Bliss Knapp (June 7, 1877 – March 14, 1958), the son of Ira O. and Flavia S. Knapp, students of
Mary Baker Eddy
Mary Baker Eddy (née Baker; July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author, who in 1879 founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, the ''Mother Church'' of the Christian Science movement. She also founded ''The C ...
, was an early
Christian Science
Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices which are associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes in ...
lecturer, practitioner, teacher and the author of ''
The Destiny of the Mother Church''.
Childhood
Bliss Knapp, C.S.B., was born on June 7, 1877, in
Lyman, New Hampshire. His parents, Ira Oscar Knapp and Flavia Stickney Knapp, were students of
Mary Baker Eddy
Mary Baker Eddy (née Baker; July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author, who in 1879 founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, the ''Mother Church'' of the Christian Science movement. She also founded ''The C ...
, the founder of
Christian Science
Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices which are associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes in ...
, and they were pioneering workers in its growth. Ira Knapp was one of the original directors to whom Mrs. Eddy deeded the land on which the Original Edifice of the
Mother Church
Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral church, or ...
, The
First Church of Christ, Scientist, in
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, was built.
Bliss Knapp's mother Flavia had studied under Eddy at the
Massachusetts Metaphysical College in Boston, having completed her
Primary
Primary or primaries may refer to:
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* Primary (band), from Australia
* Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea
* Primary Music, Israeli record label
Work ...
in April 1889. In the summer of 1895 she taught a Primary class with Bliss as a member. He finished this class before the beginning of the fall session at the university. Bliss's sister Daphne was in Mrs. Eddy's last class of 1898, the so-called "Class of Seventy" as seventy invitations had been sent out although 67 attended. Mrs. Knapp was selected as the first teacher in the new Board of Education. Mrs. Knapp taught 85 primary class pupils as a teacher of Christian Science. She was selected to teach the 1898
Normal class but died on March 15, 1898.
Academic and religious education
Mrs. Eddy had requested that Bliss receive the finest education available in his day. Bliss initially entered
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
part-time while studying Latin and Mathematics to bring them up to college level. He entered Harvard full-time in 1898. Despite evidence to the contrary, Mrs. Eddy saw much spiritual promise in the shy young man who couldn't find the courage to so much as get up and give a testimony at the Wednesday evening meetings until after he had been appointed to the Christian Science Board of Lectureship.
Early church work
While at Harvard, Knapp helped organize informal services among Christian Scientists. Initially held as receptions at the home of William P. McKenzie, prominent lecturers on Christian Science such as Edward A. Kimball of
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, and
Irving Tomlinson of
Concord, New Hampshire
Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the county seat, seat of Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Merrimack County. As of the 2020 United States census the population was 43,976, making it the List of municipalities ...
, addressed these gatherings. Later after his graduation, Bliss and his cousin Edwin Johnson were instrumental in encouraging Mrs. Eddy to establish a church-sanctioned way to hold services at colleges and universities. Mrs. Eddy's response dated February 12, 1904, was a letter including her proposed changes to the By-laws of her Church known as the
Manual of The Mother Church
The ''Church Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts'' commonly known as the ''Manual of The Mother Church'' is the book that establishes the structure and governance of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, als ...
, which, with a few changes, would allow for the establishing what today are known as Christian Science College Organizations (in Article XXII Section 8).
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
thus became home to the first such Christian Science college organization and held the first lecture sponsored by such an organization, which was delivered by Judge
Septimus J. Hanna in December 1905.
In his last year at Harvard, in March 1901, Bliss was notified by William B. Johnson, Clerk of the Mother Church that, "by recommendation of our Beloved Teacher, the Reverend Mary Baker Eddy, and the unanimous vote of the CS Board of Directors, you have been made a First Member of The First Church of Christ, Scientist."
Immediately upon graduation in June 1901, Bliss Knapp entered the public practice of Christian Science healing with the encouragement of Eddy. In 1902, he was appointed Assistant Superintendent of the Children's Sunday School of the Mother Church.
Attends the Massachusetts Metaphysical College
In November 1903 Bliss was selected to attend the primary class of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, now under the Board of Education, and he was taught with Judge W.G. Ewing, Mrs. And Mrs. Archibald McClellan, Judge and Mrs. Clifford P. Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Ella S. Rathvon by a well-known student of Mrs. Eddy, Edward A. Kimball, C.S.D.
Career as a Christian Science lecturer
On Mrs. Eddy's encouragement, in 1904 Bliss Knapp began his career as a Christian Science lecturer which would last, off and on, until 1931. Mrs. Eddy had approved his appointment even while her own students such as
Calvin Frye said that he was hopelessly shy. Many years later Bliss would recall this appointment, explaining that, "Mrs. Eddy knew that I had an extreme case of bashfulness when she decided to appoint me to the Board of Lectureship. Calvin Frye told me later he warned Mrs. Eddy she was making a mistake in placing one who was so fearful and timid on the Board, but she waived his objections aside. When I got her letter telling me what she proposed to do, I could have said with (the Hebrew prophet)
Job
Work, labor (labour in Commonwealth English), occupation or job is the intentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, or organizations. In the context of economics, work can be seen as the huma ...
, 'The thing I greatly feared hath come upon me.' Then I aroused myself from that and realized that Mrs. Eddy would never think of appointing me to the Board of Lectureship unless she believed that I could do it. Then what would hinder me but a belief of self and a wilful determination to be afraid, both of which are unlovely and unworthy of a hearing. So I went forward until I achieved enough to win Mrs. Eddy's unqualified approval of my work."
Bliss Knapp's first lecture was given in
White Mountains, New Hampshire, and was introduced by one of Mrs. Eddy's students, Miss Emma C. Shipman.
Knapp's Association of Students
Bliss Knapp's students continued to meet annually and to hear a morning address that was usually written by one of his students. Bliss Knapp's Students' Association which voted to disband in 2007.
Knapp biography written by his student
In the late 1990s, Knapp student and former
Principia College
Principia College is a private liberal arts college in Elsah, Illinois. It was founded in 1912 by Mary Kimball Morgan with the purpose of "serving the Cause of Christian Science." Morgan wrote in her book, Education at the Principia that, "Alt ...
professor, Charles Theodore "Ted" Houpt published a biography on Knapp called, "Bliss Knapp - Christian Scientist." The author made extensive use of Knapp letters to his family and students.
Eddy actively supports Knapp's lecture work
Upon receiving his first lecture, Mrs. Eddy wrote to Bliss Knapp in August 1904 that she was pleased with it and that the excerpts she has read were "clear, logical and high-toned." She sent him a book called The Essentials of Elocution by Alfred Ayres,
Funk and Wagnalls, New York, 1897.
Mrs. Eddy helped edit his lecture "Christian Science: Its Nature and Purpose" in her own handwriting, making eleven changes in the body of the lecture and all but one in the section "Christian Science no Will Power". They were changes in diction, not content. Clearly Mrs. Eddy approved of his lecture and its metaphysics as Christian Science, "pure religion and undefiled." Mrs. Eddy was so pleased with the final lecture, she asked that it be printed in pamphlet form in 1906 for distribution, and translated into French in 1908 and (in Mrs. Eddy's own words) "given to the world."
Destiny of the Mother Church controversy
In the early 1920s, Bliss Knapp authored a biography of his parents, Ira and Flavia Stickney Knapp. In 1948 he wrote a book called "The Destiny of the Mother Church," incorporating the biographical information on his parents from the earlier work as well as some of his beliefs about Mrs. Eddy. These beliefs were at the heart of a controversy that continues to this day. Knapp held that Eddy represented a personal fulfilment of biblical prophecy as the woman referred to in the twelfth chapter of the
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...
. While Knapp's father, Ira Knapp, had subscribed to that belief himself, and had been selected by Eddy to be the first person to serve as chairman of the
Christian Science Board of Directors, during a libel suit by Josephine Custis Woodbury in 1892, Ira was forced, under oath in court, to concede Eddy had never taught this interpretation herself. While this concession in court was made by Knapp, others felt that Knapp meant that Mrs. Eddy, as a mortal, could not be that Woman, but as an idea of God, she, in fact could be related to that woman. It was felt by supporters of Mrs. Eddy as "the Woman," that any attempt to paint Mrs. Eddy in this light would meet with universal condemnation of her and her church for deifying her and so, this line of thought went, this notion should never be put forth as any official view of the Church but might be privately taught. But even at that time, students of Mrs. Eddy such as the highly successful lecturer, Edward Kimball, CSD, were of the opinion that Mrs. Eddy discovered Christian Science because she simply climbed the mountain of spiritual inspiration until, like someone ascending a mountain during the night, she was the first to glimpse the sun from that elevated point.
Eddy herself did not hesitate to identify with the impersonal spiritual type the woman represented and apparently tolerated ambiguities on the subject. Her relationship to Biblical prophecy is not an essential theological point in Christian Science and is not included in its tenets. However, opponents of Knapp's view argued Eddy disavowed individual, personal interpretations specifically. She had written in her final edition of
Science and Health, "The woman in the Apocalypse symbolizes generic man
er term for all mankind, understood spiritually the spiritual idea of God; she illustrates the coincidence of God and man as the divine Principle and divine idea" (p. 561). In comments elsewhere she expanded the distinction, writing, "What St. John saw in prophetic vision and depicted as 'a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet' prefigured no speciality or individuality. His vision foretold a type, and this type applied to man as well as to woman...."
Knapp incorporated his teachings into an early book draft, ''
The Destiny of The Mother Church'', following which the Christian Science Board of Directors wrote a six-page letter in February 1948 politely rebuking numerous points they regarded as at variance from Eddy's teaching. Knapp then withdrew the book, but instead of revising it as they proposed, he disregarded their comments and expanded it for private issue instead, leaving it in trust with approximately $100 million in 1990s dollars, acquired by way of his marriage to Eloise Mabury (m. March 27, 1918), to revert to the Church of Christ, Scientist if it ever published his work as "authorized literature".
The board of directors voted in 1990 to print The Destiny of The Mother Church, to the surprise of many of its members, arguing that the book did not have to bear the burden of theological correctness. Other members however argued that this was in violation of the Church Manual bylaw "No Incorrect Literature". The church proceeded to issue the book unannotated as required, as part of a series of biographies of the church's founder. In 1991, Archivist Lee Johnson retired. An unknown number of Christian Science branch churches voted not to carry the book or simply declined to order it, though precise figures are difficult to establish. The financial disbursement was contested by the alternate beneficiaries,
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
and the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum).
LACMA was founded in 1961 ...
, ultimately resulting in a settlement splitting the funds, with half going to the Church and a quarter each going to the other two organizations – itself a violation of Knapp's own will's provisions.
The book's publication attracted a fair deal of unwelcome media attention and continued to be held by some members, in spite of the Church's defense, to violate the church's basic teachings and its equivalent of constitutional law.
A vocal group of critics of Christian Science church managerial policy including Lee Johnson, and
Stephen Gottschalk, a protégé of historian and author,
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...
, came together after the publication of the Knapp book to petition the Church management to withdraw the book from publication and to inform the Church membership of their belief that this book contradicted Eddy's teachings, thereby violating her
Church Manual.
The book was withdrawn from publication in September 2023.
Notable students
*
Erwin Canham[Bridge, Susan. ''Monitoring the News: The Brilliant Launch and Sudden Collapse of the Monitor Channel'', Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe (1998), 216]
*
Roscoe Drummond
* Dr. Robert C. Putnam, CS, former Professor of Chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
See also
*
Septimus J. Hanna
*
William R. Rathvon
References
External links
"Ira O. Knapp: An Obedient Disciple" Longyear Museum.
* Lithgow, Webster (August 8, 2016
"Seeking 'the place that God wants me to go'" Longyear Museum.
''Bliss Knapp, Christian Scientist'', published by Wingaway Press*
ttp://www.tfccs.com/index.jhtml;jsessionid=1UGOGU5R3JSRVKGL4L2SFEQ Church of Christ, Scientistbr>
Discussion of Absolutism from Destiny of the Mother Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knapp, Bliss
1877 births
1958 deaths
Harvard University alumni
American Christian religious leaders
Christian Science writers
History of Christianity in the United States
American Christian Scientists
People from Grafton County, New Hampshire