Gaiman/Trump and the New Thought Behind the Abuse

Описание: 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

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Full bibliography at: https://literatemachine.com/2025/09/2...

Text of the episode at: https://literatemachine.com/2025/09/2...

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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