Sometimes, antipathy to Christian Science may be attributed to ignorance of or misunderstanding about Mary Baker Eddy, its discoverer and the author of its textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Clifford P. Smith helpfully addresses this in his chapter on Mrs. Eddy as an Author (chapter 12, pp. 102-113).
Three passages stand out to me.
The first is a quote from one "disinterested observer", Francis Potter, who wrote that "Mary Baker Eddy 'is the most compelling figure in American religious history. No one but a prejudiced bigot can deny her credit for having made available to hundreds of thousands of sufferers a method of healing which literally gave them new life. The reason she spake with authority and not as the scribes was because she was sublimely conscious of the fact that she had a message of great worth for mankind'" (pp. 104, 105).
The second relates to Mark Twain's criticism of Mrs. Eddy. Smith states that "He [Twain] allowed enmity to displace his habitual good humor and common sense" (p. 108). Smith then refers to two responses -- from Mr. Kimball and Rev. Lyman P. Powell. The latter noted that "[b]y actual count in her [Eddy's] published writings hers was a vocabulary of 18,000 words which makes her second in vocabulary only to Shakespeare among those who have written in the English language" (p 109). Smith then quotes Mark Twain's biographer, Albert Bigelow, who records Twain (Samuel Clemens) as having written "Somehow I continue to feel sure of that cult's [Christian Science's] colossal future" (ibid)*.
Finally, Smith remarks on Eddy's "insistent reiteration of fundamental ideas", which he explains as "[m]ore than mere repetition", but rather as a method which "involves presenting a thesis from different approaches, with different applications ... until the fundamental thought has been completely expressed and effectively sustained" (p. 112).
I commend this chapter to our readers.
Julie Swannell
* Note the word cult used here by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) may have a different meaning from that used today.
Google notes that -
The term "cult" first appeared in English in 1617, derived from the French culte, meaning "worship" which in turn originated from the Latin word cultus meaning "care, cultivation, worship". The meaning "devotion to a person or thing" is from 1829.
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/it-cult-or-new-religious-movement suggests the following:
"the word 'cult' originally designates a practice of religious veneration and the religious system based around such veneration..."
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