Article May 11, 2009 Issue

CHURCH THAT EMBODIES THE HEALING CHRIST — TODAY

MARY BAKER EDDY'S VISION FOR THE CHURCH SHE DESIGNED TO HEAL AND BLESS THE WORLD.

BY MICHAEL R. DAVIS

THE FIRST CHAPTER OF JOHN'S GOSPEL says that the eternal Word of God, or Christ, "was made flesh, and dwelt among us" as a human being—Christ Jesus (verse 14). Other New Testament Gospels tell us that in Jesus' life and ministry, the kingdom (or reign) of God was breaking into people's lives, saving them from bondage to sin and disease, and even restoring them from death.

After Jesus' ascension, congregations of early Christians continued to embody this saving power of Christ. In his first letter to the Corinthians (12:27), the Apostle Paul called the Church "the body of Christ." The founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, later defined the Christ as "the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error" (Science and Health, p. 583). Reports of healings of sickness and other forms of "incarnate error" through divine power were common in those early Christian churches.

But even though the number of Christians greatly increased over the centuries, daily demonstrations of the healing power of the Christ pretty much died out a few hundred years after Jesus' time. This was the situation in 1866 when Mary Baker Eddy was healed of a serious injury through God's power, and started healing others. She also began teaching people Christian Science—her name for her discovery of the metaphysics and theology that is the basis of Christian healing.