Resources Discussing James Franklin Gilman

Gill, a feminist historian and biographer, offers a fresh view of Mary Baker Eddy’s achievements in the light of obstacles faced by women in her time. Without access to Church archives Gill relied on Peel’s archival research. Gill’s unique contribution challenges the traditional biographers’ view of Eddy as a hysterical invalid who abandoned her son and stole her ideas.

This book is primarily a collection of Gilman’s reminiscences as he illustrated Mary Baker Eddy’s poem, Christ and Christmas. Gilman’s detailed letters and reminiscences of their work reveal Gilman’s profound struggle to obey and please his teacher through his art. Eddy ultimately considered the book one of her most important, as the time, prayer, and thought committed to it testifies.

Nenneman’s biography of Mary Baker Eddy highlights his two major themes: her tenacious unyielding sense of purpose, and her role as a pioneer. Nenneman is interested in Eddy’s evolution and progression through her triumphs and trials, loneliness, disappointments, and personal weaknesses. One important theme is Eddy’s habit of seeking guidance from God for her actions, a tribute to her Calvinist heritage.

Johnson’s eye-witness account explains Mary Baker Eddy’s decisions during the period in which she established her church. Succeeding generations have wondered why Eddy created a church with a self-perpetuating Board of Directors and how some of her followers, such as Nixon, Woodbury, and Foster-Eddy posed such threats to the church. He discusses Eddy’s responses to internal power struggles within the movement.