Accord reached on Christian Science book - 'The Destiny of the Mother Church' by Bliss Knapp

Christian Century, Dec 8, 1993

Two years ago the Christian Science Church decided to print a controversial book some critics labeled heretical. That decision could make the church $50 million richer under the proposed settlement of a longstanding lawsuit filed when the book was published. If the settlement is approved, the church would receive 53 percent of a fortune estimated at more than $100 million that had been left to the church by the author's wife and her sister on the condition that the book, written earlier this century, be published. The remainder would be split evenly between Stanford University and the Los Angeles County Museum, which the sisters had named as beneficiaries if the church failed to publish the book in the way they outlined.

Terms of the tentative settlement were filed October 12 in Los Angeles Superior Court, but the settlement faces two challenges--one from a relative of the sisters, who claims the deal violates the terms of their wills, and another from 17 Christian Scientists who charge that the book's publication violated church bylaws against publishing "incorrect literature" about Christian Science.

The hotly debated book, The Destiny of the Mother Church, was written by Bliss Knapp, and as early as the late 1930s the church was considering publishing it. However, the book was rejected in 1948 on grounds that it made assertions about church founder Mary Baker Eddy that she herself had rejected. In 1991, facing a severe financial crisis--including the loss of over $300 million in failed television ventures--leaders of the Boston-based church decided to publish the book, believing that to do so would boost Christian Science coffers by $98 million (the estimated value of the bequest at the time). At the center of the debate over Knapp's book is its comparison of Eddy to Jesus Christ as an "incarnation of truth," despite evidence that she had forbidden such comparisons to be made.

In an announcement of the negotiated settlement, the church referred to the Knapp book as a biography of Eddy and said, "Biography can be informative and useful, but it does not necessarily carry the assurance or responsibility of being an accurate primary source regarding the teachings of Christian Science. It is neither practical nor desirable to edit a biography so that it is entirely correct Christian Science literature. For the study of Christian Science, the primary sources must always remain Mrs. Eddy's works and the Bible."