The 1997 book Persistent
Pilgrim – The Life of Mary Baker Eddy by Richard Nenneman is a slim but substantial
book written for today’s readers. The language is clear and helpful and the
story line moves along at a pleasing pace. It offers frequent references to
other historical characters and events, which helpfully place our protagonist
in historical and geographical perspective.
A picture of the future discoverer and leader emerges as we
witness her struggle with ill-health and her “rebellion” against some of the
notions about God then (and still today) prevalent. She could not agree that
her sisters and brothers could be predestined to suffer; nor could she
countenance the idea that God causes human suffering. The independence of her
thought was evident from the beginning. Nenneman points out that Eddy’s unique “approach to Christianity”
developed from her search for health, which compelled her investigation of
every known remedy then available.
Our author asserts that Eddy's life coincided with years “when
Christianity was waning as a serious intellectual force in thinking people’s
lives and when the new fields of psychology and psychiatry were just beginning
to have some public familiarity” (p. 10). Concurrently, while there was a great
underlying knowledge of the Bible and Biblical terms, there was a deep
questioning of theological precepts. The stage was being set for a revolution.
Julie Swannell
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