Article June 19, 1909 Issue

THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

ANDREW S. CUMMINGS.

The commonly accepted definition of the word "education" is usually comprised in a material knowledge of places, persons, and things, gained through courses of study in some of our various institutions of learning. According to the best authorities, the word education is derived from the Latin educare, to lead forth. In its broadest sense it is the art of developing and cultivating all the powers of man. When extended to the education of the individual, concerning the relation between himself and the Supreme Being, it becomes religious education, which is "the highest phase the art can assume." Education, therefore, is found to be, in its true meaning, a knowledge which broadens mankind's vision and leads them above greed, selfishness, and all forms of sin and disease.

The writer's experience in the study of Science and Health proves the great value of Christian Science as an educator. The help of a Christian Scientist had been sought for a sick child at a time when all material methods had been proven of no avail. With this began a study of the text-book, Science and Health, and after about ten days of this reading he became aware that an appetite for tobacco which had been with him for some years, had been destroyed. It is very evident that if the same time, and more, had been spent in the study of the nature and quality of tobacco, and the probable results of its use, supplemented by the best academic course, any such, to him, astonishing result could not by any possible means have been brought about; but the slight knowledge of man's relation to the Supreme Being, as discerned in his study of Science and Health, did so, which is unquestionable proof that the education gained through the study of Christian Science,—in other words, religious education,—is, according to the definition quoted, "the highest phase the art can assume."

Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 469): "Intelligence is omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. It is the primal and eternal quality of infinite Mind, of the triune Principle,—Life, Truth, and Love,—named God." Previous to taking up the study of Science and Health, most of us were of the belief that intelligence was something possessed by mankind, in varying degrees, and that those more fortunate in its possession were placed at a great advantage over those less fortunate, a belief which sowed broadcast the seeds of envy, malice, hatred, and revenge, because of the advantages which those who were more fortunate were taking over their less favored brothers. Through the educational advantages of Christian Science study, however, we are learning slowly but surely that all men are in reality governed by one Mind and one intelligence, and that the measure of our possession depends not on chance, environment, or good fortune, but on effort and fitness, and that our fitness will be in exact proportion to our effort.

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