New History of New Thought<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John S. Haller Jr.'s The History of New Thought helped me understand a subject that has always vexed me. Several years ago, I read Catherine Albanese's\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New History of New Thought\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John S. Haller Jr.'s The History of New Thought helped me understand a subject that has always vexed me. Several years ago, I read Catherine Albanese's\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Anxious Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-08T09:39:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-08T04:42:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"johnturner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"johnturner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/\",\"name\":\"New History of New Thought\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-08T09:39:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-08T04:42:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/976685779e3256328b03af5f2c9d69ca\"},\"description\":\"John S. Haller Jr.'s The History of New Thought helped me understand a subject that has always vexed me. Several years ago, I read Catherine Albanese's\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New History of New Thought\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/\",\"name\":\"Anxious Bench\",\"description\":\"The Relevance of Religious History for Today\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/976685779e3256328b03af5f2c9d69ca\",\"name\":\"johnturner\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f393838d8f979f64dbee7fd63fd8bfdc?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f393838d8f979f64dbee7fd63fd8bfdc?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"johnturner\"},\"description\":\"In the fall of 2012, I will become Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at George Mason University. I study, teach, and write about the history of religion in the United States. My primary interests revolve around mainline Protestantism, evangelicalism, and -- more recently -- Mormonism. I am the author of Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ (2008) and Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet (2012).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/author\/johnturner\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New History of New Thought","description":"John S. Haller Jr.'s The History of New Thought helped me understand a subject that has always vexed me. Several years ago, I read Catherine Albanese's","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New History of New Thought","og_description":"John S. Haller Jr.'s The History of New Thought helped me understand a subject that has always vexed me. Several years ago, I read Catherine Albanese's","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/","og_site_name":"Anxious Bench","article_published_time":"2012-11-08T09:39:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-11-08T04:42:10+00:00","author":"johnturner","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"johnturner","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/","name":"New History of New Thought","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-11-08T09:39:38+00:00","dateModified":"2012-11-08T04:42:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/976685779e3256328b03af5f2c9d69ca"},"description":"John S. Haller Jr.'s The History of New Thought helped me understand a subject that has always vexed me. Several years ago, I read Catherine Albanese's","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New History of New Thought"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/","name":"Anxious Bench","description":"The Relevance of Religious History for Today","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/976685779e3256328b03af5f2c9d69ca","name":"johnturner","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f393838d8f979f64dbee7fd63fd8bfdc?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f393838d8f979f64dbee7fd63fd8bfdc?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"johnturner"},"description":"In the fall of 2012, I will become Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at George Mason University. I study, teach, and write about the history of religion in the United States. My primary interests revolve around mainline Protestantism, evangelicalism, and -- more recently -- Mormonism. I am the author of Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ (2008) and Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet (2012).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/author\/johnturner\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":1954,"date":"2012-11-08T05:39:38","date_gmt":"2012-11-08T09:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?p=1954"},"modified":"2012-11-08T00:42:10","modified_gmt":"2012-11-08T04:42:10","slug":"new-history-of-new-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2012\/11\/new-history-of-new-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"New History of New Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

John S. Haller Jr.\u2019s The History of New Thought <\/em><\/a>helped me understand a subject that has always vexed me.<\/p>\n

Several years ago, I read Catherine Albanese\u2019s magisterial A Republic of Mind and Spirit<\/em>, which presents \u201cmetaphysical religion\u201d as a commonly omitted branch of American religious history. \u201cMetaphysical religion\u2026\u201d she argues, \u201cis at least as important as evangelicalism in fathoming the shape and scope of American religious history.\u201d [Partly following the lead of Jon Butler, she also identifies a \u201cliturgical\u201d form of religiosity in the \u201cstate-church\/mainstream-denominational tradition\u201d (catholic and Catholic). Metaphysical branches of religion, by contrast, privilege the unity between the divine and human mind, theorize a correspondences between the human, material world and a spiritual universe, and believe that a flow of divine energy from above to below has the potential to heal both physical and spiritual illnesses. Albanese placed all sorts of groups under the umbrella of metaphysical, from early Mormons<\/a> to Christian Science to New Age practices.<\/p>\n

One of the things on my long academic to-do list is to reread Republic of Mind and Spirit<\/em>. When one is used to thinking about American religious history in terms of evangelicalism, mainline Protestantism, Catholicism, and secularism, it can be hard to wrap one\u2019s mind around all of the movements that she classifies as metaphysical, and few of them are easy to grasp with only a superficial encounter.<\/p>\n

Thus, I was grateful to get a copy of John Haller\u2019s The History of New Thought<\/em> from the Patheos Book Club. Haller is quite correct, in my view, to see many aspects of popular religious culture today as at least partly indebted to nineteenth-century New Thought. In the middle of that century, \u201ca handful of spiritually minded entrepreneurs attracted to the recently discovered \u201csciences\u201d of neurology, mesmerism, and phrenology sought to graft themselves to a mixture of liberal Christianity, transcendentalism, Spiritualism, and Swedenbourgianism.\u201d [I\u2019ve long found Swedenbourg a particularly fascinating figure \u2014 can anyone recommend a first-rate biography?] In a sense, Arminian evangelicalism, early Mormonism, transcendentalism, and spiritualism were all strong reactions against a somewhat decaying Calvinism.<\/p>\n

Haller\u2019s book has several virtues. The first chapter is a splendid chronicle of pseudo-scientific healing movements and their leaders from Franz Mesmer to Andrew Jackson Davis. I\u2019ve never read an account that connects the dots along the way so succinctly and clearly.<\/p>\n

I also appreciate the way that Haller treats the debasement of New Thought ideas (debasement if one takes Swedenborg or Emerson as a starting point rather than phrenologists and Spiritualists) in the twentieth century. \u201cShorn of any pretense to piety,\u201d contemporary New Thought\u2019s writers and lecturers \u201ccontinue to cash in on the public\u2019s demand for spiritual instruction and revelation,\u201d offering access to the \u2018secrets\u2019 and \u2018keys\u2019 to success and self-healing.\u201d Witness The Secret<\/em> or The Celestial Prophecy<\/em>. Anyone interested in the rise of the evangelical prosperity gospel or of therapeutic forms of evangelicalism more generally would find much grist for reflection in Haller\u2019s book.<\/p>\n

The diversity of American religious history always staggers me. So much to learn.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"