Mary Baker Eddy founds the Church of Christ, Scientist

Background. Mary Baker Eddy, an American religious leader, founded the Church of Christ, Scientist in 1879. The church was established to commemorate the word and works of Jesus and to reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing. Eddy had previously taught the science of primitive Christianity to hundreds of students. The founding followed a claimed personal healing in 1866, which she attributed to reading the Bible.

Context. By the 1870s, Eddy told students she would have a church of her own. The second edition of Science and Health was published in 1878. In 1878, Eddy sued Kennedy for mesmeric harm, winning $250. Legal suspicions regarding a murder conspiracy involving her followers arose in 1878, leading to negative media attention before charges were dropped in January 1879.

Founding. In 1879, Eddy and her students established the Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts. The church was incorporated by Eddy following a claimed personal healing in 1866. The organization aimed to reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing. Eddy authorized students to list themselves as Christian Science Practitioners in the church's journal.