], In 1894 an edifice for The First Church of Christ, Scientist was completed in Boston (The Mother Church). The extensive use of original materials is not surprising, as its authors were employees of The Mother Churchs archives and spent two years gathering the accounts. In 1914 she prepared a biographical sketch of Mary Baker Eddy that was published in the womens edition of New Hampshires, , under the title Mary Baker Eddy A Daughter of the Granite State: The Worlds Greatest Woman. It was reprinted in two parts in the German edition of. or mesmerism became the explanation for the problem of evil. While many of those reminiscences deal with the business of bookmaking, they also include his meetings with Eddy. Page 313 and 314: MARY BAKER EDDY: HER SPIRITUAL FOOT. This was the first commercially published and widely distributed history of the Christian Science movement. Yet Butler and his soldiers opposed accepting human property. 4.67 avg rating 66 ratings published 1988 33 editions. Biographers Ernest Sutherland Bates and Edwin Franden Dakin described Eddy as a morphine addict. Kimball. [28] She wrote: A few months before my father's second marriage my little son, about four years of age, was sent away from me, and put under the care of our family nurse, who had married, and resided in the northern part of New Hampshire. She entered Sanbornton Academy in 1842. Silberger, a psychiatrist, used original documentation from Robert Peels trilogy. [52] 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. The first volume of the expanded edition contains all the reminiscences from the original series, with additional content added from the original manuscripts; it also includes four previously unpublished reminiscences. This work challenges Edwin Dakins Mrs. Eddy: The Biography of a Virginal Mind. by Isabel Ferguson (19352010) and Heather Vogel Frederick (b. As a result the book offered no new information or insight into Mary Baker Eddys life, its only unique element being the authors satirical commentary on Eddy and the Christian Science movement. He developed a reputation locally for being disputatious; one neighbor described him as "[a] tiger for a temper and always in a row. Every means within my power was employed to find him, but without success. By the 1870s she was telling her students, "Some day I will have a church of my own. [83] On this issue Swami Abhedananda wrote: Mrs. Eddy quoted certain passages from the English edition of the Bhagavad-Gita, but unfortunately, for some reason, those passages of the Gita were omitted in the 34th edition of the book, Science and Health if we closely study Mrs. Eddy's book, we find that Mrs. Eddy has incorporated in her book most of the salient features of Vedanta philosophy, but she denied the debt flatly.[84]. They included a large number of negroes, composed, in a great measure, of women and children of the men who had fled thither within my lines for protection, who had escaped from marauding parties of rebels who had been gathering up able-bodied blacks to aid them in constructing their batteries on the James and York Rivers.6 Having employed the former slaves himself to build entrenchments, Butler praised them for working zealously and efficiently at that duty, saving our soldiers from that labor, under the gleam of the mid-day sun.. On July 30, 1861, he asked his superiors: Are they property? [citation needed] She also founded the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly magazine with articles about how to heal and testimonies of healing. A journalist and former Mother Church member, Studdert Kennedy attempted a favorable biography of Mary Baker Eddy. She quarrelled successively with all her hostesses, and her departure from the house was heralded on two or three occasions by a violent scene. by Yvonne Cach von Fettweis (19352014) and Robert Townsend Warneck (b. Page 309 and 310: MARY BAKER EDDY: HER SPIRITUAL FOOT. [61] According to Gill, Eddy knew spiritualists and took part in some of their activities, but was never a convinced believer. His many references to philosophers, scientists, and literary figures are balanced by vignettes highlighting her impact on otherwise unknown women and men who responded to her message and became both followers and critics of Christian Science. A Christian Scientist, she also worked as a consultant for several governmental and non-governmental organizations. This work has been criticized for its overly sympathetic tone, as well as for a recurrent lack of documentation. The nascent intellectual in Mary rebelled against the concept of . [30] Baker apparently made clear to Eddy that her son would not be welcome in the new marital home. Much additional material was added in 2009, and the volume was reintroduced as Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer (Amplified Edition). From my brother Albert, I received lessons in the ancient tongues, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. He cites the diaries of Calvin Frye, Eddys longtime aide, as the sources for these claims, but they are not found in any of those diaries. It is well to know, dear reader, that our material, mortal history is but the record of dreams, not of mans real existence, and the dream has no place in the Science of being (p. 21). "Sacred Texts in the United States". Parsons wrote this biography as a riposte to what she referred to as the cloying childrens biographies about Mary Baker Eddy, aiming to produce a no-nonsense story that would satisfy a non-critical Christian Science reader (Author: Eddys life chronicled,. The book was published by Vermont Schoolhouse Press, a publishing company that Parsons founded. P06695. Want to Read. The conversation continued into the fall of 1861, when Butler wrote to Cameron again, to further inquire about the women and children who had taken refuge within Fort Monroe after the troops evacuated Hampton, Virginia. Raised in rural New Hampshire in a deeply Christian home, she spent many years struggling with ill health, sorrow, and loss. Part 2 features the Mary Baker Historic House in Amesbury, Massachusetts, and Part 3 the house in North Groton, New Hampshire. At the same time, the women were earning substantially their own subsistence in washing, marketing and taking care of the clothes of the soldiers. But now that the number of runaway slaves had reached 900some 600 of them women, children, and men beyond working ageButler was once again faced with the legal implications of harboring them in Fort Monroe. Two days later, Cameron wrote to Butler, outlining its central tenets and approving Butlers recent appeal. Mrs. Eddy lived at 385 Commonwealth Avenue from 1887 to 1889. [112] 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. [153] Eddy is featured on a New Hampshire historical marker (number 105) along New Hampshire Route 9 in Concord. Eddys letter to Butler sheds light on her anti-slavery convictions and on her willingness to advocate for them. Such was the case with one object in our collectiona plate painted with Mary Baker Eddy's portrait. The Christian Science Publishing Society issued Mary Baker Eddy and Her Books. [79], On January 1, 1877, she married Asa Gilbert Eddy, becoming Mary Baker Eddy in a small ceremony presided over by a Unitarian minister. As biographer Gillian Gill noted: With regard to both the Milmine and Wilbur biographies, I strongly recommend that any scholar interested in Mrs. Eddy consult the original magazine series. A deeper inquiry into her correspondence with Butler, and his role in defending the rights of Black men and women, places Eddy within a broader national conversation around slavery, property, and the Civil War. 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. Christian Science and Its Discoverer was first published in England in 1923. Accordingly, she produced an uncomplicated biography for a young-adult audience, enhanced by plenty of illustrations and photographs to capture their imagination. The biography spans Eddys life but focuses on her childhood and interactions with children in later life. 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, ne Ambrose (d.1849). "[70] Clark's son George tried to convince Eddy to take up Spiritualism, but he said that she abhorred the idea. "[92][non-primary source needed] In 1881, she founded the Massachusetts Metaphysical College,[93] where she taught approximately 800 students between the years 1882 and 1889, when she closed it. [109], 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. BEFORE 1900 1900-1924 The question became more difficult in the case of those escaping from masters loyal to the US government; Butler was instructed to keep detailed records, with names and descriptions of the former slaves and their masters. 1952). At age 89, Mary Baker Eddy died on December 3, 1910, and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mark Twain and Mary Baker Eddy Drama Mark Twain writes a screed against Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. "[130][non-primary source needed], Eddy used glasses for several years for very fine print, but later dispensed with them almost entirely. [11], 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. . [13] Eddy experienced periods of sudden illness, perhaps in an effort to control her father's attitude toward her. This book was published posthumously by The Christian Science Publishing Society in 1945, with an amplified edition issued in 1994. "[121], The belief in malicious animal magnetism "remains a part of the doctrine of Christian Science. "[122] Christian Scientists use it as a specific term for a hypnotic belief in a power apart from God. She made numerous revisions to her book from the time of its first publication until shortly before her death. Accounts of Eddys life and ideas by a variety of authors have been published for over 130 years. by Ernest Sutherland Bates (18791939) and John V. Dittemore (18761937). Some passages are based on her 2001 biography, Come and See: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy. The book was published by Vermont Schoolhouse Press, a publishing company that Parsons founded. [85] The historian Damodar Singhal wrote: The Christian Science movement in America was possibly influenced by India. Paul C. Gutjahr. The authors background as a historian and his training in psychoanalysis are evident in this psychological examination of Mary Baker Eddys life. [114] Daniel Spofford was another Christian Scientist expelled by Eddy after she accused him of practicing malicious animal magnetism. "[89][non-primary source needed], 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. To learn more about this position and to apply, click here. She writes in a laudatory tone, producing a piece of prose that testifies to its beginnings as a newspaper article. Therefore if their new owners renounced claims to ownership, the former slaves should be free. At a time when many Union supporters did not necessarily oppose slavery, Eddy did. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, was one of the most famous religious figures of the late nineteenth century, eliciting harsh criticism even as she gained thousands of. Mary Baker Eddy revised her exegesis of Genesis in several places to use the feminine pronoun for God. Smaus and her family lived in Bow, New Hampshire (Eddys birthplace), for two years while she conducted research. This biography focuses on accounts of Mary Baker Eddys healing work, utilizing material gathered from her correspondence and published writings, as well as from reminiscences. Lord, a Christian Scientist, leans heavily on Mary Baker Eddys autobiography. The stated reason for the litigation was to enable Eddys sons to take control of her estate. [152] A gift from James F. Lord, it was dynamited in 1962 by order of the church's Board of Directors. Her book represented the first biography of Mary Baker Eddy to target young readers, featuring a larger typeface and simple illustrations. [97][non-primary source needed], Eddy founded The Christian Science Publishing Society in 1898, which became the publishing home for numerous publications launched by her and her followers. These appeared first in a 1995 Christian Science Journal series, Mary Baker Eddy: a lifetime of healing. The 1998 edition of this book was expanded from that series. [127] 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. "[128], Eddy recommended to her son that, rather than go against the law of the state, he should have her grandchildren vaccinated. A journalist, Milmine scoured New England, primarily in search of hostile testimony about Mary Baker Eddy. [88], 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 or any other 'ism'. Science And Health. Go to him again and lean on no material or spiritual medium. [149][150][151], In 1921, on the 100th anniversary of Eddy's birth, a 100-ton (in rough) and 6070 tons (hewn) pyramid with a 121 square foot (11.2m2) footprint was dedicated on the site of her birthplace in Bow, New Hampshire. It is among the most important reminiscences of Eddys early years as a healer and teacher. [142] Psychopharmacologist Ronald K. Siegel has written that Eddy's lifelong secret morphine habit contributed to her development of "progressive paranoia". One of particular significance was the 1901 assassination of William McKinley (1843-1901), the 25th . The three enslaved Black men were field hands who had been pressed by local Confederates into service, building an artillery emplacement in the dunes across the harbor. See Christian Science Reading Room listings in current edition of the Christian Science Journal. An academic and author, Bates taught at several colleges. The only rest day was the Sabbath.[12]. It is based on Mary Baker Eddys discoveries and what she afterwards named Christian Science. Have they not become thereupon men, women and children? Since that time, attitudes have changed, and excerpts from Dickeys book were included in We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, Expanded Edition, Volume II (2013). Cather and Milmine, 1909. [31], Mesmerism 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. Learn how and when to remove this template message, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Journal of the American Medical Association, First Church of Christ, Scientist (New York, New York), "The Christian Science Monitor | Description, History, Pulitzer Prizes, & Facts | Britannica", "100 Most Significant Americans of All Time", "75 Books by Women Whose Words Have Changed the World", Religious Leaders of America: A Biographical Guide to Founders and Leaders of Religious Bodies, Churches, and Spiritual Groups in North America, A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion, Christian Science: A Sourcebook of Contemporary Materials, 'Dr. [110] 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. This book was published posthumously by The Christian Science Publishing Society in 1945, with an amplified edition issued in 1994. This was the first biography of Eddy to make use of research conducted at The Mary Baker Eddy Library. She had no access to the Church archives or other original material and relied heavily on secondary sources, particularly Robert Peels trilogy. [143], 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. The book was issued by Library Publishers of New York. She was occasionally entranced, and had received "spirit communications" from her deceased brother Albert. [133] Towards the end of her life she was frequently attended by physicians. At ten years of age I was as familiar with Lindley Murray's Grammar as with the Westminster Catechism; and the latter I had to repeat every Sunday. The Mary Baker Eddy Papers is a major effort to annotate and digitally publish correspondence . Evidence suggests that she paid for at least some of the interviews she conducted. At the Directors request, Lillian Dickey withdrew the book from circulation. But it suffers from reliance on the factual inaccuracies of books by Georgine Milmine and Edwin Dakin. She wrote the book for young adult readers and included photographs by Gordon N. Converse, a longtime photographer for The Christian Science Monitor. At a time when women could not vote, rarely preached from a pulpit or took part in medical professions, her work in the healthcare arena broke through the glass ceiling that had yet to become a metaphor. But with the appearance of Edwin Dakins Mrs. Eddy: The Biography of a Virginal Mind,the company delayed publication until late the following year. Nenneman was a former editor-in-chief of The Christian Science Monitor. [75] Eddy showed extensive familiarity with Spiritualist practice but denounced it in her Christian Science writings. The book was initially published by Macmillan, and has since been published by The Christian Science Publishing Society, with major revisions in 1950 and 1991. It was here where she wrote and published the 1st edition of Science and Health.Longyear Museum is an independent historical museum dedicated to advancing the understanding of the life and work of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer, Founder, and Leader of Christian Science.Learn more about the museum:https://www.longyear.org/Connect with us on social media:https://www.instagram.com/LongyearMuseum/https://www.facebook.com/LongyearMuseum/ Portrait of Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, officer of the Federal Army, Bradys National Photographic Portrait Galleries, photographer, 18611865, Library of Congress. This position focuses on verifying transcriptions and transcribing correspondence and can be performed remotely. This website uses cookies to improve functionality and performance. An award-winning journalist and educator, Parsons published many books and articles on educational reform. The book was considered controversial at the time, because it made use of Eddys unpublished correspondence without permission from the Christian Science Board of Directors. Her husband's death, the journey back, and the birth left her physically and mentally exhausted, and she ended up bedridden for months. Unreliable citations may be challenged or deleted. Tomlinson. The second volume, with a few exceptions, comprises previously unpublished reminiscences. This biography targets a young adult readership, providing detailed attention to issues involving Mary Baker Eddys family and personal relationships. In addition to interviewing Christian Scientists, he drew on previously published books, including William Lyman Johnsons The History of Christian Science Movement (1926) and Clifford P. Smiths Historical Sketches from the Life of Mary Baker Eddy and the History of Christian Science (1941). When their husbands died, they were left in a legally vulnerable position.[29]. American founder of Christian Science (18211910). The family to whose care he was committed very soon removed to what was then regarded as the Far West. Frank Podmore wrote: But she was never able to stay long in one family. If they were so they have been left by their masters and owners, deserted, thrown away, abandoned, like the wrecked vessel upon the ocean. In 1895 she ordained the Bible and Science and Health as the pastor. Studdert Kennedy died in 1943, and the book was copyrighted and published in 1947 by Arthur Corey, a critic of The Mother Church who married Studdert Kennedys widow. Per contra, Christian Science destroys such tendency. The Mary Baker Eddy Library 557 views3 years ago Faith, Freedom, and the Great WarReligious Meaning in World War I The Mary Baker Eddy Library 1.1K views4 years ago 100 years of Christian. [124][third-party source needed], There is controversy about how much Eddy used morphine. On May 23, 1861, Frank Baker, Shepard Mallory, and James Townsend rowed across the James River in Virginia and landed at Union-held Fort Monroe to claim asylum. Much has been said about her, but the fact is, that she 'walked the walked', and taught those who wished to know what she had learned of God. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our, Non-profit Web Development by Boxcar Studio, Translation support by WPML.org the Wordpress multilingual plugin. Evidence suggests that he borrowed from William Lyman Johnsons The History of Christian Science Movement (1926) and Bliss Knapps Ira Oscar Knapp and Flavia Stickney Knapp (1925). This book is sometimes characterized as a spiritual autobiography, more focused on metaphysics than history. [67], Between 1866 and 1870, Eddy boarded at the home of Brene Paine Clark who was interested in Spiritualism. [73], Mary Gould, a Spiritualist from Lynn, claimed that one of the spirits that Eddy channeled was Abraham Lincoln. [139], 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). His book records firsthand knowledge of how important church activities developed, including the Christian Science Board of Lectureship and Committee on Publication, as well as. He persisted in arguing that the Fugitive-Slave Act could not be appealed to in this instance, because the fugitive-slave act did not affect a foreign country which Virginia claimed to be.4. After 20 years of affiliation, Grekel withdrew her church membership in 1965 and began publishing a newsletter, The Independent Christian Scientist. Lord, a Christian Scientist, leans heavily on Mary Baker Eddys autobiography, Retrospection & Introspection, as well as The Life of Mary Baker Eddy by Sibyl Wilbur. Her account was advertised as not another biography, but rather a chronicle of the upward path taken by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science (Christian Science Sentinel, September 14, 1946). [154], 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):[155], 23 Paradise Road, Swampscott, Massachusetts, 133 Central Street, Stoughton, Massachusetts, 400 Beacon Street, Chestnut Hill, Newton, Massachusetts. by Sibyl Wilbur. [a] 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. [18], My father was taught to believe that my brain was too large for my body and so kept me much out of school, but I gained book-knowledge with far less labor than is usually requisite. According to eyewitness reports cited by Cather and Milmine, Eddy was still attending sances as late as 1872. Beginning in 1978 Thomas made regular trips to The Mother Churchs archives over the course of a decade, working closely with the staff, as well as historian Robert Peel. This memoir focuses on the last years of Mary Baker Eddys life, when Dickey served as a secretary in her Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, home from 1908 to 1910. [120] 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. [132] In 1907 Arthur Brisbane interviewed Eddy. "[91][non-primary source needed] In 1892 at Eddy's direction, the church reorganized as The First Church of Christ, Scientist, "designed to be built on the Rock, Christ. During these years, she taught what she considered the science of "primitive Christianity" to at least 800 people. [4] The church is sometimes informally known as the Christian Science church. A few months later she turned her attention to Georgine Milmines series in McClures and began her own series, The Story of the Real Mrs. Eddy. She examined documents, reinterviewed witnesses, and obtained new testimony from witnesses Milmine had not approached. [102], 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, hypnotism, or mesmerism interchangeably. MARY BAKER EDDY: HER SPIRH'uAL FOOT. He did not have access to the archives of The Mother Church, and the healings he presents include both authentic and unauthenticated accounts. All rights reserved. A large gathering of people outside Mary Baker Eddys Pleasant View home, July 8, 1901. January 24, 2019 at 2:30 pm. All four books were compiled into one volume in 1979. [81] In 1882, the Eddys moved to Boston, and Gilbert Eddy died that year. The Mary Baker Eddy Library is a research library, museum, and repository for the papers of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. P06695. This pamphlet was Mary Baker Eddys first extended effort to answer questions about her life and the history of the Christian Science movement. While it does not include new information, the book seeks to place Mary Baker Eddy and her achievements in a broader comparative perspective than some earlier treatments.