First Divine Science Church of Denver: Church Centennial

Church Centennial

One Hundred Years

In 1998, the First Divine Science Church of Denver celebrated its one hundreth birthday. Located since 1922 on the northeast corner of the intersection of 14th Avenue and Williams Street in Denver's Capitol Hill, this Denver church is the founding or "mother" church of the Divine Science denomination. Before the church was established (the first service was held on January 1, 1899, in the Plymouth Hotel at 16th and Broadway) Divine Science in Denver was a "College" (incorporated on October 26, 1898). From the articles of incorporation as amended November 29, 1900, the mission of "The Colorado College of Divine Science" is as follows:

The objects for which said College is incorporated are: To establish a College for the purpose of instruction in the law and order of Divine Healing, as declared by Jesus Christ, and for the promotion of ther religious, educational and ethical principles which govern the system known as Divine Science; to prepare pupils to become teachers and healers in Divine Science, and to grant and confer degrees and diplomas upon graduates; to acquire by purchase, grant, gift, lease or otherwise, real estate and personal property for the use of the coporation, to create other Colleges of similar grade and other departments of instruction in Divine Science, and to establish and promote the organization of Churches of Divine Science in the State of Colorado and elsewhere.

Early on, however, a demand for Sunday church services and Sunday School came from the (then) mostly women students.

But the work of educating, licensing, and ordaining teachers, practitioners, and ministers is still a major activity in the Denver church through an educational arm of the denomination--housed in the church at 14th and Williams--Brooks Divinity School.

Brooks, which is primarily a correspondence school, offers many more courses these days than when it was the "College." And today many students from out of state (and even from Canada, South Africa, and Australia in recent years) enroll and come each summer to the week-long sessions of classes held at the Denver church. Almost all currently licensed and ordained Divine Science practitioners and ministers were trained by Brooks faculty in Denver. Charles S. Braden wrote in Spirits in Rebellion, his classic study of New Thought, "The history and expression of the Divine Science movement has been inextricably bound up with the city of Denver. Although other training is available through some of the far-flung churches, Denver remains the center of the movement."

The service organization of the denomination, the Divine Science Federation International International, was created at the Denver church in 1957 and was based in Denver until 1997. Up until recent years the offices of the DSFA were housed in the church at 1400 Williams Street. Their present location is 3617 Wyoming Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63116.

One of the most popular ministers in the United States in the late 1930's and early 1940's, and still a widely published author, Dr. Emmet Fox, was ordained in the Denver church as a Divine Science minister in 1931. During his heyday as a preacher in New York City, Fox is said to have had the largest church audience of any denomination in the country, with over 5000 persons attending his services at the Manhattan Opera House.

The Denver church has has consistently presented to the public some of the most prominent speakers in religion, philosophy, psychology, and the arts--from Emmet Fox, H.B. Jeffery, and Brother Mandus in the old days, to controversial Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong, Matthew Fox, Pir Vilayat Khan, Joseph Chilton Pearce, John Sanford, Robert Moore, and others in recent years.

Denver remains the heart of Divine Science, a vital current in the diverse flow of religious thought and practice in this democracy. The movement was born in Denver. The Denver church at 14th and Williams, with its close inolvement with Brooks Divinity school at the same address, remains a center for future growth and development in this American movement.

Selected Bibliography

Early History of Divine Science, by Louise MacNamara Brooks (Frist Divine Science Church, 1963)
Powerful is the Light, by Hazel Deane (First Divine Science Church, 1987)
Spirits in Revellion, by Charles S. Braden (Southern Methodist University Press, 1987)