Article January 31, 1953 Issue

"UNDERSTAND THE READING"

PERCIVAL ROBERTSON

On page 495 of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy answers a question which is close to the heart of every student of Christian Science: "How can I progress most rapidly in the understanding of Christian Science?" The answer begins thus: "Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit." There is more, much more, to the answer, but this is the starting point.

It has been my great privilege for many years to teach classes of older pupils in the Christian Science Sunday School. The experience has impressed on me the great desirability that earnest pupils understand clearly what they read, and this involves knowing what the words they read mean. More experienced pupils, as a rule, know Mrs. Eddy's scientific definitions of words as given in the chapters of Science and Health entitled "Recapitulation" and "Glossary"—and elsewhere–but many of them are not so well informed in the meaning of some of the words commonly used in the Bible and the Christian Science textbook.

Mrs. Eddy had a large vocabulary and used it with scrupulous precision. The same may be said for the authors of the Bible, although many Bible writers used words in a highly figurative or symbolic sense. But in any case, a clear grasp of a passage necessitates understanding the meaning of the words.

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