The Emergence of Christian Science in American Religious Life

Gottschalk, Stephen. The Emergence of Christian Science in American Religious Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.

Gottschalk’s central claim is that Christian Science is the only truly Christian religion and that it is not traditionally Protestant, even though its leader and adherents came overwhelmingly from Protestant backgrounds. The first chapter cites the reaction to Darwin to illustrate mainstream Protestant accommodation to science versus Mary Baker Eddy’s rejection of material cause and effect. Gottschalk argues that Protestant denominations have been compromised by humanism and his claim that Christian Science is not Protestant is most aggressively made in the last two chapters. Other chapters discuss influences on Eddy, including Puritanism, Jonathan Edwards, Transcendentalism, Phineas P. Quimby, Spiritualism, and New Thought. The author was a Christian Scientist, and at the time this book was published in 1973 it was a more frank presentation than in previous accounts of Eddy’s life by an insider. For instance, Gottschalk does credit healer Quimby with having an influence on Eddy’s development, and he does criticize Christian Scientists for certain attitudes and behaviors that reveal a shallow understanding of Eddy and the rigor of Christian Science.

ISBN-10: 0520023080
ISBN-13 (Softcover): 978-0520304055
ISBN-13 (Hardcover): 978-0520023086