CHRISTIAN SCIENCE, the religion founded by Mary Baker Eddy; the religion represented by the Church of Christ, Scientist. Applicable to health, as the Christian religion orig inally was, Christian Science is a religious teaching and practice based on the words and works of Christ Jesus. As defined by Mrs. Eddy, it is "divine metaphysics"; it is "the scientific system of divine healing"; it is "the law of God, the law of good, interpret ing and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. III, 123; Rudimental Divine Science, p. 1). For many years prior to 1866 Mrs. Eddy had observed and studied mental causes and effects. Profoundly religious, she was disposed to attribute causa tion to God and to regard Him as divine Mind. At Lynn, Mass., in that year, she recovered almost instantly from a severe injury after reading an account of healing in the Gospel according to St. Matthew ix. 1-8. The discovery of what she named Christian Science ensued from this incident. As she has said, "I knew the Principle of all harmonious Mind-action to be God, and that cures were produced in primitive Christian healing by holy, uplifting faith ; but I must know the Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute conclusions through divine revelation, reason and demonstration" (Science and Health, p. 109).
At Boston, in 1875, Mrs. Eddy published her principal work, first called Science and Health but afterward entitled Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. It is known also as the Chris tian Science text-book. Occasionally revised by the author, "only to be a clearer and fuller expression of its original meaning" (p. 361), this book received from her its final revision in 1907. It is read in Christian Science services in connection with the Bible, and is to be found in all Christian Science reading rooms as well as in public libraries. For other works on Christian Science by Mrs. Eddy, see the bibliography under EDDY, MARY BAKER. Mrs. Eddy also attached great importance to periodical literature. She founded the Christian Science Journal (a monthly in English) in 1883, and the Christian Science Quarterly (containing the lesson sermons for Sunday services) in 1890. It is published in English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Norwegian, Swedish and in re vised Braille. She founded the Christian Science Sentinel (a weekly in English) in 1898; Der Herold der Christian Science (a monthly in German) in 1903 ; and the Christian Science Monitor (an international daily newspaper) in 1908. Le Heraut de Chris tian Science (a monthly in French) dates from 1918. All except one of these periodicals circulate chiefly among people who have some degree of interest in Christian Science, but the Christian Science Monitor has become established as an excellent newspaper in the estimation of many people who are entirely indifferent towards the religion which it promotes but does not obtrude or even stress.
At first, Mrs. Eddy did not expect to found a distinct church or denomination ; she hoped that her discovery would be accepted soon by existing churches. In a short time, however, a distinct church became needed to facilitate co-operation and unity between Christian Scientists, to present Christian Science to other people and to maintain the purity of its teaching and practice. Accord ingly, at Boston, in 1879, Mrs. Eddy with her followers founded the Church of Christ, Scientist. Soon the original organization became inadequate for the growing denomination. To the first congregation in Boston there were added numbers of Christian Scientists at other places. Local churches as well as a central or ganization or Mother Church became necessary. Therefore, in 1892, Mrs. Eddy with her followers founded the Christian Science Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, of which the local churches throughout the world are regarded as branches Mrs. Eddy passed away in 1910. Until then she had initiated every step in the progress of Christian Science. Nothing of mo ment was done without her approval. Furthermore, although the organic law of the Christian Science movement, its Church Man ual, confers extensive and sufficient powers upon an administra tive board, the Christian Science board of directors, yet this board always had functioned under her immediate supervision. Mrs. Eddy's demise, therefore, immediately tested the adequacy of the Church Manual as an organic law and the loyalty of Christian Scientists to this law, in the absence of its author. Nevertheless the period since 1910 has been the most fruitful and prosperous in the history of Christian Science.
The theology of Christian Science begins with the propositions that God is the only might or Mind ; that He is "the divine Prin ciple of all that really is" (Science and Health, p. 275). To define God further, it employs frequently the word Good, besides such terms as Life, Truth, Love, Soul, Spirit and Infinite Person. Next to God, the name Jesus and references to Him occur most fre quently in the authorized literature of Christian Science. Con cerning Jesus the Christ and His relation to God and men, Chris tian Science distinguishes between what is in the New Testament and what is in the creeds, doctrines and dogmas of later times. Accordingly, Christian Scientists speak of Him oftenest as the Way or Way-shower and they regard His atonement, His chief work, as "the exemplification of man's unity with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life and Love" (Science and Health, p. i8).
The most distinctive feature of Christian Science teaching is its absolute distinction between what is real and what is apparent or seeming but unreal. This distinction Mrs. Eddy explains, for instance, as follows : "All reality is in God and His creation, har monious and eternal. That which He creates is good, and He makes all that is made. Therefore the only reality of sin, sickness or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, err ing belief, until God strips off their disguise. They are not true, because they are not of God" (Science and Health, p. 472). Con trary to common misapprehension, Christian Science does not ig nore what it regards as unreal. This religion teaches its adherents to forsake and overcome every form of error or evil on the basis of its unreality; that is, by demonstrating the true idea of reality. This it teaches them to do by means of spiritual understanding, spiritual law and spiritual power.
In this connection, Christian Science maintains that the truth of being, the truth concerning God and man, includes a rule for its practice and a law by which its practice produces effects. To a certain extent Jesus declared this rule and law when he said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John viii. 32). Accordingly, for an individual to gain his freedom from any form of error or evil, he should know the truth, the absolute truth of being, applicable to his case ; and Christian Science further teaches that this practice is effective when employed by one indi vidual for another, because such is the unity of real being and such is the law of God. For these reasons, evidently Jesus could and did declare the possibility of Christian healing in unlimited terms. See Matthew x. 5–I o and xxviii. 16-2o ; Mark xvi. 14-18; John xiv. 12.
The practice of Christian Science is not merely mental; it must be also spiritual. Indeed, it is truly mental only as it is ab solutely spiritual. The non-spiritual elements in the so-called hu man mind do not contribute to harmony or health. The practi tioner must know or realize spiritually, and his ability to do this is derived from the divine Mind. Therefore, he must agree with the Teacher and Way-shower who said, "I can of mine own self do nothing" (John v. 3o), and must prepare for the healing ministry and keep himself in condition for it by living the life of a genuine Christian. The practice of Christian Science is not limited, as is commonly supposed, to the healing of the sick. On the contrary, Christian Scientists regard their religion as applicable practically to every human need.
While the adherents of Christian Science are chiefly found among people who read English, it has followers among Christian people everywhere and also among Jews. In 1928 there were 2,351 churches, besides many groups not yet formally organized. Of these churches, there were in the United States 1,983; in Great Britain, 186 ; Germany, 47; other countries, 147. (C. P. S.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Mrs. Eddy, Science and Health With Key to the Bibliography.-Mrs. Eddy, Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures (Boston, latest revised edition, 191o) ; Edward A. Kimball, Lectures and Articles on Christian Science (Chesterton, Indiana, 1921) ; I. M. Haldeman, Christian Science in The Light of Holy Scripture (New York, second edition, 1909) ; Charles Herman Lea, A Plea For The Thorough and Unbiased Investigation of Christian Science. (London, 1923).