Church History · 1879

Mary Baker Eddy and Christian Science

Mary Baker Eddy published Science and Health in 1875 and founded the Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston in 1879. Christian Science teaches that God is all good and that sickness can be healed through prayer and spiritual understanding. It is not the same as Scientology.

Read it in the Bible: Matthew 4:23 John 1:14 James 5:14-15 1 Timothy 5:23

Christian Science is a religious movement founded by Mary Baker Eddy in Boston. She published its main book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, in 1875, and with her students she formed the Church of Christ, Scientist in 1879. Christian Science teaches that God is infinite Spirit and good, that the spiritual world is the true reality, and that sickness and sin can be healed through prayer that understands this. The church is known for its Reading Rooms, its healing practice and the respected newspaper The Christian Science Monitor. Despite the similar name, it has nothing to do with Scientology.

Who Was Mary Baker Eddy?

Mary Baker was born in 1821 in Bow, New Hampshire, and raised in a strict Congregational home. She suffered from poor health for much of her early life and lost her first husband young. In 1862 she sought help from Phineas Quimby, a healer in Maine, and felt better for a while.

In 1866 she was badly hurt in a fall on the ice in Massachusetts. She later said that as she lay in bed reading the story of Jesus healing a paralyzed man, she was suddenly healed. She spent the next years studying the Bible and writing what she believed was the science behind Jesus' healings. Historians still debate how much she drew on Quimby's ideas. Christian Scientists say her discovery was her own.

What Is Science and Health?

The first edition of Science and Health came out in 1875. Eddy revised it many times, and she later added "with Key to the Scriptures," a section explaining Genesis and Revelation. Christian Scientists read it alongside the Bible as the key to understanding it.

In 1879 Eddy and her students formed the Church of Christ, Scientist, with the stated purpose to "commemorate the word and works of our Master" and to reinstate "primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." In 1892 it was reorganized as The First Church of Christ, Scientist, known as The Mother Church, and its first building in Boston was completed in 1894. That same year, Eddy did away with pastors. Instead, the Bible and Science and Health became the pastor, read aloud each Sunday by lay Readers.

What Do Christian Scientists Believe?

God: God is infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth and Love. God is entirely good.
Reality: Since God is all and God is good, the spiritual is what is truly real. Matter, sickness and evil are not part of God's creation and are not ultimately real.
Healing: Healing comes through prayer that understands our true spiritual nature. Many members turn to Christian Science practitioners, who pray with them, rather than to doctors, although the church says members are free to make their own choices.
Jesus: Jesus is the Son of God and the Way shower who proved the power of Spirit over matter. Christian Science distinguishes between Jesus the man and the Christ, the divine idea of God.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Matthew 4:23

How Is Christian Science Different From Historic Christianity?

Christian Scientists love the healing ministry of Jesus, and they take seriously that God still heals. Many Christians share that conviction. The differences are in how the church understands God, matter and the cross.

Historic Christianity teaches that God created the physical world and called it very good, that sickness is real but will be undone, and that Jesus truly took on a physical body and truly died and rose. The Gospel of John says it this way.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Christian Science reads the Trinity, the atonement and the resurrection in more spiritual terms. For that reason most churches do not consider it part of historic Christianity, even while they respect its members' sincerity. The Bible also shows Christians praying for healing and using medicine, as when Paul told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach in 1 Timothy 5:23, and when James told the sick to call the elders to pray.

Christian Science Today

In 1908, at age 87, Eddy founded The Christian Science Monitor, which became one of the most respected newspapers in America and has won several Pulitzer Prizes. Eddy died in 1910. The church grew quickly in the early 1900s and built grand churches in many cities. It does not publish membership numbers, and most observers agree it is much smaller today than at its peak. Its Reading Rooms are still found in many towns.

Why It Matters for You Today

Christian Science reminds the church of something we sometimes forget: Jesus healed people, and God still answers prayer. At the same time, the Bible teaches that the God who made the world also made our bodies, entered a real body Himself and will raise our bodies one day.

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. James 5:14 to 15

Pray boldly for healing, thank God for good doctors, and trust the risen Jesus with the outcome.

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Questions People Ask

Who founded Christian Science?

Mary Baker Eddy founded Christian Science. She published Science and Health in 1875 and formed the Church of Christ, Scientist with her students in Boston in 1879. She led it until her death in 1910.

Is Christian Science the same as Scientology?

No. Christian Science was founded by Mary Baker Eddy in the 1870s and is based on the Bible and her book Science and Health. Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s. They have no connection besides similar sounding names.

Do Christian Scientists go to doctors?

Many Christian Scientists rely on prayer and Christian Science practitioners for healing instead of medicine. The church says members are free to make their own choices about health care. Practices vary among members.

What is a Christian Science Reading Room?

A Reading Room is a quiet public space run by a local Christian Science church. Visitors can read or buy the Bible, Science and Health and other church publications. Many towns still have one.

Sources

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