Mother of Christian Science
|
It was during the women’s rights movement in the 19th century that Mrs. Eddy came into prominence as one of modern history’s most notable religious figures.
The growth of cities and the burgeoning industrial revolution were creating new anxieties among the women of the country.
The more that men succeeded in this new world, the less the women were needed. The more their husbands worked, the less the women had to do. With little to contribute to her spouse’s success, the Victorian woman kept busy keeping her house clean.
Freed from having to work, women engaged in conspicuous consumption. Some female reformers, objecting that women were being taught that their first duty was to please the other sex, registered their protest by not marrying and criticizing wifehood and motherhood. Lonely and protected from the hard outside world, they came to think of themselves as weak and passive creatures.
In such a Victorian society Mary Baker Eddy introduced her new religious discovery — a nonmedical, purely mental and spiritual “science of health” called Christian Science — exactly what the times called for.
“Mrs. Eddy and her message undoubtedly brought health, serenity and prosperity to many people,” said Sydney Ahlstrom of Yale University in his book, “A Religious History of the American People.”
“She clearly stimulated much interest in the ministry of healing which the Protestant churches had virtually abandoned. She and her church demonstrated the importance of will, mind and religious faith for personal health and well-being.”
Mrs. Eddy’s personal story is no less remarkable than the religion she founded.
Born in 1821 in Bow, N.H., Mary was a frail child, afflicted with spinal ailments and unable to attend school regularly. Her early and middle years were largely unhappy ones.
She was married at age 22 to George Glover, but a year later she was widowed, shortly before giving birth to their son George.
Impoverished and in poor health, she returned to her family with whom she lived for the next nine years. In 1853, she remarried. Her new husband, Dr. Daniel Patterson, was an itinerant dentist (whom she later divorced).
Moving from place to place with her husband, whose professional practice was far from successful, Mary drifted into isolation and invalidism.
At this low time of her life she became interested in the teachings of a spiritual healer named Phineas Quimby who did much to help her. Her health was improving up until Quimby died in 1866.
It was during this period that, at age 45, Mrs. Eddy says she discovered “the science of divine metaphysical healing.”
Between this time and the time of her death in 1910, she married her third husband, Asa Gilbert Eddy, founded the Christian Science Church, wrote her famous book, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” and won wealth, power and fame. Her estate was valued at well over $2 million when she died.
To the outside world, Christian Scientists are “people who don’t go to doctors.” While that is largely true, it doesn’t mean Christian Scientists ignore sickness. But they treat it with prayer. Testimonies of people who have been cured of all manner of illnesses through reliance on Christian Science are published regularly in the church’s magazines.
George Plagenz is a syndicated columnist.