Christian Science

Christian Science The basic philosophy of Christian Science is idealism. “Nothing is real and eternal; nothing is spirit- but God and his ideal; evil has no reality.” The primary theme of The Bible is that spiritual power always triumphs over material power. As a result, illness is not real. Instead, it is simply a failure of faith and this can be documented, “scientifically,” in the lives of those who have genuine faith. Christian Science was discovered and founded by Mary Baker Eddy. “The Mother Church.” Raised in a strict, religious home, she derived her lifelong interest in Christianity and the Bible. Throughout her childhood and into her adult years, she was plagued with ill health. This motivated her to study alternative methods in healing, which deviated from the then current medical techniques, which had failed her. After her first husband’s death, she began to study a number of healing ministries. At the age of forty-one, she sought a cure from a healer, Phineas Quimby. Mr. Quimby was a clockmaker who developed a method of natural healing. He emphasized the role of the human mind in achieving bodily health. Mr. Quimby felt that the key to healing lay in the confidence by the healer in the patient’s recovery, and in the confidence that the patient has in the healer’s ability. Mrs. Eddy was a student-associate of Mr. Quimby until his death in 1866. Initially, her health improved under his care, but later she suffered a relapse. Shortly afterwards, she fell on an icy sidewalk and severely injured herself. Some did not expect her to survive. On what she believed to her deathbed, she read one of Jesus’ healings and suddenly realized that healing comes not from internal bodily processes, or from the power of a person’s mind, but from the Divine Mind, God. She was instantly cured. Mrs. Eddy withdrew from society for three years in order to concentrate on a deep search through the Bible and discover precisely how her healing had taken