About us
What is Christian Science?
Christian Science is a Christian denomination and a world-wide movement. It is defined by its discoverer and founder, Mary Baker Eddy, as “the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony.” (Rudimental Divine Science, p1)
What do Christian Scientists believe?
We believe in one, infinite God who is all-good. We believe that God is all-encompassing and always present, not distant or unknowable – and that every individual is loved by God, cared for by God, and made in God’s image. That is, spiritual.
We believe in the Bible and that Christ Jesus is the Son of God and promised Messiah. Jesus’ teachings and healing work are expressed by applying the laws of God. These laws are still practical and provable today by anyone, anywhere.
The Ten Commandments provided in the Old Testament of the Bible (Exodus 20) and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) are central to our lives and our practice of Christianity.
We believe in the healing power of God’s love – that no one is beyond redemption, and no problem is too entrenched or overwhelming to be addressed and healed. In other words, we don’t believe that salvation occurs at some point in the future, but that the presence of God’s goodness can be experienced here and now, and by everyone.
One of the best ways to learn more about the teachings of Christian Science is to explore its textbook to the Bible, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. This book contains the full explanation of Christian Science and its biblical foundation for spiritual regeneration and healing.
Important points in Christian Science
In Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, outlines the six religious ‘tenets’ – or key points – that summarise the teachings of Christian Science. These are:
- As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.
- We acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ, the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter, and man in God’s image and likeness
- We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.
- We acknowledge Jesus’ atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man’s unity with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death.
- We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the nothingness of matter.
- And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.
Who is Mary Baker Eddy?
Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) established the Church of Christ, Scientist, commonly known as the Christian Science church.
In 1866, after reading one of Jesus’ healings, she experienced a dramatic recovery from a life-threatening accident. Over several years, she studied the Bible and prayed for answers to understand how she had been healed, and soon realised that spiritual healing was based on divine laws of God, Spirit – and that these laws are eternal and can be applied by anyone to heal themselves and others of every form of human suffering.
Mary Baker Eddy verified and shared her discovery of the scientific basis for Christian healing through healing and teaching others to heal. There are now thousands of verified and documented testimonies of physical healing and moral regeneration held at the Mary Baker Eddy Library, many of which can be read in the online archive of Christian Science publications (read on). The full explanation of Christian Science and its biblical foundation of spiritual healing can be found in her textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
She went on to publish 16 more books and started several magazines — the weekly Christian Science Sentinel, the monthly Christian Science Journal and Herald of Christian Science — which feature articles on the practice of Christian Science and include verified testimonies of healing.
She organised a church in 1879, and became one of the most recognised and respected American women of her time. In 1908 she founded the Christian Science Monitor, a global and Pulitzer prize-winning newspaper that provides balanced, humane coverage of world news. It was established to “injure no man, but to bless all mankind” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p353).
She was inducted in the National Women’s Hall of Fame in the United States, and was voted in 1998 as one of the most important religious leaders of the 20th century.
In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and named my discovery Christian Science. God had been graciously preparing me during many years for the reception of this final revelation of the absolute divine Principle of scientific mental healing.
