Holmes, Ernest Shurtlett (1887-1960)

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Holmes, Ernest Shurtlett (1887-1960)

Ernest S. Holmes, the founder of Religious Science, was born January 21, 1887, in Lincoln, Maine. His poor family provided little incentive for education, and at the age of 15 he left home for Boston to make his way in the world. He pursued a course in public speaking and discovered that one of his instructors was a Christian Scientist. He was given a copy of Mary Baker Eddy 's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. This basic Christian Science textbook fit easily into Holmes's reading of philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson.

In 1912 Holmes moved to Southern California where his brother Fenwicke had become the pastor of a Congregational church. Shortly after his arrival he discovered the Metaphysical Library in Los Angeles, which had become the center for the distribution of New Thought metaphysical literature. He avidly devoured the works of writers such as Thomas Troward, William Walker Atkinson, and Christian Larsen. In 1916 he gave his first public lecture at the Metaphysical Library, and the following year he and his brother opened the Metaphysical Institute and began issuing a magazine, Uplift. Within a short time he was lecturing regularly in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, and began to travel nationally. His first book, Creative Mind, appeared in 1919. A final step in his mature development occurred in 1924 when he briefly settled in New York City and became the last student to be accepted by Emma Curtis Hopkins, the founder of New Thought.

In 1925 Holmes returned to Los Angeles and finished writing his major work, The Science of Mind (1925), a summary of his thought and the textbook embodying his own perspective on New Thought. The "Science of Mind" was the study of spirit, the reality underlying the visible cosmos. Mastery of the Science of Mind led to happiness, health, and prosperity. He also developed a simple technique of healing prayer. In 1927 he founded the Institute of Religious Science and School of Philosophy and began to train people in his methods. They in turn established themselves as Science of Mind practitioners in a manner similar to Christian Science practitioners.

The movement Holmes began prospered over the next several decades. He continually had to move his Sunday lectures into larger facilities. In 1949 he began a radio show, "This Thing Called Life." New books appeared regularly.

Holmes resisted attempts to see Religious Science as a church movement. However, in 1949, giving in to requests from some of his closest associates, he oversaw the formation of the International Association of Religious Science Churches. In 1954 Holmes moved to reorganize the very loosely organized association directly under the institute, whose name was changed to the Church of Religious Science. While most congregations went along with the plan, some, including those led by several of Holmes's closest colleagues, saw the move as a power grab and continued the association as a separate movement.

Holmes died April 7, 1960, in Los Angeles. The Church of Religious Science continues as the United Church of Religious Science and the association continues as Religious Science International.