A life preserved chiefly through his work
Little reliable information has been established about Penn’s early life. His birth date, family background and education remain uncertain in the sources consulted. The clearest record concerns his writing and his place in the Esoteric Fraternity, a religious community associated with Applegate in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada.
Hiram Erastus Butler founded the movement in Boston in 1887. It subsequently established a communal home in California, where its members made celibacy central to their understanding of Christian life. The Encyclopedia of American Religions identifies Penn as Butler’s successor after the founder’s death in 1916. It also records Penn’s work as a periodical editor and gives 1943 as the year of his death.
The surviving publications offer firmer evidence of his public work than of his private circumstances. The March 1937 issue of The Christian Esoteric names him as the author of an article on metaphysical healing and a contribution answering questions about the Bible. Published from Applegate, the magazine brought the fraternity’s teachings to readers beyond the resident community.
Writing for spiritual aspirants
Advertisements in The Christian Esoteric place Penn’s books alongside Butler’s works, showing the continuity between the two writers’ teaching. Endless Life was offered as an explanation of following Jesus and entering spiritual consciousness during bodily life. The title page of The Order of Melchisedek also names Penn as the author of Planetary Influences. His literary activity thus joined biblical instruction with the fraternity’s interest in the relationship between human life and the cosmos.
