WHAT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IS AND ISN'T

with contributions from PHIL DAVIS, ELISE MOORE, JIM BENCIVENGA

Religion is increasingly prominent in the public dialogue. When someone asks about Christian Science, how do you explain it? What are the common misconceptions? How do you respond to them? For answers, we turned to three longtime Christian Scientists. PHIL DAVIS is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher, and currently works as Manager of Committees on Publication for the Church of Christ, Scientist, based in Boston. ELISE MOORE lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is also a practitioner and teacher. JIM BENCIVENGA is a writer, editor, and amateur astronomer who recently retired after many years with The Christian Science Monitor.

Phil Davis: Sometimes you have to answer a large question during an elevator ride, and those two words—Christian and Science—are often where I start. Christian indicates our following of Christ Jesus—following in his footsteps, our devotion to him. We're students of the Gospels and the entire Bible, but the Gospels are so at the heart of the Bible that we look to them for the life and ministry of Christ Jesus. Science indicates that which can be proved, which is consistent, which points to law at work. When you merge those two words together, you have the life and ministry of Christ Jesus—of discipleship and following him—and putting into practice on a consistent, everyday basis this law of God, of divine Love. God is always present, always Love, Truth, Life. He's never arbitrary, never distant. God's laws are always something to be proved, to put into practice.

Elise Moore: My elevator rides are shorter than yours, Phil. I say that Christian Science is the divine laws of God that Christ Jesus came to teach us, and to practice. It's the divine laws of God that are supreme over material laws, which anyone can learn and demonstrate.

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