Author: John Gayner Banks
Alternate names: A. J. Gayner Banks; John Gaynor Banks; Alfred John Gayner Banks; john gayner banks
Born: 1886
Died: 1953
Bio: Rev. Alfred John Gayner Banks (sometimes spelled Gaynor), M.A., was an Episcopalian priest, author, and cofounder of the International Order of St. Luke the Physician (OSL). Banks was born in London, England, and educated at the University of London and, after emigrating to the United States, the Episcopal seminary in Swanee, Tennessee. Banks had originally moved to America to study therapeutic psychology at the University of Missouri, but was encouraged by Henry Wilson to become an ordained minister instead. Banks was inspired by Frederick Du Vernet. Banks was also a student of Emma Curtis Hopkins, the founder of New Thought, and was heavily influenced by her. He later openly acknowledged her influence, along with other New Thought writers such as Warren Felt Evans and Horatio Dresser.

Banks married Ethel Tulloch, a union leader and the first woman vice president of the National Federation of Post Office Clerks, who also explored Banks' metaphysical ideas. Wanting to synthesize the teachings of Jesus with medical science, psychiatry, and metaphysical movements like New Thought, Banks and his wife founded the interdenominational group OSL. By the 1960s the conferences drew thousands of people from across the United States and Canada. Banks wrote several books about Christianity, healing, and reincarnation, including *The Great Physician: A Manual of Devotion for Those Who Care for the Sick* (1927), *The Master and the Disciple* (1954), and *Healing Everywhere: a Book of Healing Mission Talks* (1953). 

Sources: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gaynor_Banks) and [Theosophy Wiki](https://theosophy.wiki/en/John_Gaynor_Banks)