Finding God Within: A Systemization and Evaluation of the Writings of Warren Felt Evans

Abstract

This dissertation systematizes and evaluates the published and unpublished writings of nineteenth-century religious philosopher Warren Felt Evans. Evans was the first published writer for the metaphysical religious movement known as New Thought. Historian of American metaphysical religion, Catherine Albanese, believes the amount of critical scholarship pertaining to New Thought has not adequately reflected the level of its influence in American culture. By systematizing Evans’s philosophy, this research accomplishes two objectives. First, it cultivates a deeper understanding of what became New Thought, which can help evangelicals to better understand and reach contemporary Americans who have become disillusioned with the church and resonate with Evans’s core teachings. Second, the evaluation of Evans’s theology creates a theological evaluation tool to assess churches that have embraced doctrines similar to those of Evans.

Chapter 1 lays the foundation for the research by defining key terms, introducing mind-cure and later New Thought with a historical survey of existing research on Evans, and explaining the choice to focus on Evans’s metaphysics/theology proper, anthropology, soteriology, and mental power. Chapter 2 provides the philosophical context for Evans’s beliefs, overviews his life, and introduces elements of his doctrine prior to leaving Methodism. Chapter 3 explains Evans’s view of God and metaphysics (including partialism, monism, panentheism, and idealism), and indicates how this view of God and creation affected his other doctrines. Chapter 4 articulates Evans’s anthropology, including his view of human nature, Jesus, and his doctrine of the Christ within. Chapter 5 presents Evans’s view of sin and salvation, especially in relation to the classical doctrines of soteriology. Chapter 6 explains his view that the power for knowledge and health were available to those who experienced union with God. Finally, chapter 7 summarizes Evans’s belief system, explains how Evans’s theological trajectory teaches Christians to hold fast to Scripture, and offers a theological guide for assessing word-faith churches that have embraced concepts similar to the doctrines of Warren Felt Evans.