Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), founder of Christian Science and the Christian Science Monitor, is considered, to this day, to be a remarkable though controversial American.
Mary Baker Eddy was elected posthumously to the National Women's Hall of Fame, an institution whose roster is reserved for outstanding American women. She is known as the principal writer for, and founder of the religious denomination, Church of Christ Scientist or, as the denomination is more commonly known, Christian Science.
Born in 1821, Mary Baker Eddy did not begin promoting Christian Science until 1870, four years after an inspiring experience which she believed saved her life and convinced her that disease was an illusion. Given that she had been an invalid most of her life, she could not take her transformation to good health lightly. Moreover, she felt compelled to share her views.
Toward that end she wrote "Science and Health With a Key to the Scriptures," published in 1875. More than nine million copies of the nearly 500 page book have since been sold. It remains available throughout the world in seventeen languages and, of course, electronically. Eddy put the book through constant revisions until her death in 1910, at which time the text was frozen.
In 1879, the State of Massachusetts granted incorporation to the First Church of Christ, Scientist. From that has grown a Christian denomination reported to be the second largest actually founded in the United States, with an estimated million practitioners.
Among Mary Baker Eddy's achievements was the establishment of the Christian Science Monitor in 1908, two years prior to her death. The newspaper is among the most respected in the world, recognized for its accuracy, integrity and currency.
Despite her remarkable achievements and the popularity she enjoyed among her followers, Eddy had and continues to have detractors. Given the social position of women during her time, especially relative to organized religion, this may not be surprising. Even her astuteness as a business woman drew criticism. Over her lifetime, she managed to accumulate a fortune of $3 million, this at a time when American women did not even have suffrage, which came a decade after her death.
