- Hardcover: 366 pages
- Publisher: Nebbadoon Pr (November 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1891331027
- ISBN-13: 978-1891331022
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.5 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 680 g
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#1,744,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #56 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Protestantism > Christian Science
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Product Details |
Product Description
From the Author
This is an attempt to write an accessible (368 pages) biography of a major American religious figure, the founder of Christian Science. Partly because the religion she founded remains controversial, there are virtually no evenhanded portrayals of her life.
As someone who has been a student of Christian Science since my college days, I believe that only a person who has some understanding of the metaphysics of Christian Science can portray the story of Mrs. Eddy's development--can understand her high degree of spiritual intuition and foresight. I have attempted to deal with the elements in her background that prepared her for Christian Science, while at the same time acknowledging that those elements do not account for her discovery.
The first major work of scholarship to appear was the trilogy by Robert Peel, who was also a Christian Scientist. It is a major work, but being 800 pages of text plus 400 pages of small-type footnotes, it is not easily accessible for the general reader wanting to learn about Mrs. Eddy for the first time. Other than Peel, I am the only biographer to have gone through all of her letters--probably more than 10,000--as well as to have spent months reading the reminiscences of those who worked with her, letters of her family members, and many letters of those who came in contact with her in the last twenty years of her life. From these I have distilled what I feel is the essential story.
If this book succeeds at what I have tried to do, it should set the tone for future works on Mrs. Eddy. The following are paths of research that others could try to follow in their individual ways: What did she owe to her surroundings and mentors, and what is there that is not attributable to her background? In other words, was there a legitimate discovery involved in her system of healing? Does the theology of her discovery, Christian Science, build a believable coherence to the traditional Biblical account of the life of Christ Jesus? Does the practice of her discovery lead to a level of spiritual healing that is dependable enough to bear the label of a science, and does it go beyond what is recognized as possible in psychosomatic medicine? And, perhaps most important for the future, do the categories of consciousness she established have a staying power in a world dominated by the constantly evolving language of psychology?
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perceptive and affectionate, Oct 27 1998
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Persistent Pilgrim: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Hardcover)
This fairly short biography of Mary Baker Eddy gives a fuller and deeper appreciation of her character than even Robert Peel's three volume work. Nenneman relates the events of her life in a way that throws real light on the way Christian Science itself informed her actions and gradually developed her perceptions. The reader may still want to turn to Peel's work for detailed analysis but this well-documented book is the very best place to start a study of this religious figure. It reminds one of Edmund Morris' Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. Real feeling for the subject pervades every page.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful perspective, Aug 24 2000
By M.A. - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Persistent Pilgrim: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Hardcover)
This book provided me with a wonderful perspective on Mary Baker Eddy's healing gift and how she established it, against considerable odds, as a system, supported by a church and a publishing house, which remains available for personal study through her book, Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures.
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
A pedestrian volume, April 28 2000
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Persistent Pilgrim: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Hardcover)
Having read a good number of biographies on Mary Baker Eddy, I found this particular volume to be well-intended but ineffective. About 95% of Nennemann's book has already been covered, repeatedly in some cases and in more detail, by other books; but the little new light he throws on the subject is interesting (particularly Eddy's discomfort with Christian Science promoting itself in proximity to Eastern religions and Spiritualism). The author seems to have genuine respect and affection for his subject, while presenting her in a non-idealized way --something to be appreciated; but the writing lacked style and content. Intending no great disrespect, whereas another reviewer mentioned the book kept him awake, I had exactly the reaction.
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