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One of the most remarkable women to appear on the American horizon
during the nineteenth century was the discoverer, founder, and
leader of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. While Ellen G. White
was a cofounder of one of the major denominations in America [Seventh-day
Adventists], Mary Baker Eddy was the only woman in Christian history
to be the sole founder of a religious society that has continued
to grow in this country [USA] and has expanded into many other
parts of the world.
This gifted individual, who founded one of the most unusual religious
systems in Christendom, was born on 16 July 1821 in Bow, New Hampshire,
a small farm community located a few miles south of Concord. Mary
was the youngest child in a family of three girls and three boys.
Her parents were highly respected in the communities where they
lived and were devoted to the Congregational Church. At the age
of seventeen Mary united with that faith even though she did not
endorse the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination and unconditional
election. On one occasion, as she considered the belief that the
nonelect would be perpetually banished from God, she became highly
perturbed. Her deep emotions led to such apparent sickness that
the family doctor was summoned. Diagnosing her condition, he observed
that she was "stricken with fever." After praying to
the Lord, however, Mary Baker testified that "a soft glow
of ineffable joy" encompassed her and the fever departed.
During her youth, while living in Tilton, New Hampshire, about
seventy-five miles from Portland, Maine (the home of Ellen G.
White), she showed a genuine interest in intellectual and spiritual
themes and, like Ellen G. White, experienced childhood marred
by continual illness. Although Mary Baker's education was occasionally
interrupted because of her ill health, she studied at home, leaned
quickly, and possessed an unusual memory. Unlike Ellen G. White,
however, Mary Baker had several years of formal education in academics
and received periodic instruction from private tutors. Her favorite
subjects were natural philosophy, logic, and moral science, and
she obtained a few lessons in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
Mary Baker Eddy recalled that when she was about eight for about
one year she periodically heard a voice, repeating, "Mary."
At times she thought her mother was calling, but upon learning
that she had not been summoned, she became discouraged, and her
mother was perplexed. After reading the narrative of Samuel in
the Old Testament, Mary said she understood that the voice was
of God. After this the call was not repeated "again to the
material senses."
Early in life she gained a desire to write, and during her adolescent
years contributed many poems and articles to local papers. It
was also at an early age that she remarked that one day she would
write a book. Undoubtedly, however, the young woman did not perceive
at that time the tremendous influence her work would have on the
lives of countless followers.
One of the most significant aspects of her early life that undoubtedly
played a major role in her becoming a spiritual leader was her
constant suffering from various forms of illness. Her parents
turned to many medical doctors, attempting to secure relief for
their daughter. Eventually, she was exposed to a variety of healing
programs, including exercises of faith and mesmeric practices
of that age.
In addition to her protracted illness, her marital hardships undoubtedly
caused her to seek relief from suffering. In 1843 she married
George W. Glover and was widowed the following year and left with
inadequate financial support. After returning to her parents'
home and giving birth to her only child, she felt compelled to
locate another woman to nurse and raise her son. Later, hoping
to regain her boy, she married Daniel Patterson, a dentist and
homeopathist. But this union failed to result in a lasting bond
of love between husband and wife or an intimate relationship between
mother and son. After frequent quarrelling, the marriage ended
in divorce in 1873. After inaugurating the Christian Science movement,
she was again married, to one of her students, Asa G. Eddy, who
died in 1882, five years after their wedding. Mrs. Eddy, however,
did win the respect of her son George Glover, toward the end of
her life.
During her unpleasant marriage to the itinerant dentist, Mary
Baker Patterson sought help from a faith healer, Phineas Parkhurst
Quimby, who resided in Maine. While under his care, she secured
some relief from her ailments and became genuinely interested
in the mental origin of disease.
In February, 1866, shortly after the death of this "magnetic
doctor," Mrs. Eddy slipped on an icy street in the manufacturing
community of Lynn, Massachusetts, and sustained a painful injury.
An attending physician pronounced the injury fatal but three days
after the accident she opened her Bible to a description of one
of the Savior's miraculous healings: "And, behold, they brought
to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed; and Jesus seeing
their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer;
thy sins be forgiven thee" (Matthew 9:2). As Mrs. Eddy read,
she testified that "the healing Truth dawned upon" her.
Subsequently, she continued, "I rose, dressed myself, and
ever after was in better health than I had before enjoyed."
Although the healing was not permanent and she required therapy
following this discovery, a definite change had taken place in
her pattern of belief. As Mrs. Eddy recalled in 1866, "I
discovered the Science of divine metaphysical healing which I
afterwards named Christian Science.... I named it Christian, because
it is compassionate, helpful, and spiritual." For twenty
years prior to this accident, she had been trying to trace physical
effects to a mental cause, but following her recovery she decided
that all causation was Mind, and every effect a mental phenomenon.
For three years following her healing, she withdrew from society
to ponder her mission in life, to study the Bible, and to develop
a new religious system. Employing the Bible as a basic text, Mrs.
Eddy unfolded an unusual interpretation of the scriptures, revealing
the teachings of Jesus and his accomplishments in light of what
she called "the Principle and rule of spiritual Science and
metaphysical healing."
One of the doctrines presented by Mrs. Eddy that helps inquirers
better understand the pattern of belief of this religious community
was her unique concept of God. While describing the unlimited
nature of God's presence, the founder of Christian Science emphasized
that "God is All-in-all." According to her convictions,
"From this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor
existence except the divine Mind and His ideas." She also
believed that God is Spirit, pure Love, and pure good, and she
reasoned that since God "fills all space" and all is
spirit and spiritual then the opposite of these characteristics
do not really exist. Therefore, Mrs. Eddy concluded that sin,
sickness, matter, and death are unreal.
As her novel religious system emerged, Mrs. Eddy adopted unusual
definitions of terms which sometimes create semantic problems
when individuals not of this faith communicate with Christian
Scientists. In defining various terms, she wrote:
Although many critics of the Christian Science faith point out parallels in the teachings of Quimby and Mrs. Eddy, Christian Scientists emphasize the differences between their beliefs. Whereas Quimby and many others interested in "mind-cure" concentrated on mind-over-matter with the healing power generated by the individual, Mrs. Eddy taught that the power that heals comes from God and his influence on consciousness. As explained by Christian Scientists, Quimby stressed personal will and Mrs. Eddy concentrated on the influence of what she considered God's "Truth" on the thinking of mankind.
Another significant difference in the teachings of Mrs. Eddy and
Quimby is that she viewed creation as "wholly spiritual."
As one expositor of Christian Science stated, the need is to "recognize
the immutable perfection of Mind's spiritual creation, which could
not possibly permit the presence of anything contrary to its own
nature." The result, he added, of this "yielding to
the divine Mind" is inevitably healing, "a radical changing
of the evidence before the senses." As explained by Mrs.
Eddy,
In the view of Christian Scientists, disease and pain are mental, not material. They are said to arise from a false concept of existence, and it is held that when an individual learns that sickness and sufferings are not God-created and therefore are mortal and illusory, they disappear from his experience. According to this teaching, what appears to be physical healing is really the wiping out of a false belief that disease is real.
"Man's belief produces disease and all its symptoms,"
Mrs. Eddy asserted. "We weep because others weep, we yawn
because they yawn, and we have small-pox because others have it;
but mortal mind, not matter, contains and carries the infection."
After studying, writing, and discussing her religious views with
boarders in homes where she resided, Mrs. Eddy organized her first
school in 1870, in Lynn, Massachusetts, thereby commencing a career
of healing and teaching. To provide for her support, she charged
students who could afford to pay a tuition; graduates who subsequently
engaged in spiritual healing agreed to pay their tutor ten percent
of their income. Shortly after instituting a formal program of
instruction, Mary Baker Eddy purchased a home in Lynn, where she
continued conducting classes.
The basic beliefs of Mrs. Eddy were widely circulated in what
became known as the Christian Science textbook, Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures. This work was originally
published in 1875 and has passed through many revisions and editions,
but the basic theology unfolded in this influential treatise has
not been changed. Although Mrs. Eddy taught that the Bible is
the only authority for religious truth and a sufficient guide
to eternal life, she claimed that men have altered the original
text and have developed erroneous interpretations of the scripture.
Her textbook, Science and Health, does not in the view
of Christian Scientists supersede the Bible but is a guide unlocking
biblical truths. Moreover, this book is regarded as a complete
statement of Christian Science, and, like the Bible in its original
form, contains "nothing of human opinion" and is "devoid
of man made theories."
In the same year that the first edition of the Christian Science
textbook was printed, Sunday services were held in private homes,
consisting primarily of a sermon by Mrs. Eddy, prayers, and hymns.
For many months, the gatherings remained small, usually numbering
fewer than twenty. Although few converts had been gathered, in
1879 about twenty-six people assembled in Boston and endorsed
Mrs. Eddy's proposal to establish a church which was named the
"Church of Christ, Scientist." Shortly thereafter these
members extended a call to Mrs. Eddy to be their pastor and in
1881 she was ordained.
In the decade following the organization of this religious community,
Mrs. Eddy founded the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, published
and edited The Christian Science Journal, and changed the
Sunday services from the afternoon to the morning, so that the
society would no longer be considered subordinate to any other
denomination. In the 1890s, Mrs. Eddy reorganized the church,
prepared a church manual describing the procedure of church
government, and delivered her last public sermon. Although Mrs.
Eddy's last appearance behind a pulpit took place on 5 January
1896, this influential woman continued to direct the affairs of
the church through written messages after her retirement.
One of the last accomplishments of Mrs. Eddy was the founding
in 1908 of the internationally known Christian Science Monitor.
Two years after initiating this newspaper, on 3 December 1910,
the eighty-nine-year-old found of one of America's most unusual
religious societies died, leaving a church with a membership of
nearly 100,000 and an estate worth two and one-half million dollars.
Sunday services of this religious community are different from
those held in many other Christian churches. There are no pastors
and no sermons delivered from the pulpits on their Sabbath day.
A First and a Second Reader, however, read selections from the
Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
These "lesson-sermons," covering twenty six subjects,
are published in advance of the meeting, are studied by members
the week before they are read at the Sunday service, and are uniformly
presented in the various branches located throughout the world.
Services also include congregational singing (no choirs), a song
by a professional vocalist, silent prayer, and the recitation
of the Lord's Prayer with Mrs. Eddy's spiritual interpretation
of it.
On Wednesday, at noon or in the evening, another meeting is held,
in which members testify of their healing experiences and describe
how they have benefited from the application of the principles
unfolded by the author of Science and Health.
Throughout the history of this denomination, world headquarters
have been located in Boston, Massachusetts. Envisioning that the
central or "mother" church would draw members from various
countries, Mrs. Eddy reorganized her church under a title that
has continued to the present day, "The Mother Church, The
First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts."
The central government of the Mother Church consists of a Board
of Directors who were originally appointed by Mrs. Eddy and then
became a self-perpetuating body. These men and women have the
responsibility of administering church affairs according to the
constitution and laws published in Mrs. Eddy's Manual of the
Mother Church. Another national group of administrators, known
as the Board of Trustees, has the responsibility of supervising
the publishing activities of the denomination.
While Christian Scientists living throughout the world may become
members of the Mother Church, they also maintain membership in
one of the 3,300 branches located in more than fifty countries.
Each branch is an independent, self governing body. In this essentially
democratic polity, members elect a rotating board of directors
who manage local ecclesiastical affairs according to the guidelines
found in The Mother Church manual. The two Readers are also elected
by the membership from among their own number.
Currently [1970s] this church publishes a weekly periodical,
The Christian Science Sentinel; a monthly periodical, The
Christian Science Journal; a foreign periodical, The Christian
Science Herald; and continues to publish its daily newspaper,
The Christian Science Monitor. The society also authorizes
thousands of Christian Science practitioners to assist individuals
in applying the beliefs of their faith to illness and other problems
afflicting mankind. Repudiating the principles governing the actions
of medical doctors (including treatment in hospitals), Christian
Scientists turn to practitioners for assistance. After demonstrating
evidence of successful work of healing, practitioners are registered
by the officers of the Mother Church at Boston; these men and
women continue to heal what they classify as "human errors
and ills."
While members of this faith may seek the special skills of doctors
for childbirth, secure the services of dentists, and ask for medical
help following a bone fracture, they insist that correct application
of Christian Science would eliminate the need for these specialists.
Many members testify, for example, that broken bones following
accidents have mended perfectly without the aid of medical doctors.
These Christians are also opposed to compulsory vaccination for
their members on the ground that such laws infringe upon their
religious convictions. Believing in obeying the laws of the land,
however, they comply with the statutes which are enacted and enforced.
It is incorrect to say that Christian Science is a religion which
concentrates only on helping those with physical illness, for
members of this denomination teach that their religion gives relevant
answers concerning life and salvation, including man's preexistence
and the road to an eternal life with God. The proper implementation
of this Science, they add, will not only heal people of sickness
and sin, but of forms of discord. One of the central themes which
Christian Scientists are proclaiming to the world is that all
problems of society can be resolved through proper use of spiritual
power.
Distinguishing Beliefs
While many Americans associate the Christian Science faith
with a system of healing, the teachings of this church encompass
a wide spectrum of religious thought. Partly because members of
this faith have adopted unique definitions for many terms, the
teachings of the Christian Scientists are difficult for the average
American to comprehend. After inquirers learn a few basic concepts
held by these Christians, however, their doctrines and practices
seem less confusing.
One of the best approaches to an understanding of Christian Science
belief is to begin with their unusual concept of God. Members
of this religious community teach that " Life, Truth and
Love constitute the triune Person called God." This one God
is a Spirit, they explain, and is supreme good, is love, and is
" multiform in office: God the Father Mother; Christ sent
the spiritual idea of sonship; divine Science or the Holy Comforter."
They say that the supreme Deity is probably called "Father
Mother" because this name identifies God's "tender relationship
to His spiritual creation." They further hold that Jesus
was born of the virgin Mary, was the reflection of God, was appointed
to speak God's word to humanity in a form which man could understand,
and expressed the Christ, the true idea voicing good to man. They
do not believe, however, that Jesus and Christ are synonyms, for
they say Jesus is the name of the human man and Christ refers
to the divine idea.
Christian Scientists also teach that the "Scriptures imply
that God is All-in-all" and "declare that God is spirit."
Therefore, they explain that "in Spirit all is harmony, and
there can be no discord; all is Life, and there is no death....
He fills all space, and it is impossible to conceive of such omnipresence
and individuality except as infinite Spirit or Mind. Hence all
is Spirit and spiritual." Therefore, Christian Scientists
insist that sin, sickness, matter, pain, and death are illusions
of the mind or misconceptions of man.
Although Christian Scientists teach that the Bible is a sufficient
guide to eternal life, they maintain that their publication
Science and Health serves as a guide for a proper interpretation
of the Bible.
According to members of this religious community, the Genesis
account of the creation and fall of Adam is an allegory, a myth,
or a dream narrative. Adam was not created a mortal being by God,
they add, for "the mortality of man is a myth"; and,
since man is immortal, man was never born. The belief that spirit
was submerged in matter to be emancipated at a future date is
considered erroneous. Adam is regarded as the scriptural term
for error and stands for a belief of material mind. Since God,
they reason, is eternal and made all that was created, they state
that "man and the spiritual universe co-exist with God."
Another distinguishing belief of these Christians is that salvation
is understanding God and demonstrating one's convictions by surmounting
sin, sickness, and death.
While describing life beyond the grave, Christian Scientists teach
that there is no death, meaning that life is indestructible; man,
they say, in his real definition, is never separate from his maker.
In their opinion, since God is eternal, so is man. Death is sometimes
compared to another incident in the dream of mortality or another
experience of mortal mind. "The sinner makes his own hell
by doing evil," Mrs. Eddy declared, "and the saint his
own heaven by doing right." While our thoughts are evil,
she continued, we are in hell, which is a self-imposed agony,
a self-inflicted belief in sin, sickness, death, and suffering.
As we come close to God in thought, we experience more of that
spiritual harmony which is heaven. And, she concluded, there is
no final judgment, for "the judgment-day of wisdom comes
hourly and continually, even the judgment by which mortal man
is divested of all material error."
There are no physical sacraments in this church. Baptism is considered
as a continuous act, a perpetual purification from all error;
and twice a year, active members participate in a communion service.
Instead of partaking of bread and wine, which is part of the regular
sabbath service activity, during this semiannual meeting Christian
Scientists commune silently with God.
Miscellaneous Beliefs
Like many other Christians, Christian Scientists also believe
in daily prayer, frequent communication with deity, and living
a life governed by the principle of love.