Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) was an influential American author, teacher, and religious leader, noted for her groundbreaking ideas about spirituality and health, which she named Christian Science. She articulated those ideas in her major work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, first published in 1875. She established the Church of Christ, Scientist in 1879 to “reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing” (Church Manual).

Mrs. Eddy is widely recognized as one of the most remarkable religious figures of modern times. In 1992 the Women’s National Book Association named her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, one of 75 books by women “whose words have changed the world.”