Josephine Curtis Woodbury lawsuit

Josephine Curtis Woodbury (1850-1930) sued Mary Baker Eddy for libel on July 31, 1899. Eddy had given an address to The Mother Church on June 4 that made critical reference to the symbolic “Babylonish woman” in chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation. The lawsuit alleged that Eddy meant to identify Woodbury as being the Babylonish woman, although Eddy’s remarks did not explicitly identify the woman with any person. Although Woodbury had studied Christian Science with Eddy, by the time the lawsuit was initiated she had departed from its teachings, turned against Eddy, and was already attacking her in the press. She apparently saw the suit as a means of further attacking and undermining Eddy. The suit was dismissed on June 5, 1901, as it could not be conclusively shown that Eddy identified the Babylonish woman with Woodbury.

Josephine Curtis Woodbury became interested in Christian Science in about 1880. In 1884, 1886, and 1888 she took classes from Mary Baker Eddy at the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. In the latter half of the 1880s she was involved in church work in Boston, assisting for a time in editing The Christian Science Journal, and, in 1886, establishing her own institute for teaching Christian Science. During this period she gave the appearance of being a dedicated Christian Scientist and maintained a largely cordial relationship with Eddy.

By 1889, however, Woodbury had begun to depart from Eddy’s teachings. That year she traveled to Montreal, Canada ostensibly to help spread Christian Science, but she also began an affair with a Christian Scientist there named Henry L. Putnam (1855-1943) and became pregnant. Their child was born in June 1890. Woodbury claimed she did not know she was pregnant until the baby was born, and she had told her students that she had not had sexual relations with her husband, Edward Frank Woodbury (1849-1899), for some years. She named the baby boy Prince Woodbury but referred to him as the Prince of Peace and said that Prince was the result of an immaculate conception.

While Eddy attempted to save Woodbury from her perversions of Christian Science, she was eventually excommunicated from The Mother Church and became increasingly hostile toward Eddy. Her attacks on Eddy in the press culminated with her co-authoring a highly critical article about Eddy in The Arena magazine in May 1899. On June 4, Eddy gave an address to The Mother Church that made critical reference to the “Babylonish Woman” in chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation. Although Eddy’s address did not explicitly identify the symbolic Babylonish woman with any person, Woodbury saw in it a further way to attack Eddy.

On July 31 Woodbury’s attorney, Frederick William Peabody, 1862-1938, filed a lawsuit on Woodbury’s behalf, charging Eddy with libel for allegedly identifying the Babylonish woman with Woodbury and demanding $150,000Editorial Note: 150000 in damages. The suit resulted in much negative publicity about Eddy and Christian Science in the press resulting from false information coming from Peabody and Woodbury. Eddy counseled her own attorneys as to the best way to proceed with the case and in the end was proved to be right. The actual trial was brief. It began on May 29, 1901 and was dismissed on June 5 on the basis that it had not been conclusively shown that Eddy was referring personally to Woodbury in her address. Eddy herself wrote to her lawyers on March 31: “I meant Mrs. Josephine C. Woodbury no more than I meant any other person who is like her. I meant what I think the Revelator means namely that the Babylonish woman is only a symbol of lust, but Mrs. Woodbury has applied this symbol to herself.” (L05362Click link to view L05362 document in new window)

Peabody continued as a virulent critic of Eddy and Christian Science, and by 1909 Woodbury had moved to England and her animosity toward Eddy continued for the rest of her life.