Ursula Newell Gestefeld

Ursula Newell Gestefeld (April 22, 1845 – October 22, 1921) was an American religious leader, writer, lecturer, and organizer who played a formative role in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century metaphysical movement that came to be known as New Thought. She was the founder of the Science of Being system, the Exodus Club, and the Church of the New Thought, and was a prominent figure in the transition from early Christian Science to independent metaphysical religious organizations.

Early life and family

Gestefeld was born on April 22, 1845, in Augusta, Maine.[1] Her mother was an invalid, and Gestefeld was described as a sickly child whose friends believed she might not survive to adulthood. She did reach maturity, married Theodore Gestefeld, and had four children. During the 1870s the family moved to Chicago. Her husband worked as a journalist, serving as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune and later as city editor of the Illinois Staats-Zeitung, a major German-language newspaper.[2][3][4][5][6]

Introduction to Christian Science

Gestefeld was already middle-aged when she first encountered Christian Science. A friend loaned her a copy of Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy. Although she regarded the book as containing contradictions and inconsistencies, she believed it articulated a truth that, if applied to individual and social life, could bring profound change. Applying its principles to herself over a period of approximately three months, and without the assistance of a practitioner, she reported achieving a level of health greater than any she had previously experienced.[3][7][8]

This experience led her to become both a committed adherent and an active leader in the Christian Science movement. When Mary Baker Eddy offered class instruction in Chicago, Gestefeld enrolled and was taught directly by Eddy in her May 1884 class. Eddy initially recognized Gestefeld as a person of exceptional ability and welcomed her as a representative of the movement. Gestefeld devoted herself fully to the practice and teaching of Christian Science, quickly attracting a substantial following and establishing herself in Chicago as a practitioner, teacher, writer, and lecturer in mental healing.[7][8][9]

Break with Mary Baker Eddy

In 1888, Gestefeld published a book titled Ursula N. Gestefeld's Statement of Christian Science. Although the work credited Mary Baker Eddy as the founder of Christian Science, its publication led to conflict. Eddy maintained that Christian Science had already been sufficiently defined in Science and Health and her other writings. She publicly denounced Gestefeld in the Christian Science Journal and effectively severed her from the movement.[8][10]

Gestefeld responded forcefully, publishing a sharply critical pamphlet titled Jesuitism in Christian Science. She was formally expelled from the Christian Science association. Rather than ending her career, this rupture marked the beginning of her independent leadership within the broader metaphysical movement.[3][9]

Development of the Science of Being

Following her separation from Christian Science, Gestefeld continued her work in Chicago, where she maintained a teaching center and church, published books and pamphlets, and wrote extensively for periodicals. She developed a philosophical and religious system she called the Science of Being. This system emphasized mental and spiritual law, personal mastery over circumstances, and the application of metaphysical principles to health, character, and material conditions.[11]

Gestefeld organized the Exodus Club, a nonsectarian association dedicated to teaching and studying the Science of Being. Out of this organization grew a formal religious body that she named the Church of the New Thought. Membership did not require adherence to a fixed creed or acceptance of doctrines that conflicted with individual reason.[12][13]

Organizational leadership and influence

Gestefeld trained women as certified leaders, teachers, traveling proselytizers, and pastors. She established formal structures for instruction and leadership within her movement and charged annual dues for membership in the Exodus Club. By 1902, the organization reported at least 300 members, while more than 800 people attended her weekly sermons. In 1897 she formally founded the Exodus Club's monthly magazine, The Exodus, which she edited and published. In 1904 the movement expanded institutionally into the Church of the New Thought and the College of the Science of Being.[14][15][16]

Gestefeld was a founder of the Illinois Woman's Press Association and was involved in the broader reform and intellectual culture of her time. In 1895 she contributed to The Woman's Bible, edited by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, providing a summary of Science of Being principles.[11][17][18]

Writing and publications

Gestefeld was a prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction. Her most widely known novel was The Woman Who Dares, a critique of marriage and a protest against the legal, political, economic, and religious structures that enforced women's sexual subordination within a male-dominated society.[19][20]

Her other books, widely used within New Thought circles, included The Breath of Life: A Series of Self-Treatments, Reincarnation or Immortality, The Builder and the Plan, A Chicago Bible Class, The Master of the Man, and How We Master Our Fate. She also published numerous tracts and essays and used her writing as a primary means of disseminating her ideas.[21][22][23][24][25][26]

Later years and international involvement

By the turn of the twentieth century, Gestefeld had expanded her teachings to include material prosperity alongside mental and physical well-being. She was a frequent speaker at metaphysical congresses and served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Metaphysical League. In 1914 she was present at the formation of the International New Thought Alliance in London. She continued to lecture and publish throughout the 1910s.[27][28]

Death and legacy

Ursula Newell Gestefeld died on October 22, 1921, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, at the home of her nurse, Adeline Briggs, following an illness of several months. She is buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.[7][29]

Although she attracted a large following during her lifetime, her church did not survive long after her death, and many of its members were absorbed into the wider New Thought movement. Gestefeld is remembered as one of the most articulate early figures to emerge from Christian Science and as a key contributor to the development of New Thought as an independent religious and philosophical tradition.[7]

Major works

References

  1. ^ Logan, Mary S. C. (1912). The Part Taken by Women in American History. Wilmington: Perry-Nalle Pub. Co. p. 885.
  2. ^ Melton, J. Gordon (1986). Biographical Dictionary of American Cult and Sect Leaders. New York: Garland Pub. pp. 97–98. ISBN 978-0-8240-9037-1.
  3. ^ a b c "Ursula Gestefeld | Fillmore Faith". www.truthunity.net. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
  4. ^ Coe, Harrie Badger (1928). Maine, Resources, Attractions, and Its People: A History. Lewis Historical Publishing Company.
  5. ^ Melton, J. Gordon (1999). Religious Leaders of America: A Biographical Guide to Founders and Leaders of Religious Bodies, Churches, and Spiritual Groups in North America. Gale Research. ISBN 978-0-8103-8878-9.
  6. ^ Benbow-Pfalzgraf, Taryn (2000). American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide : from Colonial Times to the Present. St. James Press. ISBN 978-1-55862-431-3.
  7. ^ a b c d "Ursula Newell Gestefeld, Obituary". Kenosha News. 1921-10-24. p. 1. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
  8. ^ a b c Gestefeld, Ursula Newell (1889). Ursula N. Gestefeld's Statement of Christian Science: Comprised in Eighteen Lessons and Twelve Sections. Ursula N. Gestefeld.
  9. ^ a b Voorhees, Amy B. (2021-02-10). A New Christian Identity: Christian Science Origins and Experience in American Culture. UNC Press Books. ISBN 978-1-4696-6236-7.
  10. ^ Hansen, Penny (1981). Woman's Hour: Feminist Implications of Mary Baker Eddy's Christian Science Movement, 1885-1910. University of California, Irvine.
  11. ^ a b Tumber, Catherine (2002-09-18). American Feminism and the Birth of New Age Spirituality: Searching for the Higher Self, 1875-1915. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. ISBN 978-0-8476-9749-6.
  12. ^ Satter, Beryl (2001-05-14). Each Mind a Kingdom: American Women, Sexual Purity, and the New Thought Movement, 1875-1920. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22927-3.
  13. ^ Shaw, Albert (1921). The American Review of Reviews. Review of Reviews.
  14. ^ Schultz, Rima Lunin; Hast, Adele (2001). Women Building Chicago 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-33852-5.
  15. ^ "The Exodus". Mount Vernon Argus. 1902-01-04. p. 6. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
  16. ^ "Lectures at jewelers store". The Inter Ocean. 1901-02-02. p. 4. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
  17. ^ Kern, Kathi (2001). Mrs. Stanton's Bible. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-3191-3.
  18. ^ Voorhees, Amy B. (2011). "Understanding the Religious Gulf between Mary Baker Eddy, Ursula N. Gestefeld, and Their Churches". Church History. 80 (4): 798–831. ISSN 0009-6407.
  19. ^ Gestefeld, Ursula Newell (1892). The Woman who Dares. Lovell, Gestefeld & Company.
  20. ^ Gestefeld, Ursula Newell (1894). The Leprosy of Miriam. Gestefeld Library & Publishing Company.
  21. ^ Gestefeld, Ursula Newell (1907). The Master of the Man. Exodus Publishing Company.
  22. ^ Gestefeld, Ursula Newell (1901). The Builder and the Plan: A Textbook of the Science of Being. Gestefeld.
  23. ^ Gestefeld, Ursula Newell (1898). The Metaphysics of Balzac as Found in "The Magic Skin," "Louis Lambert, " and "Seraphita, ". Gestefeld Publishing Company.
  24. ^ Gestefeld, Ursula Newell (1891). A Chicago Bible Class. United States Book Company.
  25. ^ Gestefeld, Ursula Newell (1897). The Breath of Life: A Series of Self Treatments. Gestfeld Publishing Company.
  26. ^ Gestefeld, Ursula Newell (1897). How We Master Our Fate. Gestefeld Publishing Company.
  27. ^ "Mrs Gestefeld goes to London". Chicago Tribune. 1905-04-09. p. 8. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
  28. ^ "Ursula Gestefeld returned from London". The Inter Ocean. 1907-03-14. p. 5. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
  29. ^ "Gestefeld Dies". The Bangor Daily News. 1921-10-25. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
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