Herbert Sutcliffe and Radiant Living: Self-Help and New Thought in New Zealand

This essay explores the life and teachings of Herbert Sutcliffe (1886-1971), a religious leader born in England and educated in Australia, where he earned a doctorate in psychology, and the United States, where he earned a doctorate of divinity from a New Thought seminary. Combining the two, he founded schools of Radiant Living in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong, in that order. While he did not write a utopia or found an intentional community, he was deeply involved in utopian movements in New Zealand, where some of his followers still live, and taught a form of self-help that he believed, if spread widely enough, would transform the world.