She was involved in organizing the New Thought movement and was a theologian, teacher, writer, feminist, mystic, and healer; who taught and ordained hundreds of people, including notably many women.

Hopkins was called the "teacher of teachers" and "mother of New Thought" because a number of her students went on to found their own churches or to become prominent in the New Thought Movement, including Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, founders of Unity Church; Ernest Holmes; and H. Emilie Cady, author of Unity's cornerstone text Lessons in Truth.

[4] Hopkins' name appeared in The Christian Science Journal as a practitioner in February 1884, where it would remain listed until August of that year, when she apparently became too busy with other duties.

[12] In September 1884, Hopkins was invited to become editor of The Christian Science Journal, which around the same time moved from a bi-monthly publication to a monthly one.

[13] According to Robert Peel, an article by Hopkins even before her editorship began suggested a trend away from Christian Science and towards a more "indiscriminate eclecticism", drawing from such sources as Buddhism, Upanishads, Islam, Avesta, and Baruch Spinoza.

[15] Hopkins was good at editing according to Peel, and notably opposed former students of Eddy who thought they could teach metaphysics better than she could, writing September 1885:[16] Peel notes that there was a "wry coincidence in the fact that the very month in which these words were published brought to Mrs. Hopkins the irresistible temptation to set herself up in rivalry to the teacher she had so eulogized.

[17] Upon joining the class, Plunkett began looking for someone to help her set up a rival movement to Eddy, at first trying and failing to win over fellow student Laura Lathrop before moving on to Hopkins.

"[10] Hopkins wrote to Eddy: "Oh, if you could only have been mental enough to see what I might be and do — and given me time to work past and out of the era through which I was passing when Mrs. Crosse suddenly ordered me to leave.

[26] Her College was modeled after Eddy's Massachusetts Metaphysical College;[27] and the first class of thirty-seven students, which included journalist Helen Wilmans, publisher Ida Nichols, and teachers Mabel McCoy and Kate Bingham who would influence the founding of Divine Science, graduated in June 1886 and formed the Hopkins Metaphysical Association.

[24] In addition to the interest in Chicago for Hopkins' metaphysical ideas, the city also offered a vibrant women's movement dating back to the mid-1800s for her to be involved with.

[10] Eddy was a supporter of women's rights, and Hopkins had experienced the predominantly female environment of the Christian Science movement, and found this trend repeating itself with her own students and patients in Chicago.

[32] Hopkins and Plunkett also joined forces for a time with Ursula Newell Gestefeld, another former Christian Scientist and student of Eddy.

[34] According to Gillian Gill, these groups both opposed Eddy and copied her: "They set up institutes in imitation of her Massachusetts Metaphysical College, founded periodicals comparable to the Christian Science Journal, gave lecture courses modelled on her own, plagiarized shamelessly from her written work, and prominently featured Science and Health in their reading lists.

[36] Reporting on the event in the Truth magazine, a supporter of Hopkins called her "the star that rose in the East and has spread its glory through the West," and Plunkett referred to her as "our beloved leader.

"[37] Since at this point so many individuals and groups were claiming to represent Christian Science, some of whom had never even read Eddy's work, she was becoming increasingly concerned over what she saw as false teachers, of which Hopkins was one of the most notable and successful.

[46] Meanwhile, in 1888, Hopkins restructured the Emma Curtis Hopkins College of Christian Science using the Protestant seminary model into the Christian Science Theological Seminary,[28] and taking on the role of bishop she ordained her students for the ministry, becoming, according to J. Gordon Melton, the first woman to ordain others as ministers in modern times.

[57] In 1918 she was voted the honorary president of the International New Thought Alliance, which had formed a few years earlier in 1914 after a number of failed attempts.

[61] In her 1888 book Scientific Christian Mental Practice, Hopkins used a number of philosophies and religions to support her arguments, including Plotinus, Plato, Baruch Spinoza, Augustine of Hippo, Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Buddha, Thomas Carlyle, and the Avesta, but notably did not acknowledge Eddy as a source for her ideas.

[52] Hopkins told students that if they read Eddy's book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, some parts could be skipped, such as a chapter on atonement.

[72] Beryl Satter calls Hopkins' writings "convoluted and ambiguous", but acknowledges that her theology was still able to elevate women through development of traditionally "masculine" qualities such as strength and power.

[84] Prosperity theology, which at least partially came out of Hopkins' teachings and New Thought in general, has influenced numerous authors, speakers, and televangelists; and helped give rise to movements such as Pentecostalism and Word of Faith.