REV. W. JOHN MURRAY
Rev. Murray founded the
Church of the
Healing Christ in New York City in
1906. A dynamic speaker, Rev. Murray
presided over the largest New Thought
church in the city at that time. He
affiliated with the Divine Science movement
in 1917 and received permission from the
Divine Science organization in Denver to
also call his church
The First Divine
Science Church of New York in addition
to its original name.
Arrested in 1915 for "Practicing
Medicine Without A License" by two
undercover NYPD detectives who observed him
praying over an individual for healing
(N.Y. Times, Dec. 17, 1915),
Rev. Murray went on to author numerous
books on spirituality and man's
relationship to God.
Rev. Murray's many books
include:
The Astor
Lectures, 1917. (Online
here)
New Thoughts on Old
Doctrines, 1918. (Online
here)
The Sanity of Optimism,
1918.
The Realm of
Reality, 1922. (Online
here)
Mental
Medicine, 1923. (Online
here)
The
Necessity of Law, 1924.
The Murray Course in
Divine Science, 1927.
(Online here)
New Year
Resolution
Cause
and Cure in the Realm of Mind
Preparedness
Rev. Murray is also mentioned in several
books, including:
Braden, Charles S. Spirits in
Rebellion: The Rise & Development of
New Thought. Dallas: Southern
Methodist University Press, 1967.
Brooks, Louise McNamara. Early
History of Divine Science. Denver:
First Divine Science Church, 1963.
(Identified in error on p.94 as Rev.
John T. Murray)
Deane, Hazel. Powerful is the
Light: The Story of Nona Brooks.
Denver: Divine Science College, 1945.
Holmes, Fenwicke L. Ernest Holmes:
His Life and Times. New York: Dodd,
Mead & Co., 1970.
Excerpts:
"Dr. Murray had an unusual background. A
man of short, square build, with black
hair, a frank, open face and a very
forceful, positive delivery; there was yet
an air of gentleness and spirituality about
him.
"He had been a Catholic priest but left
the church of Rome to educate himself in
spiritual sciences. He also had studied
with Emma Curtis Hopkins and had been
ordained by Nona Brooks [Divine Science]
before undertaking independent metaphysical
work in New York. He attracted a large
number of people who came to him for
healing, and it is said that he was so
intent on study that he read books as he
walked on the sidewalks of New York. In the
early days of his work, the metaphysical
movement was subject to hostility from the
medical profession, and on one occasion Dr.
Murray was arrested and put into jail for
practicing without a medical license.
Having drawn many prominent persons into
the movement, including attorneys, he was
soon released, and there was no recurrence
of this kind...He had moved some years
earlier from small halls and midweek
meetings in his own home into the great
ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria, which was
filled to capacity every Sunday morning. On
Sunday evenings he took the train to
Philadelphia and spoke in the ballroom of
the best hotel.
"His Waldorf lectures were taken down in
shorthand and became the substance of many
books, and it was reported that ministers
of evangelical churches frequently attended
in the effort to learn his method of
reinterpreting the Scriptures."
(Holmes, pp. 185-186)
* * * * *
"In the summer of 1917 [Nona Brooks]
gave part of her vacation to help with a
center that had been started in Buffalo,
New York. She had planned to go on east
from there, and down the coast to West
Virginia, but when she received a telegram
from W.John Murray in New York City, asking
her to occupy his pulpit there in order
that he might have a much needed vacation,
she consented at once. Nona loved New York,
and at Dr. Murray's request the center
there has been given permission by The
Denver College to be called The First
Divine Science Church of New York City as
well as its secondary name, The Church of
the Healing Christ."
(Deane, pp. 151-152)
* * * * *
"Rev. Nona Brooks took charge of Rev.
Murray's work in New York for several
months in 1917 while Rev. John Murray was
in London taking the work of Judge
Troward."
(Brooks, p. 94)
* * * * *
"In Kansas City, Unity widened its
activities. In New York, W.John Murray
returned to his pulpit to talk on Sunday
and every week-day noon to packed crowds in
the magnificent old Waldorf Astoria. His
"Astor Lectures," published in book form,
went far toward welding the various
contingents of New Thought into a unitary
whole.
(Deane, pp. 153-154)
* * * * *
"Albert C. Grier himself eventually left
Spokane and took over a small Unity group
in Pasadena, California, forming it into a
Church of the Truth. When he was later
called to New York to succeed Dr. W.John
Murray of the Church of the Healing Christ,
one of a succession of New Thought leaders
to have captured popular interest in New
York City...Dr. Grier eventually left the
Church of the Healing Christ, to be
followed by Emmet Fox, and started de
novo a Church of the Truth, which he
led until his retirement."
(Braden, p. 317)
* * * * *
"...The late Dr. Emmet Fox, pastor of
the Church of the Healing Christ, founded
by Dr. W.John Murray in 1906 and called
also the First Church of Divine Science, in
New York City...
"Dr. Murray had a numerous personal
following. He had spoken for years to one
of the large congregations in New York,
meeting in the great ballroom of the Hotel
Waldorf-Astoria. At his passing he was
succeeded for a time by Dr. A.C.
Grier...and Emmet Fox was called to succeed
him."
(Braden, p. 352)
(Formerly at
Northwoods Divine Science Resource
Center)
