Editing Christian Science (section)

==History==
=== Mary Baker Eddy and the early Christian Science movement ===
{{further|Mary Baker Eddy|History of the Christian Science movement}}
[[File:Mary Baker Eddy.jpg|thumb|[[Mary Baker Eddy]]]]

[[Mary Baker Eddy]] was born Mary Morse Baker on a farm in [[Bow, New Hampshire]], the youngest of six children in a religious family of [[Protestant]] [[Congregationalist polity|Congregationalists]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bates|Dittemore|1932|pp=3–5}}; {{harvnb|Gill|1998|p= [https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/n41/mode/2up 3]}}.</ref> In common with most women at the time, Eddy was given little formal education, but read widely at home and was privately tutored.<ref>{{harvnb|Bates|Dittemore|1932|pp=16–25}}; {{harvnb|Gill|1998|pp=[https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/34/mode/2up 35–37]}}; {{harvnb|Voorhees|2021|pp=22–24}}.</ref> From childhood, she lived with protracted ill health.<ref>{{harvnb|Milmine|Cather|1909|p=41}}; {{harvnb|Voorhees|2021|pp=24–26}}; {{harvnb|Melton|1992}} p. [https://archive.org/details/encyclopedichand0000melt/page/28/mode/2up 29].</ref> Eddy's first husband died six months after their marriage and three months before their son was born, leaving her penniless; and as a result of her poor health she lost custody of the boy when he was four.<ref>{{harvnb|Bates|Dittemore|1932|pp=30, 36, 40, 50–52}}; {{harvnb|Fraser|1999|pp= 36–37}}.</ref> She married again, and her new husband promised to become the child's legal guardian, but after their marriage he refused to sign the needed papers and the boy was taken to Minnesota and told his mother had died.<ref>{{harvnb|Gill|1998|pp= [https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/100/mode/2up 100–102, 113–115]}}.</ref>{{refn|group=n|Per the legal doctrine of [[coverture]], women in the United States could not then be their own children's guardians.{{pb}}[[Harvard Business School]], 2010: "A married woman or ''feme covert'' was a dependent, like an underage child or a slave, and could not own property in her own name or control her own earnings, except under very specific circumstances. When a husband died, his wife could not be the guardian to their under-age children."<ref>{{cite web |title=Women and the Law |url=https://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/wes/collections/women_law/ |website=Women, Enterprise & Society|publisher= Harvard Business School |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824030444/https://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/wes/collections/women_law/ |archive-date=24 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>}} Eddy, then known as Mary Patterson, and her husband moved to rural New Hampshire, where Eddy continued to suffer from health problems which often kept her bedridden.<ref>{{harvnb|Voorhees|2021}}, pp. 30.</ref> Eddy tried various cures for her health problems, including [[conventional medicine]] as well as many forms of [[alternative medicine]] such as [[Grahamism]], [[electrotherapy]], [[homeopathy]], [[hydropathy]], and finally [[mesmerism]] under [[Phineas Quimby]].<ref>Piepmeier, Alison (2004). ''[https://archive.org/details/outinpublicconfi0000piep/ Out in public: configurations of women's bodies in nineteenth-century America]''. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 63, 229; {{harvnb|Voorhees|2021|pp=32–34}}; {{harvnb|Bates|Dittemore|1932|p=88}}; {{harvnb|Melton|1992|p=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopedichand0000melt/page/28/mode/2up 29]}}.</ref> She was later accused by critics, beginning with [[Julius Dresser]], of borrowing ideas from Quimby in what biographer [[Gillian Gill]] would call the "single most controversial issue" of her life.<ref>{{harvnb|Gill|1998|pp= [https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/118/mode/2up 119–121]}}.</ref>

In February 1866, Eddy fell on the ice in [[Lynn, Massachusetts]]. Evidence suggests she had severe injuries, but a few days later she apparently asked for her Bible, opened it to an account of one of Jesus' miracles, and left her bed telling her friends that she was healed through prayer alone.<ref>{{harvnb|Gill|1998|pp=[https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/160/mode/2up 161–168]}}; {{harvnb|Voorhees|2021|pp=57–58}}; {{harvnb|Melton|1992|pp= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopedichand0000melt/page/28/mode/2up 29–30]}}; Mead, Frank S. (1995) ''[[Handbook of Denominations in the United States]]''. Abingdon Press. p. [https://archive.org/details/handbookofdenomi0000mead_d0r0/page/104/mode/2up 104].</ref> The moment has since been controversial, but she considered this moment one of the "falling apples" that helped her to understand Christian Science, although she said she did not fully understand it at the time.<ref>{{harvnb|Gill|1998|pp= [https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/160/mode/2up 161–168]}}; {{harvnb|Voorhees|2021|pp=57–58}}. For her account see: Eddy, "[https://archive.org/details/retrospectionint00eddy/page/24/mode/2up The Great Discovery]", ''Retrospection and Introspection'', pp. 24–29.</ref>

In 1866, after her fall on the ice, Eddy began teaching her first student and began writing her ideas which she eventually published in ''[[Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures]]'', considered her most important work.<ref>Bates & Dittemore 1932, pp. 118–135; {{harvnb|Gottschalk|2006|pp= 80–81}}; {{harvnb|Voorhees|2021|pp= 65–70}}; Gutjahr, Paul C. "Sacred Texts in the United States", ''Book History'', 4, 2001 (335–370), 348. {{JSTOR|30227336}}</ref> Her students voted to form a church called the Church of Christ (Scientist) in 1879, later reorganized as [[The First Church of Christ, Scientist]], also known as The Mother Church, in 1892.<ref>{{harvnb|Gill|1998|pp= [https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/n33/mode/2up xxxi, xxxiii, 274, 357–358]}}. Milmine, ''McClure's'', August 1907, p. 458.</ref> She founded the [[Massachusetts Metaphysical College]] in 1881 to continue teaching students,<ref>{{harvnb|Koestler-Grack|2004|p=52}}; Milmine, ''McClure's'', September 1907, p. 567; {{harvnb|Bates|Dittemore|1932|p=210}}; {{harvnb|Melton|1992|p= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopedichand0000melt/page/30/mode/2up 30]}}.</ref> Eddy started a number of periodicals: ''[[The Christian Science Journal]]'' in 1883, the ''[[Christian Science Sentinel]]'' in 1898, ''[[The Herald of Christian Science]]'' in 1903, and ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'' in 1908, the latter being a secular newspaper.<ref name=timeline>{{harvnb|Gill|1998|pp= [https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/n31/mode/2up xxxix–xxxv]}}; [https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/mary-baker-eddy/timeline/ Chronology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112174346/https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/mary-baker-eddy/timeline/ |date=2022-01-12 }}, [[Mary Baker Eddy Library]].</ref> The ''Monitor'' has gone on to win seven Pulitzer prizes as of 2011.<ref>{{harvnb|Fuller|2011|p=1}}.</ref> She also wrote numerous books and articles in addition to ''Science and Health'', including the [[Manual of The Mother Church]] which contained by-laws for church government and member activity, and founded the [[Christian Science Publishing Society]] in 1898 in order to distribute Christian Science literature.<ref name=timeline/> Although the movement started in Boston, the [[First Church of Christ, Scientist (Oconto, Wisconsin)|first purpose-built Christian Science church building]] was erected in 1886 in [[Oconto, Wisconsin]].<ref>Paul Eli Ivey, ''Prayers in Stone: Christian Science Architecture in the United States, 1894–1930'', Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999, p. 31; [http://www.ocontoctyhistsoc.org/pages/first-church-of-christ%252C-scientist "First Church of Christ, Scientist"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029214017/http://www.ocontoctyhistsoc.org/pages/first-church-of-christ%252C-scientist |date=2013-10-29 }}, Oconto County Historical Society.</ref> During Eddy's lifetime, Christian Science spread throughout the United States and to other parts of the world including Canada, Great Britain, Germany, South Africa, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Australia, and elsewhere.<ref>{{harvnb|Gill|1998|p= [https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/450/mode/2up 450]}}; {{harvnb|Beasley|1956|pp= [https://archive.org/details/crosscrown00beas/page/384/mode/2up 385–386]}}.</ref>

Eddy encountered significant opposition after she began teaching and writing on Christian Science, which only increased towards the end of her life.<ref>{{harvnb|Gill|1998|pp= [https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/n23/mode/2up xxi–xxii, 169–208, 471–520]}}.</ref> One of the most prominent examples was [[Mark Twain]], who wrote a number of articles on Eddy and Christian Science which were first published in ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'' magazine in 1899 and were later [[Christian Science (book)|published as a book]].<ref>{{harvnb|Gill|1998|pp= [https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/452/mode/2up 453–454]}}.</ref> Another extended criticism, which again was first serialized in a magazine and then published in book form, was [[Georgine Milmine]] and [[Willa Cather]]'s ''[[The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science]]'' which first appeared in ''[[McClure's]]'' magazine in January 1907.<ref>{{harvnb|Gill|1998|pp= [https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/562/mode/2up 563–568]}}.</ref> Also in 1907, several of Eddy's relatives filed an unsuccessful lawsuit instigated by the ''[[New York World]]'', known in the press as the "[[Next Friends Suit (1907)|Next Friends Suit]]", against members of Eddy's household, alleging that she was mentally unable to manage her own affairs.<ref>{{harvnb|Bates|Dittemore|1932|pp=396–417}}; {{harvnb|Gill|1998|pp= [https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/470/mode/2up 471–520]}}.</ref> The suit fell apart after Eddy was interviewed in her home in August 1907 by the judge and two court-appointed masters (one a psychiatrist) who concluded that she was mentally competent. Separately, she was seen by two psychiatrists, including [[Allan McLane Hamilton]], who came to the same conclusion.<ref>{{harvnb|Bates|Dittemore|1932|pp=411–417}}; [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/08/25/106761678.pdf "Dr. Alan McLane Hamilton Tells About His Visit to Mrs. Eddy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224162657/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/08/25/106761678.pdf |date=2021-02-24 }}, ''The New York Times'', August 25, 1907.</ref> The ''McClure's'' and ''New York World'' stories are considered to at least partially be the reason Eddy asked the church in July 1908 to found the ''Christian Science Monitor'' as a platform for responsible journalism.<ref>Canham, Erwin (1958). ''[https://archive.org/details/commitmenttofree0000canh Commitment To Freedom: The Story of the Christian Science Monitor]''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 14–15.</ref>

Eddy died two years later, on the evening of Saturday, December 3, 1910, aged 89. The Mother Church announced at the end of the Sunday morning service that Eddy had "passed from our sight". The church stated that "the time will come when there will be no more death," but that Christian Scientists "do not look for [Eddy's] return in this world."<ref>{{harvnb|Bates|Dittemore|1932|p=451}}; [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/05/105102875.pdf "New York Eddyites Take Death Calmly"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226001843/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/05/105102875.pdf |date=2021-02-26 }}, ''The New York Times'', December 5, 1910; [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/29/101096560.pdf "Look for Mrs. Eddy to rise from tomb"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110094157/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/29/101096560.pdf |date=2021-01-10 }}, ''The New York Times'', December 29, 1910.</ref> Her estate was valued at $1.5 million, most of which she left to the church.<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/08/118496678.pdf "Nothing left to relatives"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225074038/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/08/118496678.pdf |date=2021-02-25 }}, ''The New York Times'', December 8, 1910; [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/15/104956737.pdf "Church gets most of her estate"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110094155/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/15/104956737.pdf |date=2021-01-10 }}, ''The New York Times'', December 15, 1910.</ref>

=== The Christian Science movement after 1910 ===
{{main|History of the Christian Science movement}}
[[File:The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, October 1974.jpg|thumb|[[The First Church of Christ, Scientist]], 1974]]

In the aftermath of Eddy's death, some newspapers speculated that the church would fall apart, while others expected it to continue just as it had before.<ref>{{harvnb|Beasley|1956|p= [https://archive.org/details/continuingspirit0000beas/page/n15/mode/2up 3]}}.</ref> As it was, the movement continued to grow in the first few decades after 1910.<ref>{{harvnb|Stark|1998}};{{Page needed|date=May 2023}} {{harvnb|Beasley|1956|p= [https://archive.org/details/continuingspirit0000beas/page/80/mode/2up 80]}}.</ref> The [[Manual of the Mother Church]] prohibits the church from publishing membership figures,{{refn|group=n|''[[Manual of the Mother Church]]'': "Christian Scientists shall not report for publication the number of the members of The Mother Church, nor that of the branch churches. According to the Scripture they shall turn away from personality and numbering the people."<ref>Eddy, [http://christianscience.com/read-online/manual-of-the-mother-church/discipline "Discipline"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724134929/http://christianscience.com/read-online/manual-of-the-mother-church/discipline |date=2013-07-24}}, [[Manual of the Mother Church]], [https://archive.org/details/manualofmotherch0000eddy/page/48/mode/2up Article VIII, Section 28].</ref>}} and it is not clear exactly when the height of the movement was. A 1936 census counted c. 268,915 Christian Scientists in the United States (2,098 per million), and [[Rodney Stark]] believes this to be close to the height.<ref>{{harvnb|Stark|1998|pp=190–191}}; Dart, John (20 December 1986). [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-20-ss-4390-story.html "Healing Church Shows Signs It May Be Ailing"], ''Los Angeles Times''.</ref> However, the number of Christian Science churches continued to increase until around 1960, at which point there was a reversal and, since then, [[List of former Christian Science churches, societies and buildings|many churches have closed]] their doors.<ref>Stores, Bruce (2004). ''Christian Science: Its Encounter with Lesbian/Gay America''. iUniverse. p. 34</ref> The number of [[Christian Science practitioner]]s in the United States began to decline in the 1940s according to Stark.<ref>Christian Science practitioner figures, and practitioners per million, 1883–1995: {{harvnb|Stark|1998|p=192}}, citing the ''Christian Science Journal''.</ref> According to [[J. Gordon Melton]], in 1972 there were 3,237 congregations worldwide, of which roughly 2,400 were in the United States; and, in the following ten years, about 200 congregations were closed.<ref>{{harvnb|Melton|1992|p= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopedichand0000melt/page/34/mode/2up 34]}}.</ref>

During the years after Eddy's death, the church has gone through a number of hardships and controversies.<ref>{{harvnb|Melton|1992|pp= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopedichand0000melt/page/34/mode/2up 34–37]}}.</ref> This included attempts to make practicing Christian Science illegal in the United States and elsewhere;<ref>{{harvnb|Melton|1992|p= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopedichand0000melt/page/34/mode/2up 34]}}; {{harvnb|Beasley|1956|pp= [https://archive.org/details/continuingspirit0000beas/page/46/mode/2up 46–77, 81]}}.</ref> a period known as the Great Litigation which involved two intertwined lawsuits regarding church governance;<ref>Simmons, John K. (1991). ''When Prophets Die: The Postcharismatic Fate of New Religious Movements''. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. [https://archive.org/details/whenprophetsdiep0000unse/page/112/mode/2up 113–115]; {{harvnb|Beasley|1956|pp= [https://archive.org/details/continuingspirit0000beas/page/144/mode/2up 144–181]}}; [https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/the-great-litigation/  The "Great Litigation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113093140/https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/the-great-litigation/ |date=2022-01-13 }}. [[Mary Baker Eddy Library]]. March 30, 2012.</ref> persecution under the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] and [[East Germany|Communist]] regimes in Germany<ref>King, Christine Elizabeth. (1982). ''The Nazi State and The New Religions: Five Case Studies in Non-Conformity''. [[Lewiston, New York]]: [[Edwin Mellen Press]]. pp. [https://archive.org/details/nazistatenewreli0004king/page/28/mode/2up 29–57]; {{harvnb|Beasley|1956|pp= [https://archive.org/details/continuingspirit0000beas/page/232/mode/2up 233–246]}}; Sandford, Gregory W. (2014). ''Christian Science in East Germany: The Church that Came in from the Cold''. CreateSpace Independent Publishing.</ref> and the [[Empire of Japan|Imperial]] regime in Japan;<ref>{{harvnb|Beasley|1956|pp= [https://archive.org/details/continuingspirit0000beas/page/244/mode/2up 245–246]}}; Abiko, Emi (1978). ''A Precious Legacy: Christian Science Comes to Japan''. E. D. Abbott Co.<!--need page--></ref> a series of lawsuits involving the deaths of members of the church, most notably some children;<ref>Barns, Linda L.; Plotnikoff, Gregory A.; Fox, Kenneth; Pendleton, Sara (2000). "Spirituality, Religion, and Pediatrics: Intersecting Worlds of Healing". ''Pediatrics'' 104, no. 6: 899–911; DesAutels, Peggy; Battin, Margaret; May, Larry (1999). ''[https://archive.org/details/prayingforcurewh0000desa/mode/2up Praying for a Cure: When Medical and Religious Practices Conflict]''. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers; Kondos, Elena M. (1992). "The Law and Christian Science Healing for Children: A Pathfinder." ''Legal Reference Services Quarterly''. 12: 5–71; {{harvnb|Gill|1998|pp= [https://archive.org/details/marybakereddy0000gill_o3q4/page/n15/mode/2up xv–xvi]}}.</ref> and a controversial decision to publish [[The Destiny of The Mother Church|a book]] by [[Bliss Knapp]].<ref>[http://news.stanford.edu/pr/92/920923Arc2100.html "Court rejects Christian Science motion on bequests"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207095013/https://news.stanford.edu/pr/92/920923Arc2100.html |date=2021-12-07 }} Stanford University. Press release, September 23, 1992; [http://www.equip.org/articles/christian-scientists-charge-their-church-with-violating-its-principles/ "Christian Scientists Charge Their Church with Violating Its Principles"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112174343/https://www.equip.org/articles/christian-scientists-charge-their-church-with-violating-its-principles/ |date=2022-01-12 }} Christian Research Institute, April 9, 2009; [https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/14/us/christian-science-church-settles-claim-to-bequest.html "Christian Science Church Settles Claim to Bequest"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112174244/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/14/us/christian-science-church-settles-claim-to-bequest.html |date=2022-01-12 }} ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 14, 1993.</ref> In conjunction with the Knapp book controversy, there was controversy within the church involving ''The Monitor Channel'', part of ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'' which had been losing money, and which eventually led to the channel shutting down.<ref>Bridge, Susan (1998). [https://archive.org/details/monitoringnewsbr0000brid Monitoring the News: The Brilliant Launch and Sudden Collapse of the Monitor Channel]. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe; Gold, Allan R. (November 15, 1988). [https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/15/business/editors-of-monitor-resign-over-cuts.html "Editors of Monitor Resign Over Cuts"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112174246/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/15/business/editors-of-monitor-resign-over-cuts.html |date=2022-01-12 }}. ''The New York Times''.</ref> Acknowledging their earlier mistake, of accepting a multi-million dollar publishing incentive to offset broadcasting losses, The Christian Science Board Of Directors, with the concurrence of the Trustees Of The Christian Science Publishing Society, withdrew Destiny Of The Mother Church from publication in September 2023.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Christian Science Board of Directors |title=A message from the Christian Science Board of Directors |journal=The Christian Science Journal |date=October 2023 |volume=141 |issue=10 |url=https://journal.christianscience.com/issues/2023/10/141-10/a-message-from-the-christian-science-board-of-directors |access-date=1 July 2024}}</ref> In addition, it has since its beginning been branded as a cult by more fundamentalist strains of Christianity, and attracted significant opposition as a result.<ref>{{harvnb|Knee|1994|pp= [https://archive.org/details/christianscience0000knee/page/62/mode/2up 62, 134–135]}}; {{harvnb|Melton|1992|pp= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopedichand0000melt/page/4/mode/2up 4, 34–37]}}.</ref> A number of independent teachers and alternative movements of Christian Science have emerged since its founding, but none of these individuals or groups have achieved the prominence of the Christian Science church.<ref>Melton, J. Gordon (1999). ''Encyclopedia of American religions''. Detroit: Gale Research. pp. [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofam0000melt_v9m7/page/140/mode/2up 140–142].</ref>

Despite the hardships and controversies, many Christian Science churches and [[Christian Science Reading Room|Reading Rooms]] remain in existence around the world,<ref>[https://directory.christianscience.com/ ''Christian Science Journal'' Directory Search] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112174245/https://directory.christianscience.com/ |date=2022-01-12 }}. ''christianscience.com''</ref> and, in recent years, there have been reports of the religion growing in Africa, though it remains significantly behind other evangelical groups.<ref>Christa Case Bryant (June 9, 2009). [http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2009/0609/p02s07-usgn.html "Africa contributes biggest share of new members to Christian Science church"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121225011021/http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2009/0609/p02s07-usgn.html |date=2012-12-25 }}. ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]''.</ref>{{sfn|Fraser|1999|p=563}} ''The Christian Science Monitor'' also remains a well-respected non-religious paper which is especially noted for its international reporting and lack of partisanship.<ref>{{harvnb|Fuller|2011|pp=1–8}}; Squires, L. Ashley (2015). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/43956374 "All the News Worth Reading: The Christian Science Monitor and the Professionalization of Journalism"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112174244/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43956374 |date=2022-01-12 }}.  ''Book History''. 18: 235–272.</ref>