I was looking for documentation of the potential link between the Metaphysical Club and
Asa Gray, Darwin's primary North American contact. He "...in 1842 was appointed professor of natural history at Harvard University, a post he retained until 1873." This provides a good opportunity for him to be in contact with Metaphysical Clubbers
William James and
Charles Peirce, as well as Charles' father,
Benjamin.
So far, I find no mention of a relationship among these men. But my eye fell upon something of interest in the
wiki Metaphysical Club article.It was founded and dissolved in 1872, and has no direct connection with the New Thought movement. (emphasis added, obviously)
Hmmmm... Uh-huh. No
direct connection? Pretty subjective term, that. No evidence for us to evaluate how direct or indirect it may have been, either.
First stop:
wiki's New Thought Movement article. Not much help.
The early 20th century was perhaps the high point for New Thought in terms of church membership, magazine circulation, book sales, and lecture attendance. William James took note of the phenomenon, which he termed both "mind-cure" and New Thought, in his 1901-1902 Gifford Lectures, The Varieties of Religious Experience, in the lecture entitled "The religion of healthy-mindedness."
No big deal.
Second stop:
wiki's list of New Thought organizations. Where I found
# Church of the Divine Unity, founded in Boston, Massachusetts, c. 1890s; associated with The Metaphysical Club [1]
The church is an internal wiki link, but it leads to a dead end - the article has been removed.
First denial, then removal of evidence. Pretty much anyone can edit wiki, and it looks like someone's doing exactly that.
Here I found
another Metaphysical Club was founded in Boston (stomping grounds of original members) in 1895. There's a lot of information on the cults here. Theosophy, Mary Baker Eddy, Metaphysical Club, it's a mess - more accurately, a tangled web. It's not impossible that the 2+ Metaphysical Clubs were independent, but it's looking improbable.
Here's another potential source on the movement. I don't pretend to have sorted very much of this out. I think in the U.S. the evolutionists applied the lessons they'd already learned: nobody accepts the scientific arguments for evolution unless predisposed to do so. The strategy may have been to first instill a favorable predisposition, then let natural affinity take its course.
Just before posting, I found a handy
New Thought History Chart. Looks like someone's done some homework after all!
