About Christian Science

Christian Science, a system of healing in the way Jesus healed, was discovered by Mary Baker Eddy in 1866. She wrote out her discovery of this curative principle in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. It is Christian because it draws its authority squarely from the Bible, especially the life and teachings of Christ Jesus. It is Science because it has provable, repeatable results, as demonstrated in the daily lives of people all over the world for well over 100 years, bringing healing and regeneration. Its purpose is to save not only from physical ills but also from sin and death through an understanding of God.

An expansive view Mrs. Eddy had of this Science (written in Miscellaneous Writings) states:
“It is the soul of divine philosophy, and there is no other philosophy. It is not a search after wisdom, it is wisdom: it is God’s right hand grasping the universe, — all time, space, immortality, thought, extension, cause, and effect; constituting and governing all identity, individuality, law, and power. It stands on this Scriptural platform: that He made all that was made, and it is good, reflects the divine Mind, is governed by it; and that nothing apart from this Mind, one God, is self-created or evolves the universe.”

Christian Science practitioners and Christian Science nurses have a ministry of prayer and practical help for those seeking treatment. These individuals are devoted to helping others to understand God and man scientifically, in a way that results in healing mind and body. (There is usually a charge for this treatment or care, since this ministry is their livelihood.) A directory of these individuals is in the Christian Science Journal, a monthly print magazine available at Readings Rooms, or on line at http://www.spirituality.com/journal/directory.jhtml.

There is a great deal of information on Christian Science at the website of The First Church of Christ, Scientist. There are also many books and magazines on the subject available at our public Reading Room.

Tenets of Christian Science

Tenets of The Mother Church, copyrighted by Mary Baker Eddy
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 497)

1. As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.

2. We acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God’s image and likeness.

3. We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.

4. We acknowledge Jesus’ atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man’s unity with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death.

5. We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the nothingness of matter.

6. And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.