This month, join us to revisit an episode from the Seekers and Scholars vault. Gloria Flowers, The Mary Baker Eddy Library’s summer research intern, reintroduces Episode 13: “Women’s rights—and a woman’s right to interpret the Bible.” She talks with podcast host Jonathon Eder about why she especially liked this podcast’s topic and thought it should be featured again as an end-of-summer episode. She also discusses how her time at the Library has sparked a new appreciation of history. In addition, Eder shares some behind-the-scenes details on how the episode came together.
“Women’s rights—and a woman’s right to interpret the Bible” first aired in April 2018. Guests Dr. Barry Huff and Dr. Sherry Darling discussed the significance of biblical interpretation to the advancement of human rights, focusing on issues important to women. They explored Mary Baker Eddy’s liberating and healing perspective on controversial biblical texts, showing how her understanding of the Bible both resonated with and challenged feminist biblical interpretation in her time.
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Gloria Flowers, a native of Texas, has been the Library’s 2023 summer research intern. A rising senior at Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, she is a theater major and dance minor. In fall 2022 she studied in England at the Wordsworth Trust, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, the British Library, and Shakespeare Globe.
Dr. Barry R. Huff is professor of biblical studies and chair of the Religion and Philosophy Department at Principia College. His chapter “Mary Baker Eddy: Liberating Interpreter of the Pauline Corpus” appears in Strangely Familiar: Proto-Feminist Interpretations of Patriarchal Biblical Texts, published by the Society of Biblical Literature. His master’s degrees from Eden Theological Seminary and Columbia Theological Seminary focused on biblical studies, as did his PhD, which he received with distinction from Union Presbyterian Seminary.
Photo of Dr. Huff is courtesy of ericlinesdesign.com
Dr. Sherry Darling is editor of the Mary Baker Eddy Papers, a digital effort to annotate and publish Eddy’s correspondence and manuscripts online. She has been researching and writing about Eddy and the history of Christian Science for the Library since she joined its staff in 2002. Prior to editing Eddy’s papers, she worked as a researcher, writing historical articles and managing a variety of projects that included the Library’s fellowship program, newsletter, exhibits, and software migrations. She earned her PhD in theater history and literature from Tufts University.
