Church of Divine Science

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2007)

The Church of Divine Science is a religious group founded in Denver, Colorado in the late 19th century, during the dramatic growth of the New Thought Movement in the United States. The church's founders were Malinda Cramer and Nona L. Brooks,[1] with Fannie Brooks James, Alethea Brooks Small and Kate Bingham also playing decisive roles.[2] Both Phineas Parkhurst Quimby[3] and Emma Curtis Hopkins, noted New Thought leader of the day, were a direct influence. Nona Brooks was introduced to Hopkins' teachings through a student of Hopkins in Pueblo, Colorado.[4]

Divine Science originally began in San Francisco in the 1880s under Malinda Cramer. There is also a loose connection with Charles Fillmore, founder of Unity Church in Missouri. By 1918 there were churches in Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland, Boston, Portland, Spokane, Saint Louis and New York. By 1925 churches had opened in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, Topeka, Washington D.C., Cleveland, Illinois, and Iowa.[5] Today, Divine Science has churches in Denver (the founding church), Washington D.C., Greater St. Louis (three churches), Roanoke, Virginia (two churches), San Antonio, Texas, Pueblo, Colorado, South San Jose Hills, California, and other locations.[6]

Divine Science defines itself as "an organized teaching pertaining to God and the manifestation of God in Creation." It holds that its foundation truth is "that limitless Being, God, is Good, is equally present everywhere, and is the All of everything." It defines God as "pure Spirit, absolute, changeless, eternal, manifesting in and as all Creation, yet also transcending Creation" and that evil is therefore neither necessary nor permanent and has has no reality within itself, but has existence only so long as human beings support it by believing in it.[7] Like other New Thought churches, Divine Science considers faith healing very important, and emulates the work of Jesus, who is portrayed in the New Testament curing many people.[citation needed] The Denver Church's founder, Nona Brooks, stated, "The whole of Divine Science is the practice of the Presence of God. Truth comes through the Bible, receptive prayer, contemplation and meditation and the practice of the presence of God here and now."[cite this quote]

In recent years, Divine Science, with few site-based churches, has expanded its presence through cyber-ministries and e-mail ministries. Northwoods Resources in Wisconsin provides many materials online.[8] In addition, "Symphony of Love" in Santa Fe issues a weekly e-mail lesson free of charge, and has an international outreach. Symphony of Love is a group member of the Divine Science Federation, the denominational headquarters, and the INTA: International New Thought Alliance.[citation needed] In addition, there is a Web-based ministry in New York State focusing on the teachings and legacy of Emmet Fox, a Divine Science minister who preached to the largest church audience in the U.S. during the Depression,[9] holding weekly services for 5,5000 at the New York Hippodrome until 1938,[10] and after that at Carnegie Hall.[11]

[edit] See also

Malinda Cramer, a founder of the Church of Divine Science, in an undated photo.
Malinda Cramer, a founder of the Church of Divine Science, in an undated photo.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Albanese (2007, p.316); Haley (1995, p.326)
  2. ^ Wessinger et al. (2006, p.758).
  3. ^ Hazen (2000, p.113)
  4. ^ History of Divine Science, Divine Science Federation
  5. ^ Sattler, p. 102.
  6. ^ Divine Science Links Links to affiliated Divine Science churches, schools, and study groups throughout the world
  7. ^ Divine Science Church of Denver.
  8. ^ Northwoods Spiritual Resource Center.
  9. ^ Sattler, p. 102.
  10. ^ Time magazine.
  11. ^ "Religious Leaders of America".

[edit] References

Albanese, Catherine L. (2007). A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11089-0. OCLC 68221008. 
Bainbridge, William Sims (November 2004). "Religion and science". Futures 36 (9): pp.1009–1023. Amsterdam and London: Elsevier Science. doi:10.1016/j.futures.2004.02.003. ISSN 0016-3287. OCLC 198488307. 
Gale Publishing Group, "Emmet Fox" in Religious Leaders of America, 2nd ed. Gale Group, 1999. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008., accessed June 2008.
Haley, Gail (1995). "New Thought and the Harmonial Family", in Timothy Miller (ed.): America's Alternative Religions, SUNY series in religious studies. Albany: State University of New York Press, pp.325–330. ISBN 0-7914-2397-2. OCLC 30476551. 
Hanegraaff, Wouter (1996). New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought, Studies in the history of religions, vol. 72. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishers. ISBN 90-04-10696-0. OCLC 35229227. 
Hazen, Craig James (2000). The Village Enlightenment in America: Popular Religion and Science in the Nineteenth Century. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02512-1. OCLC 41156302. 
Holmes, Ernest (1991). Living the Science of Mind. Marina del Rey, CA: DeVorss & Co. ISBN 0-87516-627-X. OCLC 23177601. 
Lucas, Phillip (1995). "The Association for Research and Enlightenment: Saved by the New Age", in Timothy Miller (ed.): America's Alternative Religions, SUNY series in religious studies. Albany: State University of New York Press, pp.353–362. ISBN 0-7914-2397-2. OCLC 30476551. 
Sattler, Beryl (1999). Each Mind a Kingdom: American Women, Sexual Purity, and the New Thought Movement, 1875–1920. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21765-9. OCLC 39654723. 
Stark, Rodney; and William Sims Bainbridge (December 1980). "Secularization and Cult Formation in the Jazz Age". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 20 (4): pp.360–373. Washington, DC: Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. ISSN 0021-8294. OCLC 1783125. 
Time magazine, "New Thought" (November 7 1938). Time. 
Wessinger, Catherine; Dell deChant and William Michael Ashcraft (2006). "Theosophy, New Thought and New Age Movements", in Rosemary Skinner Keller and Rosemary Radford Ruether (eds.), Marie Cantlon (associate ed.): Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America, vol. 2. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp.753–767. ISBN 978-0-253-34687-2. OCLC 61711172. 

[edit] Further reading

  • Hutcheson, J. D.; Taylor, G. A. (1973) "Religious variables, political system characteristics, and policy outputs in the American states" in American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 17, No. 2 (May, 1973), pp. 414-421.
  • Melton, JG (1987) "How New is New? The Flowering of the 'New' Religious Consciousness since 1965" in The Future of New Religious Movements, David Bromley, ed.

[edit] External links

[edit] Divine Science organizations

v • d • e
Theological thought
Religion Portal
Languages