“Christian Science: A Denial of the Material World”
Tucker, Ruth. “Christian Science: A Denial of the Material World,” Pages 149–76 in Another Gospel: Cults, Alternative Religions, and the New Age Movement. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989.
This chapter on Christian Science is written in the context of a Protestant orthodox apologetic. Tucker’s resources include almost equal voices from Christian Science spokespersons and detractors, although her selection of topics is based on issues that matter most to her orthodox Christian perspective. Of interest in Eddy’s formative years, Tucker notes that ‘Mary’ (Eddy) had always been interested in spiritual matters. “Following a Methodist revival in which she apparently had a conversion experience, she wanted to join with the Methodists but her father intervened and convinced her to return to the Congregational Church” (151b). But after her young husband died, Mary Baker Eddy “seemed to abandon entirely the faith of her childhood” and developed an “insatiable curiosity for anything supernatural, not necessarily an unusual trait for a young woman of her day” (152a). A large portion of the chapter is devoted to ecclesial and theological topics. Tucker explains, for example, that “it is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit that sets Christian Science apart from orthodox Christianity as much as any other” (173b). Regarding the Bible, Eddy does uphold the accuracy of the miracle narratives, and she quotes the Bible frequently. But her work, Science and Health, is regarded by Christian Scientists as the most relevant scripture for today.
ISBN-10: 0310259371
ISBN-13 (Softcover): 978-0310259374
ISBN-13 (Hardcover): 978-0310404408
See also annotations:
“The Impact of Christian Science on the American Churches, 1880-1910” by Raymond J. Cunningham
Rolling Away the Stone: Mary Baker Eddy’s Challenge to Materialism by Stephen Gottschalk
“The Bible and Christian Scientists” by Michael W. Hamilton
“Theodicy After Auschwitz and the Reality of God” by Stephen Gottschalk
“Christian Science Today: Resuming the Dialogue” by Stephen Gottschalk
“Plato, Mary Baker Eddy, and Kenneth Burke: Can We Talk about Substance?” By Louise Zamparutti