What Makes a Founder? : Determining the Founder of New Thought
Date
2018-08-14
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Abstract
This thesis both rekindles the debate over the title of “founder” of New Thought and presents a definitive statement on who should be considered the “founder.” In this debate, the long-standing and most accepted “founder” is Phineas Parkhurst Quimby. Phineas Quimby was a mental healer who is credited with inspiring many important figures in metaphysical movements in America including Mary Baker Eddy, Warren Felt Evans and Julius and Annetta Dresser. In various histories on New Thought, Quimby is regarded as the intellectual founder for the movement. However, this view of Quimby is the product of later developments in the New Thought movement that required an intellectual founder to validate its status over Christian Science. This thesis builds upon more recent suggestions and argues that Emma Curtis Hopkins is the organizational and theological founder of New Thought. Hopkins’ role in the structural development of the New Thought religion and its major branches has been recognized in titles such as “teacher’s teacher” and “Mother of New Thought.” Hopkins, through her extensive teaching activities and the foundation of the Emma Curtis Hopkins College of Christian Science, influenced several significant figures in New Thought including Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, the founders of Unity; Ernest Holmes, the founder of Religious Science; Annie Rix Militz, the founder of Homes of Truth; and Malinda Cramer and the Brooks sisters, the founders of Divine Science. These activities establish her status as the organizational founder of New Thought. However, Hopkins’ theological contributions to the formation of New Thought have been unduly minimized due to the shadow of Quimby and the lack of recognition of her distinctive intellectual contributions. This thesis validates Hopkins’ contributions to New Thought theology, especially in reference to its construction as a religion and some of its distinctive ideas.
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New Thought, Founder, Religious Founder, Emma Curtis Hopkins, Phineas Quimby, New Religious Movements, Horatio Dresser, History of New Thought
Citation
Shopf, K. (2018). What Makes a Founder? : Determining the Founder of New Thought (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/32815