How did Mary Baker Eddy come to name her church?

Exterior of the Portico entrance to The Mother Church (The First Church of Christ, Scientist) in Boston. Staff photo.
From time to time we are asked about Mary Baker Eddy’s selection of “The First Church of Christ, Scientist” as the wording to designate The Mother Church. Here is some background from the Library’s researchers.
We know that originally Eddy had wanted to name her church the “Church of Christ.”1 However, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts could not grant such a charter, because a church with that title had already been incorporated.
After learning of this, Eddy and her students changed the name to “Church of Christ (Scientist)” in 1879.2 Here the word “Scientist” is used to give denominational information. At that time, it was not uncommon for a church to have a name such as “Church of Christ (Congregational),” or “First Parish, Unitarian.”3
Eddy reorganized her church in 1892 and named it “Church of Christ, Scientist.”4 However, during that summer discussions with her lawyers, the Christian Science Board of Directors, and the Massachusetts Commission on Corporations revealed the need for another change. In order to establish a clear, unique name that was legally acceptable, a modification of the title was necessary. Thus it was decided to adopt the title “The First Church of Christ, Scientist.”5
John B. Willis served as Mother Church President in 1901 and was Associate Editor of the Christian Science periodicals from 1902 to 1917. In an undated note to Eddy, he asked a question:
I note that they prefer to give the name “Christian Science Church” under the Dept. Caption “Christianity compared with other religions.” It occured to me that you may not have noticed this, & hence I beg to inquire if you approve of the use of the variation from “Church of Christ Scientist.”
Eddy’s response was written on the note: “I do not allow it. Always insist on this.”6
In 1895 the By-Law that governed names for branches of The Mother Church was introduced in the first edition of the Manual of The Mother Church.7. Then named “Title of Branch Churches” (Article XIII), it now appears under Article XXIII, Section 2, “Titles.”8 The wording of this By-Law has essentially remained the same. According to a July 1895 letter from Eddy to William B. Johnson, who was then Clerk of The Mother Church and also working on the first edition of the Manual, Eddy approved of this.9
Of note, Protestant churches in New England have long “numbered” their churches. Examples of this practice can be found in Concord, New Hampshire, where Eddy and her family attended church between 1831 and 1838. In 1903 the Concord City History Commission published volume two of the History of Concord, New Hampshire, From the Original Grant in Seventeen Hundred and Twenty-Five to the Opening of the Twentieth Century. It included the names of Concord churches in the early nineteenth century. In 1831, churches in Concord included First Baptist Church, First Methodist Church, First Universalist Church, First Episcopal Church, and Second Congregational Society (Unitarian).10
- Christian Scientist Association, meeting minutes, Vol. 1, 10 May 1879, EOR10, 72.
- Christian Scientist Association, meeting minutes, Vol. 1, 12 April 1879, EOR10, 69.
- For example, a notice of services for a Church of Christ (Congregational) in Leominster, Massachusetts, was included in the March 12, 1879, issue of The Fitchburg (Massachusetts) Sentinel.
- Mary Baker Eddy to Christian Science Board of Directors, 26 March 1892, L02661.
- See, for example, Director William B. Johnson’s August 13, 1892, note, with insertions by Eddy, L00020.
- Eddy, John B. Willis, note, n.d., L13547.
- Eddy, Church Manual (Boston: The Christian Science Board of Directors), 27.
- Manual, 70.
- Eddy to William B. Johnson, 31 July 1895, L03306.
- The History Commission of Concord, New Hampshire, History of Concord, New Hampshire, From the Original Grant in Seventeen Hundred and Twenty-Five to the Opening of the Twentieth Century, vol. 2 (Concord, N.H.: The Rumford Press, 1903), iii.