3-Way Fight Over Christian Science Bequest Settled

The Christian Science Church, Stanford University and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art have agreed to divide a $97-million bequest from the family of a biographer of the church’s founder, Mary Baker Eddy, officials of the three institutions announced Tuesday.

The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by the museum and Stanford against the First Church of Christ, Scientist. Their dispute centered on the bequest and a book about Eddy, “The Destiny of the Mother Church,” written in 1945 by Bliss Knapp, a Boston-based Christian Science teacher.

Knapp wrote that Eddy not only was the creator of a new way of looking at the world, but also that she was “created to rule over the heavenly kingdom.” Most Christian Science scholars regard this deification of Eddy as sacrilegious, and the book, while privately published, was rejected for publication by church directors in 1948.

After Knapp’s death 10 years later, his wife, Eloise Mabury Knapp, and her sister, Bella Mabury--both heirs to a California banking fortune--took up the author’s cause.

They eventually left the bulk of their estates to the church, on the condition that the book be published as “authorized” Christian Science literature--without disclaimers by church officials--and be “prominently displayed in substantially all” Christian Science reading rooms around the world.

The sisters, both of whom have since died, stipulated that if the church did not fulfill the conditions of their wills, the bequest was to be divided equally between the museum and the university.

The church’s subsequent decision to publish and distribute the book created a groundswell of protest from a number of influential Christian Scientists. Church leaders responded by defending the book as nothing more than part of a series of publications about Eddy.

Stanford and the art museum filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, arguing that the church had not published the book in full compliance with the will. They argued that the book was not displayed in all reading rooms, as required of all “authorized” literature.

Under the settlement terms announced on Tuesday, the church is to receive 53% of the trust’s assets, with the remainder to be split evenly between the university and the art museum.

The museum, the university and the church said their agreement will not affect the church’s continued publication of the Eddy biography.

In a supplemental release accompanying Tuesday’s joint statement about the settlement and Knapp’s book, the church said that a biography “does not necessarily carry the assurance or responsibility of being an accurate primary source regarding the teachings of Christian Science.”

The agreement is subject to court approval, and a hearing date has been set for Dec. 14.