 Posted Saturday, July 12, 2008 9:22 PM
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dawn comes,
Do we know the authenticity of the material?
I have to say that I don't know one way or the other, but looked at enough of it to be skeptical. Perhaps there is some real stuff in there. Even from my perspective of Christian Science, however, I have difficulty automatically accepting the accuracy or authenticity of all of it.
There's plenty in the documented body of Christian Science literature to support our common concerns.
Even if it doesn't prove authentic Mary Baker Eddy, however, that doesn't mean it doesn't represent the source of some of the myths of the culture of Christian Science that result in some of the worst consequences (at least here on Earth). It's been around for some time and circulated in a manner to encourage the sorts of urban legends associated with non-orthodox Christian Science.
Reading 305 pages represents more time than I'm willing to invest, but it might be interesting to start a new thread on the topic.
Do Go Be Man
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Posted Sunday, July 13, 2008 1:56 PM
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| I don't know about the authenticity either, but in just looking through it, I think it mirrors the stuff my mother spouted off about pretty constantly (including control of the weather). I remember my mother told my poor sister that if she just kept her "thinking straight" she would never need to have a period. So, at the age of 12, she was pretty destroyed to think she had not been good enough. There are many things in there that make me think they are pretty accurate. One doesn't need to read every word, just do a search in the document on a word like Catholic, or malicious and see what comes up! Incredible!
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Posted Friday, July 25, 2008 7:44 PM
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| This is fascinating stuff! Sometimes it is hard for me to really believe MBE was a real person with such strange beliefs. And the strangest thing of all is that so many people bought into it! (Including me, for many years.) Just for fun, I recently looked up the old census records to see if Mary was there. Of course she was listed. We didn't all make her up. Interesting that under the "date of birth" column in the 1900 census, it is written she "Refused" to tell her date of birth. I didn't know people were allowed to do that! Her occupation was listed as "Pastor Emeritus of the First Church of Christ, Scientist" in the 1910 census. And somehow she let her true age (well, almost) be known since her birthdate was considered somewhere around 1922.
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Posted Saturday, July 26, 2008 7:24 AM
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under the "date of birth" column in the 1900 census, it is written she "Refused" to tell her date of birth. Oh good grief. Seems rather petty that she wouldn't concede the point of her physical birth to the US Census Bureau!
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