Gaiman/Trump and the New Thought Behind the Abuse

How the New Thought and Positive Thinking movements helped create Neil Gaiman and Donald Trump and undermined our economy and lives Corrections: I mispronounce “tithe” (it should be pronounced like “tie-th” I mispronounce "Gaiman" as "Gammon" (it should be pronounced "Gay-man") ** Honestly I don't know how "Gayman" became "Gammon" in my head, I think I was just saying it fast and lazy and it stuck I say the Divine Right of Kings was a Medieval idea, but it's actually an early modern idea. The medieval idea of "Natural Law" and natural hierarchies was actually more complex, though the idea of human hierarchy as part of God's natural order of the universe was still there In this episode, I say EW Kenyon brought New Thought into Pentecostalism, creating Prosperity Gospel. In fact, Kenyon was a Baptist whose first work predated the emergence of Pentecostalism and he never became Pentecostal himself, but as per Blessed by Kate Bowler, his work was highly influential on many early Pentecostals and did essentially become the foundation of Prosperity Gospel Ad free version of the video, early access, exclusive authors notes, lossless music, and other goodies for as little as $1 an episode on Patreon at   / ericrosenfield   Thanks to all my Patrons! Full bibliography at: https://literatemachine.com/2025/09/2... Text of the episode at: https://literatemachine.com/2025/09/2... Other formats and more information at https://literatemachine.com Music: "Steer Your Way", written by Leonard Cohen and performed by Eric Rosenfield Listen to the whole song:    • Steer Your Way (Leonard Cohen cover)   Chapters: 0:00 - Dream of a Thousand Cats, Trump, and Gaiman 7:15 - Phinneas Quimby and the Origins of New Thought 14:56 - Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science, and its Implications 17:51 - From Mind Cure to the Law of Attraction 21:01 - The birth of Prosperity Gospel 23:25 - Napoleon Hill and Think and Grow Rich 26:35 - Norman Vincent Peale and the Power of Positive Thinking 28:40 - Peale and Trump 29:26 - The popularity of New Thought and Positive Psychology 32:38 - L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology 36:32 - Scientology and Neil Gaiman and abuse 39:21 - New Thought and Politics 44:41 - New Thought and the economy 53:25 - What Sandman tells us