Resources Discussing Erwin Canham

Damaging newspaper accounts incentivized Mary Baker Eddy to found The Christian Science Monitor with the intent to be a more professional alternative sticking closely to facts and highlighting optimism rather than fear. Although this approach helped dampen the polemic around the church, critics found it lacking in illuminating systemic societal abuses of power.

Collins, a Christian Scientist who acknowledges his hope for the future success of The Christian Science Monitor, presents an account of the Monitor’s history including its weaknesses and unique strengths. Collins brings his readers through the twists and turns of the paper’s relationship with the world’s needs and the spiritual demands of the Monitor’s mission, including its successes and two near collapses.

Houpt’s book contains valuable primary sources for the history of Christian Science in the decades before and after Mary Baker Eddy’s death in 1910. It covers the life and career of Bliss Knapp, who devoted his life to serving Eddy and her cause. He is best known as the leading proponent of Eddy’s prophetic role as the woman in the Apocalypse.

This 1962 snapshot of the Christian Science way of life offers religious historians insights into the value, and the particular impact, of Christian Science teaching on everyday life in the mid-20th century.  A 39-page autobiography by a former editor of The Christian Science Monitor, Erwin Canham, concludes the book as an illustration of a life devoted to Christian Science

Canham, editor of The Christian Science Monitor during the height of its public successes, gives an insider’s story of the newspaper up to the time of the book (1958). He recounts its ideals and struggles–its founding, growing pains, achievement of maturity, and his vision for its future.