Mary Baker Eddy

Born in Bow, New Hampshire, in 1821, Mary Baker Eddy became an influential American religious leader, teacher, and writer. She is best known as the founder of Christian Science, a movement she formally established with the Church of Christ, Scientist, in 1879.

Her most important book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, was first published in 1875 and became the main statement of her ideas about prayer, healing, and the Bible. Along with her religious work, she also wrote articles, sermons, and other books that helped shape and spread the movement.

Eddy spent her later years in Massachusetts and died in 1910. Whether read for spiritual history, American culture, or the story of a determined and controversial public figure, her life remains closely tied to the religious movement she built.