New Thought

From this movement emerged several religious denominations that are actively spreading today, including Divine Science , Religious Science , the Unity Church and the Universal Foundation for Better Living, with the largest of these being the Unity Church, comprised of over two million members worldwide. Although Emma Curtis Hopkins, formerly associated with Christian Science , was considered the "teacher of teachers" of several key New Thought leaders, Christian Science developed in a different direction and is not considered a New Thought denomination.

New Thought religions generally share a core belief in Monism , the universal presence of a creative energy, or God, within the world and within all people. Some take literally the Christian teaching that "the kingdom of heaven is within."

The central teaching of New Thought is that thought evolves and unfolds, and our thinking creates our experience of the world. The movement places great emphasis in Positive Thinking , Affirmation s, Meditation , and Prayer . New Thought churches often avoid dogmatic pronouncements about the afterlife or other theological questions, and vary in the degree to which they associate themselves with Christianity or other major world religions. However, they generally have been influenced by a wide range of ideas.

Although New Thought churches are often mis-identified with the New Age movement, New Thought beliefs predate contemporary New Age thinking by nearly a century, and New Thought churches typically do not share major tenets of New Age thinking. New Thought is distinctive from traditional religious movements in that it is expected to evolve and not remain static. As humankind gains greater understanding of the world, it is logical that belief systems evolve as they assimilate new knowledge.

HISTORY

The following individuals figured prominently in the history of the New Thought Movement:

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New Thought