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In this book of personal essays, people representing a variety of faiths respond to questions about the Covid pandemic and its impact on their spiritual practice. Susan Searle writes from a Christian Scientist viewpoint, and explains that she accepted vaccination in order to continue her public ministry. 

Shirley Paulson responds to questions about the Covid pandemic and its impact on the practice of her faith, Christian Science. She discusses how the pandemic experience highlighted the need for greater maturity in spiritual healing practices, such as more concern for public issues and greater spiritual clarity, strength, and authority.

The practice of Communion in The Mother Church would come to differ from that in the Christian Science branch churches. Due to the excessive popularity of Communion services in The Mother Church, in 1908 Mary Baker Eddy ceased the practice out of concern that it was becoming too social an event. However, Communion services continued in the branch churches.

Due to the long-standing debate over Mary Baker Eddy’s use of morphine, the Mary Baker Eddy Library sought to resolve it in order to restore focus on Eddy’s larger record. Calvin Frye’s diaries had recorded several instances of Eddy’s use of morphine, but some claimed his diaries had been altered. A forensic analysis in 2021 concluded the diaries are reliable.

This article features the records and testimony of Christian Scientists held in the Japanese Stanley Internment Camp of captured Hong Kong civilians during World War II. It covers their primary concern of getting enough food, and their resourcefulness in holding their own services in spite of the lack of access to hymnals and current issues of the Christian Science Quarterly.

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. 

After the healing of her son through reading Science and Health, Marietta Thomas Webb became a devoted student of Christian Science and eventually, one of the first Black Journal-listed Christian Science practitioners. This article shares her journey of finding Christian Science, and the racial discriminiation she faced as a Black Christian Science practitioner.

Eddy’s first published reference to the subject of vaccination was in an 1880 sermon. In 1900, Eddy was consulted by some Christian Science parents, including her son, who wanted to keep their children from school due to their opposition to vaccination laws. But Eddy recommended compliance with the law and affirmed that one could also submit to the providence of God. 

This report examines the history of Black Americans’ interactions with the Chrisian Science church beginning with the 1919 formation of the Committee on General Welfare, and then focusing on the racial unrest of the 1960s. This coverage included the demands made by Black community activists during the church’s 1969 Annual Meeting and the Board of Directors’ written response.

This chapter, written by the Church, provides information that will help health care providers understand the spiritual needs of Christian Scientists in a practical, clinical setting. Besides a background history of Mary Baker Eddy, the formation of the Church, and its foundational teachings, the chapter explains reliance on prayer for healing as an individual choice, and the adherence to law when it comes to infectious diseases.

After joining the Christian Science church in 1912 and becoming a Journal-listed healing practitioner in 1930, Lulu M. Knight became the first Black American to receive the degree of C.S.B which allowed her to teach her own annual class on Christian Science. Knight was a celebrated Christian Scientist who contributed greatly to Christian Science healing in Chicago.

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.

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.

Kramer’s well-researched critique on Christian Science makes her arguments easier to understand than most critics. She grasps the fundamental teachings and history of the religion well, but she left it for doctrinal reasons. Most of Perfect Peril describes her emotional and intellectual struggles with doctrinal issues. Following a crisis of faith, she concluded that Christian Science is a dangerous mind control. 

The section in this book devoted specifically to Christian Science is relatively brief, but the descriptions of the teachings and church structure accurately portray the issues most commonly affirmed by adherents. Topics of criticism also reflect the most common concerns from religious, medical, and social perspectives.

This essay by an adherent of Christian Science accompanies the main article on Christian Science. Paulson describes her childhood experience and how her religious practice was her primary source of comfort and healing. She recognizes distinctions between Christian Science and orthodox Christianity and explains why she thinks the typical orthodox view of Christian Science’s similarity with Gnosticism is misleading. 

This essay on Christian Science is one of many descriptive introductions of various religions and their relation to evangelical Christianity. Simmons notes that the ‘Christian’ element in Christian Science involves a radical reinterpretation of Jesus and his role in the New Testament. Mary Baker Eddy stressed the practical nature of her ‘science’ in human challenges, thus highlighting the focus on healing. 

Fraser, a harsh critic of Christian Science, focuses on the history of its health practices in relation to the development of Western medicine. Eddy “left a movement that American society found simultaneously appealing (in its emphasis on Emersonian self-reliance) and troubling (for its wholesale rejection of medicine).”

Manca concludes from his research in one region in Canada that although many critics of Christian Science see it as a cult creating a psychological environment that tolerates only obedience, he has found that the healthcare choices made by Christian Scientists are more diverse than previous studies suggested. Those he interviewed made a wide range of choices.

​​Hines’s study on the relationship between illness, disability, and sin in the healing theologies of three American-born religions, including Christian Science, highlights the 19th-century context from which they came. Reacting against the prevalent Calvinist notion of illness and disability offering salvific powers, Christian Science argues that sickness is not God-made. But sick people can feel blamed for their infirmities.

Ruetenik’s unusual suggestion to establish a ‘Church of Christ, Pragmatist,’ envisions an institution based on a pragmatic practice of Christian Science that does not need to be protected or a doctrine that needs to be defended but as a practice that can be modified. It could function as a midway point between optimism (healing always occurs) and pessimism (healing never occurs).

Driessen’s chapter in a book about spiritual perspectives and clinical practices is devoted to the religious background, practice, and ethics of Christian Science treatment. Driessen, an officially recognized Christian Science practitioner, describes the theological foundation of the Christian Science worldview, the resources for healing, and the relationship of Christian Science ethics with the medical world.

As a health communication researcher, Kline focuses this study on Christian Science for several reasons, including the use of health testimonies for examining how prayer affects health, and learning how people communicate about spirituality in their healthcare. Six themes emerged from Kline’s research on testimonials published in Christian Science periodicals in 2008 and 2009, reflecting three general interactive processes involving spirituality and health.

Dose’s article is an argument opposing religious exemption from medical care for very sick children. Focusing on the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, she argues why the government should not endorse spiritual treatment. First, the exemptions are not mandated by the Free Exercise Clause, and second, the exemptions are not a permissible accommodation of religion under the Establishment Clause.

Choi’s and Huff’s chapters explore how two 19th-century Christian women, Lucy Rider Meyer and Mary Baker Eddy respectively, interpreted Pauline and deuteron-Pauline texts to validate women’s empowerment in the Church. Hogan then details striking similarities between Meyer’s and Eddy’s approaches to these texts, and that of many recent feminist and womanist scholars.

Cobb’s paper focuses on the study of religious practice and its value for Christian literary scholars of conscious reflection. He selects Christian Science as an example of how significant differences from secular norms are revealed when religious practices shape readers’ perceptions. Christian Science teaches a direct imitation of Christ that stresses Christ’s emphasis on watching over one’s thinking.

Voorhees’s article largely represents a traditional Christian Science perspective on homosexuality in 2006. The article’s headings include “Theological Views on Companionship,” “Theological Views on Sexuality,” “Altering Christian Science Theology for LGBTQ Advocacy,” “Perspectives on Homohatred,” and “Organization and LGBTQ experience.”

Swensen documents the long-term effect of Alfred Farlow’s early crusade to protect the growing Christian Science Church from outside attacks, and muzzle an unrestrained and over-zealous faithful. He sees this protective stance as casting a long shadow over the content of future church periodicals, and the reason why members have since shown a deep reticence for personal outreach.

Baxter cites a century of mostly unwarranted publicity against the Christian Science Church, but feels some objections raised by the press clearly need examining. In particular, she addresses the Church’s singular focus on healing and promotes a healthy self-examination that should break the silence around failures. Sensible church policy and intelligent engagement with the public would help the Church to progress.

Michell examines the influences, and theological connections and differences, between the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy, Emma Curtis Hopkins, the 19th-century Woman’s movement, and the New Thought and New Age movements. Hopkins, unlike Eddy, would see Truth in all religions, not limited to Christianity, and focused more on a prosperity gospel.

Swanson’s paper applies a social science lens to the social and power structure of the Christian Science Church, seeing the existing organizational structure as not succeeding in 1) generating member trust and solidarity; 2) communicating its beliefs; 3) negotiating power through its rules; and 4) legitimizing a Church belief system so antithetical to the traditional worldview. His conclusions uncover Church weaknesses but miss out on the blessings of membership.

Fraser admits her delight in counting the Christian Science churches closing their doors. Her carefully researched and well-written story of her experience with Christian Science documents the reasons for her anger. She blames the Church for its promotion of a type of radical reliance on God’s power to heal that was impractical and caused unnecessary suffering.

This book is the culmination of a conversation between the three authors in the Journal of Social Philosophy and the Hastings Center Report. They explore the relationship between Christian Scientists and secularized, medically oriented, broader society about the conflicts over medical and religious healing practices. They examine, for example, whether the Christian Science church is ethically irresponsible for influencing its members.

Alan Young, a successful 20th century actor in television and movies, was invited to bring his skill to help the Mother Church. But he became disillusioned with his direct experience working with the Boards of Directors in the late 1960s and early 1970s and tells his personal story, because he thinks his story exemplifies what happened to other skilled professionals.

…humanity in the image of God and that sin, disease, and death do not originate in God. The Church pastor is the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s textbook, Science and…

Robertson writes a comprehensive historical survey of music in the Christian Science faith. She explains the invaluable role music played as a spiritual foundation for Mary Baker Eddy’s founding of her Church. Robertson positions Eddy’s Church in the context of New England theological thought and praxis, demonstrating how it incorporated already existing music before creating its own new tradition.

This 1996 collection of testimonies of healing produced by the Christian Science Publishing Society is a sequel to the 1966 A Century of Christian Science Healing. The objective was to provide evidence of healing that would confirm the Church’s claim that anyone who believes in and trusts God completely, can rely on God’s law alone for health, happiness—and healing.

This collection of brief articles about 14 people who served the Cause of Christian Science during Mary Baker Eddy’s last decades first appeared in a series from The Christian Science Journal between 1987 and 1991. More than imparting interesting historical information, the articles express these individuals’ vital spirit and conviction that moved them to give their all for a Cause.

Tucker had little access to primary or secondary source material to write her account of Mary Collson’s love-hate relationship with Christian Science. But her story reveals some of the complexities of a well-educated and energetic woman seeking to help the world, but who ultimately felt too confined by the domineering and cold-hearted attitudes she encountered in the Christian Science Church.

…preempting the authority of clerical office. However, Mary Baker Eddy ordained the Bible and her textbook, Science and Health, as Pastor of her Church, guaranteeing doctrinal consistency. Braude sees Christian…

The authors summarized six cases in the 1980s in which parents were prosecuted for not providing medical care for their children who died under Christian Science treatment. They found ambiguity in state and federal laws, as well as in the Christian Science Church’s claim that the decision to use Christian Science treatment was individual, leaving parents unsupported and vulnerable.

Poloma seeks to examine empirically the alleged differences between Christian Science and mainline Christian beliefs and practices on a specific topic, namely, spiritual healing. Her methodology includes recorded telephone interviews with 44 Christian Scientists and 95 mainline conservative Christians, all of whom reported having experienced spiritual healing.

Johnsen presents a Christian Science point of view in the context of Rita Swan’s work with the CHILD organization. He clarifies that he has no intention to rebut Swan’s painful personal experience, nor does he represent an official church line on health choices, but speaks from his personal experience of  healing which brought about a close relationship with God.

This book was published by the Christian Science Church in the late 1980s, near the end of the decade of highly publicized losses of children among Christian Scientists. Although Christian Scientists had been practicing spiritual healing over a century, these losses resulted in prosecution of parents and stimulated discussion of religious, ethical, and legal issues. They caused much soul-searching among Christian Scientists.

Schoepflin’s thesis is that in Christian Science, “healing the sick is a consequence of Christian Science practice and not its prime object.” He traces the history of the understanding among Mary Baker Eddy’s followers of what a healing practice is about–initially as a profitable vocation, to the need for gradual spiritual growth (more about religious practice than health care), and the opening up to the need for physical aid.

The editor, Ernest Frerichs, brings together scholars writing about all things biblical in America. In the last chapter, Peel documents the key role of the Bible in Mary Baker Eddy’s life story and the Christian Science tradition, evident especially in Eddy’s textbook Science and Health.  Peel documents Eddy’s 35 years of multiple revisions, resulting from Eddy’s own maturing experience.

Simultaneous with the interest in spiritual healing among mainstream and fundamentalist Christian denominations in the 1970s and 1980s was the concern about the legal basis for such healing practices. Johnsen addresses these concerns by providing a contextual background of the evolution of the ministry of healing in the Christian Science Church from its founding up to the writer’s day.

Welz, Carl J. The Caring Church: Call for a Humane Christianity. Santa Rosa, CA: Meadow Brook Company, 1985. Welz, a former Christian Science teacher and editor of Church periodicals, asks why his Church has not experienced much progress or many healings in the past fifty years. He finds the answer in his own journey from an intellectual abstract approach to Mary Baker Eddy’s writings to a realigned focus on the humanity and good deeds found.

Fifty members each from three faith communities in Houston (Catholic Charismatics, Christian Scientists, and Baha’is) were interviewed to learn the types of social ties effective in recruitment and how these interact with the different group ideologies. Of the 50 Christian Scientist interviewees, recruitment happened most often not by proselytizing, but through intimate, personal contact with members where religious identity was revealed.

Flowers surveys the beliefs of groups—including Christian Science—that refuse medical care and how they interface with the law and the U.S. Constitution. He studies underlying assumptions, the authoritative Bible passages, and the complex legal, religious and moral issues they evoke. Included are some specific examples of the Christian Science Church arguments in favor of exemption.

This Roman Catholic perspective on Christian Science respects its longevity and the simple quiet dignity of its churches, publications, and members. Although Mary Baker Eddy’s non-standard definitions of church, Jesus, and the Christ differ from orthodoxy, these Catholic authors consider Eddy’s views on celibacy and marriage favorably, and claims of healing as not fanatical, escapism, or insanity.

Bednarowski analyzes the roles of women in 19th-century marginal religious movements (including Christian Science) considering these movements’ perception of the divine, interpretation of the Fall, need for a traditional ordained clergy, and women’s roles other than marriage and motherhood. Regarding Christian Science, Bednarowski notes women were present as writers, preachers, teachers, and healers. They also found independence through opportunities for leadership.

Williams presents a history of the evolution of the Christian Science hymnal from its 1892 first edition through to its 1932 sixth edition which contained 143 new hymns. He highlights key contributors to each edition and examines the changes made in tune and lyrics, often to bring them in conformity with Christian Science concepts.

Smith and Wilson, the authors of the ‘Paul Revere’ publications, circulated their materials in the second quarter of the 20th century. Contrary to harsh opposition from those not of the faith who sought to destroy the Church, Paul Revere’s strong critique sought to save the Church from its own undoing. Smith and Wilson were dropped from Church membership in 1950.

Houpt’s book contains valuable primary sources for the history of Christian Science in the decades before and after Mary Baker Eddy’s death in 1910. It covers the life and career of Bliss Knapp, who devoted his life to serving Eddy and her cause. He is best known as the leading proponent of Eddy’s prophetic role as the woman in the Apocalypse.

Nearly fifty years ago, Stokes, the spokesperson for The First Church of Christ, Scientist, answered questions about Christian Science that are still heard today. Contemporary Christian Scientists would recognize a shift in language and social engagement since the 1970s, such as “What is your attitude toward Black people, women, vaccination?” But the basic theological underpinning of the Church’s self-understanding remains valid.

Benson laments that amidst increasing crime, churches have relinquished their traditional role of ethical instruction, replaced by attention to social action, psychological and philosophical theories. In Christian Science, the solution is neither in viewing men as sinners nor in reducing moral standards to a relative level, but rather showing that the individual’s real nature is honest, humane, compassionate, and temperate.

A notice by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled “Christian Science and Community Medicine” is a call for tolerance of the practice of Christian Science by public health officials steeped in the conventional medical industry. This is a historical record of 1974 and does not reflect current views of the medical board.

Merritt, a former member, laments that although Christian Science came as a challenge to orthodoxy, it soon spawned its own orthodoxy. He questions the tightly guarded institutionalizing of the Church, and came to oppose the extremist attitude prevalent in the 1960s against medical support in times of crisis, the over-spiritualization of sexual relations, and other extremist views. 

Despite Mary Baker Eddy’s prohibition against the use of formulas for Christian Science treatment, Kramer establishes a five-step pattern of treatment based on Eddy’s Scientific Statement of Being. He claims that healers needed these fixed rules at that time (1948) because the presentation of Christian Science and its exact science must improve with the advancing age.

Ross’s collection of lectures and his essays on the act of lecturing as a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship offer present-day researchers some insight regarding the evolution of Christian Science lecturing. His comments range from self-improvement to critique on the management of lecturers. With a tone of self-appointed authority, he explains what a good lecture should embody.

Smith, a prominent Christian Scientist who held many senior positions in the church, brought together this collection of articles originally published in The Christian Science Journal as a series titled “Historical and Biographical Papers.” The articles are divided into three parts: biography, organization and history; including Mary Baker Eddy’s childhood and beginnings of her career as author, healer, teacher, and organizer.

Johnson’s eye-witness account explains Mary Baker Eddy’s decisions during the period in which she established her church. Succeeding generations have wondered why Eddy created a church with a self-perpetuating Board of Directors and how some of her followers, such as Nixon, Woodbury, and Foster-Eddy posed such threats to the church. He discusses Eddy’s responses to internal power struggles within the movement.

Clarke shares his experience as a journalist for the New York Herald sent in 1901 to interview Mary Baker Eddy on a wide range of subjects: authority of leadership, necessity of bylaws, church format, the nature of Christ and the soul, state laws governing contagious diseases, vaccinations, and the embrace of the sciences that “seek the finer essences” versus the “false science–healing by drugs.”

The War Relief Committee was established by The Mother Church in Boston in 1914 after the outbreak of WWI to relieve families and individuals who were adversely affected by the war. This book is a report of those activities by individuals and groups (Camp Welfare Committees) in the various states and in the countries of France, Great Britain, Holland, and Switzerland from 1914 to 1918. 

This little-known history of the growth and reception of Christian Science in a pivotal year, 1885, is told through a fictional literary framework. The value of this account is that most history recorded of that period is derived from Mary Baker Eddy or her closest supporters, but this is a rare account of public perceptions of controversies and efforts to find the truth.

This flagship for Christian Science by Mary Baker Eddy is used as the denominational textbook and was intended by its author to “bear consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick” (xii). The book’s theological premise—that Christ Jesus taught and demonstrated the spiritual facts of being—precedes the metaphysical interpretation of scripture that grounds its healing system.

James Henry Wiggins writes a response to a California clergyman’s critique of Christian Science who denigrated the members’ healing works. Wiggins explains Christian Science as a science, the knowledge of which is a universal spiritual law in consonance with the teachings and healings of Jesus. Wiggins takes on the argument of the clergyman point-by-point, explaining the theology and biblical basis of the faith.