The Destiny of The Mother Church

The Destiny of the Mother Church

1991 edition
Author	Bliss Knapp
Country	United States
Language	English
Published	1991
Media type	Print

The Destiny of The Mother Church is a book about Christian Science written by Bliss Knapp, published privately by him in 1947, and publicly in 1991 by Christian Science Publishing Society. Knapp and his parents, Ira O. and Flavia Stickney Knapp, all knew Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy. His parents were students of hers and his father was one of the original members of the Board of Directors of The First Church of Christ, Scientist ("The Mother Church"). Until 1991, the book was repeatedly rejected for publication by the church's Board of Directors because of its depiction of Eddy as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and equating her with Christ Jesus, a position which Eddy considered blasphemous. Destiny's publication caused divisions within the church, including several resignations of prominent church employees. Critics claimed that the failure of the church's then-recent television venture, which had cost the church several hundred million dollars, had motivated the Board's reversal on publishing Knapp's book. Knapp, his wife and her sister left wills that granted bequests totalling over $100 million (in 1990s dollars) promised to the church if the book were to be published. The wills set a time limit of 20 years for the book to be published, otherwise the bequests were to be divided between Stanford University and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the church would receive nothing. The 1973 death of Knapp's wife set the date of the time limit to May 1993.