Gill has my attention better now

 Book Club Sept. 2021  – Mary Baker Eddy by Gillian Gill

There is something of interest already. All the other biographies that I can think of have a colon and a few words to show the approach the writer has taken of Mrs Eddy’s life and work.

I must say that I have resisted reading this book ever since it was first published. The cover is so black for one thing, and I couldn’t seem to come to terms with the writing.

Thank you editor Julie for giving me a push.

As I have been reading the Preface (which is long), I wondered if Gill refers to and quotes Robert Peel’s Trilogy of Mary Baker Eddy – The Discovery, The Trial, The Discovery. So I looked his name up in the Index. I was delighted with the first reference:  “...Robert Peel, Mrs. Eddy’s most brilliant, informed, and judicious biographer…”  (top of page 40)  There are over 60 mentions of Peel in the Index. Gill has my attention better now.

It seems Peel had a more full access to The Mother Church Archives than was extended to Gill. Peel’s books were published in 1966 (Discovery), 1971 (Trial), 1977 (Authority). Gill’s in 1998.

So Gill is going to give us a "warts and all" record of dealings of the Board of Directors of The Mother Church that seemed to be less than perfect. As she found it. “...nothing covered that shall not be revealed" Luke 12:2 (KJV). The full citation reads: "For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known."

Perhaps this book might have been the catalyst which prompted the more recent publications such as Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer, and the expanded We Knew Mary Baker Eddy.

I will get on with the Introduction.

Joyce Voysey