Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy’s Church, A Centennial Story
Safronoff, Cindy Peyser. Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy’s Church, A Centennial Story. Vol. 1: 1889 to 1929. Seattle: This One Thing, LLC, 2020.
When Third Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle received a congratulatory letter from the Washington Secretary of State for its centennial in 2016, Safronoff began searching old church records and found the “record of a thought process along with the unfolding of events” (v). The team members who recorded their church’s history long ago “wanted their work to be seen as a scientific demonstration of great importance” (v). Her thorough research uncovered historical accounts of not only the development of this church and its relationship to the world, but how events in Seattle interfaced with what was happening at its headquarters in Boston. Part One of an expected trilogy covers the origins of Christian Science in Seattle, from the late 19th century through 1929. Since this period was marked by church building, Part One includes many primary documents and stories from the Seattle Christian Science churches illustrating how their meaning of church evolved. “On the question of how to welcome strangers, handle the influx of new members from diverse backgrounds, and run their organization, the membership made a conscious choice not to rely on what they called the ‘old methods adopted by other churches.’ This [First] church was about doing things in a new way” (36).
ISBN-10: 0986446122
ISBN-13 (Softcover): 978-0986446122
See also annotation:
“Pilgrims at the Golden Gate: Christian Scientists on the Pacific Coast, 1880–1915” by Rolf Swenson