[If you’re in
New England, there are few more beautiful spots for a spring walk than Cambridge’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. In this
series, I’ll highlight a few American connections for this unique site and all
it includes. Please share your thoughts, on this site and any other beautiful
or evocative spaces you’d highlight, for a crowd-sourced weekend walk!]
On how her Mount
Auburn memorial helps us think about a controversial, pioneering American.
There’s no
shortage of Boston-area public and historic sites that can help us remember the
life and impact of reformer and Christian Science founder Mary
Baker Eddy. First and foremost, there’s the downtown Boston Christian
Science Plaza, featuring the Mary
Baker Eddy Library, the publishing offices of the Christian Science Monitor, some
seriously impressive architecture, a beautiful reflecting pool, and the unique and fun
Mapparium. If you want to get more intimately acquainted with Eddy’s life
and times, in the Chestnut Hill area of neighboring Newton there’s the Mary
Baker Eddy historic home, one of eight such Eddy houses
scattered across Massachusetts and New Hampshire. And if want to do your own private
reflecting and contemplating, the city features numerous Christian
Science Reading Rooms, including the first
such space that was founded back in 1888 and remains in operation today.
Those are all
interesting spaces, but of course all in one way or another are run by the Church of Christ,
Scientist, meaning that they offer a relatively non-critical, if not indeed
celebratory, perspective on Eddy and the movement she founded. To be clear, and
despite the similarity in names, Eddy’s church is certainly not to my mind on
the level of a cult or scam like L. Ron Hubbard’s
Scientology. Yet at the same time, Christian Science has some definitely problematic elements, most
especially in its general
rejection of medical care and treatments. While that perspective has some
clear late
19th and early 20th century roots and significance, I
don’t have a lot of patience with it in the early 21st century—especially
when it comes to parents refusing care for their children, who of course are
not yet capable of making such decisions for themselves. Almost all organized
religions involve one form or another of indoctrinating children into their
mix, of course; but when such indoctrinations can result in unnecessary illness
or death, they become particularly troubling.
So as an
organized religion or doctrine, and most especially as a multi-generational
movement, Christian Science at least requires more critical engagement than
that provided by its own Boston-area spaces and sites. But it’s worth recognizing
that the movement and its ideas can also operate on a more individual level:
asking individuals to do their own reflecting on such significant topics as
faith and science, belief and education, just as Eddy herself did throughout
her life. All religions likewise offer space for such individual contemplations—but
in its emphasis on reading and reflection, Christian Science is particularly
appropriate as a means for encouraging such practices. I can think of few
Boston spaces more suited for reflection and contemplation than Mount Auburn
Cemetery, and there are few Mount Auburn spots more perfect than the Mary
Baker Eddy memorial. But don’t take my word for it—if you’re in the area on
a beautiful spring day (or any other time), stop by the memorial and see what
reflections come to you!
Last connection
of mine tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Other sites or spaces you’d share?
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