NewThoughtTransformation.com ››   NewAgeSearch.com ››  
 << New Thought Authors

Fenwicke L. Holmes

(1883-1973)

New Thought Author Fenwicke Holmes

About New Thought Author Fenwicke Lindsay Holmes

Fenwicke Lindsay Holmes was an American author, lecturer, writer, former Congregational minister, and Religious Science leader. He is also the brother of Religous Science founder, Ernest Holmes. Fenwicke Holmes was born on a farm near, Lincoln, Maine. He was one of nine boys. Despite being born and raised into a poor family, the older boys were admitted to Gould Academy, a private school in Bethel, 70 miles from their home. At the time, the college had meager accomodations and Fenwicke was also held back a couple years because his family often had no money to pay. A teacher at the school encuoraged Fenwicke to attend Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Fenwicke eventually attended the college, working several jobs to pay for his tuition. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1906. There had also been elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and served as editor of the Oracle yearbook.

Later, Fenwicke would attend the Harford Theological Seminary where he was ordained in the Congregational church. In 1910, he left the Seimary due to ill health, and in 1911 he moved to Venice, California, hoping for an improvement in his health. He secured a job on a ranch. A few years later, Fenwicke would also be ordained as a Divine Science minister. While in Venice, California, Fenwicke Holmes stablished a Congregational Church where he ministered for six years. The next year he convinced his brother, Ernest Holmes, to join him, and in 1912, he did. Together, the two brothers began an extensive study of New Thought, in particular the ideas of Thomas Troward.

In 1913, Fenwick and Ernest got involved in a local political campaign to prohibit prize-fighting in Venice. For several weeks there was a debate between the Holmes brothers and the promoters. Fenwicke wrote their arguments and rebuttals for the Venice Daily Vanguard, and the brothers eventually won the campaign. In the years to follow, Fenwicke returned to his metaphysical studies and he bagan to study the work of New Thought leader Christian D. Larson, which greatly influenced him and his brother Ernest. Fenwicke also became heavily influenced by the writings of William Walker Atkinson. In 1917, Fenwicke decided to resign from the Congregational Church due to his changing philsophioes, and went on to broaden his education. Fenwicke and his brother Ernest would soon open the short-lived Metaphysical Sanitarium in Long Beach, California, which closed in 1918.

A few years later, the brothers founded Uplift, a magazine somewhat critical of the traditional New Thought. Fenwicke and Ernest Holmes began making public appearances together at the Strand Theater in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday mornings. They soon began speaking in lectures throughout the Los Angeles area, earning a good reputation for themselves. In 1919, Fenwicke published his first book, The Law of Mind in Action, while at the same time his brother Ernest's book Creative Mind was also making its debut. Soon afterwards, Dr. Julia Seton Sears, a noted New Thought lecturer and author, urged the brothers to attend the International New Thought Alliance in Boston, Massachusetts, and Fenwicke attended. Seton soon had Fenwicke appointed as a special lecturer at the League for the Larger Life in New York City. It was around this time that Fenwicke met the succesful fiction novelest Katharine Eggleston, whom he married a year later; the couple also adopted an orphan boy named Louis. During these years, Fenwicke Holmes is also attributed as the director of a 1921 film called The Offenders.

In 1927, Fenwicke helped his brother Ernest establish the Institute of Religous Science and School of Philosophy as a means of spreading their teachings. This became a milestone in their careers. After this, Fenwicke began ministering at the Divine Science Church of the Healing Christ in New York City until 1924. He soon left the church and returned to lecturing. Then, Fenwicke and his wife moved to Santa Monica, California, where he bacame president of the International College of Mental Science, and continued on with his lecturing.

In the 1950's, Fenwicke Holmes collaborated with Dr. Masaharu Taniguchi in the founding of the Japanese New Thought organization Seicho-No-le; he also co-authored its guiding book, The Science of Faith. Although often over-shadowed by the success of his more charasmatic brother Ernest Holmes, Fenwicke Holmes is still widely recognized for being an important factor in the establishment of Religious Science and the founding of the United Centers for Spiritual Living, and also in the development of the New Thought and Mental Science movement in Japan in particular. Fenwicke Holmes wrote more than twenty books, lectured for fifty years around the world, and frequently spoke on radio and television. He is regarded by some as the dean of the metaphysical movements throughout the world.

Published writings by Fenwicke Lindsay Holmes:

Resources:

Finding Fenwicke: Ernest's Brother's Spiritual Legacy

Quotes by Fenwicke Holmes



<< Previous Page

Next Page>>



[Top of Page]

 << New Thought Authors