Are you sure?
This bookmark will be removed from all folders and any saved notes will be permanently removed.
Why Christian Science is not a cult—7
Editors' Note: From earliest days misrepresentations of Christian Science teachings have been circulated by critics. More recently these have reached a crescendo in a broad-scale attempt to brand Christian Science a "non-Christian cult. " We feel these questions and answers on key points, prepared by the Committee on Publication, will be of interest to our readers and inquirers. We present them in line with the purpose our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, assigned this publication, "to hold guard over Truth, Life, and Love,"The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353. and in the spirit of her words, "A lie left to itself is not so soon destroyed as it is with the help of truth-telling." Ibid., p. 130.
Question: Mrs. Eddy claimed to be the Discoverer of Christian Science, but many writers repeat that she was actually indebted for it to Phineas P. Quimby.
Answer: This has been said—but not by scholars who have investigated the matter fully. A thorough examination of the historical facts on this subject can be found in two recent scholarly works. Robert Peel, Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Discovery, The Years of Trial, The Years of Authority (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966, 1971, 1977) and Stephen Gottschalk, The Emergence of Christian Science in American Religious Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973) These and other carefully researched studies show that there is a categorical difference between the basic Christianity of Mrs. Eddy's teachings and Quimby's views, which were rooted in mesmerism. In Christian Science, healing is a phase of Christian salvation, and it results from a wholehearted turning to God as the one infinite, divine Mind. Quimby, on the other hand, saw healing as the result of what we today call mental suggestion—as a matter of psychological manipulation rather than of spiritual rebirth.
Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.
JSH Collections
This article is included in:
1982 - PAMPHLET
What makes Christian Science Christian
JSH-Online has hundreds of pamphlets, anthologies, and special editions for you to discover.
November 9, 1981 issue
View Issue-
What is man really like?
HELEN TIFFANY REILLY
-
God will do right
HARRIET BERG HARVEY
-
Run and pray
FAITH THOMAS MILLER
-
Nothing to erase
GERALD STANWELL
-
Home—a place to be yourself
CRAIG LUEDEMAN
-
"Let me know!"
OLGA COSSI
-
With perfect aplomb
SUSANNE D. deMILT
-
Purpose
JUNE McCLENEGHAN FOWLER
-
Preserve your mental integrity
NATHAN A. TALBOT
-
To heal a "house divided"
WILLIAM E. MOODY
-
Let's look in the mirror
Barbara M. Vining
-
A number of years ago my husband and I had...
HELEN E. BERTHELSON
-
Recently I had my carefully ordered priorities rearranged in a...
RICHARD A. SIMONCELLI
-
I first relied on Christian Science one time when our little...
JANE PEARL MARTIN