Learn what it meant for a religious innovator like Mary Baker Eddy to face both resistance and support in Boston’s theological and cultural landscape of the late 19th century. Dr. Margaret Bendroth discusses the complexities of the city’s religious heritage and environment. She shows how shifts in culture, demography, and thought during Eddy’s time in Boston created a dynamic and contested landscape for theological preeminence.
If you’d like to further immerse yourself in this topic, we suggest viewing “Spiritual Intersections in Boston History.” Along with Dr. Bendroth, who is Executive Director, Congregational Library and Archives, this event features a panel discussion with Dr. James O’Toole, Clough Millenium Professor of History, Boston College; Dr. Christopher Evans, Professor of the History of Christianity and Methodist Studies, Boston University School of Theology; and Judy Huenneke, Senior Research Archivist, The Mary Baker Eddy Library.
We’d love to hear your responses to three short questions about our podcast. You can access the anonymous survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BLGW9PP
Podcast guest
Dr. Margaret Bendroth is the Executive Director for the Congregational Library & Archives. She received her BA from Cornell University and a PhD in history from the Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of several books, including Fundamentalism and Gender, 1875 to the Present (Yale 1993); Fundamentalists in the City: Conflict and Division in Boston’s Churches, 1885 to 1950 (Oxford 2005); and A School of the Church: Andover Newton Across Two Centuries (Eerdmans 2008). Dr. Bendroth has edited several other volumes, including Women and Twentieth-Century Protestantism (Illinois 2002). In The Spiritual Practice of Remembering (Eerdmans 2013), she summons readers to remember and honor the past. Her most recent book, The Last Puritans: Mainline Protestants and the Power of the Past (UNC 2015), tells the story of how Congregationalists engaged deeply with their denomination’s storied past and recast their modern identity. She recently served as president of the American Society of Church History.
