“Have Any Native Americans Been Christian Scientists?”

Mary Baker Eddy Library, The. “Have Any Native Americans Been Christian Scientists?” Released 22 August 2022

This research on Native American affiliation with Christian Science begins with the example of Tsianina Blackstone, a Native American singer who later became a Christian Science practitioner from 1942 to 1981. A long-term illness caused her to lose her voice, but an introduction to Christian Science brought permanent healing. She wrote in her memoir: “The word of God heals. I know that the American Indian has proved it many times. It is a provable fact in Christian Science, and I have proved it in my own experience.” Although there is no evidence of organized Christian Science churches on reservations, this study documents how Christian Scientists held informal services and brought healing to individuals, such as the 1899 healing of a Ute Chief, and the 1908 healing of Lauretta S. Holtze of dropsy. The article links to other Native American healing testimonies in the Christian Science periodicals, as well as to Christian Science evangelizing work on reservations.

View this article on The Mary Baker Eddy Library website.

See also annotations:

“Metaphysical Healing and Health in the United States” by Brett Hendrickson

“The Object of Christian Science: Word, Image, and Spirituality in Robert Indiana” by Joe A. Thomas