“Christian Science in 20th Century Britain: Part II”

Gartrell-Mills, Claire. “Christian Science in 20th Century Britain: Part II.” Religion Today 9, no. 1 (1993): 7-10. 

Gartrell-Mills’s Part II continues her examination of Christian Science in 20^th century Britain. When Christian Science was introduced in the late 1890s, both the public and the conservative Anglican Church (strongly linked to the medical profession) distrusted it as a “foreign intruder” (7). This was exacerbated by deaths due to failure to rely on medical care. And paying healing practitioners, when clergymen prayed for free, was suspicious. Yet, the more positive content of Christian Science theology would come to prove more compelling than the Anglican worldview as a “vale of tears.” And Gartrell-Mills saw the growing public demand for spiritual forms of healing putting pressure on the Anglican Church to respond in kind. She also saw Christian Science affecting medical attitudes, opening them up to spiritual considerations. During and after WWI, a group of socially and politically prominent members contributed their wealth to the establishment of several branch churches and gained a respectable foothold in British social circles. But after WWII, with the diminishing class system, and a loss in the confidence and hopefulness inspired by Christian Science, the movement declined. And with its focus on spirituality, Christian Science was not “an appropriate religious aid for modern achievements” (9).

ISSN: 0267-1700

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13537909308580703

See also annotation:

“Christian Science in 20^th Century Britain” Part I by Claire Gartrell-Mills