History of Unity

As I have mentioned before in this blog, I have been exploring New Thought quite a bit over the last several months in particular. Lately I have been focusing on the Unity part of that movement that also includes Religious Science (Science of Mind) and Divine Science. I was fortunate several evenings ago to hear a presentation of the history of the Unity movement in particular.

The roots of Unity extend most recently back into the New Thought movements of the 19th century. Unity was eventually created out of the life and writings of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore. One strand of that line of thought comes from the background of Christian Science through Emma Curtis Hopkins and Mary Baker Eddy. Another strand comes from the American Transcendentalist philosophers including Emerson and Thoreau. A third strand comes out of a more Gnostic or "secret" strand of thought.

Unity itself is enclosed in the larger New Thought container. New Thought includes Unity as well as Religious Science and Divine Science. Religious Science (originally Science of Mind) was founded and inspired primarily by the writings of Ernest Holmes, who was a very active metaphysical writer and teacher in the early 20th century. The metaphysical underpinnings of New Thought go back to Hinduism through Plato, Neo-Platonism and many other steps up through the 19th century philosophies mentioned above.

All New Thought supports all paths to spirituality and accepts all religious orientations. I don't know much about Divine Science, but I can compare Religious Science to Unity to some degree. Where Religious Science appears to be more focused on the metaphysical, Unity includes that focus but also includes a relatively strong component of spiritual and physical healing, perhaps due to the influence of Christian Science. Unity also provides a clear articulation of Five Principles in order to give some abstract support to a common body of belief. These are not dogmatic commandments, but instead have much more breathing room for incorporation into a variety of lifestyles and situations.