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Name:
Christian Science
Church of Christ, Scientist
Founder:
Name: Mary Baker Eddy
Born: 1821
Died: 1910
Profile:
Christian Science (officially named Church of Christ, Scientist) is a recently
developed sect of Christianity, created by Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) in 1875. It
began primarily as a faith healing cult and has since developed a complex theology to
justify and explain that same faith healing (most of this is contained in her book
Science and Health with a Key to the Scriptures, which is treated as a
fundamental text next to the Bible).
Although the title contains the word "science," the fact of the matter is that there was never anything much "scientific" about Eddy's teachings. There is nothing about experimentation, rigorous procedures, empirical standards, peer review, or anything which characterizes the best which the biological and physical sciences have to offer. Although Eddy liked to refer to things like experimental proof and systematic demonstration, these terms carried none of their original scientific content. She was using terminology from a tradition which she was, in fact, challenging and hoping to undermine.
The basic philosophy of Christian Science is idealism - "Nothing is real and eternal; nothing is spirit - but God and His ideal; evil has no reality." The primary theme of the Bible is supposed to be that spiritual power always triumphs over material power. As a result, illness is not real ("allness of the Soul, Spirit and the nothingness of illness"). Instead, it is imply a failure of faith and this can be documented, even "scientifically," in the lives of those who have genuine faith. It is argued that because God is completely good, he could not possibly have created anything evil. The perception of evil must therefore be a human error - and, without enough faith, it is an error we can overcome.
Eddy also taught that religious works like the Bible may have a superficial meaning which most people are able to recognize, but the more important meaning is spiritual and hidden from the casual observer. Only a spiritually mature and developed person would be able to divine the "true" meaning of the text. Eddy wrote:
We have learned in Christian Science that when reading the Scriptures if you substitute the spiritual significance of a term for its material definition, or the bare word, it will elucidate the meaning of the inspired writer.
Although Eddy's Christian Science doctrines bore a striking resemblance to the doctrines of Theosophy and Hinduism, she flatly refused to acknowledge even the slightest intellectual debt to anyone or any belief system. According to her, she was the "discoverer" of Christian Science, although she was ambiguous as to whether or not she was aided by spiritual forces. Regardless, she characterized her system as being "hopelessly original."
It is interesting to observe that Eddy described her system as not simply providing spiritual insight and development, but also, quite frankly, power. This was not simply the power to heal (thus the faith healing) but also the power to affect a wide range of physical phenomena, whether for good or for ill. According to Eddy:
Why we take so few students is because of the great danger there is in promiscuously teaching metaphysics, or the power of the mind to do good, lest it abuse that trust, forsake metaphysics, and this developed mental power becomes the ...extracts and essences of evil.
None of this should be taken to suggest that Mary Baker Eddy never herself used the services of a physician - on the contrary, she did regularly, even while teaching others that all illness was simply a consequence of inadequate faith. She wore eyeglasses, used a dental plate, and relied on morphine for the last years of her life because of gallstones. Eddy had all of her grandchildren vaccinated and even paid for her sister-in-law to have a mastectomy. She rationalized this behavior by saying that the world simply hadn't yet advanced to the point where the human mind and the Divine mind could easily achieve the sort of union necessary to eliminate illness. Thus, at least for some, the illnesses were not a result of inadequate faith.
It was also proposed that a dark force moving in the world played an important role in the creation of disease, even among those like Christian Scientists who should know better. Eddy named this force Malicious Animal Magnetisim, or MAM for short. According to Eddy, rivals of her religious system used MAM to undermine her efforts by causing illnesses which might lead to a weaking of people's faith in her teachings.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
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