- Robert
Peel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Peel_(Christian_Science))
was born in London, England in 1909 and passed in Boston, USA, 1992. In his writing, we encounter a deep
thinker, a tireless and thorough researcher, a searcher for the
truth. When Peel’s books were
published, they apparently caused quite a stir for many Christian Science
readers. Which is not necessarily a
bad thing! Eddy herself wrote that
(SH 540:9)
The muddy river-bed must be stirred in order to purify the stream.
Bow: 1821
Chapter one of our book Mary Baker
Eddy: The Years of Discovery reaches over broad territory and some readers
may feel out of their depth from the start.
I have taken up my ruler and underlined the names of the characters
mentioned, as well as statements that take my fancy. In this way, along with help from my trusty
dictionary, I have been able to keep apace somewhat.
It is a fascinating read. We learn
of the thinking behind Calvinist theology where a newborn child might be
“greeted as a bundle of total depravity destined for damnation unless God
should arbitrarily have chosen it for renewal…” (p. 4). We learn of the influence of seventeenth
century Puritanism as well as the “genial legacy” of eighteenth century
“rational enlightenment” (p. 7). Peel
relishes the American “spirit of energetic confidence”(p. 7), notes the
“Protestant ethos” where “literacy was next to godliness as success was
kissing-cousin to salvation” (p. 7), and offers that “the schoolhouse
produced…self-reliance in character” (p. 8).
And he quotes Jonathan Edwards’ Treatise
on Religious Affections, read by Eddy in later years that “the great
business for which man was created” was “the business of religion” and Peel adds
that “American democratic education rested on a faith that [the business of
religion and the business of education] were not incompatible.” (p. 10-11).
I love to get some perspective on our story when we read of Napoleon,
Beethoven, Goethe and Byron, James Monroe and Thomas Jefferson and then realize
that 90 years later we would be in the world of “radium, the airplane, Freud,
and Einstein” (p. 13).
And what of the young Mary Baker at this time? She was obviously delicate though lively, gregarious
though sometime solitary, immensely loved by all in her large family, including
dozens of cousins! And she was a
searcher who “looked naturally toward the future” (p. 17). Indeed she was to shape the future. It’s noteworthy that her correspondence once
included the following: “I never left the church, either in heart or in
doctrine; I but began where the Church left off” (p. 25).
A lovely thought, which Peel refers to as “the pragmatic American spirit”
is that each day “would start fresh from the present moment” for each one of us
(p. 18).
Every age grapples with ideas which swirl and whirl in the atmosphere and necessarily
shape individual thought and world views.
Many new ideas circulated during Mary’s youth. For instance, Peel introduces the concept of
a fickle or arbitrary God when he writes about the work of the great English
geologist Charles Lyell. He tells us that
some, when faced with a new scientific world view [such as that presented by
Lyell], felt that “the nature of the geologists and botanists was as arbitrary
a despot as the God of Calvin” (p. 16).
Mary Baker, from her earliest years, was on a spiritual search to discover
the nature of God and the core of her being.
We finish Chapter One as the family – now minus Grandmother and some of
the older siblings - moves from Bow to Sanbornton.
Julie Swannell
No comments:
Post a Comment