The Christian Science Publishing Society

As it exists today The Christian Science Publishing Society oversees the publication and distribution of Christian Science literature, which includes periodicals, books and The Christian Science Monitor. It functions as organized by a January 1898 Deed of Trust, which put its care and governance under the control of a three-person Board of Trustees, operating ultimately under the auspices of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts. The Deed stipulates that profits from the sale of Christian Science literature be turned over to the Church by the Society.

The Christian Science Publishing Society had its beginning with the publication in 1875 of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. In that volume, the publisher was identified as the “Christian Scientist Publishing Company.” This “company” consisted essentially of Eddy herself, with her husband, Asa Gilbert Eddy, assuming the role when the book’s second edition was published in 1878.

Eddy’s publication, The Christian Science Journal, appeared in 1883. The first volume of this monthly magazine was published by the “Christian Scientists’ Publishing Company,” which was overseen by the Christian Scientist Association, an association of Eddy’s students. The “Company” at this time had a board of directors with Calvin A. Frye (as president), Mary Baker Eddy, Sarah H. Crosse, Clara E. Choate, and Edward H. Hammond. By the time the second volume of the Journal appeared in 1884, Eddy herself was identified as the publisher, and that particular organizational structure of the Publishing Company was dissolved.

In a documentDigital document L09065 not available dated October 29, 1886, Eddy transferred the ownership of the Journal from herself to six of her students in the Christian Scientist Association “who together constitute an Association, doing business under the style of the Christian Science Publishing Society…” Eddy, however, retained the right to control of the content of the magazine and right to take back ownership of the Journal should material she objected to appear in its pages. In addition the Society was to copyright the magazine and work to increase its circulation.

In October 1888, the Publishing Society ceased functioning and ownership of the Journal reverted back to Eddy. In June 1889, she gave its ownership as a gift to the National Christian Scientist Association, which voted to create a “Christian Science Publishing Society” under its auspices. A “Publication Committee” was formed to function as trustees and as the operational arm of the Society, overseeing the publishing of Christian Science literature. In May 1890, Eddy asked the National Christian Scientist Association to disorganize for three years. Before doing so, the Association authorized the Society and its Publication Committee to continue its work.

Until April 1897, the Society carried on its work as a “voluntary association” rather than as a legal entity chartered by the State of Massachusetts. At that time Eddy asked the Society to incorporate, replacing the Publication Committee with a board of directors, adopting by-laws, and obtaining a state charter, thereby providing the Society with legal protection as it enlarged its business capacity. In January 1898 this was superseded by a Deed of Trust, which organized the Christian Science Publishing Society, putting its care and governance under the control of a three-person Board of Trustees, operating ultimately under the auspices of the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts, and providing that profits from the sale of Christian Science literature be turned over to the Church by the Society. This organizational structure of the Publishing Society has continued to this day.