Article May 22, 1948 Issue

SCIENCE—THEOLOGY—MEDICINE

[Original article in German]

FRIEDRICH PRELLER

Christ Jesus , the greatest Teacher of mankind, frequently used parables to make the divine message clear to his hearers. His subject matter was drawn from practical daily life. Sometimes he would explain the parables, but at other times he refrained from adding any further comment, as for instance, in his parable of the "leaven, which a woman took, and had in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened" (Matt. 13: 33). In graphic symbolism Jesus likened the kingdom of heaven to the leaven hidden in three measures of meal.

Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, was not content with a perfunctory interpretation of this parable. In her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," she entitles one chapter "Science, Theology, Medicine." The three measures of meal to which Jesus referred in his parable she interprets as typifying science, theology, and medicine. These three modes of thought in their human significance have for centuries focused the attention of intelligent thinkers and given wide scope to the inventions, developments, and experiments of the human mind. But can anyone seriously claim that in all this time they have given suffering humanity lasting release from the bonds of ignorance, sin, or sickness?

Mrs. Eddy, whose broad spiritual vision far surpassed human reasoning, perceived that the leaven represents the Science of Christ. This leaven, when received into human consciousness, translates science, theology, and medicine, the three spheres of thought which comprise all essential human interests and considerations, into their spiritual originals. On page 504 of Science and Health she states: "The rays of infinite Truth, when gathered into the focus of ideas, bring light instantaneously, whereas a thousand years of human doctrines, hypotheses, and vague conjectures emit no such effulgence." The rays of Truth dispel whatever darkness envelops these three modes of thought.

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