View source for Christian Science

{{Short description|American new religious movement}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Christianity and science]], [[Christians in Science]], [[List of Christians in science and technology|Christians in science and technology]], or [[Scientology]]}}
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{{Infobox Christian denomination
| name       = Christian Science
| image       = [[File:The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, aerial shot (1), 19 July 2011.jpg|250px|alt=Aerial photograph of a triangular lot between roads and their sidewalks. The lot contains a small, Romanesque church filling the front point to the sidewalks, connected to a much larger and impressive domed, Neoclassical building behind it, filling the lot to the sidewalks to the left and right.]]
| caption     = [[The First Church of Christ, Scientist]] at the [[Christian Science Center]] in [[Boston]] with the original Mother Church (1894) in the foreground and the Mother Church Extension (1906) behind it.<ref>[http://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/Christian%20Science%20Center%20Complex%20Study%20Report,%20as%20amended_tcm3-17697.pdf "Christian Science Center Complex"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923204327/http://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/Christian%20Science%20Center%20Complex%20Study%20Report%2C%20as%20amended_tcm3-17697.pdf |date=2015-09-23 }}, Boston Landmarks Commission, Environment Department, City of Boston, January 25, 2011 (hereafter Boston Landmarks Commission 2011), pp.&nbsp;6–12.</ref>
| founder      = [[Mary Baker Eddy]] (1821–1910)
|theology = [https://www.christianscience.com/what-is-christian-science/beliefs-and-teachings "Basic teachings"], Church of Christ, Scientist
| scripture       = ''[[Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures]]'' by Mary Baker Eddy and the [[Bible]]
| members       = Estimated 106,000 in the United States in 1990<ref name=Stark191>{{cite journal|last=Stark|first=Rodney|author-link=Rodney Stark|title=The Rise and Fall of Christian Science|journal=Journal of Contemporary Religion|volume=13|issue=2|pages=(189–214), 191|year=1998|doi=10.1080/13537909808580830}}</ref> and under 50,000 in 2009;<ref name=Prothero2017p165/> according to the church, 400,000 worldwide in 2008.{{refn|group=n|PBS, August 2008: "The church estimates it has about 400,000 members worldwide, but independent studies put membership at around 100,000."<ref>Valente, Judy (August 1, 2008). [https://web.archive.org/web/20081110004403/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week1148/feature.html "Christian Science Healing"]. PBS.</ref>}}
| website    = [http://christianscience.com/ christianscience.com]
}}

{{Christian Science sidebar}}
{{Christianity|expanded=hide}}

'''Christian Science''' is a set of beliefs and practices which are associated with members of the [[Church of Christ, Scientist]]. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally known as the Christian Science church. It was founded in 1879 in [[New England]] by [[Mary Baker Eddy]], who wrote the 1875 book ''[[Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures]]'', which outlined the theology of Christian Science. The book was originally called ''Science and Health''; the subtitle ''with a Key to the Scriptures'' was added in 1883 and later amended to ''with Key to the Scriptures''.<ref name="Mary Baker Eddy Library">{{cite news |title=140th Anniversary of Science and Health |url=https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/the-140th-anniversary-of-science-and-health/ |publisher=Mary Baker Eddy Library |date=July 7, 2015}}</ref>

The book became Christian Science's central text, along with the [[Bible]], and by 2001 had sold over nine million copies.<ref name=Gutjahr2001p348>{{cite journal |last1=Gutjahr |first1=Paul C. |title=Sacred Texts in the United States |journal=Book History |date=2001 |volume=4 |pages=(335–370) 348|jstor=30227336 |doi=10.1353/bh.2001.0008|s2cid=162339753 }}</ref>

Eddy and 26 followers were granted a charter by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1879 to found the "Church of Christ (Scientist)"; the church would be reorganized under the name "Church of Christ, Scientist" in 1892.<ref>{{cite web |title=Women and the Law |url=https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/what-is-the-background-on-the-name-church-of-christ-scientist/ |website=The Mary Baker Eddy Library |date=22 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118194230/https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/what-is-the-background-on-the-name-church-of-christ-scientist/ |archive-date=18 January 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> ''The Mother Church'', [[The First Church of Christ, Scientist]], was built in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1894.<ref>For the charter, [[Mary Baker Eddy|Eddy, Mary Baker]] (1908) [1895]. ''Manual of the Mother Church'', 89th edition. Boston: The First Church of Christ, Scientist. pp. 17–18.</ref> Known as the "thinker's religion", Christian Science became the fastest growing religion in the United States, with nearly 270,000 members by 1936 — a figure [[History of the Christian Science movement#Decline|which had declined]] to just over 100,000 by 1990{{sfn|Stark|1998|pp=190–191}} and reportedly to under 50,000 by 2009.<ref name=Prothero2017p165>{{cite book |last1=Prothero |first1=Donald |author-link=Donald Prothero |last2=Callahan |first2=Timothy D. |title=UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens: What Science Says |date=2017 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington | page=165}}</ref> The church is known for its newspaper, ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]''<!--The definite article in newspaper titles is omitted, per the Chicago Manual of Style, 8.180-->, which won seven [[Pulitzer Prize]]s between 1950 and 2002, and for [[Christian Science Reading Room|its public Reading Rooms]] around the world.{{refn|group=n|In April 2010, the ''Christian Science Journal'' listed 1,068 Reading Rooms in the United States and 489 elsewhere.<ref>{{harvnb|Fuller|2011|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=tu68O9MG0fQC&pg=PA175 175]}}</ref>}}

Christian Science's religious tenets differ considerably from many other [[Christian denomination]]s, including key concepts such as the [[Trinity]], the divinity of [[Jesus]], [[Atonement in Christianity|atonement]], the [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]], and the [[Eucharist]].{{sfn|Fraser|1999|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tchcDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22the+yawning+gulf+between+christian+scientists%22&pg=PT20 131-132]}}{{sfn|Wilson|1961|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA124 124]}} Eddy, for her part, described Christian Science as a return to "primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing".<ref name=lostelement>{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Bryan|author-link=Bryan R. Wilson|title=Sects and Society: A Sociological Study of the Elim Tabernacle, Christian Science, and Christadelphians|date=1961|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA125 125]}}{{pb}}
Eddy, ''Manual of the Mother Church'', p.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/stream/manualofmotherch00eddy#page/17/mode/1up 17].</ref> Adherents subscribe to a radical form of philosophical [[idealism]], believing that reality is purely spiritual and the material world an illusion.<ref>{{harvnb|Wilson|1961|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA127 127]}}; [[Nicholas Rescher|Rescher, Nicholas]] (2009) [1996]. "Idealism", in Jaegwon Kim, Ernest Sosa (eds.). ''A Companion to Metaphysics''. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=i7PG-Vk824UC&pg=PA318 318] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115454/https://books.google.com/books?id=i7PG-Vk824UC&pg=PA318 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref> This includes the view that disease is a mental error rather than physical disorder, and that the sick should be treated not by medicine but by a form of prayer that seeks to correct the beliefs responsible for the illusion of ill health.{{sfn|Wilson|1961|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA125 125]}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Battin |first1=Margaret P. |author-link=Margaret Battin |editor1-last=DesAutels |editor1-first=Peggy |editor2-last=Battin |editor2-first=Margaret P. |editor3-last=May |editor3-first=Larry |title=Praying for a Cure: When Medical and Religious Practices Conflict |date=1999 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |location=Lanham, MD, and Oxford |isbn=0-8476-9262-0 |chapter= High-Risk Religion: Christian Science and the Violation of Informed Consent |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_XqLtMpuIwkC&pg=PA11 11]}}</ref>

The church does not require that Christian Scientists avoid medical care—many adherents use [[dentists]], [[optometrists]], [[obstetricians]], physicians for broken bones, and [[vaccination]] when required by law—but maintains that Christian Science prayer is most effective when not combined with medicine.<ref name=combined>Schoepflin, Rennie B. (2003). ''Christian Science on Trial: Religious Healing in America''. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp.&nbsp;192–193.{{pb}}
Trammell, Mary M., chair, Christian Science board of directors (March 26, 2010). [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/27/opinion/l27christian.html "Letter; What the Christian Science Church Teaches"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807120034/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/27/opinion/l27christian.html |date=2022-08-07 }}. ''The New York Times''.</ref><ref>Regarding vaccines specifically, see:
*Christine Pae (September 1, 2021). [https://www.king5.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/vaccine/who-qualifies-for-a-religious-covid-19-exemption-washington/281-65431353-6096-4d09-899c-3c2d6f573447 "Here's who qualifies for a religious exemption to Washington's COVID-19 vaccine mandate"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928014357/https://www.king5.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/vaccine/who-qualifies-for-a-religious-covid-19-exemption-washington/281-65431353-6096-4d09-899c-3c2d6f573447 |date=2021-09-28 }}. ''KING 5''.
*Samantha Maiden (April 18, 2015). [https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/no-jab-no-pay-reforms-religious-exemptions-for-vaccination-dumped/news-story/5941541520ab64a115704f58633a1d68 "No Jab, No Pay reforms: Religious exemptions for vaccination dumped"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928014909/https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/no-jab-no-pay-reforms-religious-exemptions-for-vaccination-dumped/news-story/5941541520ab64a115704f58633a1d68 |date=2021-09-28 }}. ''Daily Telegraph'' (Australia).</ref> The reliance on prayer and avoidance of medical treatment has been blamed for the deaths of adherents and their children. Between the 1880s and 1990s, several parents and others were prosecuted for, and in a few cases convicted of, [[manslaughter]] or [[neglect]].<ref>Schoepflin 2003, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FfKpE_1Q79EC&pg=PA212 212–216] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115455/https://books.google.com/books?id=FfKpE_1Q79EC&pg=PA212 |date=2022-11-01 }}</ref><ref>Peters, Shawn Francis (2007). ''When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children, and the Law''. New York: Oxford University Press. pp.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=vDUElGmA3vkC&pg=PA91 91], 109–130. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115455/https://books.google.com/books?id=vDUElGmA3vkC&pg=PA91 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref><ref>Massachusetts Citizens for Children (MassKids), 2023, “Cases of Childhood Deaths Due to Parental Religious Objection to Necessary Medical Care”. [https://www.masskids.org/index.php/religious-medical-neglect/cases-of-child-deaths]{{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20241202203953/https://www.masskids.org/index.php/religious-medical-neglect/cases-of-child-deaths |date=2024-12-02}}</ref>

== Overview ==
=== Metaphysical family ===
{{See also|Great Awakening}}
Several periods of [[Protestantism|Protestant Christian]] revival nurtured a proliferation of [[new religious movements in the United States]].<ref>[[William G. McLoughlin]], ''Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980, pp.&nbsp;10–11, 16–17.{{pb}}
Roy M. Anker, "Revivalism, Religious Experience and the Birth of Mental Healing", ''Self-help and Popular Religion in Early American Culture: An Interpretive Guide'', Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1999(a), (pp.&nbsp;11–100), pp.&nbsp;8, 176ff.</ref> In the latter half of the 19th century, these included what came to be known as the [[Metaphysics (supernatural)|metaphysical]] family: groups such as Christian Science, [[Divine Science]], the [[Unity Church|Unity School of Christianity]], and (later) the [[United Church of Religious Science]].{{refn|group=n|name=Saliba2003p26|Dawn Hutchinson, 2014: "Scholars of American religious history have used the term "New Thought" to refer either to individuals and churches that officially joined the International New Thought Alliance (INTA) or to American metaphysical religions affiliated with Phineas Quimby, Mary Baker Eddy, and Emma Curtis Hopkins. New Thought writers shared the idea that God is Mind."<ref>Hutchinson, Dawn (November 2014). "New Thought's Prosperity Theology and Its Influence on American Ideas of Success", ''Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions'', 18(2), (pp.&nbsp;28–44), p.&nbsp;28. {{JSTOR|10.1525/nr.2014.18.2.28}}</ref>{{pb}}
[[John Saliba]], 2003: "The Christian Science–Metaphysical Family. This family, known also as 'New Thought' in academic literature, stresses the need to understand the functioning of the human mind in order to achieve the healing of all human ailments.&nbsp;... Metaphysics/New Thought is a nineteenth-century movement and is exemplified by such groups as the Unity School of Christianity, the United Church of Religious Science, Divine Science Federation International, and Christian Science."<ref>[[John Saliba|Saliba, John]] (2003). ''Understanding New Religious Movements''. Walnut Creek, California: Rowman Altamira. p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=EPfTWgerZN0C&pg=PA26 26] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115021/https://books.google.com/books?id=EPfTWgerZN0C&pg=PA26 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref>{{pb}}
[[James R. Lewis (scholar)|James R. Lewis]], 2003: "Groups in the metaphysical (Christian Science–New Thought) tradition&nbsp;... usually claim to have discovered spiritual laws which, if properly understood and applied, transform and improve the lives of ordinary individuals&nbsp;..."<ref>[[James R. Lewis (scholar)|Lewis, James R.]] (2003). ''Legitimating New Religions''. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=hdYSdts1udcC&pg=PA94 94] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115020/https://books.google.com/books?id=hdYSdts1udcC&pg=PA94 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref>{{pb}}
John K. Simmons, 1995: "While members, past and present, of the Christian Science movement understandably claim Mrs. Eddy's truths to be part of a unique and final religious revelation, most outside observers place Christian Science in the metaphysical family of religious organizations&nbsp;..."<ref>Simmons, John K. (1995). "Christian Science and American Culture", in Timothy Miller (ed.). ''America's Alternative Religions'', New York: State University of New York Press. p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC&pg=PA61 61] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115018/https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC&pg=PA61 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref>{{pb}}
[[Charles S. Braden]], 1963: "[I]t was in America that [mesmerism]&nbsp;... gave rise to a complex of religious faiths varying from one another in significant ways, but all agreeing upon the central fact that healing and for that matter every good thing is possible through a right relationship with the ultimate power in the Universe, Creative Mind—called God, Principle, Life, Wisdom&nbsp;...{{pb}}"This broad complex of religions is sometimes described by the rather general term 'metaphysical'&nbsp;... The general movement has proliferated in many directions. Two main streams seem most vigorous: one is called Christian Science; the other, which no single name adequately describes, has come rather generally to be known as New Thought."<ref>[[Charles S. Braden]], ''Spirits in Rebellion: The Rise and Development of New Thought'', Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1963, pp.&nbsp;4–5.</ref>}} From the 1890s, the liberal section of the movement became known as [[New Thought]], in part to distinguish it from the more authoritarian Christian Science.<ref>John S. Haller, ''The History of New Thought: From Mental Healing to Positive Thinking and the Prosperity Gospel'', West Chester, Pennsylvania: Swedenborg Foundation Press, 2012, pp.&nbsp;10–11.{{pb}}
[[Horatio W. Dresser]], ''A History of the New Thought Movement'', New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1919, pp.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/stream/historyofnewthou00dresuoft#page/152/mode/2up 152–153].{{pb}}
For early uses of ''New Thought'', William Henry Holcombe, ''Condensed Thoughts about Christian Science'' (pamphlet), Chicago: Purdy Publishing Company, 1887; Horatio W. Dresser, "The Metaphysical Movement" (from a statement issued by the Metaphysical Club, Boston, 1901), ''The Spirit of the New Thought'', New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1917, p.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/stream/spiritnewthough00dresgoog#page/n235/mode/1up 215].</ref>

The term ''metaphysical'' referred to the movement's philosophical [[idealism]], a belief in the primacy of the mental world.{{refn|group=n|John K. Simmons, 1995: "The broad descriptive term 'metaphysical' is not used in a manner common to the trained philosopher. Instead, it denotes the primacy of Mind as ''the'' controlling factor in human experience. At the heart of the metaphysical perspective is the theological/ontological affirmation that God is perfect Mind and human beings, in reality, exist in a state of eternal manifestation of that Divine Mind."<ref>Simmons 1995, p.&nbsp;61.</ref>}} Adherents believed that material phenomena were the result of mental states, a view expressed as "life is consciousness" and "God is mind." The supreme cause was referred to as [[Absolute (philosophy)|Divine Mind]], Truth, God, Love, Life, Spirit, Principle or Father–Mother, reflecting elements of [[Platonism|Plato]], [[Hindu idealism|Hinduism]], [[George Berkeley|Berkeley]], [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]], [[Emanuel Swedenborg|Swedenborg]], and [[transcendentalism]].<ref>Dell De Chant, "The American New Thought Movement", in Eugene Gallagher and Michael Ashcraft (eds.),  ''Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America'', Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 2007, pp.&nbsp;81–82.</ref><ref>[[William James]], ''[[The Varieties of Religious Experience]]'' (Gifford Lectures, Edinburgh), New York: Longmans, Green, & Co, 1902, pp.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=2AezbiIYHssC&pg=PA75 75–76]; [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/412169/New-Thought "New Thought"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516030240/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/412169/New-Thought |date=2015-05-16 }}, ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2014.</ref>

The metaphysical groups became known as the mind-cure movement because of their strong focus on healing.<ref>de Chant 2007, p.&nbsp;73.</ref>{{refn|group=n|[[William James]], 1902: "To my mind a current far more important and interesting religiously&nbsp;... I will give the title of the Mind-Cure movement. There are various sects of this 'New Thought'&nbsp;... but their agreements are so profound that their differences may be neglected for my present purposes&nbsp;..."<ref>James 1902, p.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/stream/varietiesofrelig00jameuoft#page/94/mode/1up 94].</ref> "Christian Science so-called, the sect of Mrs. Eddy, is the most radical branch of mind-cure in its dealings with evil."<ref>James 1902, p.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/stream/varietiesofrelig00jameuoft#page/106/mode/1up 106].</ref>}} Medical practice was in its infancy, and patients regularly fared better without it. This provided fertile soil for the mind-cure groups, who argued that sickness was an absence of "right thinking" or failure to connect to Divine Mind.<ref>{{harvnb|Stark|1998|pp=197–198, 211–212}}; de Chant 2007, p.&nbsp;67.</ref> The movement traced its roots in the United States to [[Phineas Parkhurst Quimby]] (1802–1866), a New England clockmaker turned mental healer. His advertising flyer, "To the Sick" included this explanation of his clairvoyant methodology: "he gives no medicines and makes no outward applications, but simply sits down by the patients, tells them their feelings and what they think is their disease. If the patients admit that he tells them their feelings, &c., then his explanation is the cure; and, if he succeeds in correcting their error, he changes the fluids of the system and establishes the truth, or health. The Truth is the Cure. This mode of practise applies to all cases. If no explanation is given, no charge is made, for no effect is produced."<ref name=Quimby>Wilson 1961, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA135 135] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115020/https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA135 |date=2022-11-01 }}; Braden 1963, p.&nbsp;62 (for "the truth is the cure"); McGuire 1988, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=5iIBzoOVQecC&pg=PA79 79] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115034/https://books.google.com/books?id=5iIBzoOVQecC&pg=PA79 |date=2022-11-01 }}.{{pb}}
Also see [http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,788876,00.html "Religion: New Thought"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220080303/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,788876,00.html |date=2014-12-20 }}, ''Time'' magazine, 7 November 1938; [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/487342/Phineas-Parkhurst-Quimby "Phineas Parkhurst Quimby"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111231639/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/487342/Phineas-Parkhurst-Quimby |date=2014-11-11 }}, ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', September 9, 2013.</ref>{{refn|group=n|[[Philip Jenkins]], 2000: "Christian Science and New Thought both emerged from a common intellectual background in mid-nineteenth-century New England, and they shared many influences from an older mystical and magical fringe, including Swedenborgian teachings, Mesmerism, and Transcentalism. The central figure and prophet of the emerging synthesis was Phineas P. Quimby, 'the John the Baptist of Christian Science', whose faith-healing work began in 1838. Quimby and his followers taught the overwhelming importance of thought in shaping reality, a message that was crucial for healing. If disease existed only as thought, then only by curing the mind could the body be set right: disease was a matter of wrong belief."<ref>[[Philip Jenkins]], ''Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History'', Oxford University Press, 2000, pp.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/details/mysticsmessiahsc00phil/page/53 53–54].</ref>}} [[Mary Baker Eddy]] had been a patient of his (1862–1865), [[#Eddy's debt to Quimby|leading to debate]] about how much of Christian Science was based on his ideas.<ref name=Simmons1995p64>Simmons 1995, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC&pg=PA64 64] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115019/https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC&pg=PA64 |date=2022-11-01 }}; Fuller 2013, pp.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=-jAPOfbCpHwC&pg=PA212 212–213] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115036/https://books.google.com/books?id=-jAPOfbCpHwC&pg=PA212 |date=2022-11-01 }}, n.&nbsp;16.</ref>

New Thought and Christian Science differed in that Eddy saw her views as a unique and final [[revelation]].<ref>Wilson 1961, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA156 156] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115020/https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA156 |date=2022-11-01 }}; Braden 1963, pp.&nbsp;14, 16; Simmons 1995, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC&pg=PA61 61] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115018/https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC&pg=PA61 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref>{{refn|group=n|Meredith B. McGuire, 1988: "The most familiar offshoot of the metaphysical movement&nbsp;... is Christian Science, which was based upon a more extreme interpretation of metaphysical healing than that of the New Thought groups.&nbsp;... Christian Science is unlike New Thought and other metaphysical movements of that era in that Mary Baker Eddy successfully arrogated to herself all teaching authority, centralized decision-making and organizational power, and developed the movement's sectarian character."<ref>McGuire 1988, p.&nbsp;79.</ref>}} Eddy's idea of [[History of the Christian Science movement#Malicious animal magnetism|malicious animal magnetism]] (that people can be harmed by the bad thoughts of others) marked another distinction, introducing an element of fear that was absent from the New Thought literature.<ref>Wilson 1961, pp.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA126 126–127] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115020/https://books.google.com/books?id=1NWVP5kDBJcC&pg=PA126 |date=2022-11-01 }}; Braden 1963, pp.&nbsp;18–19.</ref><ref>[[Stephen Gottschalk|Gottschalk, Stephen]] (1973). ''The Emergence of Christian Science in American Religious Life''. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/details/emergenceofchris00step/page/128 128], [https://archive.org/details/emergenceofchris00step/page/148 148–149].{{pb}}
Moore, Laurence R. (1986). ''Religious Outsiders and the Making of Americans''. New York: Oxford University Press. pp.&nbsp;112–113.{{pb}}
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 }}; Whorton, James C. (2004). ''Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America''. New York: Oxford University Press. pp.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=RU0DndWVSPoC&pg=PA128 128–129] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115019/https://books.google.com/books?id=RU0DndWVSPoC&pg=PA128 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref> Most significantly, she dismissed the material world as an illusion, rather than as merely subordinate to Mind, leading her to reject the use of medicine, or ''[[materia medica]]'', and making Christian Science the most controversial of the metaphysical groups. Reality for Eddy was purely spiritual.<ref>Craig R. Prentiss, "Sickness, Death and Illusion in Christian Science", in Colleen McDannell (ed.), ''Religions of the United States in Practice'', Vol. 1, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=s0tCip7DZL4C&pg=PA322 322] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115019/https://books.google.com/books?id=s0tCip7DZL4C&lpg=PP1&pg=PA322 |date=2022-11-01 }}.{{pb}}
Claudia Stokes, ''The Altar at Home: Sentimental Literature and Nineteenth-Century American Religion'', University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=kOwJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA181 181] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115042/https://books.google.com/books?id=kOwJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA181 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref>{{refn|group=n|[[Charles S. Braden]], 1963: "Mary Baker Eddy pushed the postulates of positive thinking to their absolute limit.&nbsp;... She proposed not merely that the spiritual overshadows the material, but that the material world does not exist. The world of our senses is but an illusion of our minds. If the material world causes us pain, grief, danger and even death, that can be changed by changing our thoughts."<ref>Braden 1963, p.&nbsp;19; {{harvnb|Stark|1998|p=195}}</ref>{{pb}}
Roy M. Anker, 1999: "Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science (denominationally known as the Church of Christ, Scientist), the most prominent, successful, controversial, and distinctive of all the groups whose inspiration scholars trace to the healing and intellectual influence of Quimby."<ref>Anker 1999(a), p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=Yv8Qv5Zg0JUC&pg=PA9 9] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115020/https://books.google.com/books?id=Yv8Qv5Zg0JUC&pg=PA9 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref>}}

=== 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>}}

==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>

== Healing practices ==
=== Christian Science prayer ===
{{further|Christian Science practitioner}}

{{blockquote|[A]ll healing is a metaphysical process. That means that there is no person to be healed, no material body, no patient, no matter, no illness, no one to heal, no substance, no person, no thing and no place that needs to be influenced. This is what the practitioner must first be clear about.|Practitioner Frank Prinz-Wondollek, 2011.<ref name=Prinz>Frank Prinz-Wondollek, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfpxtBZuvaA "How does Christian Science heal?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150523131402/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfpxtBZuvaA |date=2015-05-23 }}, Boston: Christian Science Lectures, April 28, 2011, from 00:02 mins.</ref>}}

[[File:Mary Baker Eddy Library, Boston, 10 July 2014.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mary Baker Eddy Library]], 200 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston]]

Christian Scientists avoid almost all medical treatment, relying instead on Christian Science prayer.<ref>Battin 1999, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=_XqLtMpuIwkC&pg=PA7 7] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115038/https://books.google.com/books?id=_XqLtMpuIwkC&pg=PA7 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref> This consists of silently arguing with oneself; there are no appeals to a personal god, and no set words.<ref>{{harvnb|Stark|1998|pp=196–197}}; Gottschalk 2006, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=r-FYQv75w7kC&pg=PA86 86] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115039/https://books.google.com/books?id=r-FYQv75w7kC&pg=PA86 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref> [[Caroline Fraser]] wrote in 1999 that the practitioner might repeat: "the allness of God using Eddy's seven synonyms—Life, Truth, Love, Spirit, Soul, Principle and Mind," then that "Spirit, Substance, is the only Mind, and man is its image and likeness; that Mind is intelligence; that Spirit is substance; that Love is wholeness; that Life, Truth, and Love are the only reality." She might deny other religions, the existence of evil, mesmerism, [[astrology]], [[numerology]], and the symptoms of whatever the illness is. She concludes, Fraser writes, by asserting that disease is a lie, that this is the word of God, and that it has the power to heal.{{sfn|Fraser|1999|pp=94–96}}

Christian Science practitioners are certified by the Church of Christ, Scientist, to charge a fee for Christian Science prayer. There were 1,249 practitioners worldwide in 2015;<ref>[http://directory.christianscience.com/search?query=&types&#91;&#93;=practitioners_teachers&language=english&distance_select=any "Teachers and practitioners"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706150211/https://directory.christianscience.com/search?query=&types%5B%5D=practitioners_teachers&language=english&distance_select=any |date=2022-07-06 }}, ''Christian Science Journal''.</ref> in the United States in 2010 they charged $25–$50 for an e-mail, telephone or face-to-face consultation.<ref name=Vitello>Vitello, Paul (March 23, 2010). [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/nyregion/24heal.html "Christian Science Church Seeks Truce With Modern Medicine"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170402222823/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/nyregion/24heal.html |date=2017-04-02 }}, ''The New York Times''.</ref> Their training is a two-week, 12-lesson course called "primary class", based on the Recapitulation chapter of ''Science and Health''.<ref>{{harvnb|Fraser|1999|pp=91–93}}; Eddy, [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 }}, ''Science and Health''.</ref> Practitioners wanting to teach primary class take a six-day "[[Normal school#History|normal class]]", held in Boston once every three years, and become Christian Science teachers.{{sfn|Fraser|1999|p=91}} There are also Christian Science nursing homes. They offer no medical services; the nurses are Christian Scientists who have completed a course of religious study and training in basic skills, such as feeding and bathing.<ref>{{harvnb|Fraser|1999|p=329}}; [http://csncommission.org/facilities-organizations/ "Christian Science nursing facilities"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120917015659/http://csncommission.org/facilities-organizations/ |date=2012-09-17 }}, Commission for Accreditation of Christian Science Nursing Organizations/Facilities.</ref>

The ''[[Christian Science Journal]]'' and ''[[Christian Science Sentinel]]'' publish anecdotal healing testimonials (they published 53,900 between 1900 and April 1989),<ref name="books.google.com">Battin 1999, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=_XqLtMpuIwkC&pg=PA15 15] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115041/https://books.google.com/books?id=_XqLtMpuIwkC&pg=PA15 |date=2022-11-01 }}.</ref> which must be accompanied by statements from three verifiers: "people who know [the testifier] well and have either witnessed the healing or can vouch for [the testifier's] integrity in sharing it".<ref>[http://jsh.christianscience.com/submit/testimony-guidelines "Testimony Guidelines"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219202456/http://jsh.christianscience.com/submit/testimony-guidelines |date=2014-02-19 }}, JSH-Online, Christian Science church.</ref> Philosopher [[Margaret Battin|Margaret P. Battin]] wrote in 1999 that the seriousness with which these testimonials are treated by Christian Scientists ignores factors such as false positives caused by self-limiting conditions. Because no negative accounts are published, the testimonials strengthen people's tendency to rely on anecdotes.<ref name="books.google.com"/> A church study published in 1989 examined 10,000 published testimonials, 2,337 of which the church said involved conditions that had been medically diagnosed, and 623 of which were "medically confirmed by follow-up examinations". The report offered no evidence of the medical follow-up.<ref>Battin 1999, p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=_XqLtMpuIwkC&pg=PA15 15] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115041/https://books.google.com/books?id=_XqLtMpuIwkC&pg=PA15 |date=2022-11-01 }}; [http://www.johnsonfund.org/empirical.pdf "An Empirical Analysis of Medical Evidence in Christian Science Testimonies of Healing, 1969–1988"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710015914/http://www.johnsonfund.org/empirical.pdf |date=2010-07-10 }}, Christian Science church, April 1989, pp.&nbsp;2, 7, courtesy of the Johnson Fund.</ref> The Massachusetts Committee for Children and Youth listed among the report's flaws that it had failed to compare the rates of successful and unsuccessful Christian Science treatment.<ref>Peters 2007, p.&nbsp;22; [http://www.masskids.org/images/stories/ChildAaN/Death_by_Religious_Exemption.pdf "An Analysis of a Christian Science Study of the Healings of 640 Childhood Illnesses"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170402222607/http://www.masskids.org/images/stories/ChildAaN/Death_by_Religious_Exemption.pdf |date=2017-04-02 }}, ''Death by Religious Exemption'', Coalition to Repeal Exemptions to Child Abuse Laws, Massachusetts Committee for Children and Youth, January 1992, Section&nbsp;IX, p.&nbsp;34.</ref>

Nathan Talbot, a church spokesperson, told the ''[[New England Journal of Medicine]]'' in 1983 that church members were free to choose medical care,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Talbot | first1 = Nathan | year = 1983| title = The position of the Christian Science church | journal = New England Journal of Medicine | volume = 309 | issue = 26| pages = 1641–1644 [1642] | doi = 10.1056/NEJM198312293092611 | pmid = 6646189 }}</ref> but according to former Christian Scientists those who do may be [[ostracized]].<ref name=Vitello/> In 2010 the ''New York Times'' reported church leaders as saying that, for over a year, they had been "encouraging members to see a physician if they feel it is necessary", and that they were repositioning Christian Science prayer as a supplement to medical care, rather than a substitute. The church has lobbied to have the work of Christian Science practitioners covered by insurance.<ref name=Vitello/>

As of 2015, it was reported that Christian Scientists in Australia were not advising anyone against vaccines, and the religious exception was deemed "no longer current or necessary".<ref>Samantha Maiden (April 18, 2015). [https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/no-jab-no-pay-reforms-religious-exemptions-for-vaccination-dumped/news-story/5941541520ab64a115704f58633a1d68 "No Jab, No Pay reforms: Religious exemptions for vaccination dumped"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928014909/https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/no-jab-no-pay-reforms-religious-exemptions-for-vaccination-dumped/news-story/5941541520ab64a115704f58633a1d68 |date=2021-09-28 }}. ''Daily Telegraph''.</ref> In 2021, a church Committee on Publication reiterated that although vaccination was an individual choice, that the church did not dictate against it, and those who were not vaccinated did not do so because of any "church dogma".<ref>Christine Pae (September 1, 2021). [https://www.king5.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/vaccine/who-qualifies-for-a-religious-covid-19-exemption-washington/281-65431353-6096-4d09-899c-3c2d6f573447 "Here's who qualifies for a religious exemption to Washington's COVID-19 vaccine mandate"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928014357/https://www.king5.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/vaccine/who-qualifies-for-a-religious-covid-19-exemption-washington/281-65431353-6096-4d09-899c-3c2d6f573447 |date=2021-09-28 }}. ''KING 5''.</ref>

== Church of Christ, Scientist ==
=== Governance ===
{{further|Christian Science Center|Category:Christian Science churches|List of former Christian Science churches, societies and buildings}}
[[File:USA 09562 Boston Luca Galuzzi 2007.jpg|thumb|left|alt=buildings around a reflecting pool|[[The First Church of Christ, Scientist]], Boston]]

In the [[hierarchy]] of the [[Church of Christ, Scientist]], only the Mother Church in Boston, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, uses the [[definite article]] in its name. Otherwise the first Christian Science church in any city is called First Church of Christ, Scientist, then Second Church of Christ, Scientist, and so on, followed by the name of the city (for example, [[:File:Third Church of Christ, Scientist, Curzon Street - geograph.org.uk - 262248.jpg|Third Church of Christ, Scientist, London]]). When a church closes, the others in that city are not renamed.{{sfn|Stark|1998|p=193}}

Founded in April 1879, the Church of Christ, Scientist is led by a president and five-person board of directors. There is a public-relations department, known as the Committee on Publication, with representatives around the world; this was set up by Eddy in 1898 to protect her own and the church's reputation.<ref>Eddy, [http://christianscience.com/read-online/manual-of-the-mother-church/list-of-church-officers "List of Church Officers"] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20140322052632/http://christianscience.com/read-online/manual-of-the-mother-church/list-of-church-officers |date=2014-03-22 }}, ''Manual of the Mother Church''; Gottschalk 1973, p. 190; [https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/flashbks/xsci/suffer.htm Fraser (''Atlantic'') 1995] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211020551/http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/flashbks/xsci/suffer.htm |date=2017-02-11 }}.</ref> The church was accused in the 1990s of silencing internal criticism by firing staff, delisting practitioners and excommunicating members.<ref>Steve Stecklow, [http://articles.philly.com/1991-10-14/news/25813897_1_church-employees-church-records-christian-science-church/ "Church's Media Moves At Issue A Burgeoning Network Sparks Dissent"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114145433/http://articles.philly.com/1991-10-14/news/25813897_1_church-employees-church-records-christian-science-church |date=2013-01-14 }}, ''Philadelphia Inquirer'', October 14, 1991;{{Failed verification|date=March 2021}} {{harvnb|Fraser|1999|pp=373–374}}{{better source needed|date=March 2021}}</ref>

The church's administration is headquartered on [[Christian Science Center]] on the corner of [[Massachusetts Avenue (metropolitan Boston)|Massachusetts Avenue]] and [[Huntington Avenue]],  located on several acres in the Back Bay section of Boston.<ref>[http://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/Christian%20Science%20Center%20Complex%20Study%20Report,%20as%20amended_tcm3-17697.pdf Boston Landmarks Commission 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923204327/http://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/Christian%20Science%20Center%20Complex%20Study%20Report%2C%20as%20amended_tcm3-17697.pdf |date=2015-09-23 }}, p. 1.</ref> The 14.5-acre site includes the Mother Church (1894), Mother Church Extension (1906), the [[Christian Science Publishing Society]] building (1934)—which houses the [[Mary Baker Eddy Library]] and the church's administrative staff—the Sunday School building (1971), and the Church Colonnade building (1972).<ref>[http://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/Christian%20Science%20Center%20Complex%20Study%20Report,%20as%20amended_tcm3-17697.pdf Boston Landmarks Commission 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923204327/http://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/Christian%20Science%20Center%20Complex%20Study%20Report%2C%20as%20amended_tcm3-17697.pdf |date=2015-09-23 }}, pp.&nbsp;5–6.</ref> It also includes the 26-story Administration Building (1972), designed by [[Araldo Cossutta]] of [[Pei Cobb Freed & Partners|I. M. Pei & Associates]], which until 2008 housed the administrative staff from the church's 15 departments. There is also a children's fountain and a {{convert|690|x|100|ft|m|abbr=on}} [[reflecting pool]].<ref name=BostonRedevelopment>[http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/planning/planning-initiatives/christian-science-plaza-revitalization-project "Christian Science Plaza Revitalization Project Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701095557/http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/planning/planning-initiatives/christian-science-plaza-revitalization-project |date=2015-07-01 }}, Boston Redevelopment Authority.</ref><ref>[http://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/Christian%20Science%20Center%20Complex%20Study%20Report,%20as%20amended_tcm3-17697.pdf Boston Landmarks Commission 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923204327/http://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/Christian%20Science%20Center%20Complex%20Study%20Report%2C%20as%20amended_tcm3-17697.pdf |date=2015-09-23 }}, p. 18.</ref>

=== ''Manual of The Mother Church'' ===
[[File:Manual of the Mother Church (Christian Science).jpg|thumb|alt=several red hard cover books in a pile|Eddy's ''[[Manual of The Mother Church]]'', 89th edition<ref>Eddy, [http://christianscience.com/read-online/manual-of-the-mother-church ''Manual of the Mother Church''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819110331/http://christianscience.com/read-online/manual-of-the-mother-church |date=2013-08-19 }}, 89th edition.</ref>]]

Eddy's ''[[Manual of The Mother Church]]'' (first published 1895) lists the church's [[by-law]]s.<ref>Gottshalk 1973, p.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/details/emergenceofchris00step/page/183 183].</ref> Requirements for members include daily prayer and daily study of the Bible and ''Science and Health''.{{refn|group=n|Members are expected to pray each day: "Thy kingdom come; let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!"<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'', Article VIII, Section&nbsp;4; for more about prayer, Gottschalk 1973, pp.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/details/emergenceofchris00step/page/239 239–240].</ref>}} Members must subscribe to church periodicals if they can afford to, and pay an annual tax to the church of not less than one dollar.<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'', Article VIII, Sections&nbsp;13,&nbsp;14.</ref>

Prohibitions include engaging in mental malpractice; visiting a store that sells "obnoxious" books; joining other churches; publishing articles that are uncharitable toward religion, medicine, the courts or the law; and publishing the number of church members.<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'', Article VIII, Sections&nbsp;8, 12, 17, 26, 28.</ref> The manual also prohibits engaging in public debate about Christian Science without board approval,<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'', Article X, Section&nbsp;1.</ref> and learning hypnotism.<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'', Article XI, Section&nbsp;9.</ref> It includes "The Golden Rule": "A member of The Mother Church shall not haunt Mrs. Eddy's drive when she goes out, continually stroll by her house, or make a summer resort near her for such a purpose."<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'', Article VIII, Section&nbsp;27.</ref>

=== Services ===
{{further|Reader (Christian Science Church)}}
The Church of Christ, Scientist is a [[Laity|lay church]] which has no ordained clergy or rituals, and performs no baptisms; with clergy of other faiths often performing marriage or funeral services since they have no clergy of their own. Its main religious texts are the [[Bible]] and ''Science and Health''. Each church has two [[Reader (Christian Science Church)|Readers]], who read aloud a "Bible lesson" or "lesson sermon" made up of selections from those texts during the Sunday service, and a shorter set of readings to open Wednesday evening testimony meetings. In addition to readings, members offer testimonials during the main portion of the Wednesday meetings, including recovery from ill health attributed to prayer. There are also [[Christian Science Hymnal|hymns]], time for silent prayer, and repeating together the [[Lord's Prayer]] at each service.<ref>[[Stuart M. Matlins]]; Arthur J. Magida, ''How to Be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook'', Skylight Paths Publishing, 2003 (pp. 70–76){{pb}}Dell de Chant, "World Religions made in the U.S.A.: Metaphysical Communities&nbsp;– Christian Science and Theosophy," in Jacob Neusner (ed.), ''World Religions in America'', Westminster John Knox Press, 2009 (pp. 251–270), p.&nbsp;257.{{pb}}
[http://christianscience.com/church-of-christ-scientist/the-mother-church-in-boston-ma-usa/sunday-church-services-and-wednesday-testimony-meetings "Sunday church services and Wednesday testimony meetings"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209013344/http://christianscience.com/church-of-christ-scientist/the-mother-church-in-boston-ma-usa/sunday-church-services-and-wednesday-testimony-meetings |date=2014-02-09 }}, and [https://www.christianscience.com/publications-and-activities/online-services-and-events/online-wednesday-testimony-meeting "Online Wednesday meetings"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613022159/https://www.christianscience.com/publications-and-activities/online-services-and-events/online-wednesday-testimony-meeting |date=2020-06-13 }}, First Church of Christ, Scientist.</ref>

=== Notable members ===
{{Main|List of Christian Scientists (religious denomination)}}
<!--PLEASE ADD FURTHER NAMES, WITH SOURCES, TO List of Christian Scientists (religious denomination), NOT HERE. MANY THANKS.-->
Notable adherents of Christian Science have included [[Director of Central Intelligence|Directors of Central Intelligence]] [[William H. Webster]] and Admiral [[Stansfield M. Turner]]; and Richard Nixon's chief of staff [[H. R. Haldeman]] and Chief Domestic Advisor [[John Ehrlichman]].<ref>{{harvnb|Margolick|1990|p=2}}; {{harvnb|Fuller|2011|p=48}}; [https://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/xsci/suffer.htm Fraser (''Atlantic'') 1995] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103233911/http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/xsci/suffer.htm |date=2010-01-03 }}.</ref> The viscounts [[Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor|Waldorf]] and [[Nancy Astor]], the latter of whom was the first female member of British Parliament, were both Christian Scientists;<ref>{{harvnb|Fraser|1999|p=186}}; {{harvnb|Fort|2013}}</ref> as were two other early women in Parliament, [[Thelma Cazalet-Keir]] and [[Margaret Wintringham]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Women of History: Thelma Cazalet-Keir |url=https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/women-of-history-thelma-cazalet-keir/ |website=Mary Baker Eddy Library |date=22 October 2015}}</ref> Thelma's brother [[Victor Cazalet]] was also a member of the church.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fort |first1=Adrian |title=Nancy: The Story of Lady Astor |date=2013 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-1-84595-161-0 |page=249}}</ref> Another was naval officer [[Charles Lightoller]], who survived the [[Sinking of the RMS Titanic|sinking of the ''Titanic'']] in 1912.<ref>{{harvnb|Fraser|1999|p=427}}; Charles Lightoller, [http://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/1e9xc1so38m "It is difficult to tell of the experience&nbsp;..."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204205012/http://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/1e9xc1so38m |date=2014-12-04 }}, ''Christian Science Journal'', October 1912.</ref> Other adherents in the United States government also include Senator [[Jocelyn Burdick]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stotts |first1=Ryan |title=Jocelyn Burdick, North Dakota's first female US Senator, dies at 97 |url=https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/jocelyn-burdick-north-dakotas-first-female-us-senator-dies-at-97 |work=Grand Forks Herald |date=27 December 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Governor [[Scott McCallum]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Wisconsin Elects Christian Scientist as Governor |url=https://pluralism.org/news/wisconsin-elects-christian-scientist-governor |website=Pluralism Project |publisher=Harvard University |date=9 February 2001 |language=en}}</ref> and Treasury Secretary [[Henry Paulson]].<ref>{{harvnb|Fraser|1999|p=241}}; {{harvnb|Fuller|2011|p=48}}</ref> A number of suffragists were Christian Scientists including [[Vida Goldstein]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brownfoot |first1=Janice N. |title=Vida Jane Goldstein (1869–1949) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goldstein-vida-jane-6418 |website=Australian Dictionary of Biography |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}</ref> [[Muriel Matters]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Wright |first=Clare |year=2018 |title=You Daughters of Freedom |publisher=Text Publishing |page=479}}</ref> and [[Nettie Rogers Shuler]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=James |first1=Edward T. |last2=James |first2=Janet Wilson |last3=Boyer |first3=Paul S. |title=Notable American women, 1607-1950; a biographical dictionary |date=1971 |publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Mass. |isbn=978-0-674-62731-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw00jame/page/286/mode/2up |page=287 |volume=3}}</ref> Businesswomen [[Martha Matilda Harper]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Women of History: Martha Matilda Harper |url=https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/women-of-history-martha-matilda-harper/ |website=Mary Baker Eddy Library |date=1 June 2020}}</ref> and [[Bette Nesmith Graham]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Women of History: Bette Graham |url=https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/women-of-history-bette-graham/ |website=Mary Baker Eddy Library |date=27 February 2023}}</ref> were both Christian Scientists. As was the founder of the Braille Institute of America, [[J. Robert Atkinson]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Webb |first1=Anne Holliday |title=J. Robert Atkinson: Benefactor of the Blind |url=https://www.longyear.org/learn/research-archive/j-robert-atkinson-benefactor-of-the-blind/ |work=Longyear Museum |date=1 December 1972}}</ref>

In sports, [[Harry Porter]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eder |first1=Jonathon |title=Manhood and Mary Baker Eddy: Muscular Christianity and Christian Science |journal=Church History |date=December 2020 |volume=89 |issue=4 |pages=875–896 |doi=10.1017/S0009640720001390}}</ref> [[Harold Bradley Jr.]],<ref>Tony Lobl (February 2022). [https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/2pzdhs2ue2c "A spiritually guided Renaissance man"]. ''[[The Christian Science Journal]]''. vol. 140(2).</ref> and [[George Sisler]]<ref>{{harvnb|Fuller|2011|p=48}}</ref> were all adherents. <!--PLEASE ADD FURTHER NAMES, WITH SOURCES, TO List of Christian Scientists (religious denomination), NOT HERE. MANY THANKS.-->Christian Scientists within the film industry, include [[Carol Channing]] and [[Jean Stapleton]];<ref>{{harvnb|Margolick|1990|p=2}}</ref> [[Colleen Dewhurst]];<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last= Shout |first= John D. |editor-last= Ware |editor-first= Susan |date= 2004 |title= Colleen Dewhurst |encyclopedia= Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary: Completing the Twentieth Century |location= Cambridge, Mass. |publisher= Belknap Press |pages=174–175}}</ref> [[Joan Crawford]], [[Doris Day]], [[George Hamilton (actor)|George Hamilton]], [[Mary Pickford]], [[Ginger Rogers]], [[Mickey Rooney]];<ref>{{harvnb|Gardner|1999}}</ref> [[Horton Foote]];<ref name="Fraser 1999 215">{{harvnb|Fraser|1999|p=215}}</ref> [[King Vidor]];<ref>{{cite book |last= Rambova |first= Natacha |date= 2009 |title= Rudolph Valentino: A Wife's Memories of an Icon |publisher= PVG Publishing |page= 149}}</ref> [[Robert Duvall]], and [[Val Kilmer]].<ref>{{harvnb|Gardner|1999}}; {{harvnb|Fraser|1999|p=215}}; {{harvnb|Fuller|2011|p=48}}</ref> Those raised by Christian Scientists include jurist [[Helmuth James Graf von Moltke]],<ref>{{cite book |last= Biesinger |first= Joseph |date= 2006 |title= Germany: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present |publisher= Infobase Publishing |page= 576}}</ref> military analyst [[Daniel Ellsberg]];<ref>{{cite book |last= Wells |first= Tom |date= 2001 |title= Wild Man: The Life and Times of Daniel Ellsberg |publisher= Palgrave Macmillan |page= 49}}</ref> [[Ellen DeGeneres]], [[Henry Fonda]], [[Audrey Hepburn]];<ref>{{harvnb|Fuller|2011|p=48}}</ref> [[James Hetfield]], [[Marilyn Monroe]], [[Robin Williams]], [[Elizabeth Taylor]],<ref name="Fraser 1999 215"/> and [[Anne Archer]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Wright |first= Lawrence |date= 2013 |title= Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief |location= New York |publisher= Alfred A. Knopf |page= 335 |author-link= Lawrence Wright}}</ref><!--PLEASE ADD FURTHER NAMES, WITH SOURCES, TO List of Christian Scientists (religious denomination), NOT HERE. MANY THANKS.--> Four prominent African American entertainers who have been associated with Christian Science are [[Pearl Bailey]], [[Lionel Hampton]], [[Everett Lee]], and [[Alfre Woodard]].<ref>{{harvnb|Fuller|2011|p=48}}; {{cite news |title=Jazz Great Lionel Hampton Christian Science|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jazz-great-lionel-hampton-dead-at-94/|publisher=CBS News|date=31 August 2002}}; {{cite news |title=Christian Science and Race in America|url=https://uncpressblog.com/2021/03/11/marietta-webb-christian-science-and-race-in-america/|publisher=UNC Press|date=11 March 2021}}</ref>

=== Christian Science Publishing Society ===
[[File:Christian Science Publishing Society, Boston MA.jpg|thumb|alt=multi-storey light-colored stone building, its front decorated with columns over the main entrance|The [[Christian Science Publishing Society]], Massachusetts Avenue, Boston]]

The Christian Science Publishing Society publishes several periodicals, including the ''[[Christian Science Monitor]]'', winner of seven Pulitzer Prizes between 1950 and 2002. This had a daily circulation in 1970 of 220,000, which by 2008 had contracted to 52,000. In 2009 it moved to a largely online presence with a weekly print run.<ref>Stephanie Clifford, [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/business/media/29paper.html "Christian Science Paper to End Daily Print Edition"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170402222452/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/business/media/29paper.html |date=2017-04-02 }}, ''The New York Times'', October 28, 2008; Jon Fine, [http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-10-28/the-christian-science-monitor-to-become-a-weeklybusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice "The Christian Science Monitor to Become a Weekly"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910234126/http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-10-28/the-christian-science-monitor-to-become-a-weeklybusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice |date=2013-09-10 }}, ''Business Week'', October 28, 2008; David Cook, [http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2008/1029/p25s01-usgn.html "Monitor shifts from print to Web-based strategy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125042228/https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2008/1029/p25s01-usgn.html |date=2018-01-25 }}, ''The Christian Science Monitor'', October 29, 2008.</ref> In the 1980s the church produced its own television programs, and in 1991 it founded a 24-hour news channel, which closed with heavy losses after 13 months.<ref>Seth Faison, [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/06/business/the-media-business-new-deadline-for-monitor-channel.html "The Media Business; New Deadline for Monitor Channel"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170402222416/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/06/business/the-media-business-new-deadline-for-monitor-channel.html |date=2017-04-02 }}, ''The New York Times'', April 6, 1992.</ref>

The church also publishes the weekly ''Christian Science Sentinel'', the monthly ''Christian Science Journal'', and the ''[[The Herald of Christian Science|Herald of Christian Science]]'', a non-English publication. In April 2012 JSH-Online made back issues of the ''Journal'', ''Sentinel'' and ''Herald'' available online to subscribers.<ref>[http://jsh.christianscience.com/learn-more "Learn more about JSH-Online"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523040248/http://jsh.christianscience.com/learn-more |date=2013-05-23 }}, christianscience.com.</ref>

=== Works by Mary Baker Eddy ===
{{Div col}}
* ''[[Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures]]'' (1875)
* ''Christian Healing'' (1880)
* ''The People's Idea of God: Its Effect on Health and Christianity'' (1883)
* ''Historical Sketch of Metaphysical Healing'' (1885)
* ''Defence of Christian Science'' (1885)
* ''No and Yes'' (1887)
* ''Rudiments and Rules of Divine Science'' (1887)
* ''Unity of Good and Unreality of Evil'' (1888)
* ''Retrospection and Introspection'' (1891)
* ''Christ and Christmas'' (1893)
* ''Rudimental Divine Science'' (1894)
* ''[[Manual of The Mother Church]]'' (1895)
* ''Pulpit and Press'' (1895)
* ''Miscellaneous Writings, 1883–1896'' (1897)
* ''Christian Science versus Pantheism'' (1898)
* ''The Christian Science Hymnal'' (1898)
* ''Christian Healing and the People's Idea of God'' (1908)
* ''Poems'' (1910)
* ''The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany'' (1913)
* ''[[Prose Works Other than Science and Health]]'' (1925)
{{div col end}}

== See also ==
* {{annotated link|Affirmative prayer}}
* {{annotated link|Faith healing}}
* {{annotated link|New religious movement}}
* {{annotated link|New Thought}}
* {{annotated link|Principia College}}
* {{annotated link|Therapeutic nihilism}}
* {{annotated link|Third Great Awakening}}

== Citations ==
=== Notes ===
{{reflist|group=n|26em}}

=== References ===
{{reflist|26em}}

=== Sources ===
* {{cite book |last1=Bates |first1=Ernest S. |last2=Dittemore |first2= John V. |author-link1=Ernest Sutherland Bates |author-link2= John V. Dittemore |title=[[Mary Baker Eddy: The Truth and the Tradition]] |date=1932 |publisher=A. A. Knopf |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |last1=Beasley |first1=Norman |author1-link=Norman Beasley |title=The Continuing Spirit |date=1956 |publisher=Duell, Sloan & Pearce |location=New York |url= https://archive.org/details/continuingspirit0000beas}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fraser |first1=Caroline |author-link1=Caroline Fraser |title=[[God's Perfect Child]] |date=1999 |publisher=Henry Holt & Co |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fuller |first1=Linda K. |title=The Christian Science Monitor: An Evolving Experiment in Journalism |date=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location= |isbn=978-0-31337994-9 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tu68O9MG0fQC |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221101115454/https://books.google.com/books?id=tu68O9MG0fQC&pg=PA175 |archive-date=2022-11-01 }}
* {{cite news |last=Gardner |first=Martin |title=Mind Over Matter |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=August 22, 1999 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-aug-22-bk-2412-story.html}}
* {{cite book |last1=Gill |first1=Gillian |author-link1=Gillian Gill |title=Mary Baker Eddy |date=1998 |publisher=Perseus Books |location= Reading, MA |isbn=978-0-73820042-2 |url= https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill}}
* {{cite book |last1=Gottschalk |first1=Stephen |author1-link= Stephen Gottschalk |title=Rolling Away the Stone: Mary Baker Eddy's Challenge to Materialism |date=2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington, IN}}
* {{cite book |last1=Knee |first1=Stuart E. |title=Christian Science in the Age of Mary Baker Eddy |date=1994 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Co. |location=Westport, CT |isbn=978-0-31328360-4 |url= https://archive.org/details/christianscience0000knee}}
* {{cite book |last1=Koestler-Grack |first1=Rachel A. |title=Mary Baker Eddy |date=2004 |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |location= Philadelphia |isbn=978-0-79107866-2 |url= https://archive.org/details/marybakereddy0000koes}}
* {{cite news |last=Margolick |first=David |title=In Child Deaths, a Test for Christian Science |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 6, 1990 |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/06/us/in-child-deaths-a-test-for-christian-science.html}}
* {{cite book |last1=Melton |first1=J. Gordon |author-link1=J. Gordon Melton |title=Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America |date=1992 |publisher=Garland Pub. |location=New York |url= https://archive.org/details/encyclopedichand0000melt}}
* {{cite book |last1= Milmine |first1= Georgine |last2= Cather |first2= Willa |date= 1909 |title= The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science |publisher= Doubleday |location= New York |author-link1= Georgine Milmine |author-link2= Willa Cather |url= https://archive.org/stream/lifeofmarybakerg00milmuoft}}
*{{cite book |last1=Peel |first1=Robert |author-link1=Robert Peel (Christian Science) |title=Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Trial |url=https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyyea00peel |url-access=registration |date=1971 |publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston |location=New York |isbn=9780030867002 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Voorhees |first1=Amy B. |title=A New Christian Identity: Christian Science Origins and Experience in American Culture |date=2021 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill, NC}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* [https://www.christianscience.com/ Church of Christ, Scientist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611174719/https://www.christianscience.com/ |date=2020-06-11 }}, christianscience.com
* Mary Baker Eddy, [https://www.christianscience.com/the-christian-science-pastor/science-and-health ''Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103220633/https://www.christianscience.com/the-christian-science-pastor/science-and-health |date=2020-11-03 }}, christianscience.com
* ''New York Times'' archives: [https://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/%22Christian+Science%22/ "Christian Science"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104185600/http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/%22Christian+Science%22/ |date=2018-01-04 }}; [https://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/%22Mary+Baker+Eddy%22/ "Mary Baker Eddy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104185600/http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/%22Mary+Baker+Eddy%22/ |date=2018-01-04 }}.
* [https://www.csmonitor.com/ ''The Christian Science Monitor''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831004650/http://www.csmonitor.com/About/The-Monitor-difference |date=2012-08-31 }}
* [https://journal.christianscience.com/ ''Christian Science Journal''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029214528/https://journal.christianscience.com/ |date=2021-10-29 }}
* [https://sentinel.christianscience.com/ ''Christian Science Sentinel''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029214529/https://sentinel.christianscience.com/ |date=2021-10-29 }}
* [https://herald.christianscience.com/ ''The Herald of Christian Science''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115234455/https://herald.christianscience.com/ |date=2020-11-15 }}
* [https://jsh.christianscience.com/ JSH-Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219013314/https://jsh.christianscience.com/ |date=2021-12-19 }} (''Journal'', ''Sentinel'', ''Herald'')
* [https://plainfieldcs.com/ Independent Christian Science] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029214528/https://plainfieldcs.com/ |date=2021-10-29 }}, plainfieldscs.com
* Haller, John S. ''Shadow Medicine: The Placebo in Conventional and Alternative Therapies'', New York: Columbia University Press, 2014.
* Rogers, Alan. ''The Child Cases: How America's Religious Exemption Laws Harm Children'', Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2014.
* [[Rita Swan|Swan, Rita]]. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-8Y722aqkA "Religion, Culture and Criminal Law"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140630083527/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-8Y722aqkA |date=2014-06-30 }}, Child-Friendly Faith Project Conference, November 8, 2013.
* {{cite book |last1=Wallner |first1=Peter |title=Faith on Trail: Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science and the First Amendment |date= 2014 |publisher=Plaidswede Publishing |location=Concord, New Hampshire}}
{{refend}}

'''Church histories'''
:''(chronological)''
{{refbegin|26em|indent=yes}}
* [[Willa Cather|Cather, Willa]] and [[Georgine Milmine|Milmine, Georgine]]. "Mary Baker G. Eddy", ''[[McClure's]]'' magazine, December 1906 – June 1908.
* [[Lyman Pierson Powell|Powell, Lyman Pierson]]. [https://archive.org/stream/christianscience01powe#page/n9/mode/2up ''Christian Science: The Faith and Its Founder''], New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1917 [1907].
* Peabody, Frederick William. [https://archive.org/stream/completeexposur00peabgoog#page/n1/mode/2up ''Complete Exposure of Eddyism or Christian Science''], Boston: Frederick Peabody, 1907.
* Wilbur, Sibyl. [https://archive.org/stream/lifeofmarybakere01wilb#page/n11/mode/2up ''The Life of Mary Baker Eddy''], New York: Concord Publishing Company, 1908 (first serialized in ''Human Life'', 1907; published by the Christian Science Publishing Society, 1913).
* Meehan, Michael. [https://archive.org/stream/mrseddyandlates00meehgoog#page/n14/mode/2up ''Mrs. Eddy and the Late Suit in Equity''], Concord, NH: Michael Meehan, 1908 (also published as ''Mrs. Eddy and Next Friends'').
* {{cite book |last1=Milmine |first1=Georgine |title=[[The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science]] |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday, Page & Company |date=1909}} [https://archive.org/stream/lifeofmarybakerg00milmuoft#page/n9/mode/2up via Archive.org]
* Lord, Myra B. ''[https://archive.org/details/marybakereddycon00lordiala Mary Baker Eddy: A Concise Story of Her Life and Work]'', Boston, Mass: Davis & Bond, 1918
* Bancroft, Samuel P. ''Mrs. Eddy as I Knew Her in 1870'', Boston: Geo H. Ellis Co, 1923.
* Ramsay, E. Mary. ''[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.90147 Christian Science and its Discoverer]'', Cambridge: Heffer & Sons, 1923. [Republished: CS Pub. Soc., 1923]
* Dickey, Adam E. ''Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy'', London: Robert G. Carter, 1927.
* [[Edwin Franden Dakin|Dakin, Edwin Franden]]. ''Mrs. Eddy, the Biography of a Virginal Mind'', New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929.
* [[H. A. L. Fisher|Fisher, H. A. L.]] ''Our New Religion: An Examination of Christian Science'', New York, J. Cape & H. Smith, 1930.
* Powell, Lyman Pierson. ''[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.156366 Mary Baker Eddy: A Life Size Portrait]'', New York: The MacMillan Company, 1930. [reprinted by CS Pub. Soc.: 1930, 1950, 1991]
* Springer, Fleta Campbell. ''According to the Flesh'', New York: Coward-McCann, 1930.
* [[Ernest Sutherland Bates|Bates, Ernest Sutherland]] and [[John V. Dittemore|Dittemore, John V.]] ''Mary Baker Eddy: The Truth and the Tradition'', New York: A. A. Knopf, 1932.
* [[Stefan Zweig|Zweig, Stefan]]. ''Mental Healers: Mesmer, Eddy and Freud'', London: Pushkin Press, 2012 [1932].
* Smith, Clifford P. ''[https://archive.org/details/historicalbiogra00smit Historical Sketches from the Life of Mary Baker Eddy and the History of Christian Science]'', Boston: CS Pub. Soc., 1934. [1941, 1969]
* [[Irving C. Tomlinson|Tomlinson, Irving C.]] ''[https://archive.org/details/twelveyearswithm0000toml Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy]'', Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 1945.
* Studdert Kennedy, Hugh A. ''Mrs. Eddy: Her Life, Her Work and Her Place in History'', San Francisco: The Farallon Press, 1947.
* [[Norman Beasley|Beasley, Norman]]. ''[https://archive.org/details/crosscrown00beas The Cross and the Crown, the History of Christian Science]'', New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1952.
* Beasley, Norman. ''[https://archive.org/details/continuingspirit0000beas The Continuing Spirit]'', New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1956.
* Beasley, Norman. ''Mary Baker Eddy'', New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1963.
* [[Robert Peel (Christian Science)|Peel, Robert]]. ''[https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyyea0000peel Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Discovery]'', New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966.
* Peel, Robert. ''[https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyaut00peel Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority]'', New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977.
* Silberger, Julius. ''[https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyint00silb Mary Baker Eddy, an interpretive biography of the founder of Christian Science]'', Boston: Little, Brown, 1980.
* [[Martin Gardner|Gardner, Martin]]. ''The Healing Revelations of Mary Baker Eddy'', New York: Prometheus Books, 1993.
* Thomas, Robert David. ''With Bleeding Footsteps: Mary Baker Eddy's Path to Religious Leadership'', New York: Knopf, 1994.
* Knee, Stuart E. ''Christian Science in the Age of Mary Baker Eddy'', Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1994.
* Williams, Jean Kinney. ''[https://archive.org/details/christianscienti00will The Christian Scientists]''. NY: Franklin Watts, 1997.
* Nenneman, Richard A. ''[https://archive.org/details/persistentpilgri00nenn Persistent Pilgrim: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy]'', Etna, NH: Nebbadoon Press, 1997.
* [[Gillian Gill|Gill, Gillian]]. ''[https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill Mary Baker Eddy]'', Reading, MA: Perseus Books, 1998.
* Von Fettweis, Yvonne Cache; Warneck, Robert Townsend ''[https://archive.org/details/marybakereddychr0000vonf Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer]'', Boston: CS Pub. Soc., 1998. [Amplified 2009]
* Koestler-Grack, Rachel A. ''[https://archive.org/details/marybakereddy0000koes Mary Baker Eddy]'', Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2004.
* [[Stephen Gottschalk|Gottschalk, Stephen]]. ''Rolling Away the Stone: Mary Baker Eddy's Challenge to Materialism'', Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.
* Ferguson, Isabel and Vogel Frederick, Heather. ''[https://archive.org/details/worldmorebrightl0000ferg A World More Bright: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy]'', Boston: CS Pub. Soc., 2013.
{{refend}}

'''Books by former Christian Scientists'''
{{refbegin|26em|indent=yes}}
* [[Caroline Fraser|Fraser, Caroline]]. ''[[God's Perfect Child|God's Perfect Child: Living and Dying in the Christian Science Church]]'', New York: Metropolitan Books, 1999.
* Greenhouse, Lucy. ''Fathermothergod: My Journey Out of Christian Science'', New York: Crown Publishers, 2011.
* Kramer, Linda S. ''Perfect Peril: Christian Science and Mind Control'', Lafayette: Huntington House, 2000 (first published as ''The Religion That Kills. Christian Science: Abuse, Neglect, and Mind Control'').
* Simmons, Thomas. ''The Unseen Shore: Memories of a Christian Science Childhood'', Boston: Beacon 1991.
* [[Rita Swan|Swan, Rita]]. ''The Last Strawberry'', Dublin: Hag's Head Press, 2009.
* Wilson, Barbara. ''Blue Windows: A Christian Science Childhood'', New York: Picador 1997.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Portal:Christian Science|Christian Science}}
{{Commons category}}
* [https://plainfieldcs.com/ Plainfield Christian Science Church, Independent]—A part of the Christian Science movement, independent from the Mother Church in Boston

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[[Category:Christian Science| ]]
[[Category:1879 establishments in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Alternative medicine]]
[[Category:Christianity in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Christian new religious movements]]
[[Category:Nontrinitarian denominations]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Boston]]
[[Category:Religious belief systems founded in the United States]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in 1879]]
[[Category:New religious movements established in the 19th century]]