Gillian Gill’s Mary Baker Eddy: A 25th anniversary appreciation

The year 2023 marks the twentieth-fifth anniversary of the publication of Gillian Gill’s biography Mary Baker Eddy.¹ This significant work of scholarship coincided with the start of an important turning point for scholarly and public access to the primary sources for Mary Baker Eddy’s history and the advent of Christian Science.

Gill, a specialist in feminist literary criticism, wrote a book that was both erudite and accessible—one that illustrated both the need for and the benefits of opening the archive of information on Eddy. Gill engaged with what others had written on Eddy, evaluating and critiquing their use and analysis of evidence. She wrote in an accessible voice that contrasts refreshingly with the dense language all too prevalent in scholarly works. After a quarter century, it is worth revisiting and reconsidering the enduring impact of Gill’s effort.

The phrase feminist literary criticism may be unfamiliar to some. In short, it identifies the academic field devoted to examining the work of women authors from a standpoint that attempts to understand and appreciate the specific challenges women have experienced while trying to write in a “man’s world.” Earlier in her career, Gill had translated the works of the French feminist philosopher Luce Irigaray and published a biography of mystery writer Agatha Christie. In Eddy, Gill found a woman who not only struggled to publish but also brought forth a system of metaphysical healing that challenged existing ideas about theology and medical care—two fields that in nineteenth-century America were dominated by men.

For those responsible for making decisions about Eddy’s previously unpublished archival collections at the Christian Science church (The First Church of Christ, Scientist), Gill’s theoretical approach was not as important as the overall tenor and impact of her book. This biography met the highest standards of scholarly rigor, and yet it was (and is) appealing to readers outside of academic realms. After its publication, one reviewer called it “comprehensive,”² while another exclaimed, “Finally, a superb and balanced biography.…” ³ It was refreshing, groundbreaking—and rather surprising—to have a book on Eddy from an author who clearly admired her and her accomplishments, but who was not a Christian Scientist. For church members, the book’s most notable criticisms appear in Gill’s preface and “Research Note,” where she lays out the difficulties she encountered in trying to access and use the archival materials held by the church. Despite the institutional barriers that confronted her, Gill produced a well-researched biography that was useful to both Christian Scientists and scholars. While many factors must have entered into the decision to open the Mary Baker Eddy Library in 2002, I don’t find it at all coincidental that just a year after Gill’s biography appeared, the church launched the research project that later became the Library.

In addition to telling the story of Eddy’s life, Gill also engages with previous biographies, especially ones that many scholars have taken seriously but are relatively unfamiliar to most Christian Scientists, due to their critical and sometimes distorted portrayals of Eddy. Gill analyzes, critiques, and uncovers hidden agendas in these so-called objective works. For example, she remarked in the book’s preface, “I noticed myself increasingly taking the position of [Eddy’s] defense attorney.”⁴ In the field of historical scholarship, this is an important and well-respected approach. Serious writers acknowledge the work of their predecessors on their topic and do not shy away from pointing out areas of disagreement with previous conclusions. Academics refer to this process as engaging with the historiography—the study of how historians have written about history. Gill’s engagement with Eddy’s historiography is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to understand how and why she was so frequently and inaccurately criticized throughout the twentieth century.

Shortly before Mary Baker Eddy was published, I had the opportunity to interview Gillian Gill. She is a personable, engaging, and erudite conversationalist, someone who clearly revels in scholarly inquiry and doesn’t shy away from displaying her keen intellect. Her speaking voice is very similar to her writing style. In her biography, Gill includes much from her own life and experience to bring out the kinship she feels with Eddy. This is an element of the book that some of my colleagues at the preliminary research project to launch the Mary Baker Eddy Library criticized. They felt that by interjecting her own personality, Gill gave up the position of objective detachment that marks the generally accepted style for scholarly writing. I disagree. The autobiographical elements that Gill included in her book help to make it more accessible and interesting, especially to readers who might view Eddy as a remote figure from the distant past. 

Some readers might be disappointed that Gill does not go into the minutiae of Eddy’s work in establishing the Christian Science movement. But that was not the author’s purpose. She set out to examine the hardships, challenges, and attacks that Eddy faced as a woman religious leader treading a revolutionary path in a man’s world. As a secular scholar, Gill takes an agnostic view on the healing work of Eddy and other Christian Scientists. To her, it did not matter what actually happened; what was important is what Eddy and her followers perceived to have happened.

After writing Mary Baker Eddy, Gill has continued researching and writing about notable women who challenged norms that relegated women to subordinate roles. In 2004 she published Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale. Five years later she published the dual biography We Two: Victoria and Albert, Rulers, Partners, Rivals. And most recently, she published Virginia Woolf: And the Women Who Shaped Her World in 2019. 

Gillian Gill’s Mary Baker Eddy was an important contribution when it came out 1998—both as a valuable addition to the body of literature on Eddy and as a wake-up call to Christian Scientists that Eddy’s life and contributions could be appreciated by a wider audience, if the archive of her papers was more open. This biography continues to be very much worth reading today, either again or for the first time.

Timothy C. Leech is an independent scholar currently based in Ontario, Canada. He received his PhD in American History from The Ohio State University. His prior experiences include employment as a researcher and curator at the inception of The Mary Baker Eddy Library and graduate studies at Harvard University.