Warren Felt Evans (December 23, 1817 – September 4, 1889) was an American author of the

New Thought The New Thought movement (also Higher Thought) is a spiritual movement that coalesced in the United States in the early 19th century. New Thought was seen by its adherents as succeeding "ancient thought", accumulated wisdom and philosophy from ...

movement. He became a student of the movement in 1863, after seeking healing from its founder,

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (February 16, 1802 – January 16, 1866) was an American clockmaker, Mentalism, mentalist and Animal magnetism#Mesmerism, mesmerist. His work is widely recognized as foundational to the New Thought spiritual movement. B ...

. He was the founder of a mind-cure sanitarium in

Salisbury, Massachusetts Salisbury is a small coastal beach town and summer tourist destination in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The community is a popular summer resort beach town situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of Boston on the New Hampshire border. ...

, and has been referred to as "the

recording angel Recording angels are angels in Judaic, Christian, and Islamic angelology. Recording angels are assigned by God with the task of recording the events, actions, and prayers of each individual human. This includes bad sins, and good deeds. Descripti ...

of metaphysics".

Personal life

Born in

Rockingham, Vermont Rockingham is a Town in Windham County, on the southeastern Vermont border in the United States, along the Connecticut River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,832. Rockingham includes the incorporated villages of Bellows Falls and Saxt ...

, Evans was sixth of seven children. After studying at Chester Academy he entered

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

in 1837, transferring the next year to

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

. He left in the middle of his junior year for financial reasons. He married M. Charlotte Tinker two years afterwards in 1840. Evans died on September 4, 1889.

Career

Evans became a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

minister in 1838, serving eleven different charges until 1863. That year he left the Methodists and joined the

Church of the New Jerusalem The New Church (or Swedenborgianism) is any of several historically related Christian denominations that developed as a new religious group, influenced by the writings of scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). Swedenborgian o ...

after reading the books of

Emanuel Swedenborg Emanuel Swedenborg (, ; born Emanuel Swedberg; 29 March 1772) was a Swedish pluralistic-Christian theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic. He became best known for his book on the afterlife, ''Heaven and Hell'' (1758). Swedenborg had ...

. In 1863 Evans went to

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

, to find healing in the philosophy and methods of Phineas P. Quimby. Soon after, with Quimby's permission, he opened a mental medicine office in

Claremont, New Hampshire Claremont is the only city in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 12,949 at the 2020 census. History Pre-colonial native populations Before colonial settlement, the Upper Connecticut River Valley was home to the Pe ...

. He and his wife opened an office in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. They practiced and informally taught the principles of mental healing there for 20 years.Teahan, J.F. (1979) "Warren Felt Evans and Mental Healing: Romantic Idealism and Practical Mysticism in Nineteenth-Century America", ''Church History. Vol. 48, No. 1''.

Charles S. Braden Charles Samuel Braden (19 September 1887 – 1970) was Professor and Chair of the Department of History and Literature of Religions at Northwestern University. He joined the faculty in 1926 and held the professorship from 1943; he was awarded emeri ...

, a metaphysical historian, wrote that Evans, "was the only important figure, aside from Mrs. Eddy, who attempted to work out a consistent and philosophically supported system of metaphysical healing and mental healing after Quimby."

Writing

Evans was the first to write about the

movement begun by Quimby. His first book on the matter was published three years after Quimby died, and he continued writing for the rest of his life. * (1869
''The Mental Cure (Illustrating the Influence of the Mind on the Body, Both in Health and Disease, and the Psychological Method of Treatment)''
* (1872
''Mental Medicine''
* (1875) ''Soul and Body.'' * (1881
''The Divine Law of Cure''
* (1885
''The Primitive Mind Cure''
* (1886
''Esoteric Christianity and Mental Therapeutics''

Personal life

Career

Writing

References

Further reading