Article February 24, 2020 Issue

Christ—no longer an abstraction to me

Karen Neff

When I first began to seriously study Christian Science as an adult, I realized I didn’t have a clear understanding of the Christ. I knew from having attended a Christian Science Sunday School through my mid-teens that Christ referred to Jesus’ divine nature, but I can’t say I really understood what it was and what it did.

In my spiritual studies, I continually came across references to Christ in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and Mary Baker Eddy’s other writings, and I felt it was important to understand why, for instance, she would place the term Christ before Jesus’ name. I also wanted to know how Jesus healed through Christ. So I made a commitment to learn more.

I decided to set aside an hour every Friday to go to our local Christian Science Reading Room and read the weekly Bible Lessons (found in the Christian Science Quarterly) and other Christian Science literature for deeper insight. I did that for a year. The explanations of Christ given in Science and Health were enlightening and kept me on track. For instance, it explains that the name Christ Jesus signifies Jesus’ Godlike nature; Christ is a title that represents the healing power of divine Love, God. And I came to see that this healing power is available for all to demonstrate, and that the Christ, the divine Truth Jesus lived, is the means by which God speaks to us: “Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness” (Science and Health, p. 332).