HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Mary Baker Eddy (July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author who founded The
Church of Christ, Scientist The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Mary Baker Eddy, author of '' Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,'' and founder of Christian Science. The church was founded "to commemorate the word a ...
, in
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
in 1879. She also founded ''
The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
'', a
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...
-winning secular newspaper, in 1908, and three religious magazines: the ''
Christian Science Sentinel The ''Christian Science Sentinel'' (originally the ''Christian Science Weekly'') is a magazine published by the Christian Science Publishing Society based in Boston, Massachusetts. The magazine was launched by Mary Baker Eddy in 1898. It include ...
'', ''
The Christian Science Journal ''The Christian Science Journal'' is an official monthly publication of the Church of Christ, Scientist through the Christian Science Publishing Society, founded in 1883 by Mary Baker Eddy.The Herald of Christian Science ''The Herald of Christian Science'' is a magazine published in multiple languages by the Christian Science Publishing Society. It was first published as a German magazine in 1903, and grew to include other languages as well. The magazine is curren ...
''. She wrote numerous books and articles, the most notable of which was '' Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures'', which had sold over nine million copies as of 2001. Members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist consider Eddy the "discoverer" of
Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally known ...
, and adherents are therefore known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science. The church is sometimes informally known as the Christian Science church. Eddy was named one of the "100 Most Significant Americans of All Time" in 2014 by ''
Smithsonian Magazine ''Smithsonian'' is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The first issue was published in 1970. History The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' mag ...
'', and her book ''Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures'' was ranked as one of the "75 Books by Women Whose Words Have Changed the World" by the Women's National Book Association.


Early life


Bow, New Hampshire


Family

Eddy was born Mary Morse Baker in a farmhouse in Bow, New Hampshire, to farmer Mark Baker (d. 1865) and his wife Abigail Barnard Baker, née Ambrose (d. 1849). Eddy was the youngest of the Bakers' six children: boys Samuel Dow (1808), Albert (1810), and George Sullivan (1812), followed by girls Abigail Barnard (1816), Martha Smith (1819), and Mary Morse (1821). Mark Baker was a strongly religious woman from a
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
Congregationalist background, a firm believer in the final judgment and eternal damnation, according to Eddy. ''
McClure's ''McClure's'' or ''McClure's Magazine'' (1893–1929) was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with having started the tradition of muckraking journalism ( investigative, wa ...
'' magazine published a series of articles in 1907 that were highly critical of Eddy, stating that Baker's home library had consisted of the Bible. Eddy responded that this was untrue and that her father had been an avid reader. According to Eddy, her father had been a
justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or '' puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the s ...
at one point and a chaplain of the New Hampshire State Militia.Eddy, ''The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany'', 309. He developed a reputation locally for being disputatious; one neighbor described him as " tiger for a temper and always in a row." ''McClure's'' described him as a supporter of
slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
and alleged that he had been pleased to hear about
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
's death. Eddy responded that Baker had been a "strong believer in
States' rights In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the ...
, but slavery he regarded as a great sin." The Baker children inherited their father's temper, according to ''McClure's''; they also inherited his good looks, and Eddy became known as the village beauty. Life was nevertheless spartan and repetitive. Every day began with lengthy prayer and continued with hard work. The only rest day was the Sabbath.


Health

Eddy and her father reportedly had a volatile relationship. Ernest Sutherland Bates and
John V. Dittemore John Valentine Dittemore (September 30, 1876 - May 10, 1937) was director of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, the Christian Science church, in Boston from 1909 until 1919. Before that he was head of the church's Committee on Publication in Ne ...
wrote in 1932, relying on the Cather and Milmine history of Eddy (but see below), that Baker sought to break Eddy's will with harsh punishment, although her mother often intervened; in contrast to Mark Baker, Eddy's mother was described as devout, quiet, light-hearted, and kind. Eddy experienced periods of sudden illness, perhaps in an effort to control her father's attitude toward her. Those who knew the family described her as suddenly falling to the floor, writhing and screaming, or silent and apparently unconscious, sometimes for hours.
Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Excheque ...
, one of Eddy's biographers, worked for the Christian Science church and wrote in 1966: Gillian Gill wrote in 1998 that Eddy was often sick as a child and appears to have suffered from an eating disorder, but reports may have been exaggerated concerning hysterical fits. Eddy described her problems with food in the first edition of ''Science and Health'' (1875). She wrote that she had suffered from chronic indigestion as a child and, hoping to cure it, had embarked on a diet of nothing but water, bread, and vegetables, at one point consumed just once a day: "Thus we passed most of our early years, as many can attest, in hunger, pain, weakness, and starvation." Eddy experienced near invalidism as a child and most of her life until her discovery of Christian Science. Like most life experiences, it formed her lifelong, diligent research for a remedy from almost constant suffering. Eddy writes in her autobiography, "From my very childhood I was impelled by a hunger and thirst after divine things, — a desire for something higher and better than matter, and apart from it, — to seek diligently for the knowledge of God as the one great and ever-present relief from human woe." She also writes there, "I wandered through the dim mazes of ''materia medica'', till I was weary of 'scientific guessing,' as it has been well called. I sought knowledge from the different schools, — allopathy,
homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a d ...
,
hydropathy Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and treatment. The term ...
, electricity, and from various humbugs, — but without receiving satisfaction."


Tilton, New Hampshire

In 1836 when Eddy was about 14-15, she moved with her family to the town of Sanbornton Bridge, New Hampshire, approximately north of Bow. Sanbornton Bridge would subsequently be renamed in 1869 as Tilton. Ernest Bates and John Dittemore write that Eddy was not able to attend Sanbornton Academy when the family first moved there but was required instead to start at the district school (in the same building) with the youngest girls. She withdrew after a month because of poor health, then received private tuition from the Reverend Enoch Corser. She entered Sanbornton Academy in 1842. She was received into the Congregational church in Tilton on July 26, 1838, when she was 17, according to church records published by ''McClure's'' in 1907. Eddy had written in her autobiography in 1891 that she was 12 when this happened, and that she had discussed the idea of
predestination Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby ...
with the pastor during the examination for her membership; this may have been an attempt to reflect the story of a 12-year-old Jesus in the Temple. She wrote in response to the ''McClure's'' article that the date of her church membership may have been mistaken by her. Eddy objected so strongly to the idea of predestination and eternal damnation that it made her ill:


Marriage, widowhood

Eddy was badly affected by four deaths in the 1840s. She regarded her brother Albert as a teacher and mentor, but he died in 1841. In 1844, her first husband George Washington Glover (a friend of her brother Samuel) died after six months of marriage. They had married in December 1843 and set up home in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
, where Glover had business, but he died of
yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...
in June 1844 while living in
Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...
. Eddy was with him in Wilmington, six months pregnant. She had to make her way back to New Hampshire, by train and steamboat, where her only child George Washington II was born on September 12 in her father's home. Her husband's death, the journey back, and the birth left her physically and mentally exhausted, and she ended up bedridden for months. She tried to earn a living by writing articles for the New Hampshire ''Patriot'' and various Odd Fellows and
Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
publications. She also worked as a substitute teacher in the New Hampshire Conference Seminary, and ran her own
kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
for a few months in 1846, apparently refusing to use corporal punishment. Then her mother died in November 1849. Eddy wrote to one of her brothers: "What is left of earth to me!" Her mother's death was followed three weeks later by the death of her fiancé, lawyer John Bartlett. In 1850, Eddy wrote, her son was sent away to be looked after by the family's nurse; he was four years old by then. Sources differ as to whether Eddy could have prevented this.Fraser 1999, 38. It was difficult for a woman in her circumstances to earn money and, according to the legal doctrine of
coverture Coverture (sometimes spelled couverture) was a legal doctrine in the English common law in which a married woman's legal existence was considered to be merged with that of her husband, so that she had no independent legal existence of her own. U ...
, women in the United States during this period could not be their own children's guardians. When their husbands died, they were left in a legally vulnerable position. Mark Baker remarried in 1850; his second wife Elizabeth Patterson Duncan (d. June 6, 1875) had been widowed twice, and had some property and income from her second marriage.Gill, 1998, pp. 86–87. Baker apparently made clear to Eddy that her son would not be welcome in the new marital home. She wrote: George was sent to stay with various relatives, and Eddy decided to live with her sister Abigail. Abigail apparently also declined to take George, then six years old. Eddy married again in 1853. Her second husband, Daniel Patterson, was a dentist and apparently said that he would become George's legal guardian; but he appears not to have gone ahead with this, and Eddy lost contact with her son when the family that looked after him, the Cheneys, moved to Minnesota, and then her son several years later enlisted in the Union army during the Civil War. She did not see him again until he was in his thirties:


Study with Phineas Quimby

Mesmerism Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, was a protoscientific theory developed by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century in relation to what he claimed to be an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all livi ...
had become popular in New England; and on October 14, 1861, Eddy's husband at the time, Dr. Patterson, wrote to mesmerist Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, who reportedly cured people without medicine, asking if he could cure his wife. Quimby replied that he had too much work in
Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...
, and that he could not visit her, but if Patterson brought his wife to him he would treat her. Eddy did not immediately go, instead trying the
water cure Water cure may refer to: * Water cure (therapy), a course of medical treatment by hydrotherapy * Water cure (torture) Water cure is a form of torture in which the victim is forced to drink large quantities of water in a short time, resulting in ...
at Dr. Vail's Hydropathic Institute, but her health deteriorated even further. A year later, in October 1862, Eddy first visited Quimby. She improved considerably, and publicly declared that she had been able to walk up 182 steps to the dome of city hall after a week of treatment. The cures were temporary, however, and Eddy suffered relapses. Despite the temporary nature of the "cure", she attached religious significance to it, which Quimby did not. She believed that it was the same type of healing that Christ had performed. From 1862 to 1865, Quimby and Eddy engaged in lengthy discussions about healing methods practiced by Quimby and others. She took notes on her own ideas on healing, as well as writing dictations from him and "correcting" them with her own ideas, some of which possibly ended up in the "Quimby manuscripts" that were published later and attributed to him. Despite Quimby not being especially religious, he embraced the religious connotations Eddy was bringing to his work, since he knew his more religious patients would appreciate it. Phineas Quimby died on January 16, 1866, shortly after Eddy's father. Later, Quimby became the "single most controversial issue" of Eddy's life according to biographer Gillian Gill, who stated: "Rivals and enemies of Christian Science found in the dead and long forgotten Quimby their most important weapon against the new and increasingly influential religious movement", as Eddy was "accused of stealing Quimby's philosophy of healing, failing to acknowledge him as the spiritual father of Christian Science, and plagiarizing his unpublished work." However, Gill continued:
"I am now firmly convinced, having weighed all the evidence I could find in published and archival sources, that Mrs. Eddy’s most famous biographer-critics—Peabody, Milmine, Dakin, Bates and Dittemore, and Gardner—have flouted the evidence and shown willful bias in accusing Mrs. Eddy of owing her theory of healing to Quimby and of plagiarizing his unpublished work."
Quimby wrote extensive notes from the 1850s until his death in 1866. Some of his manuscripts, in his own hand, appear in a collection of his writings in the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
, but far more common was that the original Quimby drafts were edited and rewritten by his copyists. The transcriptions were heavily edited by those copyists to make them more readable. Rumors of Quimby "manuscripts" began to circulate in the 1880s when Julius Dresser began accusing Eddy of stealing from Quimby. Quimby's son, George, who disliked Eddy, did not want any of the manuscripts published, and kept what he owned away from the Dressers until after his death. In 1921, Julius's son, Horatio Dresser, published various copies of writings that he entitled ''The Quimby Manuscripts'' to support these claims, but left out papers that didn't serve his view. Further complicating the matter is that, as stated above, no originals of most of the copies exist; and according to Gill, Quimby's personal letters, which are among the items in his own handwriting, "eloquently testify to his incapacity to spell simple words or write a simple, declarative sentence. Thus there is no documentary proof that Quimby ever committed to paper the vast majority of the texts ascribed to him, no proof that he produced any text that someone else could, even in the loosest sense, 'copy.'" In addition, it has been averred that the dates given to the papers seem to be guesses made years later by Quimby's son, and although critics have claimed Quimby used terms like "science of health" in 1859 before he met Eddy, the alleged lack of proper dating in the papers makes this impossible to prove. According to J. Gordon Melton: "Certainly Eddy shared some ideas with Quimby. She differed with him in some key areas, however, such as specific healing techniques. Moreover, she did not share Quimby's hostility toward the Bible and Christianity."


Fall in Lynn

On February 1, 1866, Eddy slipped and fell on ice while walking in
Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...
, causing a spinal injury: Two contemporaneous news accounts are recorded of this event: Lynn ''Reporter,'' February 3, 1866: Salem ''Register,'' February 5, 1866: These contemporaneous news articles both reported on the seriousness of Eddy’s condition. Compare the statement in the ''Register'', “It is feared she will not recover” and the statement in the ''Reporter'' that Eddy’s injuries were “internal” and she was removed to her home “in a very critical condition,” to Cushing’s affidavit 38 years later, in 1904: “I did not at any time declare, or believe, that there was no hope of Mrs. Patterson’s recovery, or that she was in a critical condition.” Cushing's effort to downplay the seriousness of the accident perhaps reached its most extreme point in this letter from Gordon Clark, confirmed Eddy critic and author of ''The Church of St. Bunco,'' to the editor of the Boston ''Herald,'' March 2, 1902: Eddy later filed a claim for money from the city of Lynn for her injury on the grounds that she was "still suffering from the effects of that fall" (though she afterwards withdrew the lawsuit).Nenneman, 1997. Gill writes that Eddy's claim was probably made under financial pressure from her husband at the time. Her neighbors believed her sudden recovery to be a near-miracle. Eddy wrote in her autobiography, ''Retrospection and Introspection'', that she devoted the next three years of her life to biblical study and what she considered the discovery of Christian Science: "I then withdrew from society about three years,--to ponder my mission, to search the Scriptures, to find the Science of Mind that should take the things of God and show them to the creature, and reveal the great curative Principle, --Deity."Eddy, ''Retrospection and Introspection'', pp. 8–9, 22, 24–5. Eddy became convinced that illness could be healed through an awakened thought brought about by a clearer perception of God and the explicit rejection of drugs, hygiene, and medicine, based on the observation that Jesus did not use these methods for healing:


Spiritualism

Eddy separated from her second husband Daniel Patterson, after which she boarded for four years with several families in Lynn, Amesbury, and elsewhere. Frank Podmore wrote: After she became well known, reports surfaced that Eddy was a medium in Boston at one time.Peel 1966, p. 133. At the time when she was said to be a medium there, she lived some distance away.Gill, 1998, p. 627. According to Gill, Eddy knew spiritualists and took part in some of their activities, but was never a convinced believer. For example, she visited her friend Sarah Crosby in 1864, who believed in Spiritualism. According to
Sibyl Wilbur Sibyl Wilbur O'Brien Stone (May 27, 1871 – July 21, 1946), best known as Sibyl Wilbur, was an American journalist, suffragist, and author of a biography of Mary Baker Eddy. She was a San Diego Branch Member of the National League of American Pe ...
, Eddy attempted to show Crosby the folly of it by pretending to channel Eddy's dead brother Albert and writing letters which she attributed to him. In regard to the deception, biographer Hugh Evelyn Wortham commented that "Mrs. Eddy's followers explain it all as a pleasantry on her part to cure Mrs. Crosby of her credulous belief in spiritualism." However,
Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lew ...
has argued against this, stating that Eddy was working as a spiritualist medium and was convinced by the messages. According to Gardner, Eddy's mediumship converted Crosby to Spiritualism. In one of her spiritualist trances to Crosby, Eddy gave a message that was supportive of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, stating "P. Quimby of Portland has the spiritual truth of diseases. You must imbibe it to be healed. Go to him again and lean on no material or spiritual medium."Dakin, p. 56. The paragraph that included this quote was later omitted from an official sanctioned biography of Eddy. Between 1866 and 1870, Eddy boarded at the home of Brene Paine Clark who was interested in Spiritualism. Seances were often conducted there, but Eddy and Clark engaged in vigorous, good-natured arguments about them. Eddy's arguments against Spiritualism convinced at least one other who was there at the time—Hiram Crafts—that "her science was far superior to spirit teachings." Clark's son George tried to convince Eddy to take up Spiritualism, but he said that she abhorred the idea. According to Cather and Milmine, Mrs. Richard Hazeltine attended seances at Clark's home, and she said that Eddy had acted as a
trance medium Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...
, claiming to channel the spirits of the
Apostles An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...
. Mary Gould, a Spiritualist from Lynn, claimed that one of the spirits that Eddy channeled was
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
. According to eyewitness reports cited by Cather and Milmine, Eddy was still attending séances as late as 1872. In these later séances, Eddy would attempt to convert her audience into accepting Christian Science. Eddy showed extensive familiarity with Spiritualist practice but denounced it in her Christian Science writings. Historian Ann Braude wrote that there were similarities between Spiritualism and Christian Science, but the main difference was that Eddy came to believe, after she founded Christian Science, that spirit manifestations had never really had bodies to begin with, because matter is unreal and that all that really exists is spirit, before and after death.


Divorce, publishing her work

Eddy divorced Daniel Patterson for adultery in 1873. She published her work in 1875 in a book entitled ''Science and Health'' (years later retitled '' Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures'') which she called the textbook of Christian Science, after several years of offering her healing method. The first publication run was 1,000 copies, which she self-published. During these years, she taught what she considered the science of "primitive Christianity" to at least 800 people.Peel, 1977, p. 483, n. 104. Many of her students became healers themselves. The last 100 pages of ''Science and Health'' (chapter entitled "Fruitage") contains testimonies of people who claimed to have been healed by reading her book. She made numerous revisions to her book from the time of its first publication until shortly before her death.Gill, 1998, p. 324.


Marriage to Asa Gilbert Eddy

On January 1, 1877, she married Asa Gilbert Eddy, becoming Mary Baker Eddy in a small ceremony presided over by a Unitarian minister. In 1881, Mary Baker Eddy started the Massachusetts Metaphysical College with a charter from the state which allowed her to grant degrees. In 1882, the Eddys moved to Boston, and Gilbert Eddy died that year.Mary Baker Eddy Timeline
/ref>


Alleged influence of Hinduism

In the 24th edition of ''Science and Health'', up to the 33rd edition, Eddy admitted the harmony between
Vedanta philosophy ''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
and Christian Science. She also quoted certain passages from an English translation of the ''
Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' ( ...
'', but they were later removed. According to Gill, in the 1891 revision Eddy removed from her book all the references to
Eastern religions The Eastern religions are the religions which originated in East, South and Southeast Asia and thus have dissimilarities with Western, African and Iranian religions. This includes the East Asian religions such as Confucianism, Taoism, Chine ...
which her editor, Reverend James Henry Wiggin, had introduced. On this issue
Swami Abhedananda Swami Abhedananda (2 October 1866 – 8 September 1939), born Kaliprasad Chandra, was a direct disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of Ramakrishna Vedanta Math. Swami Vivekananda sent him to the West to h ...
wrote: Other writers, such as Jyotirmayananda Saraswati, have said that Eddy may have been influenced by ancient
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
philosophy. The
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
Damodar Singhal wrote: Wendell Thomas in '' Hinduism Invades America'' (1930) suggested that Eddy may have discovered
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
through the teachings of the New England Transcendentalists such as Bronson Alcott. Stephen Gottschalk, in his ''The Emergence of Christian Science in American Religious Life'' (1973), wrote: In regards to the influence of Eastern religions on her discovery of Christian Science, Eddy states in ''The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany'': "Think not that Christian Science tends towards
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
or any other 'ism'. Per contra, Christian Science destroys such tendency."


Building a church

Eddy devoted the rest of her life to the establishment of the church, writing its bylaws, ''The Manual of The Mother Church'', and revising ''Science and Health''. By the 1870s she was telling her students, "Some day I will have a church of my own." In 1879 she and her students established the Church of Christ, Scientist, "to commemorate the word and works of our Master
esus Esus, Hesus, or Aisus was a Brittonic and Gaulish god known from two monumental statues and a line in Lucan's '' Bellum civile''. Name T. F. O'Rahilly derives the theonym ''Esus'', as well as ''Aoibheall'', ''Éibhleann'', ''Aoife'', and ...
which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." In 1892 at Eddy's direction, the church reorganized as The First Church of Christ, Scientist, "designed to be built on the Rock, Christ. ... " In 1881, she founded the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, where she taught approximately 800 students between the years 1882 and 1889, when she closed it. Eddy charged her students $300 each for tuition, a large sum for the time. Her students spread across the country practicing healing, and instructing others. Eddy authorized these students to list themselves as Christian Science Practitioners in the church's periodical, ''
The Christian Science Journal ''The Christian Science Journal'' is an official monthly publication of the Church of Christ, Scientist through the Christian Science Publishing Society, founded in 1883 by Mary Baker Eddy.Christian Science Sentinel The ''Christian Science Sentinel'' (originally the ''Christian Science Weekly'') is a magazine published by the Christian Science Publishing Society based in Boston, Massachusetts. The magazine was launched by Mary Baker Eddy in 1898. It include ...
'', a weekly magazine with articles about how to heal and testimonies of healing. In 1888, a reading room selling Bibles, her writings and other publications opened in Boston. This model would soon be replicated, and branch churches worldwide maintain more than 1,200 Christian Science Reading Rooms today. In 1894 an edifice for The First Church of Christ, Scientist was completed in Boston (The Mother Church). In the early years Eddy served as pastor. In 1895 she ordained the Bible and ''Science and Health'' as the pastor. Eddy founded The Christian Science Publishing Society in 1898, which became the publishing home for numerous publications launched by her and her followers. In 1908, at the age of 87, she founded ''
The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
'', a daily newspaper. She also founded the ''Christian Science Journal'' in 1883, a monthly magazine aimed at the church's members and, in 1898, the ''Christian Science Sentinel'', a weekly religious periodical written for a more general audience, and the '' Herald of Christian Science'', a religious magazine with editions in many languages.


Malicious animal magnetism

The opposite of Christian Science mental healing was the use of mental powers for destructive or selfish reasons – for which Eddy used terms such as
animal magnetism Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, was a protoscientific theory developed by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century in relation to what he claimed to be an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all livi ...
, hypnotism, or mesmerism interchangeably. "Malicious animal magnetism", sometimes abbreviated as M.A.M., is what Catherine Albanese called "a Calvinist devil lurking beneath the metaphysical surface". As there is no personal devil or evil in Christian Science, M.A.M. or mesmerism became the explanation for the
problem of evil The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,The Problem of Evil, Michael TooleyThe Internet Encyc ...
.L. Ashley Squires (2017) ''Healing the Nation: Literature, Progress, and Christian Science''. Indiana University Press. Kindle Edition. Eddy was concerned that a new practitioner could inadvertently harm a patient through unenlightened use of their mental powers, and that less scrupulous individuals could use them as a weapon. Animal magnetism became one of the most controversial aspects of Eddy's life. The critical ''McClure's'' biography spends a significant amount of time on malicious animal magnetism, which it uses to make the case that Eddy had paranoia. During the Next Friends suit, it was used to charge Eddy with incompetence and "general insanity". According to Gillian Gill, Eddy's experience with Richard Kennedy, one of her early students, was what led her to began her examination of malicious animal magnetism.Gill, 1998, pp. 207-208. Eddy had agreed to form a partnership with Kennedy in 1870, in which she would teach him how to heal, and he would take patients. The partnership was rather successful at first, but by 1872 Kennedy had fallen out with his teacher and torn up their contract. Although there were multiple issues raised, the main reason for the break according to Gill was Eddy's insistence that Kennedy stop "rubbing" his patient's head and solar plexus, which she saw as harmful since, as Gill states, "traditionally in mesmerism or hypnosis the head and abdomen were manipulated so that the subject would be prepared to enter into trance." Kennedy clearly did believe in clairvoyance, mind reading, and absent mesmeric treatment; and after their split Eddy believed that Kennedy was using his mesmeric abilities to try to harm her and her movement. In 1882 Eddy publicly claimed that her last husband, Asa Gilbert Eddy, had died of "mental assassination". Daniel Spofford was another Christian Scientist expelled by Eddy after she accused him of practicing malicious animal magnetism. This gained notoriety in a case irreverently dubbed the " Second Salem Witch Trial". Critics of Christian Science blamed fear of animal magnetism if a Christian Scientist committed suicide, which happened with Mary Tomlinson, the sister of Irving C. Tomlinson. Later, Eddy set up "watches" for her staff to pray about challenges facing the Christian Science movement and to handle animal magnetism which arose.Gill, 1998, p. 397. Gill writes that Eddy got the term from the New Testament account of the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus chastises his disciples for being unable to "watch" even for a short time; and that Eddy used it to refer to "a particularly vigilant and active form of prayer, a set period of time when specific people would put their thoughts toward God, review questions and problems of the day, and seek spiritual understanding." Critics such as Georgine Milmine in ''Mclure's'', Edwin Dakin, and John Dittemore, all claimed this was evidence that Eddy had a great fear of malicious animal magnetism; although Gilbert Carpenter, one of Eddy's staff at the time, insisted she was not fearful of it, and that she was simply being vigilant. According to Eddy it was important to challenge animal magnetism, because, as Gottschalk says, its "apparent operation claims to have a temporary hold on people only through unchallenged mesmeric suggestion. As this is exposed and rejected, she maintained, the reality of God becomes so vivid that the magnetic pull of evil is broken, its grip on one’s mentality is broken, and one is freer to understand that there can be no actual mind or power apart from God." As time went on Eddy tried to lessen the focus on animal magnetism within the movement, and worked to clearly define it as unreality which only had power if one conceded power and reality to it. Eddy wrote in ''Science and Health'': "Animal magnetism has no scientific foundation, for God governs all that is real, harmonious, and eternal, and His power is neither animal nor human. Its basis being a belief and this belief animal, in Science animal magnetism, mesmerism, or hypnotism is a mere negation, possessing neither intelligence, power, nor reality, and in sense it is an unreal concept of the so-called mortal mind." The belief in malicious animal magnetism "remains a part of the doctrine of Christian Science." Christian Scientists use it as a specific term for a hypnotic belief in a power apart from God. They contend that it is "neither mysterious nor complex" and compare it to Paul's discussion of "the carnal mind...enmity against God" in the Bible.


Use of medicine

There is controversy about how much Eddy used morphine. Biographers Ernest Sutherland Bates and Edwin Franden Dakin described Eddy as a morphine addict. Miranda Rice, a friend and close student of Eddy, told a newspaper in 1906: "I know that Mrs. Eddy was addicted to morphine in the seventies." A diary kept by Calvin Frye, Eddy's personal secretary, suggests that Eddy occasionally reverted to "the old morphine habit" when she was in pain. Gill writes that the prescription of morphine was normal medical practice at the time, and that "I remain convinced that Mary Baker Eddy was never addicted to morphine." Eddy recommended to her son that, rather than go against the law of the state, he should have her grandchildren vaccinated. She also paid for a mastectomy for her sister-in-law.Whorton 2004, 128. Eddy was quoted in the ''New York Herald'' on May 1, 1901: "Where vaccination is compulsory, let your children be vaccinated, and see that your mind is in such a state that by your prayers vaccination will do the children no harm. So long as Christian Scientists obey the laws, I do not suppose their mental reservations will be thought to matter much." Eddy used glasses for several years for very fine print, but later dispensed with them almost entirely. She found she could read fine print with ease. In 1907 Arthur Brisbane interviewed Eddy. At one point he picked up a periodical, selected at random a paragraph, and asked Eddy to read it. According to Brisbane, at the age of eighty six, she read the ordinary magazine type without glasses. Towards the end of her life she was frequently attended by physicians.


Next Friends lawsuit

In 1907, the ''
New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under pub ...
'' sponsored a lawsuit, known as " The Next Friends suit", which journalist Erwin Canham described as "designed to wrest from ddyand her trusted officials all control of her church and its activities." During the course of the legal case, four psychiatrists interviewed Eddy, then 86 years old, to determine whether she could manage her own affairs, and concluded that she was able to. Physician
Allan McLane Hamilton Allan McLane Hamilton (October 6, 1848 – November 23, 1919) was an American psychiatrist, specializing in suicide and the impact of accidents and trauma upon mental health, and in criminal insanity, appearing at several trials. He was a fou ...
told ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' that the attacks on Eddy were the result of "a spirit of religious persecution that has at last quite overreached itself", and that "there seems to be a manifest injustice in taxing so excellent and capable an old lady as Mrs. Eddy with any form of insanity." A 1907 article in the ''
Journal of the American Medical Association ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of b ...
'' noted that Eddy exhibited hysterical and psychotic behavior. Psychiatrist
Karl Menninger Karl Augustus Menninger (July 22, 1893 – July 18, 1990) was an American psychiatrist and a member of the Menninger family of psychiatrists who founded the Menninger Foundation and the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. Biography Mennin ...
in his book ''The Human Mind'' (1927) cited Eddy's paranoid delusions about malicious animal magnetism as an example of a "
schizoid Schizoid personality disorder (, often abbreviated as SzPD or ScPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency toward a solitary or sheltered lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness ...
personality". Psychologists Leon Joseph Saul and Silas L. Warner, in their book ''The Psychotic Personality'' (1982), came to the conclusion that Eddy had diagnostic characteristics of Psychotic Personality Disorder (PPD). In 1983, psychologists Theodore Barber and Sheryl C. Wilson suggested that Eddy displayed traits of a
fantasy prone personality Fantasy prone personality (FPP) is a disposition or personality trait in which a person experiences a lifelong, extensive, and deep involvement in fantasy. This disposition is an attempt, at least in part, to better describe "overactive imagination ...
. Psychiatrist
George Eman Vaillant George Eman Vaillant (; born June 16, 1934) is an American psychiatrist and Professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of Research for the Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital. Vaillant has spent his research career charting ...
wrote that Eddy was hypochrondriacal. Psychopharmacologist
Ronald K. Siegel Ronald Keith Siegel (January 2, 1943 – March 24, 2019) was an American psychopharmacologist who was an associate research professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. Siegel ...
has written that Eddy's lifelong secret morphine habit contributed to her development of "progressive
paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy c ...
".


Death

Eddy died of pneumonia on the evening of December 3, 1910, at her home at 400 Beacon Street, in the Chestnut Hill section of
Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of ...
. Her death was announced the next morning, when a city medical examiner was called in. She was buried on December 8, 1910, at
Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge and Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, west of Boston. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brah ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
. Her memorial was designed by New York architect
Egerton Swartwout Egerton Swartwout (March 3, 1870 – February 18, 1943) was an American architect, most notably associated with his New York City architectural firm Tracy and Swartwout and McKim, Mead & White. His buildings, numbering over 100, were typical ...
(1870–1943). Hundreds of tributes appeared in newspapers around the world, including ''The Boston Globe'', which wrote, "She did a wonderful—an extraordinary work in the world and there is no doubt that she was a powerful influence for good."


Legacy

The influence of Eddy's writings has reached outside the Christian Science movement. Richard Nenneman wrote "the fact that Christian Science healing, or at least the claim to it, is a well-known phenomenon, was one major reason for other churches originally giving Jesus' command more attention. There are also some instances of Protestant ministers using the Christian Science textbook 'Science and Health'' or even the weekly Bible lessons, as the basis for some of their sermons." ''
The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
'', which was founded by Eddy as a response to the
yellow journalism Yellow journalism and yellow press are American terms for journalism and associated newspapers that present little or no legitimate, well-researched news while instead using eye-catching headlines for increased sales. Techniques may include ...
of the day, has gone on to win seven
Pulitzer Prizes The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had ma ...
and numerous other awards. In 1945
Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, a ...
wrote that
Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His poli ...
may be described as "a combination of
Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for d ...
and Mrs. Eddy". A bronze memorial
relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
of Eddy by Lynn sculptor Reno Pisano was unveiled in December, 2000, at the corner of Market Street and Oxford Street in Lynn near the site of her fall in 1866.


Residences

In 1921, on the 100th anniversary of Eddy's birth, a 100-ton (in rough) and 60–70 tons (hewn) pyramid with a footprint was dedicated on the site of her birthplace in Bow, New Hampshire. A gift from James F. Lord, it was dynamited in 1962 by order of the church's Board of Directors. Also demolished was Eddy's former home in Pleasant View, as the Board feared that it was becoming a place of pilgrimage. Eddy is featured on a
New Hampshire historical marker The U.S. state of New Hampshire has, since 1958, placed historical markers at locations that are deemed significant to New Hampshire history. The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources (DHR) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) are j ...
( number 105) along
New Hampshire Route 9 New Hampshire Route 9 (abbreviated NH 9 and also known as the Franklin Pierce Highwayhttp://franklinpierce.ws/highway.pdf ) is a state highway located in southern New Hampshire. It runs across the state from west to east and is a multi-state rout ...
in
Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
. Several of Eddy's homes are owned and maintained as historic sites by the Longyear Museum and may be visited (the list below is arranged by date of her occupancy): * 1855–1860 – Hall's Brook Road, North Groton, New Hampshire * 1860–1862 – Stinson Lake Road,
Rumney, New Hampshire Rumney is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,498 at the 2020 census. The town is located at the southern edge of the White Mountain National Forest. History Rumney was named after Robert Marsham, 2nd Baro ...
* 1865–1866 – 23 Paradise Road,
Swampscott, Massachusetts Swampscott () is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located up the coast from Boston in an area known as the North Shore. The population was 15,111 as of the 2020 United States Census. A former summer resort on Massachusetts B ...
* 1868,1870 – 277 Main Street, Amesbury, Massachusetts * 1868–1870 – 133 Central Street,
Stoughton, Massachusetts Stoughton (official name: Town of Stoughton) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 29,281 at the 2020 census. The town is located approximately from Boston, from Providence, Rhode Island, and from Cape ...
* 1875–1882 – 8 Broad Street,
Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...
(
NRHP The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
-listed in 2021) * 1889–1892 – 62 North State Street,
Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the county seat, seat of Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Merrimack County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third larg ...
(NRHP-listed in 1982) * 1908–1910 – 400 Beacon Street, Chestnut Hill,
Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of ...
(NRHP-listed in 1986) File:Mary Baker Eddy Historic House - Swampscott, MA.JPG, 23 Paradise Road,
Swampscott, Massachusetts Swampscott () is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located up the coast from Boston in an area known as the North Shore. The population was 15,111 as of the 2020 United States Census. A former summer resort on Massachusetts B ...
File:Mary Baker Eddy Historic House - Amesbury, Massachusetts.JPG, 277 Main Street, Amesbury, Massachusetts File:Mary Baker Eddy Historic House, Stoughton MA.jpg, 133 Central Street,
Stoughton, Massachusetts Stoughton (official name: Town of Stoughton) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 29,281 at the 2020 census. The town is located approximately from Boston, from Providence, Rhode Island, and from Cape ...
File:8 Broad Street, Lynn, Massachusetts, 1906 (postcard, cropped).jpg, 8 Broad Street,
Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...
File:Dupee Estate - Mary Baker Eddy Home, Newton, Massachusetts.jpg, 400 Beacon Street, Chestnut Hill,
Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of ...


Selected works

* Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures 1910
''Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896''
*''Miscellaneous Writings'' *''Pulpit and Press'' *''Rudimental Divine Science''
''No and Yes''
*''Christian Science versus Pantheism'' *''Message to The Mother Church, 1900'' *''Message to The Mother Church, 1901'' *''Message to The Mother Church, 1902''

1914 *''The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany'' *''The Manual of The Mother Church'' *''Poems, 1910'' **''Source:'' WorldCat


See also

* Dupee Estate-Mary Baker Eddy Home in the Chestnut Hill village of
Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of ...
* Massachusetts Metaphysical College with a complete list of students of Eddy *
Septimus J. Hanna Septimus James Hanna (July 29, 1845 – July 23, 1921), an American Civil War veteran and a judge in the Old West. He was a student of Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Christian Science church. Giving up his legal career, he became a Christian S ...
, student of Eddy and vice-president of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College * William R. Rathvon, student of Eddy, early Christian Scientist and lone person to leave an audio recording of his hearing Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address The Gettysburg Address is a speech that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery, now known as Gettysburg National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the ...
at the age of nine. *
Bliss Knapp Bliss Knapp (June 7, 1877 – March 14, 1958), the son of Ira O. and Flavia S. Knapp, students of Mary Baker Eddy, was an early Christian Science lecturer, practitioner, teacher and the author of '' The Destiny of the Mother Church''. Childh ...
, a child when the church was in its formative years. Later, he was a teacher and also lectured for 21 years. His father was one of the first Directors of The Mother Church. Knapp's Book, ''
The Destiny of the Mother Church ''The Destiny of The Mother Church'' is a book by Bliss Knapp published by Christian Science Publishing Society in 1991. Knapp and his parents, Ira O. and Flavia Stickney Knapp, all knew Mary Baker Eddy. His parents were students of hers and his ...
,'' which was rejected by the Church but privately published, was quite controversial, and Knapp's opinions of Eddy remain controversial to this day in the Christian Science Church. *
Augusta Emma Stetson Augusta Emma Stetson (''née'' Simmons) (October 12, 1842 – October 12, 1928) was an American religious leader. Known for her impressive oratory skills and magnetic personality, she attracted a large following in New York City. However, her incr ...
, pastor and later First Reader of
First Church of Christ, Scientist (New York, New York) The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Manhattan is a 1903 building located at Central Park West and 96th Street in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. The building is a designated New York City landmark. Architecture The buildi ...
, excommunicated by the Mother Church in 1909. * '' Christian Science Herald'' * ''
Christian Science Journal ''The Christian Science Journal'' is an official monthly publication of the Church of Christ, Scientist through the Christian Science Publishing Society, founded in 1883 by Mary Baker Eddy.Christian Science Monitor Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...
'' *
Christian Science Pleasant View Home The Pleasant View Home is an historic senior citizen residential facility located at 227 Pleasant Street in Concord, New Hampshire, in the United States. On September 19, 1984, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. From 1892 ...
* Christian Science practitioner * ''
Christian Science Sentinel The ''Christian Science Sentinel'' (originally the ''Christian Science Weekly'') is a magazine published by the Christian Science Publishing Society based in Boston, Massachusetts. The magazine was launched by Mary Baker Eddy in 1898. It include ...
'' *
Christian Science Reading Room image:5054_christian-science-reading-room-e.jpg, 400px, A typical storefront Christian Science Reading Room on the main street of a suburb of Boston. The window displays a lamp, a large Bible open to the current reading, and copies of '' Science an ...


Notes


References


Sources

* Bates, Ernest S. and Dittemore, John V. (1932). '' Mary Baker Eddy: The Truth and the Tradition''. Knopf. * Cather, Willa and Milmine, Georgine (December 1906 – June 1908). "Mary Baker G. Eddy". ''
McClure's ''McClure's'' or ''McClure's Magazine'' (1893–1929) was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with having started the tradition of muckraking journalism ( investigative, wa ...
''. * Dakin, Edwin F. (1929).
Mrs. Eddy: The Biography of a Virginal Mind
'. C. Scribner's Sons. * Fraser, Caroline (1999). '' God's Perfect Child: Living and Dying in the Christian Science Church''. Metropolitan Books. *
Gardner, Martin Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...
(1993). ''The Healing Revelations of Mary Baker Eddy''. Prometheus Books. * Gill, Gillian (1998).
Mary Baker Eddy
'. Da Capo Press. * Gottschalk, Stephen (2006).
Rolling Away the Stone: Mary Baker Eddy's Challenge to Materialism
'. Indiana University Press. * Nenneman, Richard A. (1997).
Persistent Pilgrim: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy
'. Nebbadoon Press. * Peel, Robert (1966).
Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Discovery
'. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. * Peel, Robert (1971).
Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Trial
'. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. * Peel, Robert (1977).
Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority
'. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. * Springer, Fleta Campbell (1930). ''According to the Flesh: A Biography of Mary Baker Eddy''. Coward-McCann. * Stark, Rodney (1988)
"The Rise and Fall of Christian Science"
''Journal of Contemporary Religion'', 13(2). * Wortham, Hugh Evelyn (1930).
Three Women: St. Teresa, Madame de Choiseul, Mṛṣ Eddy
'. Little, Brown and Co.


Further reading

* Samuel P. Bancroft. ''Mrs. Eddy as I Knew Her in 1870''. Geo H. Ellis Co, 1923. * Norman Beasley.
The Cross and the Crown: The History of Christian Science
'. Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1952. * Norman Beasley. ''Mary Baker Eddy''. New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1963. * Julie Berliet. ''Mary Baker Eddy''. Paris: Messageries Coopératives Du Livre et De La Presse, a. 1936 * Charles S. Braden. '' Christian Science Today: Power, Policy, Practice''. Southern Methodist University Press, 1958. * Arthur Brisbane.
Mary Baker G. Eddy
'. Ball, 1908. *
Henrietta Buckmaster Henrietta Delancey Henkle, (10 March 1909 – 26 April 1983) better known by her pen name Henrietta Buckmaster, was an activist, journalist, and author best known for writing historical studies and novels. She was also active in the civil rights ...
.
Women Who Shaped History
'. Collier Books, 1966. * Adam H. Dickey. ''Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy''. Robert G. Carter, 1927. * Mary Baker Eddy Library. ''In My True Light and Life: Mary Baker Eddy Collections''. Boston: The Writings of Mary Baker Eddy, 2002. * James Franklin Gilman. ''Painting a Poem: Mary Baker Eddy and James F. Gilman Illustrate Christ and Christmas.'' Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, a. 1997 * Isabel Ferguson and Heather Vogel Frederick.
A World More Bright: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy
'. Christian Science Publishing Society, 2013. * Heather Vogel Frederick. ''Life at 400 Beacon Street: Working in Mary Baker Eddy’s Household.'' Chestnut Hill: Longyear Museum Press, 2019. * Yvonne Cache von Fettweis and Robert Townsend Warneck.
Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer
'. Christian Science Publishing Company, 1998. * Doris Grekel. ''The Discovery of the Science of Man: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1888)''. Healing Unlimited, 1999. * Doris Grekel. ''The Founding of Christian Science: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (1888–1900)''. Healing Unlimited, 1999. * Doris Grekel. ''The Forever Leader: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (1901–1910)''. Healing Unlimited, 1999. * Robert A. Hall.
The Modern Siren
'. New York, 1916. * Ella H. Hay. ''A Child's Life of Mary Baker Eddy''. Boston, Christian Science :Publishing Society, a. 1942 * Walter M. Haushalter.
Mrs. Eddy Purloins from Hegel
'. Beauchamp, 1936. * Kenneth Hufford. ''Mary Baker Eddy and the Stoughton Years''. Longyear Foundation, a. 1963 * Hugh A. Studdert Kennedy.
Mrs. Eddy as I Knew Her: Being Some Contemporary Portraits of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science
'. The Farallon Press, 1931. * Stuart E. Knee. ''Christian Science in the Age of Mary Baker Eddy.''. Greenwood Press, 1994. * Marian King. ''Mary Baker Eddy: Child of Promise''. Prentice-Hall, Inc., a. 1968 * Rachel A. Koestler-Grack.
Mary Baker Eddy
'. Facts On File, 2004. * William Lyman Johnson. ''The History of The Christian Science Movement by Contemporaneous Authors, Written For and Edited at the Request of Mary Beecher Longyear.'' The Zion Research Foundation, 1926. 2 Vols. * Julia Michael Johnston. ''Mary Baker Eddy: Her Mission and Triumph.'' Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, a. 1946 * Paul Lomaxe.
''Mary Baker Eddy: Spiritualist Medium
'. General Assembly of Spiritualists, 1946. * Myra B. Lord.
Mary Baker Eddy: A Concise Story of Her Life and Work
'. Davis & Bond, 1918.
archive.org
* Walter Ralston Martin.
The Christian Science Myth
Zondervan Publishing House, 1955. * Michael Meehan,
Mrs. Eddy and the Late Suit in Equity
'. 1908. *
Georgine Milmine Georgine is a women’s ready-to-wear brand founded by the designers Georgine Ratelband and Chris Roshia in New York City. History Georgine was launched by the fashion designer Georgine Ratelband with her partner Chris Roshia and was founded ...
.
archive.org The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science
', Doubleday, Page & Company, 1909. Also published as Willa Cather and
Georgine Milmine Georgine is a women’s ready-to-wear brand founded by the designers Georgine Ratelband and Chris Roshia in New York City. History Georgine was launched by the fashion designer Georgine Ratelband with her partner Chris Roshia and was founded ...
. ''The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science''. University of Nebraska Press, 1993. *
Conrad Henry Moehlman Conrad Henry Moehlman (May 26, 1879 – September 19, 1961) was an American professor of church history at Colgate Rochester Divinity School, where he was emeritus professor. A Baptist and known as theologically liberal, he was a strong proponen ...
. ''Ordeal by Concordance: An Historical Study of a Recent Literary Invention." Longmans Green & Co., 1955. * William Dana Orcutt. ''Mary Baker Eddy and her Books." Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 950.* Frederick W. Peabody.
Complete Exposure of Eddyism or Christian Science: The Plain Truth in Plain Terms Regarding Mary Baker G. Eddy
'. 1904
901 __NOTOC__ Year 901 ( CMI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * February – King Louis III (the Blind) is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by ...
* Frederick W. Peabody.
The Religio-Medical Masquerade: A Complete Exposure of Christian Science
'. Revell, 1910 and 1915. *
Lyman Pierson Powell Lyman Pierson Powell (September 21, 1866 - February 10, 1946) was an American Episcopal clergyman and college president. Powell was originally a critic of Christian Science but later became a sympathizer and wrote an authorized biography of its fo ...

''Christian Science: The Faith and Its Founder''
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1907. * Lyman Pierson Powell.
Mary Baker Eddy: A Life Size Portrait
'. MacMillan, 1930.
Reprinting
The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1930, 1950, 1991. * Cindy Peyser Safronoff. ''Crossing Swords: Mary Baker Eddy vs Victoria Clafin Woodhull and the Battle for the Soul of Marriage - The Untold Story of America's Nineteenth-Century Culture War''. this one thing, 2015. * Julius Silberger. ''Mary Baker Eddy, An Interpretive Biography of the Founder of Christian Science''. Little, Brown, 1980. * Jewel Spangler Smaus. ''Mary Baker Eddy: The Golden Days''. Christian Science Publishing Society, 1966. * Clifford P. Smith.
Historical Sketches from the Life of Mary Baker Eddy and the History of Christian Science
'. Christian Science Publishing Society, 1934. 941, 1969* Louise A. Smith. ''Mary Baker Eddy''. Chelsea House Publishers, a. 1991 * James H. Snowden.
Truth About Christian Science the Founder and the Faith
'. 1920. * David Thomas. ''With Bleeding Footsteps: Mary Baker Eddy's Path to Religious Leadership''. Knopf, 1994. * Irving C. Tomlinson.
Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy
'. Christian Science Publishing Society, 1945. *
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...
.''
Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally known ...
''. Harper, 1907
archive.org
. * Amy B. Voorhees. ''A New Christian Identity: Christian Science Origins and Experience in American Culture.'' University of North Carolina Press, 2021. * Peter Wallner. ''Faith on Trial: Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science and the First Amendment''. Plaidswede Publishing, 2014. *
Sibyl Wilbur Sibyl Wilbur O'Brien Stone (May 27, 1871 – July 21, 1946), best known as Sibyl Wilbur, was an American journalist, suffragist, and author of a biography of Mary Baker Eddy. She was a San Diego Branch Member of the National League of American Pe ...

''The Life of Mary Baker Eddy''
The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1907. *
Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig (; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist, and biographer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular write ...
. ''Die Heilung durch den Geist: Mesmer, Freud, Mary Baker Eddy''. 1932. (''Mental Healers: Franz Anton Mesmer, Mary Baker Eddy, Sigmund Freud'', Viking, 1932).


External links


Mary Baker Eddy LibraryMary Baker Eddy
an
Basic teachings of Christian Science
christianscience.com
The Longyear Museum
* * * * * Norwood, Arlisha.
Mary Eddy
. National Women's History Museum. 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Eddy, Mary Baker 1821 births 1910 deaths 19th-century American women writers 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers American abolitionists American Christian religious leaders American Christian Scientists American feminists Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery Christian Science writers Deaths from pneumonia in Massachusetts Christian feminist theologians Founders of new religious movements People from Lynn, Massachusetts People from Bow, New Hampshire People from Swampscott, Massachusetts People in alternative medicine Religious leaders from Massachusetts Religious leaders from New Hampshire Writers from New Hampshire Women religious writers Activists from New Hampshire People from Tilton, New Hampshire Christian abolitionists The Christian Science Monitor people Lecturers American women poets 19th-century American poets