The Massachusetts Metaphysical College was founded in 1881 by Mary Baker Eddy in Boston, Massachusetts, to teach her school of theology that she named Christian Science. After teaching for almost seven years, Eddy closed this college in 1889 in order to devote herself to the revision of her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures , but retained her charter and reopened the college in 1899 as an auxiliary to her Church. [1]
In 1881, Mary Baker Eddy founded the Massachusetts Metaphysical College under a prevision of an 1874 Massachusetts state law governing the establishment of degree-granting colleges. [2] Degrees given out included Bachelor of Christian Science, or C.S.B.; and Doctor of Christian Science, or C.S.D. (sometimes listed in pamphlets as C.S. and D.C.S. respectively). [3] Later, the C.S.D. degree was discontinued, and C.S.B. eventually came to refer to a teacher of Christian Science, while C.S. came to simply mean a class taught student. [4]
Two medical doctors, Charles J. Eastman and Rufus King Noyes, helped Eddy set up the college, but did not stay involved with it past a few months. [2] Eddy founded the college originally while living in Lynn, Massachusetts, but soon moved with the college to 569 and 571 Columbus Avenue in Boston where the college stayed until its closing. [5]
Eddy was the president of the college and its principle teacher. Other teachers included her husband Asa G. Eddy, her adopted son Ebenezer Foster-Eddy, and her student General Erastus Newton Bates. [3] In addition to teaching, Bates served as the college's president for a short time before it closed. [5] Eddy also gave lectures in Hawthorne Hall and other venues around Boston while teaching classes. [2]
The official cost of classes ranged from $100 to $300, however many students were offered discounted or even free tuition, and husbands and wives who took class at the same time paid on a two-for-one basis. [2] [3] [5] Clergy were offered class free of charge, indicating a desire on Eddy's part to share her theology with religious leaders of the day. [2]
Eddy's Normal classes were designed to prepare teachers to start Christian Science Institutes outside of Boston to teach Christian Science; and by 1888 many such institutes existed in major cities around the United States, with more than half started by women. [2] [6] As time went on demand for instruction by Eddy at the Massachusetts Metaphysical College increased, with classes becoming larger and more frequent; however, in 1898 Eddy closed the college as she said because of "a deep-lying conviction that the next two years of her life should be given to the preparation of the revision of Science and Health , which was published in 1891." [5]
Some of the notable students who attended Eddy's classes at the college between 1882 and 1889 included Annie M. Knott, Laura Lathrop, Augusta Emma Stetson, Emma Curtis Hopkins, General Erastus Newton Bates, and Calvin A. Frye. [7] [8] It was notable that Eddy accepted students to her college regardless of gender, as it was a rarity at the time for women to attend any type of college, especially together with men in the same classes, let alone to teach, preach, or own businesses. [2] [9]
While Eddy stated that she taught over 4,000 students at her college, she might have included informal students or have actually been referring to the sum total of all students taught under her authority as president as the college, including the thousands of students taught when the college was reopened as an auxiliary to her church in 1899 under the Church's Board of Education. By that time, other teachers such as Eddy's adopted son, Ebenezer Foster-Eddy, Edward A. Kimball and Judge Septimus J. Hanna had taught many subsequent classes. Kimball himself, for example, taught over 150 classes.[ citation needed ] Foster-Eddy, as well as General Erastus Newton Bates, had also taught during the period while the college was open. [10] By 1889, her Normal (teachers class) students had also been teaching under her authority and under her signed certificates in the US and overseas. She could have also included in the number those who attended her public preaching at the time, which she could have considered teaching outside the official classroom setting. In any case, John V. Dittimore, former director and clerk of her church and later Eddy critic, gives a far shorter list in his biography on Eddy published in 1932. His list is probably limited to those students, at the college, personally taught by Eddy in an official classroom setting before she turned over the teaching to others.
In 1898, Eddy sent out invitations to roughly seventy students for another class to be taught by herself. [11] Students in this class included Calvin A. Frye, Septimus J. Hanna, Sue Harper Mims, and Irving C. Tomlinson. [7]
Upon Eddy's decease in December 1910, the By-laws of her church stipulated that the vice-president of the college would replace her as the college's president. This person was Judge Septimus J. Hanna who, with his wife, had been early students of Eddy and who occupied more positions of trust in the Christian Science Church than any other individual.[ citation needed ] Today Christian Science teachers continue to teach in many countries under the auspices of the Christian Science Board of Education, the successor organization to the college, which was set up by Eddy in 1898 under the same charter as the college. [2] [5] [12]
Mary Baker Eddy was an American religious leader and author who founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, in New England in 1879. She also founded The Christian Science Monitor in 1908, and three religious magazines: the Christian Science Sentinel, The Christian Science Journal, and The Herald of Christian Science. She wrote numerous books and articles, the most notable of which were Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and Manual of The Mother Church. Other works were edited posthumously into the Prose Works Other than Science and Health.
Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices which are associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally known as the Christian Science church. It was founded in 19th-century New England by Mary Baker Eddy, who wrote the 1875 book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which outlined the theology of Christian Science. The book became Christian Science's central text, along with the Bible, and by 2001 had sold over nine million copies.
The Christian Science Journal is an official monthly publication of the Church of Christ, Scientist through the Christian Science Publishing Society, founded in 1883 by Mary Baker Eddy. The first edition appeared on April 14, 1883, bearing the subtitle, "An Independent Family Paper to Promote Health and Morals". At that time, Eddy was the editor and main contributor to the Journal. The magazine is based in Boston.
Bliss Knapp, the son of Ira O. and Flavia S. Knapp, students of Mary Baker Eddy, was an early Christian Science lecturer, practitioner, teacher and the author of The Destiny of the Mother Church.
The Christian Science Publishing Society was established in 1898 by Mary Baker Eddy and is the publishing arm of The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts.
A Christian Science practitioner is an individual who prays for others according to the teachings of Christian Science. Treatment is non-medical, rather it is based on the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1875) by Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910), who said she discovered Christian Science in 1866 and founded the Christian Science church in 1879. According to the church, Christian Science practitioners address physical conditions, as well as relationship or financial difficulties and any other problem or crisis. Despite the non-medical nature of their practice, Christian Science practitioners were aggressively prosecuted in the late 19th century by newly established state medical societies across the United States. Most state courts dismissed these actions because the courts ruled that they did not practice medicine. Practitioners are either "listed" or "unlisted," a designation that refers to a form of international accreditation maintained by The Mother Church, in Boston, Massachusetts. "Listed" practitioners are included in the directory of Christian Science practitioners on the church website, and printed in the Christian Science Journal.
The Church Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts commonly known as the Manual of The Mother Church is the book that establishes the structure and governance of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, also known as The Mother Church, functioning like a constitution. It was written by Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the church. It was first published in 1895 and was revised dozens of times. The final edition, the 89th, was published in 1910.
Josephine Emma Curtis Hopkins was an American spiritual teacher and leader. She was involved in organizing the New Thought movement and was a theologian, teacher, writer, feminist, mystic, and healer; who taught and ordained hundreds of people, including notably many women. Hopkins was called the "teacher of teachers" and "mother of New Thought" because a number of her students went on to found their own churches or to become prominent in the New Thought Movement, including Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, founders of Unity Church; Ernest Holmes; and H. Emilie Cady, author of Unity's cornerstone text Lessons in Truth. According to Charles S. Braden, Hopkins influenced the development of New Thought "more than any other single teacher", and modern scholars have identified Hopkins as the founder of New Thought.
Septimus James Hanna, an American Civil War veteran and a judge in the Old West. He was a student of Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Christian Science church. Giving up his legal career, he became a Christian Science practitioner, lecturer and teacher. Hanna occupied more leading positions within the church organization than any individual, serving as pastor, then First Reader of The Mother Church, as editor and associate editor of the periodicals, member of the Bible Lesson Committee, he served two terms as president of The Mother Church, he was teacher of the Normal (teachers) Class of 1907, later vice president and then president of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College.
William Roedel Rathvon, CSB,, sometimes incorrectly referred to as William V. Rathvon or William V. Rathbone, is the only known eyewitness to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, of the over 10,000 witnesses, to have left an audio recording describing that experience. He made the recording in 1938, a year before his death. A graduate of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and a successful businessman, he became a Christian Science practitioner, served as a public lecturer, Church treasurer and director of The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts. He was treasurer from 1911 until he was elected to the Church's Board of Directors, on which he served from 1918 until his death in 1939. From 1908 to 1910 he was correspondence secretary for Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy. He also authored "The Devil's Auction" often republished without attribution as "The Devil's Garage Sale".
Augusta Emma Stetson was an American religious leader. Known for her impressive oratory skills and magnetic personality, she attracted a large following in New York City. However, her increasingly radical theories, conflicts with other church members including a well-known rivalry with Laura Lathrop, and attempts to supplant Mary Baker Eddy as the leader of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, led to her eventually being excommunicated from the church on charges of insubordination and of false teaching. Afterwards she began preaching and publishing various works on her theories which she named the "Church Triumphant," and started a controversial radio station to advance her cause.
Rev. Irving Clinton Tomlinson was an American Universalist minister who converted to Christian Science, becoming a practitioner and teacher. For a time, he lived as one of the workers in the household of church founder, Mary Baker Eddy, later writing a book about his experiences called Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy.
Annie MacMillan Knott was a practitioner and teacher in The First Church of Christ, Scientist. She was a student of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the religion, and served the church in various capacities including First Reader, Associate Editor of the Christian Science periodicals, member of the Bible Lesson Committee, one of the first women on the Christian Science Board of Lectureship, Trustee under the Will of Mary Baker Eddy, and the first woman to become a member of the Christian Science Board of Directors.
Frances Thurber Seal (1860–1932) was a Christian Science practitioner and teacher from the United States and one of three people to establish the religion in Germany. She also helped introduce it in Norway.
Calvin Augustine Frye was the personal assistant of Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910), the founder of Christian Science.
Sibyl Wilbur O'Brien Stone, best known as Sibyl Wilbur, was an American journalist, suffragist, and author of a biography of Mary Baker Eddy. She was a San Diego Branch Member of the National League of American Pen Women and a member of the New England Woman's Press Association.
Samuel Putnam Bancroft, also known as Samuel P. Bancroft, was an American Christian Scientist and an early student of Mary Baker Eddy.
Laura Lathrop (1845–1922) was an American religious leader in the Christian Science movement, primarily in New York City. A student of Mary Baker Eddy, she became a Christian Science healer, teacher, and church leader in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Eddy appointed her to establish Second Church of Christ, Scientist, New York. As such, she provided an alternative form of leadership in New York City to the more assertive and independent approach of the flamboyant Augusta Stetson, leader of First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York. Although often reluctant in accepting leadership roles, Lathrop was diligent in following Eddy's directives. She proved to be an effective spokesperson for Christian Science in the public square and before legislative committees. Over a twenty-six year period, Lathrop had a very active, demanding, and successful healing practice in New York City. Lathrop taught about Christian Science to many notables of her time, including Susan B. Anthony. Anthony took a class on Christian Science with Lathrop in 1888. Other prominent individuals who took class instruction in Christian Science from Lathrop were the Methodist Episcopal Bishop John Philip Newman and Jane Stanford, co-founder of Stanford University and wife of the industrialist and politician, Senator Leland Stanford.
Violet Spiller Hay was a Christian Science teacher and hymnist. She was one of the first teachers of Christian Science in the United Kingdom and the religion's first teacher in South Africa.
Sue Harper Mims, C.S.D., was a social leader in Atlanta, Georgia and the wife of Livingston Mims, the 37th mayor of Atlanta. She was a member of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and helped found its branch church in Atlanta.