A book that remains in continuous publication and has been translated into 16 languages and braille indicates that there is a deep and persistent demand for its ideas. Such a book would be considered an influential work and likely described as a classic, enduring and universally relevant.

That certainly can be said of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, now in its 150th year of continuous publication, which came about because its author, Mary Baker Eddy, listened to the guidance of God and the heart of humanity. She had a profound love for God and her fellow man, instilled in her by a lifelong love of the Bible, especially its accounts of Jesus’ life and healings. This inspired her compassion and a deep devotion to answering humanity’s demand for lasting solutions to suffering, sickness, instability, and injustice. She was ready to respond with courage and perseverance to the “unsatisfied human craving for something better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a material belief in a physical God and man” (Science and Health, p. 258). 

Mrs. Eddy realized that her discovery of what she eventually called “Christian Science” was the true answer to this deep need. It lifts thought from belief in a material God and man to the spiritual understanding of God and of man made in God’s image, resulting in a practical, systematic method of healing. This healing practice, explained fully in Science and Health, reveals the divine Principle behind Jesus’ words and works and shows the path to salvation.