Christian Scientists are members of a religious movement that stresses spiritual healing. Mary Baker Eddy, a New England woman, founded the Christian Science movement in the 1800’s. The religion has deep roots in Protestant Christianity. It is “designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing.” See Eddy, Mary Baker .
The central institution of Christian Science is The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston. Eddy and a group of followers founded it in 1879. After a reorganization in 1892, it became known as the Mother Church. Today, there are Christian Science branch churches and Christian Science societies in dozens of countries.
Beliefs.
Eddy’s principal book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1875), contains the full statement of Christian Science beliefs. Church members study this book and the Bible every day. Lesson-sermons compiled from these two books are the chief feature of Sunday worship at all churches.
Christian Science is based on the teaching that God is wholly good and all-powerful, the basis of all true being. In this teaching, reality refers to everything derived from God, eternal and spiritual. Whatever is unlike God–including evil, sickness, and injustice–reflects a distorted human sense of reality that has no true foundation. Through prayer and by learning more about God, people can begin to see and increasingly experience the divine reality, not just as a future hope but as a present spiritual power in their lives.
Christian Scientists view healing as an awakening to this reality. To understand truth means not to ignore evil and sickness, but to wipe them out through prayer and spiritual understanding. They teach that this message is essentially the message of Jesus. No church dogma (belief) or penalty enforces reliance on prayer for healing, but it is a natural part of their way of life.
Organization.
The Church of Christ, Scientist, took its final form in 1892. The church has no clergy. Services are conducted by members elected to serve as readers. The church is administered by the Board of The Mother Church in Boston. Local churches govern themselves democratically. There are hundreds of practitioners, who devote their full time professionally to healing.
The church maintains reading rooms in many cities and provides printed materials about the religion in many public places. A publishing society in Boston supervises the publications printing Christian Science teachings. The monthly Christian Science Journal provides a directory of local churches and practitioners. The Journal, the weekly Christian Science Sentinel, and the Herald of Christian Science contain accounts of Christian Science healing. The Christian Science Quarterly contains citations from the Bible and the religion’s textbook for Sunday services and daily study. In 1908, Eddy founded The Christian Science Monitor. This world-famous newspaper published a daily print edition until 2009 and continues to publish an online edition.
