Mary Baker Eddy is the Leader of the Christian Science movement. But what, exactly, does this mean? It certainly was a hard concept for me to grasp when I first became interested in Christian Science as a college student. If Mrs. Eddy was no longer physically present, how could she still be a leader? was my question. I learned the answer by studying her writings and her life.
Looking into the archival collections, I’ve found that Mary Baker Eddy’s students generally addressed her as “Teacher” until about 1879, when she and her students formed a church. “Leader” probably wasn’t a bad summarization of her simultaneous roles as teacher, healer, spiritual advisor, and preacher. Certainly the title wasn’t intended to portray her as cold or dictatorial.
It didn’t take long for Mary Baker Eddy to face challenges to her leadership, and these would continue throughout her lifetime (and beyond). One instance took place in late 1885, just six years after the church’s founding, when several prominent students left the movement, bitterly resenting what they felt were her authoritarian ways, especially her statements on proper Christian Science teachings and practice. Writing to students in Chicago, she spoke of her view that her leadership was solidly based in a commitment not to human power, but divine guidance: “You my dear students whom I have taught know your teacher, and will you not stand by her in directing our cause through this awful hour, for God has revealed the battle’s plan to me in this hour; follow your leader and—God will show her a way over the Red sea and through the wilderness and take her followers safely on.”V00903, Mary Baker Eddy to Christian Scientist Association of Chicago, Illinois, October 11, 1885, The Mary Baker Eddy Collection, The Mary Baker Eddy Library.
