Note regarding development of document entitled
Mrs. Eddy's Place
Page 4 of a transcript dated May 19, 1988
Included in
Chronological historical record of Betty Ann Ridley, C.S.B.
1987-2006

[Note: The document entitled "Mrs. Eddy's Place," bearing the signature of the Christian Science Board of Directors, was first published in the Christian Scinece Sentinel and The Christian Science Journal in 1943, and again in those same periodicals in 1962, as well as published in many editions of The Herald of Christian Scinece in the 1960's and 1970's. It came about as the result of research done by a committee appointed by the Board of Directors in 1938. During the five years during which the research work was being done (from 1938 to 1943, when the final document was published), the personnel of the committee consisted of well-respected former editors of the periodicals: Judge Clifford P. Smith, Albert Gilmore, and W. Stuart Booth; and acting editors of the periodicals: Violet Ker Seymer, Duncan Sinclair, and George Shaw Cook. It is said that as a result of the committee's work through that five-year period, the Board was presented with 57 pages of convincing evidence that Mrs. Eddy did regard herself as having a place in Biblical prophecy. The committee's presentation was put forward to the Board of Directors as Mrs. Eddy's own view of herself. That evidence was summarized in the official statement published by the Directors,"Mrs. Eddy's Place," which consists of six points, and is frequently referred to by that name -- the "six points." Because it begins with the phrase "The position of The Mother Church as to Mary Baker Eddy's place...," it appears to be a major, historic, one-of-a-kind, and definitive statement, authorized and published by the Board of Directors in 1943, apparently presented as the official position of the Church on the subject. It continued to be published unchanged by subsequent Directors of The Mother Church for 36 years. After 1972, the document was made readily available in pamphlet form and sold throughout the world in Reading Rooms. As late as January of 1972, Christian Science teachers at a teachers' meeting at the headquarters in Boston were urged by the Board of Education to teach the concept embodied in the six poionts of that document. Its publication was quietly discontinued in 1979. No public announcement was made by the Directors at that time to reverse the position of the Church which had prevailed for 36 years. Notwithstanding the fact that the Directors' proclamation of 1943 followed five years of research into the Mother Church archives by six highly qualified and experienced editors of the periodicals and states that their findings were based on "indisputable evidence of our Leader's own view of herself and of her mission," it is being said by current Directors and their representatives that not very much research was done to prepare the document titled "Mrs. Eddy's Place." It would seem that the words "The position of The Mother Church..." constitute an authoritativie statement conveying to church members and to the world the position of the Christian Science Church on the subject of Mrs. Eddy's place. Among the six points included in that document is this clearly stated concept: "Mrs. Eddy regarded portions of Revelation (that is, chapter 12) as pointing to her as the one who fulfilled prophecy by giving the full and final revelation of Truth; her work thus being complementary to that of Christ Jesus."]