Ernest Holmes
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Ernest Shurtleff Holmes (1887-1960) was the founder of a movement known as Religious Science, also known as "Science of Mind," a part of the New Thought Movement. He is well known as the author of "The Science of Mind" and numerous other metaphysical books, and as the founder of Science of Mind magazine, in continuous publication since 1927. His books, radio broadcasts and recordings continue to reach an audience of thousands of people world-wide, and the principles he taught as his Science of Mind have inspired and influenced many generations of metaphysical students and teachers.
Ernest Holmes was born the youngest of nine boys on January 21, 1887 on a small farm near Lincoln, Maine. He received his education in rural schools, first in Lincoln, and later at Gould's Academy in Bethel, Maine. He said: "I quit school when I was about 15 and didn't go back except to study public speaking." From 1908 to 1910, working in a store to pay his way, he attended the Leland Powers School of Expression, an acting and public speaking academy in Boston, MA.
It was at the Leland Powers School that he became interested in the teachings of Christian Science. One of his instructors was a Reader in the Christian Science Mother Church in Boston, and a few of his fellow students were church members. He became interested in the Christian Science concept of healing through prayer, and began his own study of many of the ideas that would become known as the New Thought movement.
In 1912 he moved to Los Angeles, where his brother Fenwick had previously established a small church, a mission of New Thought ideas. He worked as a purchasing agent for the city of Venice, and in his free time continued his study of metaphysics. It was in New York that he studied spiritual healing under Emma Curtis Hopkins, and began lecturing on metaphysics in 1915. He quickly attracted a following, and went on to develop his own approach to healing through mind and spirit. He published his first book, "Creative Mind," in 1919, and in 1926, he published his classic work, The Science of Mind, at which point he established the Institute of Religious Science. A revised version of The Science of Mind was issued in 1938.
Holmes went on to write numerous books of theology, influenced by not only Emma Curtis Hopkins but also by Phineas Quimby, Thomas Troward, Ralph Waldo Emerson, various other New Thought writers of his day, and the texts of world religions. He was a popular lecturer in the Los Angeles area, and though at first was reluctant to do so, ultimately formed a religious denomination now known as the United Church of Religious Science.
In 1949, he began to host what was to become a popular weekly radio program, "This Thing Called Life" on the Mutual Network. He began each broadcast with the words: "There is a power for good in the universe greater than you are and you can use it."
Religious Science, like many New Thought faiths, emphasizes positive thinking, influence of circumstances through mental processes, recognition of a creative energy source and natural law (referred to as God, First Principle, Universal Intelligence, and other terms) that manifests as the physical universe, and the rejection of a good/evil duality.
Holmes' teachings expanded the practice of New Thought ideas in southern California, although prior New Thought lecturers such as Elizabeth Delvine King had preceded him. As with many New Thought leaders of his time, Holmes studied with Emma Curtis Hopkins, a writer and former member of the Christian Science faith. While Holmes studied widely, he did not embrace any particular teaching, and instead saw each as offering its own interpretation of an essential law that grounds all thought and action.
Holmes' approach tended to focus less on defining a cosmology than other New Thought movements such as the Unity School of Christianity. Holmes denied any "special revelation", contending that Religious Science was not the "only way", but instead a "good way". Holmes published numerous books, although "The Science of Mind", the mainspring of his work, has now had over fifty printings. He taught that religion is "open at the top," viewing it as an evolving work in progress. In a biography written after his death, his brother Fenwicke cited Holmes' expressed opinion that all beliefs are valid to those who hold them.
Holmes has been grouped by critics among the practitioners of the many "mind cure" movements. Others have argued that New Thought ideas have been melded into the popular culture. The influence of New Thought authors, including Holmes' work, upon the subsequent New Age and human dynamics movements has also been noted. Holmes did not believe in reincarnation or magic, but taught spiritual mind treatment, a type of scientific prayer. He taught that there is a natural law, and we can use it; and that we create our experience of reality with our thinking.
He received an honorary doctorate later in life, in recognition of his accomplishments as a prolific writer, teacher, and public speaker.
Ernest Holmes died on April 7, 1960, in Los Angeles. He left no children. His life-companion had passed away two years earlier. Though the Religious Science movement split around the time of his death, both of the movements that came from the split, the United Church of Religious Science and Religious Science International, continue to recognize Holmes as their founder and use his works often. Some Religious Science churches emphasize Christianity much less than did Holmes, who considered himself to be a Christian, and believe in doctrines that Holmes did not believe in, such as reincarnation.
