"Chastity is the cement of civilization and progress. Without it there is no stability in society, and without it one cannot attain the Science of Life"
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“Chastity” here isn’t pitched as private virtue; it’s sold as infrastructure. Mary Baker Eddy frames sexual restraint as literal binding material - “the cement” - holding together “civilization and progress.” That metaphor does heavy lifting: cement is invisible when it works, taken for granted, and catastrophic when it fails. She’s not arguing for modesty so much as for social engineering, turning intimate behavior into a public utility with measurable consequences: stability, progress, and access to truth.
The line also reveals Eddy’s theological strategy. “Without it one cannot attain the Science of Life” folds moral discipline into epistemology. Chastity becomes a prerequisite for knowledge itself, not just holiness. That’s a power move: it places spiritual authority and moral authority on the same axis, implying that those who dissent aren’t merely disobedient but intellectually unfit to grasp reality. In a movement that branded itself as “Christian Science,” the word “Science” is a rhetorical bridge to modernity, borrowing the prestige of empirical certainty while keeping the gate controlled by purity.
Context matters. Eddy is speaking from a 19th-century Protestant culture anxious about urbanization, women’s shifting roles, and the perceived loosening of sexual norms. Her emphasis on chastity functions as reassurance: a promise that order is still possible, that progress won’t dissolve into chaos. The subtext is less about sex than about authority - who gets to define “life,” who counts as “stable,” and which bodies must behave to keep the social world from cracking.
The line also reveals Eddy’s theological strategy. “Without it one cannot attain the Science of Life” folds moral discipline into epistemology. Chastity becomes a prerequisite for knowledge itself, not just holiness. That’s a power move: it places spiritual authority and moral authority on the same axis, implying that those who dissent aren’t merely disobedient but intellectually unfit to grasp reality. In a movement that branded itself as “Christian Science,” the word “Science” is a rhetorical bridge to modernity, borrowing the prestige of empirical certainty while keeping the gate controlled by purity.
Context matters. Eddy is speaking from a 19th-century Protestant culture anxious about urbanization, women’s shifting roles, and the perceived loosening of sexual norms. Her emphasis on chastity functions as reassurance: a promise that order is still possible, that progress won’t dissolve into chaos. The subtext is less about sex than about authority - who gets to define “life,” who counts as “stable,” and which bodies must behave to keep the social world from cracking.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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