A gentle breeze rustles the leaves of the coral tree outside Point Loma Nazarene University’s Brown Chapel. Students walk through the courtyard, treading on the same ground that theosophists did nearly a hundred years ago. If the dirt could speak, it could tell stories of a bygone era of enlightenment and occult-like practices.
While the beliefs of theosophists and Christians may differ, the stories of how the Theosophical Society and PLNU ended up on this campus aren’t so different. It was a calling that first brought Katherine Tingley, the leader of the Theosophical Society in the early 1900s, to San Diego, and it was a calling that brought Pasadena College to the same plot of land in 1973.
As a child, Tingley dreamt of building a city “in a golden land by the sundown sea,” according to the San Diego Reader. She had never been to California and didn’t know where this location would be. But when she was 26, at Ulysses S. Grant’s second inauguration, she told Major General John C. Fremont the dream she had in her youth.
“I know that place,” Fremont replied, according to the San Diego Reader article. “It is Point Loma. It forms the western shore of San Diego Bay.”
Tingley purchased Point Loma’s property sight unseen. She believed this was exactly where her Theosophical Society needed to be.
“Tingley felt it was a sacred space,” Jill Hall, a local San Diego author of an upcoming book on Point Loma’s Theosophical Society, said. “She was called to it. … I personally feel that it’s sacred space. [Walking on campus, there is] a physiological feeling.”
Tingley published a book in 1926 called “The Gods Await,” which includes a chapter focusing on the philosophy of nature. According to Grace F. Knoche, a resident of Pasadena and the writer who penned the book’s forward in the 1992 revised edition, Tingley considered nature a sacred temple. The view of the sea greatly influenced her decision to move the Theosophical Society to Point Loma, and she imported many fruit trees to make the campus a lush landscape.
When Pasadena College’s W. Shelburne Brown heard that Point Loma’s campus, at the time home to the United States International University (USIU), was for sale, he felt hope begin to take root for his university. Calling together a close group of friends and advisors, they began analyzing their options. Everyone voted against moving, but Brown was woken at 3 a.m., fully aware of God’s presence and the need to move to Point Loma. While there were mixed feelings among faculty and students, the school still chose to move forward with the move.
“My favorite Bible teacher in the world – Reuben Welch, who just turned 100 – [in retrospect] said, ‘If people ask me, “Was it God’s will to move this campus?” [I replied], “Well, it kind of depends on what we do with this move,”‘” Michael Lodahl, PLNU professor of theology and world religions, said.
Sitting outside Smee Hall among the greenery and with the Theosophical Society’s old architecture not far from sight, Lodahl said that he believes the people are what make this place sacred more than the land itself. And that while the Theosophical Society’s beliefs may differ from PLNU’s Judeo-Christian beliefs of today, God’s grace still abounds, Lodahl said.
“In the Wesleyan tradition, we have a very strong doctrine of prevenient grace, which means essentially that nobody ever, anywhere, is not graced by God’s love and presence in their life, whether they know it or not,” Lodahl said. “The people here were graced by God, even if we think they had loopy ideas [or occult-like practices].”
In honor of President Brown, the university named Brown Chapel after him – the chapel located almost exactly where the Theosophical Society’s Temple of Peace used to be. Hall said that she doesn’t think this is a coincidence.
The temple is where children used to learn and play music, and events and lectures were held. Beyond that, exactly what went on in the temple is unknown, but Hall believes there may have been some occult practices happening.
Now, this location is where students come to worship God.
Tingley’s vision of a community on the edge of the sea, while idyllic, also had its issues. The community was mainly composed of educated white Americans – especially women. PLNU, although not as diverse as other schools in America, has made efforts to foster a community of inclusion and diversity. They’re on a different trajectory than the Theosophical Society, both in its community ideals and religious beliefs.
“Divine wisdom is what the term [theosophy] actually means,” Lodahl said. “It arose at a time when there was an intense interest in Western culture toward the Orient. The Orient was associated with mystery, hidden wisdom and exotic ideas that the church and Christianity didn’t feature. [Theosophy] is a blend of Hindu ideas primarily, but there was definitely some drawing on Ancient Egyptian stuff. … Christianity is a very different kind of tradition in so far as it’s rooted in a particular person.”
Lodahl said that theosophists had much regard for Jesus, but many believed he was an “ancient master of hidden knowledge.” He said they were more focused on esoteric practices, quite different from Christian students today who walk into Brown Chapel to sing praises to the person of Jesus.
While theosophists may differ from PLNU in their faith, both have agreed on one thing: PLNU’s campus is a beautiful place to be. And whether it’s the ground that is sacred or the people who come through this place, there’s something holy about Point Loma, some students and faculty believe.
On Feb. 14, 2025, PLNU celebrated the inauguration of its new president, Kerry Fulcher. That same weekend, the university hosted an evening of worship in Brown Chapel, dedicating time to pray for its new president. As prayers of thanks and blessing flooded the room, there was a repeated message from those on and off the stage that Fulcher’s inauguration marks a new season of increased faith for PLNU. James Kinzler, the lead pastor of San Diego First Church of the Nazarene, was in the room for it.
“It was a really good reminder that all of our dependence is on the Lord,” Kinzler said. “I was really struck by the humility of the whole event, just to say we need God to help us in this. I have confidence in Dr. Fulcher to lead the best way he knows how as a faithful follower of Jesus. But it’s definitely on all of us, whether that’s as a pastor of a local church, RDs, chaplains or students themselves to … look for where [we can contribute our faith].”
As students stepped outside Brown Chapel into the brisk mid-February air, they whispered to one another the truth that has followed this campus for decades – that God is on the move. The pursuit and invitation of the divine continue.
Grace Barrera