“The Christian Science Tradition”

Schoepflin, Rennie B. “The Christian Science Tradition,” Pages 421–46 in Caring and Curing: Health and Medicine in the Western Religious Traditions. Edited by Ronald L. Numbers and Darrel W. Amundsen. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

Schoepflin begins by laying out the rich historical context wherein Mary Baker Eddy struggled to distinguish and preserve her movement—an amalgam of science, medicine, traditional Christianity, Spiritualism, mesmerism, homeopathy, water cure, mind cure, New Thought, and Swedenborgianism. Next Schoepflin sketches out Eddy’s rocky start of Christian Science including early difficulties with internal dissent. Another section focuses on Christian Science practitioners—their training, Christian Science ‘treatment,’ and whether healing is dependent upon practitioner understanding or patient faith. Schoepflin then examines how Eddy consolidated, reorganized and evangelized her movement between 1890–1910—formation of the Christian Science Board of Directors, appointment of public lecturers, construction of the original Church edifice, elevation of her textbook, Science and Health, along with the Bible, to the status of Pastor, codification of policy in the Church Manual, and establishment of the Christian Science Publishing Society. “…Eddy best displayed her genius through a subtle interplay of prophetic charisma and administrative savvy…” (436). Eddy also made some concessions to legislative pressures even as she tightened controls over member practices. Finally, Schoepflin assesses Christian Science and its interface with the modern world after Eddy’s death—how members juggle their desire to absolutely obey Eddy’s instructions while also honoring her ability to creatively adapt to society changes.

ISBN-10: 0029192706
ISBN-13 (Softcover): 978-0801857966
ISBN-13 (Hardcover): 978-0029192702