: Twelve Lectures which
usually constitute a course of instruction in Christian Science; A simple plan
for treatment; General directions on healing; Healers self-training; Teaching;
Books; Ought Christian Science work ever to be paid for; Home-healing;
Circumstances; Children and education; A simple account of the doctrine of
karma or reincarnation; A short abstract of the Bhagavad Gita.]
“One of her (Emma Curtis Hopkins) early students, Frances Lord (Henrietta Frances Lord), author of “Christian Science Healing: Its Principles and Practices (1888)” carried the word abroad to England.” [America's Alternative Religions edited by Timothy Miller 1995]
From
The New Thought Bulletin
Published by the
International New Thought Alliance
General Headquarters,
1713 K Street, N. W.
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Vol. 27 No. 1 Washington, D. C. January, 1944
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Vol. 27 No. 1 Washington, D. C. January, 1944
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