Mrs. Eddy’s contribution to the healing work of
the New Thought movement is profound. She personally performed
several hundred documented healings, and she taught her thinking and
techniques to hundreds of others. Her Church of Christ,
Scientist (known as Christian Science), based in Boston, has
chapters all over the country, most of them with Reading Rooms in
commercial districts where anyone can tap into the Christian Science
literature, including The
Christian Science Monitor, on a daily basis. Following her guidelines,
Christian Science practitioners and nurses have accomplished
thousands of well-documented healings all over the world.
Yet it is, perhaps, in her opposition to
anything other than her own teachings that she has most profoundly
influenced this peculiarly American religious movement. Mrs. Eddy
and her church have isolated themselves from all other approaches to
this work. Under her direction, Christian Science members and
practitioners have relied solely on Mrs. Eddy’s writings—most
notably her book, Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures—as the only source of
understanding to be followed regarding this approach to
healing. She adamantly
opposed all else as misguided at best and charlatanry at worst.
She was born Mary Morse Baker in Bow, New
Hampshire, in July, 1821, to deeply religious parents. Young Mary
Baker was an earnest student of the Bible. She received most of her
early education at home from her brother, much of it focused on
interpreting the Old and New Testaments. She later
wrote:
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 married George W. Glover in 1843, but was
widowed shortly afterward.
During her single years, Mary apparently was
associated with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
following the First Woman's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls in
1848. She was on
her own in a society that regarded women as naturally frail and
prone to illness. This view,
combined with the primitive and harsh medical treatments of the day,
prompted women to seek alternative approaches to healthcare. Gentler
therapies such as homeopathy, hygiene, and hydropathy became popular
among women—especially those taking up their right to a profession—
and Mary Baker Glover became a homeopathic physician
Like Quimby, Mary saw early on that treatments
were not quite what they seemed, as evidenced in this description of
an experience during her training:
A case of dropsy,
given up by the faculty, fell into my hands. It was a terrible
case. Tapping had been employed.... I prescribed the fourth
attenuation of Argentum nitratum with occasional doses of a high
attenuation of Sulphuris. She improved perceptibly. Believing then
somewhat in the ordinary theories of medical practice, and
learning that her former physician had prescribed these remedies,
I began to fear an aggravation of symptoms from their prolonged
use, and told the patient so; but she was unwilling to give up the
medicine while she was recovering. It then occurred to me to give
her unmedicated pellets and watch the result. I did so, and she
continued to gain.... She went on in this way, taking the
unmedicated pellets, - and receiving occasional visits from me, -
but employing no other means; and she was cured.
Mary’s practice was reasonably successful. She
married again in 1853 to an itinerant dentist named Patterson and
traveled with him, practicing alongside him in the small towns of
New England.
She, however, was not well. Chronically ill
from childhood, she searched alternative therapies for a
relationship between thought and physical effect—a mind/body
connection. At the same time, she deepened her study of the Bible
for its promises of comfort and healing.
In 1862, Mary Baker Patterson, by then almost a
total invalid, sat with Phineas Quimby. By all accounts, (and
evidenced by her later activities) she experienced total recovery
from her symptoms through his verbal treatments.
She was delighted, and there is ample
documentation that Mary Baker Patterson subsequently held
well-publicized lectures on the efficacy of “The Quimby Method” in
the towns around Maine and upper New England. According to Quimby’s
notes, she met with and corresponded with him many times over
several years, studying his system.
In 1866, a spinal injury, occasioned by a fall
on an icy street, left Mrs. Patterson "in a very critical
condition," according to an account in the Lynn Reporter. According
to the Dresser’s journals, she immediately sought out Quimby for
assistance and ended up coming to the Dresser’s when she found he
had died. This time, she was healed by working not only with the
healer, but also with her own inner process, relying heavily on the
Bible as a source of inspiration and guidance. She recovered fully and went
forward to teach and heal others.
Although she had relied heavily on his thoughts
and approach, Eddy eventually rejected Quimby's healing method,
because through her own experience, she came to believe that healing
came through the power of God, not the human mind. (Apparently
Quimby had not shared with her his own ideas on the subject.)
She attributed this belief, and the discovery
of her new Science, to the spiritual revelation she had while
reading the Bible in 1866 during her convalescence from the fall.
She asserted that her quick recovery, and the restoration of her
health in general, resulted from her understanding of the spiritual
truths that formed the basis of Jesus' healing ministry.
It was in
Massachusetts, in February, 1866... that I discovered the Science
of divine metaphysical healing which I afterwards named Christian
Science. The discovery came to pass this way. During twenty years
prior to my discovery I had been trying to trace all physical
effects to a mental cause; and in the latter part of 1866 I gained
the scientific certainty that all causation was Mind, and every
effect a mental phenomenon.
My immediate
recovery from the effects of an injury caused by an accident, an
injury that neither medicine nor surgery could reach, was the
falling apple that led me to the discovery how to be well myself,
and how to make others so.
Even to the
homeopathic physician who attended me, and rejoiced in my
recovery, I could not then explain the modus of my relief. I could
only assure him that the divine Spirit had wrought the miracle - a
miracle which later I found to be in perfect scientific accord
with divine law."
She spent the next few years
studying Biblical healing and testing what she was learning by
healing "incurable" cases. She named her discovery Christian Science
and began to teach it to others. An account of one of her healings
was attested by Margaret E. Harding from Lynn, Massachusetts:
Sometime
during...1866 Mrs. Norton drove her young son, George, to Lynn
beach for a day's outing. At the time, George was about seven
years of age and had been carried on a pillow since birth, having
been born with a deformity commonly known as club feet, both feet
being turned backward, and consequently he had never
walked.
Mrs. Norton laid the
child upon the pillow on the sand and left him alone while she
hitched the horse and went for water. On her return shortly the
child had disappeared and the mother searched bewilderedly about
only to find him down by the water and walking with a woman
holding his hands, which she released a moment later and George
stood alone. Later he took a few steps and from that time was able
to walk.
The strange woman
and the mother both looked into each other's eyes a little and
thanked God for this seemingly miraculous healing.
I need not add that
the strange lady was Mrs. Mary B. Glover, who afterwards became
Mrs. Eddy, and the founder of Christian Science.
Mary experienced considerable success and
became an important part of the alternative healing community in the
region, dominated by women at that time. She described some of her
experiences in her books.
About the year 1869,
I was wired to attend the patient of a distinguished Md., the late
Dr. Davis of Manchester, N.H. The patient was pronounced dying of
pneumonia, and was breathing at intervals in agony. Her physician,
who stood by her bedside, declared that she could not live. On
seeing her immediately restored by me without material aid, he
asked earnestly if I had a work describing my system of
healing.
When answered in the
negative, he urged me immediately to write a book which should
explain to the world my curative system of metaphysics.
Through four
successive years I healed, preached, and taught in a general way,
refusing to take any pay for my services and living on a small
annuity.
At one time I was
called to speak before the Lyceum Club, at Westerly, Rhode Island.
On my arrival my hostess told me that her next-door neighbor was
dying. I asked permission to see her. It was granted, and with my
hostess I went to the invalid's house.
The physicians had
given up the case and retired. I had stood by her side about
fifteen minutes when the sick woman rose from her bed, dressed
herself, and was well. Afterwards they showed me the clothes
already prepared for her burial.... This scientific demonstration
so stirred the doctors and clergy that they had my notices for a
second lecture pulled down, and refused me a hearing in their
halls and churches.
During the 1870s Mary taught her religious
system in Lynn, Massachusetts. She had one student in her first
class, but was clearly well known in the community.
I was called to
visit Mr. Clark in Lynn, who had been confined to his bed six
months with hip-disease, caused by a fall upon a wooden spike when
quite a boy. On entering the house I met his physician, who said
that the patient was dying.... I went to his bedside. In a few
moments his faced changed; its death-pallor gave place to a
natural hue. The eyelids closed gently and the breathing became
natural; he was asleep. In about ten minutes he opened his eyes
and said: 'I feel like a new man. My suffering is all gone...' I
told him to rise, dress himself, and take supper with his family.
He did so. The next day I saw him in the yard. Since then I have
not seen him, but am informed that he went to work in two weeks.
The discharge from the sore stopped, and the sore was healed.
In 1873, happily settled in Lynn, Mary Baker
divorced Dr. Patterson. Then, in 1875, the first version of her most
important book, Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures, was published. The preface
sets the tone for the work:
Theology and physics
teach that both Spirit and matter are real and good, whereas the
fact is that Spirit is good and real, and matter is Spirit's
opposite. . . . Sickness has been combated for years by doctors
using material remedies, but the question arises, is there less
sickness because of these practitioners? A vigorous “No” is the
response. …
The author has not
compromised conscience … By thousands of well-authenticated cases
of healing, she and her students have proved the worth of her
teachings … these mighty works are not supernatural but supremely
natural.
In 1877, Mary Baker married Asa Eddy, a
follower of her new religion. In 1879 she obtained a state charter
for the Church of Christ, Scientist.
She opened the Massachusetts Metaphysical
College in Boston in 1882 to provide systematic training in her
doctrine. The College taught students—both women and men—to practice
healing and to teach others. The college was closed in 1889 and was
later replaced by the church's Board of Education.
Having a healing practice provided independence
and a self-sufficient income for many women in a time when most were
dependent on the men around them, making Mrs. Eddy very popular
among members of the emerging “suffragette” movement. Her students were taught to
rely solely on the Bible and her own Science and Health for
inspiration and understanding.
Using these tools and deep prayer, Christian Science
Practitioners were taught to treat those who came to them for any
physical, emotional, or financial difficulties.
By this point, Mrs. Eddy consistently denied
having had anything to do with Quimby, saying that the technique
developed by “that mesmerist” had nothing in common with her own
revelation, and that anyone who followed his ideas was teaching
falsehoods. “…They regard the human mind as a healing agent, whereas
mind is not a factor in the Principle of Christian Science.”
This denial has caused more than a little
distress in the movement and contributed to the isolation of the
Christian Scientist churches from other New Thought schools and
churches.
In 1892 Mary reorganized the church in Boston,
creating a central administration for the rapidly growing movement,
and renamed it The First Church of Christ, Scientist, familiarly The
Mother Church. Christian Science church services were based on
readings from the Bible with Mrs. Eddy’s commentary from Science and Health and, on
Wednesday evenings, were supplemented by testimonials of individuals
who had experienced relief from symptoms. Medical doctors were to be
avoided completely, and special Christian Science facilities were
built, with licensed nurses and practitioners, to permit her
followers to be treated without medical intervention.
If the disciple is
advancing spiritually, he … constantly turns away from material
sense and looks toward the imperishable things of Spirit … Jesus
taught the way of Life by demonstration … Through demonstrating
his control over sin and disease … He worked for their guidance,
that they might demonstrate this power as he did and understand
its divine Principle …
Human philosophy has
made God manlike.
Christian Science makes man Godlike … metaphysics resolves
things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the
ideas of Soul. …
The theories I
combat are these: 1) that all is matter; 2) that matter originates
in Mind and is as real as Mind, possessing intelligence and
life.
When Mrs. Eddy retired she left management of
the church to a board of directors, who govern under guidelines
established in her Manual of
The Mother Church (1895, final revision 1908). She maintained a
role in church affairs as pastor emeritus until shortly before her
death.
Following her retirement from the church, Eddy
founded the Christian Science Publishing Society in 1898 and
organized and edited various Christian Science publications. In 1908
she launched the Christian
Science Monitor, still a highly regarded international daily
newspaper. Among her other writings are Christian Healing (1886),
the autobiographical Retrospection and
Introspection
(1891), Unity of
Good (1887), and Miscellaneous Writings
(1896).
Today, the Church continues to practice what
Mary Baker Eddy taught. From the Christian Science (MBE) web site,
we read:
Christian Science
healing comes through scientific prayer, or spiritual communion
with God. It is specific treatment. Such prayer recognizes a
patient's direct access to God's love and discovers more of the
consistent operation of God's law of health and wholeness on his
behalf. It knows God, or divine Mind, as the only healer. It
brings the transforming action of the Christ, the idea of divine
Love, to the patient's consciousness. A transformation or
spiritualization of a patient's thought changes his condition (see
Science and Health, p.
194:6).
Christian Science
treatment and medical treatment proceed from opposite standpoints.
Christian Science is based on the laws of God that all cause and
effect are spiritual. Medicine primarily deals with matter as both
cause and cure. To try to heal from opposite systems may be unfair
to the patient and could be counterproductive to
healing.
A Christian Science
nurse is an experienced Christian Scientist prepared to provide
skillful physical care and spiritual reassurance consistent with
the theology of Christian Science. Christian Science nursing does
not include any form of medical treatment, such as diagnosing,
drugs, or therapy. It does include practical bedside care, such as
bathing, dressing wounds, turning, lifting, modification of food,
etc. Anyone who is depending solely on God for healing and who is
applying the principles of Christian Science, as explained in Science and Health with Key to
the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, may engage a nurse at home
or go to a Christian Science nursing facility.
Practiced
effectively for more than 100 years in some families, Christian
Science has been a means of healing and care for five generations.
During the past 112 years, more than 50,000 authenticated
testimonies of healing have been published in the monthly and
weekly Christian Science periodicals. Many of these have medical
verification. In addition, thousands of accounts of healing are
given each week at Wednesday testimony meetings in Christian
Science churches around the world.
The exclusive reliance on Mrs. Eddy’s form of
Christian Science principles and on Christian Science Practitioners
required of church members has been a great source of controversy
over the last century, among both the medical and the legal
professions. Today, there are several court cases in process around
the country having to do with parents’ rights to withhold medical
treatment for their children, in favor of Christian Science
practices.
Mary
Eddy clearly felt the need to isolate and defend herself, her
church, and her ideas. Nonetheless, her extension of Quimby’s
approach and her language describing her own experience have had a
major influence on those who followed.
