Article March 25, 1916 Issue

Deity is properly a synonym of God. Divinity, as defined...

Carl E. Herring

Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald

Deity is properly a synonym of God. Divinity, as defined by Webster, in its primary meaning and as used in Christian Science means of the "nature or essence of God." That Jesus is not God, and that he not only made no such claim but expressly disavowed it, as frequently evidenced in the gospels, is the position of Christian Science; but that he was endowed with the nature and essence of Deity is affirmed, and this constitutes the divinity of Jesus.

While it is true that Jesus represented the highest form of divinity which could be expressed in the flesh, yet it must be understood that the Christ, or divine idea, has always existed, and while the words Christ and Jesus are commonly used interchangeably, the former is properly applied to Jesus only in the sense that he was the demonstrator of the divine idea. Mrs. Eddy, in speaking of the spiritual conception, expresses the thought in more apt language in Science and Health (p. 29): "The Holy Ghost, or divine Spirit, overshadowed the pure sense of the Virgin-mother with the full recognition that being is Spirit. The Christ dwelt forever an idea in the bosom of God, the divine Principle of the man Jesus, and woman perceived this spiritual idea, though at first faintly developed."

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