What is Christian Science?
Jon Mayled continues his series on Christian sects and cults
If people have even heard of Christian Science they are most likely to have seen the imposing church buildings rather than know much about the belief system.
‘There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.’
Mary Baker Eddy (1875) Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
Mary Baker Eddy
Mary Morse Baker (1821–1910) was born in Bow, New Hampshire, and was the youngest of six children. Raised as a Congregationalist, she suffered from chronic illness as a child and had a number of physical complaints. It is still not clear whether these were actual physical illnesses or were part of a psychosomatic condition.
As an adult she tried conventional medicine, mesmerism (hypnosis), homeopathy, hydropathy (hydrotherapy) and dietary cures, in particular the infamous Graham diet (Box 1). None of the techniques she tried brought her good health. When she was 8 years old she claimed to hear voices. She was due to join the Congregational Church at 12 but by then had already rejected the doctrines of predestination and original sin and, in arguments with her father, she developed a fever which lifted later after prayer.
Marriage
Mary married George Washington Glover on 10 December 1843. He died from yellow fever on 27 June 1844, 2 months before Mary gave birth to her only child, a boy. She supported the two of them with great difficulty, as her health was still poor. Following the death of her mother in November 1849, her father remarried and he and her stepmother put Mary’s son into care.
In 1853 she married a dentist, Dr Daniel Patterson. Although he had agreed to adopt her son, he failed to do so. The neighbours who were caring for the boy suddenly moved away to the prairies without telling Mary, and when she eventually found out her health worsened again.
Patterson ran into financial difficulty and eventually left Mary penniless. In 1873 she divorced him for adultery, and in 1877 married Asa Gilbert Eddy, who died the same year.
Phineas Quimby
In October 1862 Mary became a patient of Phineas Quimby (1802–66), a magnetic healer, and at first her health improved. Between 1862 and 1865 Mary and Quimby had long discussions about the healing methods that he practised.
In February 1866 Mary had a bad fall which resulted in serious spinal injuries. While reading the Bible during her recovery, she experienced a physical healing that led her to investigate the system of healing she would eventually term ‘Christian Science’. It is still disputed which of Mary and Quimby came up with the theories of Christian Science.
Beginnings of Christian Science
Following her fall and sudden physical healing, Mary wrote:
IT IS STILL DISPUTED WHICH OF MARY AND QUIMBY CAME UP WITH THE THEORIES OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
Box 1 The Graham diet
In the first half of the nineteenth century, Sylvester Graham developed a diet in the USA that consisted mostly of fresh fruit and vegetables, whole wheat and high-fibre foods. Meat and spices were banned altogether, while fresh milk, cheese and eggs were permitted in moderation, and butter only used sparingly. Followers of the diet abstained from alcohol, took frequent baths and brushed their teeth daily. Graham also advocated sexual abstinence, particularly from masturbation, which he believed to be an evil that led to insanity.
‘On the third day thereafter, I called for my Bible, and opened it at Matthew, 9:2 [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 (King James Bible)]. As I read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and the result was that I arose, dressed myself, and ever after was in better health than I had before enjoyed. That short experience included a glimpse of the great fact that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely, Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of existence.’
Hammond (1899)
Her friends and neighbours believed this recovery to be a near-miracle. However, at the time she was being treated by a homeopath who testified that he ‘did not at any time declare, or believe, that there was no hope for Mrs. Patterson’s recovery, or that she was in critical condition’. The next 3 years of her life were devoted to Bible study.
She then claimed to have found healing power through a higher sense of God as spirit and humanity as God’s spiritual ‘image and likeness’. Therefore, illness could be cured through an awakened thought brought about by a clearer understanding of God and by the rejection of drugs, hygiene and medicine based on the observation that Jesus did not use these methods for healing:
‘It is plain that God does not employ drugs or hygiene, nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would have recommended and employed them in his healing… . The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love.
Science and Health, 143:5, 367:3
She named this spiritual perception the operation of the ‘Christ Truth’ on human consciousness.
Mary claimed to have healed herself and other people and believed that others could be taught to use this healing method. It was simply based on a different understanding of God as infinite spirit beyond the material senses. A Christian Science treatment consists of the practitioner silently arguing about the nature of reality.
FROM THE MID-1880S THERE WERE MANY CASES OF BOTH ADULTS AND CHILDREN DYING AFTER BEING GIVEN CHRISTIAN SCIENCE HEALING RATHER THAN RECEIVING MEDICAL CARE.
In 1879 Eddy founded the First Church of Christ Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts. The foundation of the church was ‘to commemorate the word and works of [Christ Jesus]’ and ‘reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing’. Christian Science churches hold services on Sundays and testimony meetings on Wednesday evenings. These include readings from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (the central text of the Christian Science Church).
Malicious Animal Magnetism
Although Eddy did not believe in the existence of evil she came to believe that if mental powers could be used to heal then they could also be used to destroy. She called this Malicious Animal Magnetism (MAM). Within Christian Science MAM is seen as a ‘mental error’, a manifestation of mortal mind rather than divine mind.
Medical issues
Eddy allowed exceptions from Christian Science healing for things such as dentistry, treatment for broken limbs, and basic surgical procedures. She wore glasses, used morphine, had her third husband treated by a physician, and arranged for an autopsy when he died.
However, the basic teaching has always been that medicine and Christian Science healing are incompatible, because they contradict each other. Conventional medicine believes that something is physically broken and needs to be repaired while Christian Science teaches that the spiritual reality is harmonious and perfect.
From the mid-1880s there were many cases of both adults and children dying after being given Christian Science healing rather than receiving medical care. This led to over 50 prosecutions for manslaughter as well as other charges. The most famous case was in 1888 when Abby Corner, a Christian Science follower, attended to her own daughter’s pregnancy and both mother and baby died. She was acquitted of manslaughter but was then deserted by Eddy, who wrote to the Boston Herald saying:
‘The lamentable case reported from West Medford of the death of a mother and her infant at childbirth should forever put a stop to quackery. There has been but one side of this case presented by newspapers… . Mrs. Abby H. Corner never entered the obstetrics class at the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. She was not fitted at this institute for an accoucheur [obstetrician or midwife], had attended but one term, and four terms, including three years of successful practice by the student, are required to complete the college course.’
Boston Herald (29 April 1888)
However, it was pointed out by Eddy’s critics that the obstetrics course had only recently been introduced by Eddy, who called herself a professor of obstetrics. In fact, she had been allowing her students to attend women in childbirth for many years.
Many Christian Scientists were shocked by Eddy’s letter. Several members were dismissed and a number left the Church in protest.
Financial problems
Mary Baker Eddy was very litigious and brought a number of court cases, particularly against those who accused her of plagiarism. The financial and legal problems continued after her death.
In the mid-1980s, the Church executives decided to use television to promote the message of the Church. This began with a weekly half-hour syndicated programme called Monitor Reports. In 1988 this was replaced by a nightly half-hour programme called World Monitor, broadcast on the Discovery Channel.
The Church then decided to buy a Bostonbased cable television station and a shortwave radio station. Despite warnings from media experts and Church members, the expansion continued with little revenue. World Monitor went off the air in June 1992 and most of the other media operations closed in less than 10 years.
The Church lost around US$250 million through its broadcasting, taking it to the brink of bankruptcy. In 1991, with the hope of clearing some of this debt, the Church published The Destiny of the Mother Church in exchange for a promised US$90 million bequest from the trustees of the author Bliss Knapp (1877–1958), an early Christian Science lecturer, practitioner and teacher. A condition of the bequest was that the Church should declare the book to be ‘authorised literature’, so giving it an equal status with Science and Health. However, it was always censured by the Church, as Knapp’s teachings differed from those of Mary Baker Eddy. Many Church employees resigned in protest at its publication and, following a number of court cases, the Church only received half of the original bequest.
Christian Science today
In the past, many Hollywood actors were members of the Christian Science Church but today the only well-known followers are Val Kilmer and Ellen DeGeneres.
At the beginning of the twentieth century Christian Science membership reached 270,000, with new churches appearing around the world. However, there has recently been a big drop (except in Africa), with worldwide membership now estimated at about 85,000.
References
Hammond, E. H. (1899) ‘Christian Science: What it is and what it does’, The Christian Science Journal, The Christian Science Publishing Society.