Fenwicke Holmes is best known today for being Ernest Holmes handsome brother. Yet as many models know, both male and female, beauty does not preclude intelligence, in fact most often they go hand in hand. Elder brother Fenwicke had the advantages of an education at Colby College. Some Religious Science ministers claim Fenwicke as their most important influence.

Links to Fenwicke Holmes's Works:

• The Faith That Heals - (1919)
• The Law of Mind in Action - (1918)

He also wrote The Voice Celestial with his brother Ernest
explore the Ernest Holmes Collection

Wikipedia states correctly that Fenwicke Lindsay is recognized as being an important factor in the founding of Religious Science, yet this is not always shared by those in some New Thought "transdenominations. " The primary focus of these "transdenominiations" is on his brother Ernest with only occasional lip service paid to Fenwicke. This is part of the tendency to substitute folklore for history. When we explore the actual history of New Thought, letting go of the folklore created primarily to combat the aggressive attacks of Mary Baker Eddy (the creator of Christian Science) in the 19th Century, we unveil a history which is far more empowering.

There is no doubt that Mary Baker Eddy created her personal religion which she called Christian Science from the bones of Quimby's work. Yet the memes and ideas of New Thought were not borne of Eddy's endeavors, nor of the Dressers' who also "studied" with Quimby. New Thought was in fact born earlier than Quimby. The key to the first step in understanding the actual history of New Thought and thereby releasing self imposed limitations which prevent the growth of this dynamic and essential New Religions is to observe when the term "new thought" began to be called "the new thought", then eventually became capitalized.

By working both backwards and forward from those moments, we find the answers necessary for the empowerment of billions of people to live in harmony through the deeper understanding that leads to higher consciousness.

Yes! "The truth shall set you free!"

The term "New Thought" was derived from Romans 12:2

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind..." --King James Version

"And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind..." -- American Standard Version

"Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking." -- Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

"Don't be sheeple, get a New Thought!" -- Rev. Andrew

"Do not get along and go along, change your thinking and change your life." -- Modern Metaphysical Bible Translation

Read more translations at Bible Gateway

As we delve into the actual history, we discover that the American articulation of the movement now called New Thought is best described as beginning with American pioneer Anne Hutchinson. Now this beginning presents challenges for some and benefits for all. On the one hand, the fact that Anne Hutchinson was labeled a heretic supports Alpertist contentions that New Thought is simply a form of Christianity. Thus if one adheres to Alpertist views (Alpertism is a "fundamentalist" form of New Thought promulgating novel ideas that New Thought is simply an odd Christian Heresy led by a high council.) and dismisses other forms of New Thought such as Science of Mind, DivineUnity and the largest New Thought denomination Seicho No Ie, the view that new Thought begins with Anne Hutchinson could support your point of view. Of course, few New Thought adherents are Alpertists. An advantage of this mimetic view of the origins of New Thought include the fact that Hutchinson essentially taught what Unity teaches today and her principles included important essential concepts that support Human Rights. Hutchinson influenced Thomas Jefferson and other members of the Deist movement.

"Deism combines the rejection of revelation and authority as a source of religious knowledge with the conclusion that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of a single creator of the universe." -- Wikipedia

Thomas Paine and other early Deists were New Thought adherents. They just didn't use the term: "New Thought" simply because the phrase had not yet been invented. The contention that New Thought did not exist until the term existed ignores reality. With that argument, it could be said that "selfies" did not exist until the term was invented but that would demand that we ignore the history of photographic self portraits. In fact generally a thing exists either in imagination or actuality, PRIOR to being given a name.

When John Bascom wrote the first Science of Mind textbook in 1881, he probably never conceived that one day Ernest Holmes would create his own version. When Ernest and Fenwicke created the Religious Science form of Science of Mind there is no doubt that Ernest Holmes demonstrated a powerful ability to aggregate the various aspects of John Bascom's work weaving them together with the many strands of New Thought contemporary to him in the early 20th Century.Unlike his brother Fenwicke who attended Colby College, Ernest did not have the opportunity to attend university and in fact did not even complete high school. Ernest's remarkable abilities and philisophical insights were not the result of traditional education. Thus one should never be surprised when there are no citations within his work. Even if Ernest had desired to include citations within his books, it most likely would not have been something he could have properly accomplished. The greatness of Ernest Holmes is found within his consistent ability to explain the principles of New Thought and his insights into the motor principle that drives New Thought: "As we change our thinking, we change our lives." When regular folks are aware of the raw genius of Ernest Holmes, they are deeply inspired. Sadly in recent years, there has been a tendency of some folks living within the bubble of certain organizational mythologies to promote Ernest Holmes, as Dr. Ernest Holmes relying on his honorary doctorates as justification for this. Although, we have not found a list of all of Ernest Holmes honorary doctorates online, we have been informed that it is quite impressive.

As you explore these works you will understand why Fenwicke was a best selling author in his day. Some Science of Mind ministers from the various organizations teaching and promoting this form of New Thought, have found Fenwicke's works to be quite helpful in teaching the Religious Science form of Science of Mind.