Ask a Researcher
Answers to questions our research team has received.
Church Manual Article VIII, Section 12: “Obnoxious Books”
To best answer this inquiry, we can point you toward an article in The Christian Science Journal that explains the meaning of this phrase in the By-Laws, as well as the story behind its inclusion in the Manual.
The Account of the Woman Who Didn’t Age from The Lancet mentioned in Science and Health
The passage on page 245 of Science and Health reads as follows…
Mary Baker Eddy’s Sentiments towards gifts
To best answer this question, we can point you toward an article by Senior Research Archivist Judy Huenneke in The Christian Science Journal that examines Eddy, Christmas gifts, and gratitude.
The Creation of Four Periodicals by the Christian Science Church
To best answer this question, we can point you toward an article in The Christian Science Journal that examines the Manual By-laws on "Church periodicals."
The development of the Christian Science Quarterly
Below is a timeline of the development of the Christian Science Quarterly, the weekly lesson distributed by the Christian Science Publishing Society designed and instigated by Mary Baker Eddy for study outside of Church services. 1885: Christian Science Sunday...
Appendix of the Church Manual
To best answer this inquiry, we can point you toward an article in The Christian Science Journal that examines the origin of the last section of the Manual of The Mother Church, the Appendix.
The Significance of the Lord’s Prayer to Christian Scientists
To best answer this question, we can point you toward an article in the Christian Science Journal that describes Mary Baker Eddy's relationship with this particular prayer.
The Role of Readers in Christian Science Church Services
To best answer this question, we can point you toward an article in The Christian Science Journal that examines Articles of the Manual of The Mother Church that pertain to the role of Church Readers.
How did Christian Science teaching become formalized?
To best answer this question, we can point you toward an article in The Christian Science Journal that describes the evolution of Christian Science healing. It was part of a series giving context to the Church Manual.
Myth: A Phone in Mary Baker Eddy’s Tomb
There is a long standing and false rumor that a telephone was installed in Mary Baker Eddy’s tomb at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While the rumor is false, it seems to be based on circumstances after her death on December 3, 1910. Following...
How did Mary Baker Eddy feel about animals?
So many people have a deep love for animals. Here’s what the discoverer of Christian Science had to say.
Were there ever film or audio recordings made of Mary Baker Eddy?
Unfortunately, none were. There is no discussion of film in her papers, so we have no information about why this was not done. However, one of her household workers, John Salchow, wrote in his reminiscence about Eddy being asked to have an audio recording made of her...
What was Mary Baker Eddy’s perspective on women’s rights?
Eddy made few statements about this, but we do know that she valued the efforts of the women’s rights movement of her day. In 1882 she wrote her student Clara Choate: “let us work as the industrious Suffragists are at work who are getting a hearing all over the...
Were African Americans involved in the early history of Christian Science?
The answer is yes. One noteworthy individual was Marietta Webb. Her first experience with Christian Science was in 1897, when she called a practitioner to help her young son, who was very ill. He was quickly and permanently healed, and she began attending services in...
How did Mary Baker Eddy get around in the wintertime?
Whenever there was the least bit of snow, enough to make the roads at all passable, we used to take the wheels off of her carriage and put on the runners. We had a couple of strings of silver bells for the horses and on a nice frosty day it made a pretty sight to see...
