FATHER DIVINE. Photographs. Booklets. Ephemera 1950s (11/16/2006)

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FATHER DIVINE. Photographs. Booklets. Ephemera 1950s

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FATHER DIVINE. Photographs. Booklets. Ephemera 1950s

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Sold Date: 11/16/2006
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Ethnic, Folk & Native American Art

FATHER DIVINE. Lot of Photographs,Booklets and Ephemera from the 1950s. Total of 18 items. Father Divine (c. 1880 - September 10, 1965), was an African American spiritual leader from about 1907 until his death. His full self-given name was Reverend General Jealous Divine, and he was also known as "the Messenger" and George Baker early in his life. He founded the International Peace Mission movement, formulated its doctrine, and oversaw its growth from a small and predominantly black congregation into a multiracial and international church. Controversially, Father Divine claimed to be God. Some contemporary critics also claimed he was a charlatan, and some suppose him to be one of the first modern cult leaders. However, Father Divine made numerous contributions toward his followers' economic independence and racial equality even if that was not his primary motivation. Little is definitively known about Father Divine's early life, or even his real given name. Father Divine and the Peace Movement he started did not keep many records. Father Divine himself declined several offers to biography his life saying that the history of God would not be useful in mortal terms. He also refused to acknowledge relationship to any family. Newspapers in the 1930s had to dig up his probable given name: George Baker. His childhood remains a contentious point. Some, especially earlier researchers, suppose that Father Divine was born in the Deep South, most likely in Georgia as the son of sharecroppers. Newer research by Jill Watts, based on census data, finds evidence for a George Baker Jr. of appropriate age born in a African American ghetto of Rockville, Maryland called Monkey Run. If this theory is correct, his mother was a former slave called Nancy Baker who died morbidly obese in May of 1897. Most researchers agree that Father Divine's parents were freed African American slaves. Notoriously poor records were kept about this generation of African Americans so controversy about his upbringing will not likely be resolved. Father Divine was probably called gay George Baker around the turn of the century. He worked as a gardener in Baltimore, Maryland. In a 1906 sojourn to California, Baker became acquainted with the ideas of Charles Fillmore and the "New Thought Movement," a philosophy of positive thinking that would inform his later doctrines. Among other things, this belief system asserted that negative thoughts led to poverty and unhappiness. Baker attended a local Baptist Church, often preaching, until 1907 when a traveling preacher called Samuel Morris spoke to and was expelled from the congregation. Morris, originally from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, had a soft-spoken and uncontroversial sermon until the end when he raised his arms and shouted, "I am the Eternal Father!" This routine had him thrown out of many churches in Baltimore and was apparently unsuccessful until Morris happened upon the receptive George Baker. In his late 20s Baker became Morris' first follower and adopted a pseudonym, "the Messenger". The Messenger was a Christ figure to Morris's God the Father. Father Divine preached with Morris in Baltimore out of the home of former evangelist Harriette Snowden who came to accept their divinity. Morris began calling himself "Father Jehovia". Divine and Father Jehovia were later joined by John A. Hickerson who called himself Reverend Bishop Saint John the Vine. John the Vine shared The Messenger's excellent speaking ability and his interest in New Thought. In 1912, the three-man ministry collapsed as the John the Vine denied Father Jehovia's monopoly on godhood citing 1 John 4:15 to mean God was in everyone. "Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God." Father Divine denied both that Father Jehovia was God and that anyone could be God. Instead he declared that he himself was the only true expression of God's spirit. In 1912, he parted ways with his former associates and declared himself a god. THE BUYER WILL PAY $4.05 FOR 2ND DAY PRIORITY MAIL SHIPPING. PLEASE CHEC...