The Ram in a Thicket: Rebirth and Reform in the Practice of Christian Science

Wadleigh, George. The Ram in a Thicket: Rebirth and Reform in the Practice of Christian Science. Lima, OH: Fairway Press, 2021.

Wadleigh’s purpose is to help foster a rebirth and reform in the practice of Christian Science—a rebirth that self-knowledge could help advance. Looking through the lens of his own experience as a longtime Christian Science practitioner and insider, he takes up an appraisal of the Church and its members’ persistently unexamined, unresolved challenges and mistakes. These are the elephants in the room, such as: demonstrated good will amidst differences, community relations, care for each other’s welfare, lingering outmoded views of race and class, relationship with the modern medical establishment, and accountability and standards for spiritual healing in a scientific age. His overriding concern is the cherishing of the humane dimension of Christian Science practice, and how that has sometimes been subordinated by dogma or those all-too-settled traditions and notions. “…without the gospel,—the union of justice and affection,—there is something spiritually lacking….” (Science and Health, 592). Wadleigh’s book is well-illustrated with examples and creative suggestions, but some of his Christian Science readers might wish for more acknowledgment of what has worked effectively, and the many big-hearted Christian Scientists devoted to finding a way to a viable future.

ISBN-10: 1736760203
ISBN-13 (Softcover): 9781736760208