Article November 15, 1919 Issue

To assume that Christian Science "bears no relation to...

Peter V. Ross—San Francisco, Calif.

Emanu-El

To assume that Christian Science "bears no relation to Judaism" would lead to the erroneous conclusion that Christian Science bears no relation to the Old Testament, for Judaism, while in part made up of tradition and ceremony, is in large measure and in vital respects based on the Old Testament. So far as it is so based, Judaism and Christian Science have a common foundation; it is only as Judaism is built up of rites and dogmas that Christian Science ceases to be in touch with it.

The fundamental teachings of the Old Testament are accepted by both Jew and Christian Scientist. Those fundamentals are simply that there is one God, the great I am; that He is omnipresent and omniscient, that is, incorporeal Life, Truth, intelligence; and that obedience to Him brings life and happiness, while disobedience leads to distress and despair. These are basic teachings of the Old Testament, of Judaism, and of Christian Science alike. Christian Science departs from Judaism, chiefly, in giving these teachings a practical application. Thus, postulating that there is one creator, who is good, Christian Science successfully disputes the reality of evil; accepting God as the only Life, Christian Science attacks sickness, the principal enemy of life, as at most a mistaken human belief, and hence overcomes it where other health systems fail because they admit as real the very thing they hope to destroy. Recognizing God to be the only Mind, Christian Science looks for and is bringing about an end of the confusion and strife growing out of the false supposition that there are minds many.

This interpretation, instead of carrying "no appeal to the Jew," makes every appeal to him, as Christian Science takes hold of his thought, for it imparts a significance and vitality to the Scriptures which they never before possessed for him. It enables him, he believes, to separate the essential truths of the Old Testament from the nonessential forms and traditions of Judaism and thereby to see, contrary to the orthodox Jew's opinion, that the Old and New Testaments are "in accord with each other," and that, while the law was given by Moses, "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."

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