The New Thought Movement. Part 2

The Joey Bolognone Podcast

The World was torn in two directions at the turn of the 20th century: One school of thought believed the world could be perfected through manipulation of science and genetics, resulting in practices like eugenics and lethal pharmaceutical drug testing in poor, racially diverse neighborhoods and adoration for technological exploration among all classes of people.

The other school of thought believed that the untapped powers of the mind could transform the world by grasping at and attaining a deeper understanding of the spiritual powers of the universe. This metaphysical approach to the world was driven by the New Thought Movement, which transformed society in the west with its philosophical and religious outlook on spiritual law. This episode takes a close examination into the life of one of the New Thought Movement’s most influential, and, controversial figures in the early 20th century, Father Divine.

As African Americans are migrating all across the country in search of a better life promised by the American dream, they are ready for the promises that the New Thought Movement will offer. Desperate for hope in the face of racial injustice and economic disparity, Father Divine will announce that the consciousness of the presence of the Spirit of God is operating in a new way in the world today, creating physical health, wealth, and material blessings for those who can get their mind to embrace God’s goodness in faith and expect transforming results.

For further reading: (Books/articles) on The New Thought Movement’s Father Divine

The History of New Thought: From Mind Cure to Positive Thinking and the Prosperity Gospel.

John Hoshor (1936). God in a Rolls Royce: The Rise of Father Divine, Madman, Menace, Or Messiah. .

Kenneth E. Burnham, God Comes to America: Father Divine and the Peace Mission Movement.

Carleton Mabee, Promised Land: Father Divine's Interracial Communities in Ulster County, New York.

Kate Bowler, Blessed.

Ronald M. White, New Thought Influences on Father Divine (Masters Thesis, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, 1980)

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