New Thought is a metaphysical movement loosely organized around several key beliefs:

• Spirit is the ultimate reality
• The true human self is divine
• Thoughts attuned to the divine are a positive force for good
• All disease has a mental origin
• Right thinking has a healing effect
• Positive thinking brings positive results
• Negative thinking brings negative results

New Thought developed in the United States, particularly in New England, beginning in the 1830s. It has affinities to Neo-Platonism and American Transcendentalism. New Thought gave rise to many similar philosophies, including Higher Thought, Mental Science, Metaphysical Healing, and Practical Christianity.

Key Figures

• James Allen (1864-1912)
• Nona L. Brooks (1861-1945)
• Emilie Cady (1848-1941)
• Charles Fillmore (1854-1948)
• Myrtle Fillmore (1845-1931)
• Emmet Fox (1886-1951)
• Joel Goldsmith (1892-1964)
• Ernest Holmes (1887-1960)
• Fenwicke Holmes (1883-1973)
• Emma Curtis Hopkins (1849-1925)
• Catherine Ponder (1927- )
• Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-1866)
• Florence Scovel Shinn (1871-1940)
• Masaharu Taniguchi (1893-1985)
• Ralph Waldo Trine (1866-1958)
• Thomas Troward (1847-1916)

Organizations & Societies

• Church of Divine Science
• Science of Mind (Religious Science)
• Seicho-no-Ie
• Unity Church
• The Infinite Way

Major Works

• Emmet Fox, The Sermon on the Mount: the key to success in life (1934)
• Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind (1926)

Resources

• Wikipedia, List of New Thought writers