Historian and journalist Robert Peel (1909-1992) was a significant ecumenical figure in Christian Science, best known for writing his church's definitive three-volume authorized biography of its founder, Mary Baker Eddy. He also wrote studies of Christian Science's most well-known feature: its claims of spiritual healing.

During his later years, because of his familiarity with Christian Science's early history, he foresaw and spoke out against the church's trend toward growth through marketing and promotionalism rather than through its traditional emphasis on its healing theology, which placed him at odds with top church executives during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

He was also a prime contributor to other works on which his name did not necessarily appear, an author of numerous articles in Christian Science periodicals, and a part-time unlisted Christian Science practitioner.