Letters to the Press

From Christian Science Committees on Publication

Allison W. Phinney

The Hartford Courant

In The Hartford Courant Hartford, Connecticut

A recent column in The Hartford Courant referred to Christian Science in a cliché way as a form of optimism or positive thinking. Actually, the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, if honestly read, evidence startling realism about human life. At the same time they express radical faith in the practicality of Christian prayer.

Prayer and the Christian life that undergirds it obviously seem to many today merely a weak form of "thinking good thoughts." But would anyone really say that it was mere optimism that inspired Christians of the first century with the conviction that the tragedy of the cross led triumphantly to the glory of the resurrection? And was it mere positive thinking that made St. Paul write with joy that Christ "hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel"?

Christian Science is rooted in this New Testament Christianity. In 1879, when the motion to found the Church was made, it was voted: "To organize a church designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing" (Manual of The Mother Church, p. 17).

Allison W. Phinney Manager Committees on Publication

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