Article June 12, 1978 Issue

Signs of the times

with contributions from Kenneth A. Briggs, Robert Peel

Kenneth A. Briggs
in The New York Times
A review of the book
Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority
by Robert Peel
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York

"... the general direction of her [Mrs. Eddy's] teaching as expounded in her basic text, 'Science and Health,' was not so far out of line with common assumptions. She was, above all, not a theologian or philosopher, but a pragmatist who argued that 'the error of the ages is preaching without practice' and demanded that faith be demonstrated by healing. Though dominant American Protestantism formally rested on a 'salvation by faith not works' cornerstone the opposite standard obtain [sic] in daily life. If faith didn't somehow make a visible difference, its claimants made a scant impression. ...

"Among Mrs. Eddy's largely unacknowledged contributions to social history was her emphasis on the equality of women in Christian Science. Her central belief in the power of spiritual healing must also be counted as an important, likewise unattributed, factor in present attitudes toward health care. As confidence in medical science has declined, there has been rising interest in the causes of disease outside the realms of physiology. If the surveys are accurate, a staggering percentage of reported illness is ascribed to 'psychosomatic' causes. The trend is toward preventive medicine, toward the conviction that doctors aid but do not cure, toward the belief that affairs of the mind psychic or spiritual, determine the affairs of the body."

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