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Utilizing church records and publications, plus public sources, Swensen examines the reasons for decline of Christian Science focusing on a dominating church leadership valuing conformity and eschewing individual initiative. Also contributing was the development of medical science, bad press, a lack of socializing opportunities among youth, and cloistered members’ reticence to share their faith. Some hope comes in the recent reorientation toward members’ own initiative.

Amy B. Voorhees’s A New Christian Identity offers a concise, culturally informed study of Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, and the rise of Christian Science. While noting some minor errors, reviewer Judy Huenneke sees the book as a valuable resource for readers of American religious history and women’s religious leadership, and she praises its sympathetic, well-researched approach, and insightful context.

Introvigne determines that Kwon’s book on American painter and Christian Scientist Joseph Cornell is both “a superb achievement and a missed opportunity” (188). Since Kwon acknowledged that Christian Science was “an epistemological structure that shaped [Cornell’s] worldview rather than a set of principles he sought to illustrate” (quoting Kwon, 221), religion scholars would have hoped for more details. 

Swensen documents how, in the fifteen years after the passing of Mary Baker Eddy (1910-1925), the Christian Science Board of Directors consolidated and centralized their authority both at Church headquarters and over local branch churches. Mirroring a corporate business model, church organization, administration, and standardization were merged with obedience and loyalty. 

Eder finds in Mary Baker Eddy’s writings about masculinity that Christian Science could not be practiced only as an ethereal form of religion (caricatured as a woman) but reflect “a discernible and repeated thrust to extend the reach of Christian Science thought and practice beyond the sheltered sphere of nineteenth-century feminine religiosity into the proving grounds of the public realm.”

Within the context of how new Christian denominations relate healing systems with the Bible, Paulson cites different traditions that lie on the spectrum between continuationists who believe healing is still possible, such as the Christian Scientists, and the cessationists who see healing as ended with the apostles, and work with medicine for a cure. Christian Science spiritual healing mirrors Christ’s authority.

Reesman details many parallels between Mark Twain’s troubled later life and his one-dimensional literary portrayals of both Joan of Arc and Mary Baker Eddy. Both were visionaries. Joan’s voice in her trial record is consistent, but Eddy was delusional. Eddy uses her mentor, Quimby’s, words for her own profit. Both of Twain’s literary portrayals put his own personality on full display.

Swensen examines the initial flock and organization of the Church Mary Baker Eddy founded and then disbanded ten years later. The early 1880s brought new members and stability, spurring Eddy to organize. But this embattled precursor of today’s Mother Church would be irredeemably challenged by a volatile membership, unreliable preaching by invited clergy, and confusion over competing metaphysical groups.

Stiles examines late nineteenth-century literary references to the “inner child,” defined as “a person’s original or true self,” in the writings of New Thought authors. She highlights the maternal imagery of Mary Baker Eddy’s church and identifies Frances Hodgson Burnett’s book Little Lord Fauntleroy as a prominent example of literature portraying the child as a model of health and optimism.

Mina Loy’s Christian Science faith with its views of the body, along with 19th-century spiritualism informed her poetry. She conceptualized in her poetry a non-binary kind of embodiment—away from body/soul or life/death—to life as beyond the body. Loy saw death and the physical as illusory and thereby able to break with biological determinism and personality.  

Dean, a graduate student in American Religious History, examines the life of Mary Baker Eddy through a psychological lens—”her desires, her fears, the way in which she came to this [Christian Science] doctrine, and her state of mind throughout her life” (61). His aim is to humanize Eddy beyond the stereotypical views of her as either saint or fraud.

In response to the unrestrained muckraking attacks on Mary Baker Eddy, Yemma, a late 19th century journalist, decided to give serious consideration to the meaning of Mary Baker Eddy’s work and her contribution to human development. The 2016 Christian Science Journal brings Flower’s work to light today.

Damaging newspaper accounts incentivized Mary Baker Eddy to found The Christian Science Monitor with the intent to be a more professional alternative sticking closely to facts and highlighting optimism rather than fear. Although this approach helped dampen the polemic around the church, critics found it lacking in illuminating systemic societal abuses of power.

Paulson provides a defense of Christian Science as Christian, citing two main points: 1) from earliest times there have been many Christianities of which Christian Science is one expression; 2) Eddy’s Christianity was born out of her difficult life experiences and search of scripture. She became “a Christian reformer, seeking to revitalize the Bible’s practical, transformative power.”

In this brief article, Westbrook makes some comparisons between Christian Science and Scientology. In common both draw on a theological link between science and religion, and both refer to their main church body as their ‘Mother Church.’ But mainly Westbrook points out their dramatic differences in theology, organization and mission.

In this brief paper, Rider compares theological interpretations of biblical texts between Christian Science and Christian orthodoxy, arguing for a radical difference. The texts he selected include creation stories in Genesis, the Lord’s Prayer, the miracles of Jesus, and his crucifixion and resurrection.

Nicoletta, professor of architectural history, sees the 1964-1965 World’s Fair reflecting a major shift in the 1960s from modernism to postmodernism. The Christian Science pavilion was a dazzling white structure topped by a translucent pyramid that bathed the interior with light. The natural light, reflecting pool, white color, and symbolic use of the number seven, conveyed the harmony of Christian Science.

Schoepflin’s review acknowledges the relevance of Rogers’s study of America’s religious exemption from vaccination in light of the then-current 2015 measles outbreak in the United States—even though Rogers primarily uses case studies of Christian Science practice from 30–35 years prior to his study to argue his case that children are harmed by exemption laws. 

This article stems from Lessiter’s talk “Architecture and Design of Six, Purpose-Built, Early, Christian Science Churches in London.” Lessiter asks what images were being presented to the public and what these images say about the people worshipping inside. She examines the churches’ churchly character as well as practical aspects such as the foyer, acoustics, foundation stones, Bible quotes on walls, and the lack of depictions of Eddy’s life.

Dericquebourg distinguishes those religious expressions where ontological salvation is their primary goal and purpose, from ‘healing churches’ (where he places Christian Science) where ontological salvation is also important, but the healing of mind and body is the heart of their faith and the authentication of their theology. He lists characteristics in common with other healing religions as well as their points of tension.

Issaoui questions the limits of the legal accommodations that allow Christian Science practitioners and/or parents to rely on spiritual means in treating Christian Scientists. By examining specific cases, she concludes the key issue is finding a balance between the religious right to practice Christian Science healing and the State’s responsibility to prevent child endangerment.

Artist Ben Nicholson credits Christian Science as a formative influence on his desire to express art beyond the visible world into a hidden structure of reality focused on ideas. Nicholson also intended his art to incite social change by fostering a state of mind that is spiritually constructive rather than materially destructive.

Introvigne reviews 19th- and 20th-century artists to understand how their Christian Science beliefs and convictions influenced and inspired their art. James Franklin Gilman, Violet Oakley, Evelyn Dunbar, Winifred Nicholson, the ‘Group of Seven,’ and James Cornell are featured artists in this review. Cornell, considered by Introvigne as the most important, was famous for his collages and ‘boxes.’

…Parliament in the UK in the early 20th century, and how their Christian Science faith sustained and guided them. These three women, Nancy Astor (the very first woman in Parliament),…

Lobl, the UK/Ireland representative for Christian Science, notes that in spite of the abundance of research on the connection between spirituality and health, he sees a need to widen the sphere of public concern so that policies reflect the growing numbers of people who value spirituality in the realm of healthcare. A case study is included.