Letters August 31, 1963 Issue

Letters to the Press from Christian Science Committees on Publication

Maurice J. Mansergh

National Message

National Message London, England

[A writer], in his letter in [a recent] issue, raises quite a different point to the one I endeavoured to deal with in my previous letter, which was that Christian Science was not 'a latter-day Gnosticism,' as [a clergyman] had suggested. I will, however, try now to answer [the writer's] point regarding Christian Science and Christ Jesus.

In the Christian Science textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes: 'The word Christ is not properly a synonym for Jesus, though it is commonly so used. Jesus was a human name, which belonged to him in common with other Hebrew boys and men, for it is identical with the name Joshua, the renowned Hebrew leader. On the other hand, Christ is not a name so much as the divine title of Jesus. Christ expresses God's spiritual, eternal nature. The name is synonymous with Messiah, and alludes to the spirituality which is taught, illustrated, and demonstrated in the life of which Christ Jesus was the embodiment. The proper name of our Master in the Greek was Jesus the Christ; but Christ Jesus better signifies the Godlike' (p. 333).

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