Centers for Spiritual Living (formerly known as the United Church of Religious Science) has provided formal education for ministerial students since 1972, originally through Ernest Holmes College School of Ministry. In 1996, that function was assumed by a new entity, Holmes Institute, a graduate school of consciousness studies. In 1997, the Institute began offering a Master of Consciousness Studies degree. In 1999 the Institute name was changed to Holmes Institute of Consciousness Studies.
The Holmes Institute’s distance courses have been authored and taught by graduate-level faculty who are well respected in their fields, published authors, and trained researchers and scholars, presenting the leading concepts and work being published in these fields.
Holmes Institute grants a Master’s Degree in Consciousness Studies that has been a DEAC-accredited degree since June 2003. At the time of the first accreditation, the Institute was located in Los Angeles. In July 2008 Holmes Institute moved to Golden, Colorado.
In January of 2016 the Holmes Institute began offering a subset of the Masters degree courses as a Certificate in Spiritual Education.
Rev. Gregory Toole was the president of Holmes Institute and Rev. Dr. Lynn Connolly was the Director of Holmes Institute until April of 2013. Rev. Bob Deen (Director from 2013 to 2015) was President from November 2015 to 2018. The current administration includes Rev. Dr. Kim Kaiser, President and Chief Academic Officer, and Rev. CC Coltrain, Manager. The staff of Holmes Institute includes Dar Herfurt, Administrative Registrar, and Ted Penberthy, Education Technology Coordinator. Holmes Institute has its office at the Centers for Spiritual Living in Golden, Colorado.