Have you ever thought of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, as having a calling from God? She discovered, demonstrated, and articulated the scientific laws of Christian healing that enable anyone to heal by the means with which Christ Jesus healed. Did she have a sense of being called by God to make that remarkable, revolutionary discovery and to found a religious movement and denomination based on that discovery? I spoke with Michael Hamilton, Executive Director of The Mary Baker Eddy Library, and Judy Huenneke, the Library’s Senior Research Archivist, to try to understand this more deeply, and what it means for us today.
How did Mary Baker Eddy understand herself to be called by God?
Judy Huenneke: Mrs. Eddy wrote a number of times about her calling as the Discoverer of Christian Science. In one of these explanations, from her 1902 manuscript titled “Footprints Fadeless,” she makes clear that her calling included making a scientific discovery: “From 1866 to 1875 [Editor’s note: These were the years between her discovery and the first publication of her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures], I myself was learning Christian Science step by step—gradually developing the wonderful germ I had discovered as an honest investigator. It was practical evolution. I was reaching by experience and demonstration the scientific proof, and scientific statement, of what I had already discovered. My later teachings and writings show the steady growth of my spiritual ideal during those pregnant years.” And she adds, “I have faced the destiny of a discoverer and pioneer from first to last, had to unfold gradually the divine mystery—open to all, but seen by almost none, according to His word” (A10402, The Mary Baker Eddy Collection).
