Christian Science

Although Christian Science is a fairly new religion in the grand scheme of human history, Christian Science has clearly left a mark on world theology. Created in the late 19^th century, Christian Science was one of the first religions created by an American woman (Mary Baker Eddy), and even a woman in general, at a time when sexism was much rampant in America. Christian Science is still practiced worldwide, with the 2010 census declaring that there were fewer than 100,000 members in total. However, Christian Science remains popular on the world scene, as it produces one of America’s most influential newspapers, The Christian Science Monitor. Its headquarters is located in Boston, Massachusetts along with the First Church of Christ, Scientist and the Christian Science Plaza. The areas in the world where Christian Science is practiced the most are the United States, Australia, Scandinavia, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

With regards to beliefs, Christian Scientists believe that the spiritual reality is the only true reality, and that the physical world is an illusion. They see Christ as human’s highest form, regarding him as man’s ideal. In addition to this, they believe that sickness is an illusion, and that all illnesses can be healed through prayer and in-depth study of Scripture. It is claimed by the religion that many have been healed through the study of the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health. However, this practice has created much controversy as numerous deaths in the early years of the Church were attributed to the lack of proper medical care.

Essentially every part of Christian Science can be traced back to the works of Mary Baker Eddy. Many women in the early 19th century interpreted Eddy’s creation of the Church as a response to the male-dominated society as the religion places a strong emphasis on ideas that seem to be more feminine, particularly the great importance of healing. Many people from old Hollywood were fond of the religion, as some of the more notable members included Ginger Rogers, Mickey Rooney, Joan Crawford, Doris Day, and Cecil B DeMille.

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Communities

Based on the fact that Christian Science is such a small religion there are not many evident examples of separate communities that practice Christian Science. However the primary group of Christian Scientist was established back during the days of Mary Eddy Baker herself. While alive she was able to cultivate a decent amount of followers considering that The First Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879. Even after the death of Mary Baker Eddy, her beliefs continued to touch followers as the Church is still up and running today along with 867 other branches across the US.

Scholarships

Out of all of the scholarships and sources found there was an underlying common topic of Mary Baker Eddy being a woman. When we think back down the lines of history we often see men as these great, powerful, and glorified creatures who had a great deal of influence on our society today so its easy to see how a woman stepping forward to take leadership can make many people uncomfortable. Due to Eddy’s gender her beliefs received a lot of scrutiny and was closely analyzed to find even the smallest error. Critics have even gone as far as saying Eddy’s foundation of Christian Science is stolen, “ [Phineas Parkhurst] “mind cure” expanded on the mesmeric belief in magnetic influence by introducing the notion that illness was based on false belief. Quimby’s most famous patient, Mary Baker Eddy, transformed this belief in the power of mind over matter into and extraordinarily successful religious movement and gigantic corporate empire.”( Schrager 30). Accusations continued to be thrown at Eddy as she was denounced as a feminist and mesmerist. According to a Mind over Matter article, “Eddy’s followers tended to gain the status of enemy whenever they threatened to become her rivals. She would acuse them of attempting to poison her mind through “Malicious Animal Magnetism”.(Schrager) Just as any other religion there will be some errors in everything that we do for the simple fact that we are humans.

Despite the Eddy’s criticism her message was still powerful and influential to many people, as she believed, “To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science, you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle of all that really is. Spirit, Life, Truth, Love, combine as one, and are the Scriptural names for God. All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, immortality, cause, and effect belong to God. These are His attributes, the eternal manifestations of the infinite divine Principle, Love. No wisdom is wise but His wisdom; no truth is true, no love is lovely, no life is Life but the divine; no good is, but the good God bestows.”(Simmons 75)

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Christian Science: Voice

These three videos all elaborate on the practices of Christian Science, as well as its focus on certain beliefs and healing.

Popular Depiction: Christian Science Criticism

Although Christian Science is categorized as a religion of Christianity it tends to be not as popular as other Christian religions due to its different beliefs. Although the Church of Christian Science believes in God, Jesus, and the use of the Holy Bible, their belief system is slightly different from other Christian religions. For example many Christians believe that the ability of Jesus to perform miraculous healings and miracles are a representation of his divinity that only Jesus can perform while the Church of Christian Science sees these acts as example of how correcting negativity within the mind first can lead to the healing of many things including illnesses. With these sort of beliefs Christian Science received a lot of negative feedback with reports of it being a heresy during its early years of establishment. Legendary American author Mark Twain was also a critic of Christian Science. Twain published to books Christian Science and The Secret History of Eddypus, the World Empire. At the time Twain strongly believed that Mary Baker Eddy’s establishing of Christian Science was a ploy to increase power and wealth for her own benefit. The frenzy of criticism of Christian Science eventually died down after Eddy’s death in 1910 but for numerous years after the religion was still seen as a cult by many.