Editing Christian Science (section)

=== Christian Science theology ===
{{further|#Christian Science prayer}}
[[File:Christian Science logo (1891).jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=logo of crown and cross inside a circle|Christian Science seal, with the [[Cross and Crown]] and words from [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 10:8]]
Christian Science leaders place their religion within mainstream Christian teaching, according to [[J. Gordon Melton]], and reject any identification with the New Thought movement.{{refn|group=n|name=Melton1992p36}} Eddy was strongly influenced by her [[Congregational church|Congregationalist]] upbringing.<ref>Catherine Albanese, ''A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion'', New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007, p.&nbsp;284.</ref> According to the church's tenets, adherents accept "the inspired Word of the Bible as [their] sufficient guide to eternal Life&nbsp;... acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God&nbsp;... [and] acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God's image and likeness."<ref>Wilson 1961, p.&nbsp;121; Eddy, ''Manual of the Mother Church'', pp.&nbsp;15–16.</ref> When founding the Church of Christ, Scientist, in April 1879, Eddy wrote that she wanted to "reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing".<ref name=lostelement /> Later she suggested that Christian Science was a kind of [[second coming]] and that ''[[Science and Health]]'' was an [[Biblical inspiration|inspired text]].{{refn|group=n|[[Mary Baker Eddy]], 1891: "The second appearing of Jesus is, unquestionably, the spiritual advent of the advancing idea of God, as in Christian Science."<ref>Eddy, ''Retrospection and Introspection'', The First Church of Christ, Scientist, 1891, p.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/stream/retrospectionint00eddy#page/70/mode/1up 70].</ref>{{pb}}
Eddy, January 1901: "I should blush to write of ''Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures'' as I have, were it of human origin, and I, apart from God, its author. But, as I was only a scribe echoing the harmonies of heaven in divine metaphysics, I cannot be super-modest in my estimate of the Christian Science textbook."<ref>Eddy, ''Christian Science Journal'', January 1901, reprinted in "The Christian Science Textbook", ''The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany'', Boston: Alison V. Stewart, 1914, p.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/stream/firstchurchchri04eddygoog#page/n143/mode/1up 115].</ref>}}<ref>David L. Weddle, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1510020 "The Christian Science Textbook: An Analysis of the Religious Authority of Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729012837/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1510020 |date=2020-07-29 }}, ''The Harvard Theological Review'', 84(3), 1991, p.&nbsp;281; Gottschalk 1973, p.&nbsp;xxi.</ref> In 1895, in the ''Manual of the Mother Church'', she ordained the Bible and ''Science and Health'' as "Pastor over the Mother Church".<ref>Eddy, ''Manual of the Mother Church'', p.&nbsp;58; [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1510020 Weddle 1991] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729012837/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1510020 |date=2020-07-29 }}, p.&nbsp;273.</ref>

Christian Science theology differs in several respects from that of traditional Christianity. Eddy's ''Science and Health'' reinterprets key Christian concepts, including the [[Trinity]], divinity of [[Jesus]], [[Atonement in Christianity|atonement]], and [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]]; beginning with the 1883 edition, she added "with a Key to the Scriptures" to the title and included a glossary that redefined the Christian vocabulary.{{refn|group=n|name=Melton1992p36|[[J. Gordon Melton]], 1992: "Almost as much as the medical controversy, charges of heresy from orthodox Christian churches have hounded the Church. Leaders of Christian Science insist that they are within the mainstream of Christian teachings, a concern which leads to their strong resentment of any identification with the New Thought movement, which they see as having drifted far from their central Christian affirmations. At the same time, strong differences with traditional Christian teachings concerning the Trinity, the unique divinity of Jesus Christ, atonement for sin, and the creation are undeniable. While using Christian language, ''Science and Health with Key to Scriptures'' and Eddy's other writings radically redefine basic theological terms, usually by the process commonly called allegorization. Such redefinitions are most clearly evident in the glossary to ''Science and Health'' (pages 579–599)."<ref>[[J. Gordon Melton]], "Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science)", ''Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America'', New York: Routledge, 1992, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=KRTGzgpDvL4C&pg=PA36 36] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115020/https://books.google.com/books?id=KRTGzgpDvL4C&pg=PA36 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref>{{pb}}
Rodney Stark, 1998: "But, of course, Christian Science was not just another Protestant sect. Like Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy added too much new religious culture for her movement to qualify fully as a member of the Christian family—as all the leading clerics of the time repeatedly and vociferously pointed out. However, unlike Madame Blavatsky's Theosophical Society, and like the Mormons, Christian Science retained an immense amount of Christian culture. These continuities allowed converts from a Christian background to preserve a great deal of cultural capital."{{sfn|Stark|1998|p=195}}}} At the core of Eddy's theology is the view that the spiritual world is the only reality and is entirely good, and that the material world, with its evil, sickness and death, is an illusion. Eddy saw humanity as an "idea of Mind" that is "perfect, eternal, unlimited, and reflects the divine", according to [[Bryan R. Wilson|Bryan Wilson]]; what she called "mortal man" is simply humanity's distorted view of itself.<ref>Wilson 1961, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA122 122] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115020/https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA122 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref> Despite her view of the non-existence of evil, an important element of Christian Science theology is that evil thought, in the form of [[History of the Christian Science movement#Malicious animal magnetism|malicious animal magnetism]], can cause harm, even if the harm is only apparent.<ref>Wilson 1961, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA127 127] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115043/https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA127 |date=2022-11-01 }}; Moore 1986, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=SG2qNXqdNHsC&pg=PA112 112] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115047/https://books.google.com/books?id=SG2qNXqdNHsC&pg=PA112 |date=2022-11-01 }}; Simmons 1995, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC&pg=PA62 62] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115026/https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC&pg=PA62 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref>

[[File:First Church of Christ Scientist in Boston (closeup).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=detail of stone church|[[The First Church of Christ, Scientist]], Boston]]
Eddy viewed God not [[Personal god|as a person]] but as "All-in-all". Although she often described God in the language of personhood—she used the term "Father–Mother God" (as did [[Ann Lee]], the founder of [[Shakerism]]), and, in the third edition of ''Science and Health'', she referred to God as "she"—God is mostly represented in Christian Science by the synonyms "Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love".<ref>For personhood, "Father–Mother God" and "she", see Gottschalk 1973, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=LPDduA4B7-MC&pg=PA52 52] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115027/https://books.google.com/books?id=LPDduA4B7-MC&pg=PA52 |date=2022-11-01 }}; for Ann Lee, see Stokes 2014, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=kOwJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA186 186] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115027/https://books.google.com/books?id=kOwJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA186 |date=2022-11-01 }}. For the seven synonyms, see Wilson 1961, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA124 124] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115028/https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA124 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref>{{refn|group=n|Eddy, ''Science and Health'': "Question.&nbsp;– What is God?" Answer.&nbsp;– God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love."<ref>Eddy, ''Science and Health'', [http://christianscience.com/read-online/science-and-health/%28chapter%29/chapter-xiv-recapitulation#anchor.1.14 "Recapitulation"], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203115409/http://christianscience.com/read-online/science-and-health/%28chapter%29/chapter-xiv-recapitulation |date=2014-02-03 }}, p.&nbsp;465.</ref>}} The Holy Ghost is Christian Science, and heaven and hell are states of mind.{{refn|group=n|Wilson 1961: "[T]he Holy Ghost is understood to be Christian Science—the promised Comforter." "Heaven and Hell are understood to be mental states".<ref>Wilson 1961, pp.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA121 121] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115029/https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA121 |date=2022-11-01 }}, 125.</ref>}} There is no [[supplication]] in [[#Christian Science prayer|Christian Science prayer]]. The process involves the Scientist engaging in a silent argument to affirm to herself the unreality of matter, something [[Christian Science practitioner]]s will do for a fee, including ''in absentia'', to address ill health or other problems.<ref>Wilson 1961, p.&nbsp;129; {{harvnb|Stark|1998|pp=196–197}}</ref> Wilson writes that Christian Science healing is "not curative&nbsp;... on its own premises, but rather preventative of ill health, accident and misfortune, since it claims to lead to a state of consciousness where these things do not exist. What heals is the realization that there is nothing really to heal."<ref>Wilson 1961, pp.&nbsp;125–126.</ref> It is a closed system of thought, viewed as infallible if performed correctly; healing confirms the power of Truth, but its absence derives from the failure, specifically the bad thoughts, of individuals.<ref>Wilson 1961, pp.&nbsp;123, 128–129.</ref>

Eddy accepted as true the [[Genesis creation narrative|creation narrative]] in the [[Book of Genesis]] up to chapter 2, verse 6—that God created man in his image and likeness—but she rejected the rest "as the story of the false and the material", according to Wilson.<ref>Wilson 1961, p.&nbsp;122; Gottschalk 1972, p.&nbsp;xxvii; [http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-Chapter-2/ "Genesis Chapter 2"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111210430/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-Chapter-2/ |date=2014-11-11 }}, kingjamesbibleonline.org.</ref> Her theology is [[Nontrinitarianism|nontrinitarian]]: she viewed the Trinity as suggestive of [[polytheism]].{{refn|group=n|Eddy, ''Science and Health'': "The theory of three persons in one God (that is, a personal Trinity or Tri-unity) suggests polytheism, rather than the one ever-present I AM."<ref>Eddy, ''Science and Health'', p.&nbsp;256; Wilson 1961, p.&nbsp;127.</ref>}} She saw Jesus as a Christian Scientist, a "Way-shower" between humanity and God,<ref>Eddy, ''Retrospection and Introspection'', p.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/stream/retrospectionint00eddy#page/26/mode/1up 26].</ref> and she distinguished between Jesus the man and the concept of Christ, the latter a synonym for Truth and Jesus the first person fully to manifest it.<ref>Wilson 1961, p.&nbsp;121; {{harvnb|Stark|1998|pp=199}}</ref> The [[Crucifixion of Jesus|crucifixion]] was not a divine sacrifice for the sins of humanity, the atonement (the forgiveness of sin through Jesus's suffering) "not the bribing of God by offerings", writes Wilson, but an "at-one-ment" with God.<ref>Wilson 1961, p.&nbsp;124.</ref> Her views on life after death were vague and, according to Wilson, "there is no doctrine of the soul" in Christian Science: "[A]fter death, the individual continues his probationary state until he has worked out his own salvation by proving the truths of Christian Science."{{sfn|Wilson|1961|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA125 125]}} Eddy did not believe that the dead and living could communicate.<ref>Gottschalk 1973, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=LPDduA4B7-MC&pg=PA95 95] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115033/https://books.google.com/books?id=LPDduA4B7-MC&pg=PA95 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref>

To the more conservative of the Protestant clergy, Eddy's view of ''Science and Health'' as divinely inspired was a challenge to the Bible's authority.<ref>Melton 1992, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=KRTGzgpDvL4C&pg=PA36 36] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115020/https://books.google.com/books?id=KRTGzgpDvL4C&pg=PA36 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref> "Eddyism" was viewed as a cult; one of the first uses of the modern sense of the word was in A. H. Barrington's ''Anti-Christian Cults'' (1898), a book about [[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualism]], [[Theosophy]] and Christian Science.<ref>[[J. Gordon Melton]], "An Introduction to New Religions", in James R. Lewis (ed.), ''The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements'', New York: Oxford University Press, 2003, p.&nbsp;17; for Barrington, see Jenkins 2000, p.&nbsp;49.</ref> In a few cases Christian Scientists were expelled from Christian congregations, but ministers also worried that their parishioners were choosing to leave. In May 1885 the London ''Times''{{'}} Boston correspondent wrote about the "Boston mind-cure craze": "Scores of the most valued Church members are joining the Christian Scientist branch of the metaphysical organization, and it has thus far been impossible to check the defection."<ref>Raymond J. Cunningham, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1846660 "The Impact of Christian Science on the American Churches, 1880–1910"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170402222803/http://www.jstor.org/stable/1846660 |date=2017-04-02 }}, ''The American Historical Review'', 72(3), April 1967 (pp.&nbsp;885–905), p.&nbsp;892; "Faith Healing in America", ''The Times'', May 26, 1885.</ref> In 1907 [[Mark Twain]] described the appeal of the new religion to its adherents:

{{blockquote|[Mrs. Eddy] has delivered to them a religion which has revolutionized their lives, banished the glooms that shadowed them, and filled them and flooded them with sunshine and gladness and peace; a religion which has no hell; a religion whose heaven is not put off to another time, with a break and a gulf between, but begins here and now, and melts into eternity as fancies of the waking day melt into the dreams of sleep.{{pb}}
They believe it is a Christianity that is in the New Testament; that it has always been there, that in the drift of ages it was lost through disuse and neglect, and that this benefactor has found it and given it back to men, turning the night of life into day, its terrors into myths, its lamentations into songs of emancipation and rejoicing.{{pb}}
There we have Mrs. Eddy as her followers see her. ...  They sincerely believe that Mrs. Eddy's character is pure and perfect and beautiful, and her history without stain or blot or blemish. But that does not settle it.<ref name=Twainquote>Mark Twain, ''Christian Science'', p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=J_NsuqC3V3AC&pg=PA180 180] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115036/https://books.google.com/books?id=J_NsuqC3V3AC&pg=PA180 |date=2022-11-01 }}; [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Aei4Ttb4-g "Mark Twain & Mary Baker Eddy, a film by Val Kilmer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140628235718/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Aei4Ttb4-g |date=2014-06-28 }}, ''YouTube'', from 04:30 mins.</ref>}}