by Judy Huenneke
This is Women’s History Month, and it’s time to highlight a very inspiring Christian Scientist, a woman who achieved some pretty amazing things. Her name is Annie Knott.
Annie Knott was born Annie Macmillan, in 1850, in Scotland. In the early 1860s she and her family emigrated to North America, as did so many families in the 19th century. She grew up, married, and became a mother. Then things changed. Her husband left her, and she was a single mother, with three very young children. This was in an age when society offered little support to women, and virtually no opportunities. You could say that she was near the end of her rope!
But a short while before her husband left, Annie had heard about Christian Science. She’d experienced and seen some remarkable healings, including that of her own son. He was a toddler, and had gotten hold of a bottle of carbolic acid and drunk some of its contents. The doctors predicted death or permanent disability, but he was completely healed.
When Annie Knott found out about Christian Science, she took it and ran with it. She started practicing its teachings right away, and taking patients for healing through prayer. Her young age, parental obligations, and lack of experience didn’t hold her back. A few years later she traveled from her home in Detroit, Michigan, to Boston, in order to take a class with Mary Baker Eddy. This was what’s termed a “Normal” class—a class for teaching students to become teachers of healing themselves. And it was the beginning of her warm relationship with the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. Reading Knott’s reminiscences, you can tell that Mrs. Eddy enjoyed Annie’s honesty and treasured her commitment to Christian Science.
Annie Knott’s encounter with Christian Science turned into a lifetime of devotion and service. When asked by Mrs. Eddy to hold church services in Detroit, Annie started a group that became a church, and served as its pastor and later, as First Reader. When asked to serve as an editor for the periodicals of The Christian Science Publishing Society, and leave the growing church, she didn’t hesitate. She moved to Boston.
A few years before her move, she was appointed one of the first members of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship. She later shared that at first she received few lecture requests. At that time, men, not women, were preferred as public speakers. She spoke to Mary Baker Eddy about this. Mrs. Eddy made it clear that it was Annie’s job to reverse this fallacy. “You must rise to the altitude of true womanhood, and then the whole world will want you …” she instructed Annie. Annie did, and success followed. (See We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, p. 82.)
In 1919, Annie Knott moved to a new position. She became the first woman member of the Christian Science Board of Directors. This came at a time when her spiritual intelligence and insight were greatly needed—a period of tremendous turmoil and dissent usually termed “The Great Litigation.” Court cases filled with vicious accusations threatened to divide and destroy the Christian Science movement. With her usual courage and single-minded devotion, she bravely accepted this leadership position, and within a few years the litigation was resolved. Annie served on the Board fifteen years, providing an inspiring example to all the women who have followed her on the Board of Directors.
Annie Knott continued to serve the Christian Science movement as a practitioner and teacher until her passing in 1941. What a stirring and important achievement her life is!
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Thank you for sharing that story. It is so encouraging to hear about the early Christian Scientists.
The interesting part is that she straight away started herself with healing with no really much knowledge, bur surely with a great faith and a great heart.
They did not have it easier or better as we might think and therefore we really can (and should) go that same narrow way.