Skip to content
Csbibliography

Annotated Bibliography of Christian Science

Academic and Other Literature

  • Home
  • About
    • About the ABCS Project
    • Support Opportunities (Donate)
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Annotations
    • Search Information
    • Category Search
    • Keyword Search
    • Advanced Search
    • Standard Search
    • Authors/Editor List
    • Title List
    • Recently Added
    • Search Support
  • Resources
    • The Book
    • Online Resources
    • ABCS Blog
    • Suggest Resources
  • Contact
Annotation Resource

“Retrospection and Introspection: The Gospel According to Mary Baker Eddy”

“Retrospection and Introspection: The Gospel According to Mary Baker Eddy”

Stein, Stephen J. “Retrospection and Introspection: The Gospel According to Mary Baker Eddy.” The Harvard Theological Review 75, no. 1 (1982): 97–116.

Through an examination of the content and structure of Mary Baker Eddy’s autobiography Retrospection and Introspection, Stein, a scholar of American religion and not a Christian Scientist, observes striking parallels between the accounts of Jesus in the canonical gospels and the stages of Eddy’s life as she depicts them. Eddy’s “sainted mother” (100) and her spiritually precocious rejection at the age of twelve of Calvinism’s predestination, evokes Jesus’s mother Mary and the young Jesus in the temple “about his Father’s business” (Luke 2:49). Eddy, like Jesus, also had a time of ‘temptation’—a dark period of trial and heartache due to the loss of husband, child and health. What followed was Eddy’s revelation of her “new gospel” (103), and her transition from private life to public preaching, healing and teaching—with much self-sacrifice and opposition in its wake. Likewise, was Jesus’s revelatory baptism followed by his public ministry tainted by hostility. Both Jesus and Eddy would gather up and nourish disciples, focusing on the pastoral needs of their followers to ensure continuity of mission. Like Jesus, Eddy, in the last chapters of her autobiography, centers on her teachings—her “Sermon on the Mount” (108) closing with a “farewell discourse” (111)—a message of encouragement and counsel.

ISSN: 1475-4517
Print ISSN: 0017-8160

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S001781600001823X

 

Stein, Stephen J.

Related Annotations:

Annotations related by category:
  • Availability: Online - Academic Credentials or Fee
  • Official Christian Science Publication: No
  • People: Eddy, Mary Baker
  • Publication Date: 1981-2000
  • Resource Types: Article
  • Subjects: Bible
  • Subjects: Biographies and Chronologies
Annotations related by keyword:
  • Jesus Christ
  • Rhetoric
More by authors or editor(s):
  • Stein, Stephen J.

Comment on this resource: Cancel

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search Home

Search application instructions and overview.

Search Support

Questions? We've got answers.

Category Search

Select subject, person, organization and/or controversy to provide a subset of annotation results. The results page includes the ability to further limit your search.

Keyword Search

Select one or more specific keywords to provide a subset of annotation results. The results page includes the ability to further limit your search.

Advanced Search

Select from all search options to obtain very specific results.

Standard Search

Might yield a mix of relevant and irrelevant results, but could be very helpful if you are looking for a specific term not included in any of the other types of searches.

Annotations by Author
Annotations by Title
Most Recent

View the 30 most recently added annotations.

New Since the Book

View new annotations available here that were not included in the book.

Suggest a Resource
Donate via PayPal

Scholarly Works on Christian Science is the nonprofit corporation that produces the ABCS website. We rely on donations to keep the bibliography updated and available to the public. If you find this site useful we hope you'll consider donating to support the work. Donate via PayPal by clicking the button above or send a check to:

Scholarly Works on Christian Science
420 Conway Meadows Drive
St. Louis, MO 63017

© 2022 and later by Scholarly Works on Christian Science, all rights reserved.

Privacy Policy is here. Cookie Policy is here. Comment Policy is here.

This material was printed from the Annotated Bibliography of Christian Science website produced and maintained by Scholarly Works on Christian Science (https://csbibliography.org). All rights reserved.