Article September 30, 2002 Issue

A spiritual journey to religious truth

By Ann Braude

Mary Baker Eddy: Speaking for Herself combines two autobiographical works: Retrospection and Introspection (1891), as well as the never-before-printed Footprints Fadeless (1901–02).

Why tell the story of one's life? Mary Baker Eddy's narrative includes elements of a classic spiritual autobiography, a first-hand account of God's work in and through the life of one person. In such accounts, the journey toward self-knowledge and the journey toward knowledge of God are one. The individual's true identity is revealed through the revelation of God's purpose and call.

Throughout Christian history, women's spiritual autobiographies have grappled with conflicts between God's call and society's expectations for women's roles. Obedience to men—fathers, husbands, clergy—could conflict with obedience to God. In Mary Baker Eddy's life, legal and cultural subjugation as a woman had to be overcome before she could answer God's call. She suffered repeatedly from her inferior legal status as a woman. As a married woman, she had no property rights. As a widow, she had no right to custody of her child. As a daughter, she had no right to remain in her father's home when he remarried. In short, the derivative status of women, in which they were assumed to derive identity and security from male family members, failed her mightily. By the time she wrote Science and Health, Eddy was, of necessity—not choice—a self-supporting single woman.

About the author

Ann Braude, director of the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School, is also an advisor to The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity.

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