“Christian Science, Jewish Science, and Alfred Geiger Moses”
Umansky, Ellen M. “Christian Science, Jewish Science, and Alfred Geiger Moses.” Journal of the Southern Jewish Historical Society, vol. 6 (2003): 1-31.
Umansky documents the life and works of Alfred Geiger Moses, an early twentieth-century rabbi and author of two books on his teachings which he called Jewish Science. At this time there was an exodus of Jews to the Christian Science church looking for physical healing and spiritual meaning. In response, Moses’s first book focused on refuting the claims of Christian Science, contrasting them with Jewish Science and revealing what he saw as an anti-Jewish bias in Mary Baker Eddy’s work. Umansky provides a thorough analysis of the evolution of Moses’s thought. His first book, in reaction to Christian Science, creates a new counter-vision of happiness and health set within a specifically Jewish context. Moses’s interest was to develop a practical faith as evident in healing practices, moral character and charity. His second book shows the growing influence of both psychology and New Thought, and how these were applied within the context of his Reformed Judaism. For example, his “art of genuine prayer” (6) became a means of bringing about divine healing through the practices of silence, affirmation, petition, visualization, and denial. Moses never formed an independent Jewish Science group, but his influence opened Reformed Judaism to more personal goals such as health and happiness.
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ISSN: 1521-4206
See also annotations:
“From Christian Science to Jewish Science, Spiritual Healing and American Jews” by Ellen M. Umansky