“Christian Science and New Thought in California: Seeking Health, Happiness and Prosperity in Paradise”

Simmons, John K. and Brian Wilson. “Christian Science and New Thought in California: Seeking Health, Happiness and Prosperity in Paradise,” Pages 66-85 in Competing Visions of Paradise: The California Experience of 19th Century Sectarianism. Santa Barbara: Fithian Press, 1993.

Although Simmons sees major differences between the Christian Science and New Thought metaphysical movements, he finds at their heart a “metaphysical perfectionism” in sync with the late 19^th-century American “can-do” spirit. This spirit was especially on display in “the golden glow of California culture” (68) with its promises of prosperity. A free-wheeling northern California of gold diggers and immigrants was attracted to metaphysical movements because they provided an “interior map” to guide the lost and alienated. The more affluent enculturated southern California, settled mostly by Midwesterners with their conservative values, gravitated toward these movements’ emphasis on order and perfection. Simmons documents the distinctly feminist roots of metaphysical movements, with women as the real “movers and shakers.” He also sees the various New Thought movements owing a debt to Eddy, not only because they borrowed heavily from her theology and organizational structure, but because she provided members “little theological/intellectual tether” (74) with which to explore outside the metaphysical universe of Christian Science. Therefore, some key women left Christian Science to become teachers of New Thought—most of whom had primary influence in California. Simmons finishes by exploring the reasons of decline among all these metaphysical movements today.

ISBN-10: 1564740641
ISBN-13: 978-1564740649