“Mary Baker Eddy: A Rhetorical Mastermind and Renowned Christian Healer”

Tencza, Kristin. “Mary Baker Eddy: A Rhetorical Mastermind and Renowned Christian Healer.” Undergraduate Paper,  Oakland University, Michigan, 2016.

Implementing feminist rhetorical criticism, Tencza examines Mary Baker Eddy’s strategic use of rhetoric in her writings, which is reinforced by her life experiences. Tencza sees Eddy working within three frameworks: “an ethic of care [mother-like pathos], extreme utilization of ethos [her character integrity], and logos [her ability to make meaning of her metaphysical science through her knowledge of scripture]—all of which coalesce into her rhetoric of confidence (3). Tencza compares Eddy to Mary Ashton Rice Livermore because both skillfully turned to scripture to advocate their ideas—for Rice it was the advancement of women. And the lives of both women were living testimony to the scripture they preached, thus bolstering the viability of their theological perspectives. “Eddy’s life was perhaps her greatest rhetorical act … and through her credibility she was able to extend logic and meaning” (6). Eddy’s rhetorical use of pathos is seen in her “ability to perspicaciously teeter back and forth between [‘astute and emphatic’] assertion and [‘gentle’] invitation” (8). Eddy’s competence as a rhetor is evident in the religious following she inspired, “despite the fact that she was a woman and was supposed to be denied any sort of public or religious agency” (9).

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