Ernest Holmes (1887-1960) – founded the International Religious Science movement, wrote the Science of Mind book and numerous other books on metaphysics, and originated the international periodical Science of Mind magazine. Holmes teaching is a modern metaphysics, is a spiritual philosophy. A sense of their relationship to God and their place in the Universe. A positive, supportive approach to daily living.
Thomas Troward (1847-1916) – Born in India. He was a judge for twenty-five years. He studied of scriptures metaphysics. He wrote the Edinburgh Lectures on Mental. He was a painter as well. Ernest Holmes used most of Trowards philosophy.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) – He studied at Harvard Divinity School. He was a poet and wrote essays on “Nature”. He was famous for essays. He also gave lectures. People thought he was outspoken.
Emma Curtis Hopkins (1849-1925) – She is known as the “Teacher of Teachers”. She studied with Mary Baker Eddy. They parted ways and she became an independent teacher of New Thought. She moved to Chicago and opened a college called Emma Hopkins College of Metaphysical Science. Charles and Myrtle Fillmore where one of her students.
Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) – Raised on a farm in New Hampshire. She was sick as a child. She wrote poetry at an early age. She had chronic illness she sought help from Phineas Quimby and her health improved. She was learning about healing methods from Quimby and later denied it and said it was her own. She also used her Bible and prayer for hope and inspiration. She was the foundress of the Christian Scientist Church.
Charles and Myrtle Filmore (1845-1933) – (1854-1948) – The Fillmore’s developed the Unity movement. It was founded in Kansas City, Missouri in 1889. They were influenced by Emma Curtis Hopkins on healing. They shared their insights through magazines, books, pamphlets and through “Silent Unity” a telephone and mail service that offered people help through prayer and counseling. When the Fillmore’s died, the movement was led by their sons and grandchildren.
Phineas Parker Quimby (1802-1866) – He was a clockmaker with a scientific analytical mind who is credited by most as being the “Father of New Thought.” In 1836 Quimby was introduced to mesmerism by a traveling practitioner. Quimby’s work with Burkmar led to his conclusions about the cause of all illness, the source of error beliefs and the mental basis for healing.
Julius A. and Annette G. Dresser – They were students of Quimby. They both became healers and teachers using Quimby’s methods. In 1895, Annetta Dresser wrote a book entitled The Philosophy of P.P. Quimby. It outlined healing and methods that were taught by Quimby. This book influenced Charles Fillmore.
David Dresser Seabury (1885-1960) He was the son of Horatio W. Dresser. He was a famed spiritual psychologist, spent his life striving to help individuals fulfill their responsibilities and discover how to get more out of living. Dr. David Seabury’s writings and lecturers have had a profound impact on the American way of life. He consistently emphasizes the necessity of the individual to recognize his complex nature. Man is an emotional, mental, and spiritual being, and unless, and until he recognizes these three aspects of his nature and discovers how to have them harmonize with each other, difficulties will be encountered.
James Freeman (1759-1835) – A Unitarian clergyman. He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. He received a second education at the Boston Latin Grammar School and attended Harvard College in Massachusetts. He pursued theological studies as a graduate resident. He preached a series of sermons on the unity of God, stating his dissatisfaction with certain parts of the liturgy, and giving his reasons for rejecting the Trinity. He persuaded the church to alter the liturgy, eliminating all references to the Trinity and addressing all players to God the Father. The Chapel was the first church in America to make such changes.
Warren Felt Evans (1817-1889) – He was the first American writer to give literary form to the ideas and methods of spiritual healing. He wrote a book call, “The Mental Cure” in 1869, it was considered the first New Thought book. The book combined was of Franz Anton Mesmer, who illustrated the beneficent impact of the mind on the body for purpose of health, with the spiritual teaching of Emerson, of becoming one with the divine Indwelling Presence. He was educated at Middlebury College and Dartmouth, he became a Methodist Minister in 1837 and continued in the ministry until 1863 when he left to join a Swedenborgian church. His ideas came from Swedenborg, Mesmer, Emerson and Quimby.
Horatio Dresser (1866-1954) – He was the publisher of Quimby’s manuscripts in 1921. He began to practice mental healing along with his parents. He traveled widely, wrote several books, most notably A History of the New Thought Movement, edited several journals, undertook graduate studies at Harvard with William James and received a PH. D in 1907.
Christian Larson (1874-1954) – he was an American New Thought leader and teacher as well as a prolific author of metaphysical and New Thought books. His works affected significant New Thought authors and pioneers, including Religious Science pioneer Ernest Holmes.
Emmet Fox (1886-1951) He was a New Thought spiritual leader of the early 20th century, famous for his large Divine Science church in New York during the depression. He was born in Ireland. He attended Stamford Hill Jesuit college near London and became an electrical engineer. In his early years he discovered that he had healing powers and from that time he studied New Thought. He became to know prominent New Thought writer Thomas Troward. Fox spoke at large halls like Hippodrome (5,500) people and Carnegie Hall. He was also known as a great influence of Alcoholics Anonymous. Fox’s secretary was the mother of one of the men that worked with the co-found Bill W. That was his connection to Alcoholics Anonymous. They would go listen to him speak. Fox wrote “The Sermon on the Mount’” that drew Alcoholics to Fox. This book that spoke of God as the only power, that evil is insubstantial, love, forgiveness, living one day at a time, the trap of resentments and the correspondence of thoughts to the kind of life we live have contributed to an AA philosophy that has transformed the lives of literally millions of recovering alcoholics.
Eric Butterworth (1916-2003) – he is a spokesperson on practical mysticism. He is a legend and spiritual icon in the Unity movement. He is an author of sixteen books on metaphysical spirality, a gifted theologian, philosopher, and lecturer, and for over fifty years a teacher of Practical Christianity. He was born in Canada. He attended Fresno State University and Capital University in Ohio, where he studied music. He trained for ministry at Unity Village in Missouri. He established three Unity ministries in Pittsburgh, Detroit (Unity Temple) largest unity church at the time and wrote the book “A Quest for Truth.” He first started speaking in New York at Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall where attendance grew. He has been on Opera speaking about the book he wrote “Discover the Power Within You,” Oprah stated, “this book changed my perspective on life and religion.”
Malinda Cramer (1845-1906) – Divine Science is unique in that it came to be from the spiritual healing of two women (Nona Brooks). They started separately one in San Francisco and the other in Colorado and combined their organizations. Malinda had health problems for twenty-five years. Doctors couldn’t help and she was fed up. Thus, she wrote in “Divine Science and Healing,” she stopped believing in old beliefs. She started teaching full time in 1888, her program called Divine Science. She had also launched a magazine called “Harmony.” She died from injuries in an earthquake 1906
Nona Brooks (1861-1945) – Divine Science – Nona was born into a family with lots of health problems, they moved to Colorado for an improved health climate. Nona developed a serious throat ailment that made it difficult to eat, causing her to lose weight. A friend told her about a class taught by Emma Curtis Hopkins it stressed the Omnipresence and they affirmed: “God is my health, I cannot be sick.” Nona was healed. She declared that the whole room was filled with light and later that evening at dinner with her family. She was teaching full time and launched a magazine called Fulfillment, in 1902. The magazine brought the two women together and that is how the movement came as one.
Annie Rix Militz (1856-1924) – Homes of Truth – Annie was a student of Emma Curtis Hopkins. She was deaf in one ear and got healed on the third day and she found her lifework. She was a school teacher in San Francisco. She left teaching and joined with the owner of a metaphysical bookshop in San Francisco owned by a Mrs. Gorey. At the book store, she was able to read a wide variety of spiritual books, she had a great appreciation on diverse pathways to spiritual development. The bookstore grew from a one-room shop to eventually take over the entire building, giving the opportunity to hold classes. This was named the “Home of Truth.” She continued at the book store for three years and later was called by Hopkins to teach with her in Chicago until she died in 1896.
Emilie Cady (1848-1941) – American homeopathic physician and author of New Thought spiritual writings. Her book Lessons in Truth, A Course of Twelve Lessons in Practical Christianity is now considered one of the core texts on Unity Church teaching. It is the most widely read book in that movement. It has sold over 1.6 million copies and has been translated into eleven languages and braille. She was a schoolteacher in her hometown. She went on to pursue the field of medicine, and enrolled in the Homeopathic Medical College of the State of New York. She graduated in 1871 and became one of the first woman physicians in America. She was inspired and influenced by Biblical teachings and the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emmerson, Emma Curtis Hopkins, the New Thought and Mary Baker Eddy.
Fenwicke Holmes (1883-1973) – American author, Ordained as a Congregational minister, and Religious Science leader. He is the brother of Ernest Holmes. By some, he is known as the dean of metaphysical movement throughout the world. He had a Ph. D. had a broad background of Scholarship creative writings and lecturing, He received a B.A. from Colby College Maine. Fenwicke is widely recognized for being an important factor in the establishment of Religious Science and the founding of the United Centers for Spiritual Living. In 1927 Fenwicke helped Ernest found the institute of Religious Science and School of Philosophy as a means to spreading there teaching. He wrote The Faith That Heals and The Law of Mind in Action plus many others including writings with Earnest. He was the editor of Uplift magazine and the co-owner and director of the Metaphysical Sanitarium, Long Beach; pastor of Divine Science Church of the Healing Christ, New York, and former president of the International College of Mental Science, he wrote more than twenty books, lectured for fifty years in America and abroad and was a frequent radio and television speaker.
Joel Goldsmith (1892-1964) – was born in New York City. His parents were practicing Jews. Joel’s father became critically ill while in England and word was sent to the Goldsmith family to come for the body. However, according to Joel, his father was healed by a Christian Science Practitioner in London. From his early adulthood, Joel experienced many spiritual experiences. Joel was a healer who spent many years in spiritual studies, reading original scriptures of Aramaic, Greek and Sanskrit origins. His first book The Infinite Way, was published in 1948. He worked in the garment district of New York City, where he owned his own business. He got sick with pneumonia and a Christian Science practitioner healed him. Strangers heard of this and came up to him on the street and asked for healing and prayer. He had no religious training, but these people allegedly were healed. He entered the Christian Science Church and worked at Rikers Island prison as a First Reader. 1938 he wrote a book called The Infinite Way, which came to the attention of Willing Publishers. The book’s title also became the name associated with his spiritual message and work. He had many writings that were followed by transcriptions of his lecturers which had been recorded in late 1940. After the writing work, he expected to retire to a life of contemplation. However, the work prompted people to seek him out as a spiritual teacher, leading to the extension of his career, teaching and writing.
Ralph Waldo Trine (1866-1958) – He was an American philosopher, author, and teacher, He wrote many books on the New Thought movement. Trine was a close friend of Henry Ford and had several conversations with him about success in life. Triune was a student and teacher of Emerson College. He received an honorary Doctorate of Law degree in 1938. Triune was influenced by the writings of Emmet Fox, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Triune’s book “What All the World’s A-Seeking” amplified on ideas and concepts Drummond brought up originally in his book, “The Greatest Thing in the World and Other.”