Ernest Sutherland Bates was an American academic and writer. He taught English and philosophy at Oberlin College from 1903 to 1905, the University of Arizona until 1915, and the University of Oregon from then until 1925. Bates was the co-author, with John V. Dittemore, a former director of the Christian Science church, of Mary Baker Eddy: The Truth and the Tradition (1932), which traces the early history of Christian Science and the life of its founder, Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910).