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Monday, 30 March 2026

Mrs. Eddy and the clergy

The Longyear Museum website has a helpful biography of the author of our book Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy. Here is a portion: 


IRVING C. TOMLINSON ...earned his Bachelor and Master’s degrees from Akron University in Akron, Ohio, in 1884, and his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Tufts University in Boston in 1888. After an earnest study of Christian Science, which included Primary class with Mrs. Eddy’s student Flavia Knapp, Irving gave up the pulpit, joined The Mother Church in 1897, and became a Journal-listed practitioner. 

In 1898, he was invited by Mrs. Eddy to attend her last class, and he served intermittently on the Bible Lesson Committee until 1927. 

...From 1899 until 1910, Rev. Tomlinson served Mrs. Eddy in various ways, including as an associate secretary and a member of her Chestnut Hill household.


In his book  Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy, the former clergyman, Tomlinson, writes that

Mrs. Eddy taught a number of clergymen who had become interested in her teachings. She was always happy to have ministers of the Gospel as her students. Nor as a rule would she accept any tuition fee from them for instruction in the Massachusetts Metaphysical College; and if two persons made application with one of them a minister, and only one could be admitted, the clergyman was usually the one favored. 

There were however some clergymen during those years who were bitterly denouncing Christian Science and its Discoverer." See p. 82. 

Tomlinson offers a lovely story about “Mrs. Eddy’s friendly attitude toward the clergy" on page 83.

Julie Swannell

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