As a refinement to how Mary Baker Eddy’s name is cited in the Christian Science magazines, we are making an adjustment to the recently updated guidelines. After the initial reference to “Mary Baker Eddy” in an article, authors may now elect to subsequently reference her as they choose—either as “Mrs. Eddy” or as “Eddy.” Or in other ways they may choose, such as “Leader,” “Founder,” “Teacher,” “Revelator,” or simply “Mary Baker Eddy.”
Some Journal, Christian Science Sentinel, and Christian Science Herald readers have recently expressed concern that the term Eddy might communicate disrespect for the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. Yet other readers have pointed out that the continued use of “Mrs. Eddy” in the periodicals—at a time when great writers, thinkers, and leaders are seldom referred to in this way—could show disrespect toward our Leader. In fact, various activities sponsored by The Church of Christ, Scientist—such as The Mary Baker Eddy Library, the Committees on Publication, the Christian Science Board of Lectureship, and the website christianscience.com—have found in the past few years that referring to her as “Eddy” in their public communications best expresses not only their reverence and respect for Mary Baker Eddy, but also her relevance to contemporary culture.
Whether writers and readers choose to reference Mary Baker Eddy as “Mrs. Eddy” or as “Eddy,” all of us can unite in knowing the woman who gave Christian Science to the world as she so earnestly wanted to be known, through engaging with her writings. As she once wrote to a clergyman who was studying Science and Health and urgently wanted to meet her: “Those who look for me in person, or elsewhere than in my writings, lose me instead of find me. I hope and trust that you and I may meet in truth and know each other there, and know as we are known of God” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p 120).
