A Leader for Today

Robert Peel

Who and what is Mary Baker Eddy that anyone should look to her for leadership in today's explosive world?

Do we see her as a gracious, white-haired figure in an old-fashioned bonnet addressing some thousands of followers from the balcony of the Concord, New Hampshire, house where she lived in retirement at the turn of the century?

Do we see her as a scientific thinker who predicted the navigation of outer space ^{See Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures 125:28;} and the environmental crisis of our age;^96:7; as an existential realist who could describe mortal existence as both an enigma ^70:1; and a ghastly farce;^272:20; as a reformer who could denounce war,^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany 278:25;} imperialism,^129:4; industrial slavery,^266:6; economic inequity,^{Science and Health 239:5;} and a host of other social ills; as a witty aphorist and ironic observer of human nature;^{see, e.g., Miscellaneous Writings 52:12;} as an intrepid pioneer in areas of thought which psychotherapy and parapsychology have only begun to explore?