"Academics of the right sort are requisite," Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes on page 195 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." She adds, "Observation, invention, study, and original thought are expansive and should promote the growth of mortal mind out of itself, out of all that is mortal." Earlier on the same page she writes: "Whatever furnishes the semblance of an idea governed by its Principle, furnishes food for thought. Through astronomy, natural history, chemistry, music, mathematics, thought passes naturally from effect back to cause." What a challenge to the Christian Scientist at a college or university! Whatever his field of interest, its study can provide opportunity for the expansion of thought that "should promote the growth of mortal mind out of itself, out of all that is mortal."

Sometimes in misreading Mrs. Eddy's works one might conclude that she opposed various academic disciplines. Closer and more careful reading reveals that she opposed, not the disciplines, but the false assumptions and false conclusions based on matter and material sense testimony.

She writes plainly on the page mentioned above, "It is the tangled barbarisms of learning which we deplore,—the mere dogma, the speculative theory, the nauseous fiction." Each field of study has its share of tangled barbarisms, mere dogma, and speculative theory, and literature studies have their share of nauseous fiction. But while deploring these, no Christian Scientist should lose sight of the opportunity academic study affords for thought to pass "naturally from effect back to cause."

With the leaven of Christian Science at work in world thought, Mrs. Eddy was certain that all academic disciplines would sooner or later be transformed by Truth and that eventually theology, medicine, physiology, sociology, psychology, chemistry, physics, law, and all the rest would find their true meaning in Science.

In her writings, she makes a sharp distinction between the word "scholar" and related words and the term "'scholastic" and its derivatives. The term "scholastic" is used consistently to describe the pedantic type of thinking that obscures the truth which Christian Science reveals. On the other hand, the word "scholar" is usually used with approbation and often with reference to individuals for whose abilities Mrs. Eddy had great respect.

She refers to many scholars in her writings. At least one hundred and twenty of the more than one hundred and sixty-five individuals named in the book "Mary Baker Eddy Mentioned Them" are clearly persons whose main contributions were of a scholarly or intellectual nature. She was quick to point out the weaknesses in the assumptions of scholars, but equally alert to see the truths to which they pointed. It is clear from her many references to the work of the writers, poets, and scholars of her own time, and those that preceded her, that she kept herself well-informed about the developments and currents of thought in the various academic disciplines ranging from Biblical scholarship and the natural sciences to the social and political fields. An appreciation of her and her work grows as the college student focuses on his human studies the light of the clear spiritual truth she has revealed.

Greater intellectual capacity is sure to follow the proper understanding of Christian Science. This Science reveals one Mind, one infinite intelligence, which is man's by reflection identification with this Mind annihilates fear, indecision, confusion, all that would impede scholarly activity.

There is opportunity too for the college student to systematically study Christian Science in relation to his academic studies. One Christian Scientist, while at a university, made much use of the Concordances to Mrs. Eddy's writings as he related his academic course work to Science. As he identified major ideas or conceptions in each course, he would search out what Mrs. Eddy had written on the subject. He found her writings to include most instructive insights regardless of the subject.

For example, she makes this arresting statement (Science and Health,' pp. 552, 553): "Naturalists describe the origin of mortal and material existence in the various forms of embryology, and accompany their descriptions with important observations, which should awaken thought to a higher and purer contemplation of man's origin."

But when commenting on the writings of such leading natural scientists as Agassiz and Darwin, she was quick to point out that, though interesting, such writings provided no evidence for the absolute Science she expounded, even when a scholar appeared to confirm a point in her revelation. However, she did not deny the usefulness of such inquiry. She expected the advent of Christian Science to revolutionize inquiry in all fields of study. It has. Today's academic disciplines and their theories bear little resemblance to those of a hundred years ago.

It is estimated that the new knowledge discovered through research in any twenty-four hour period today would fill seven sets of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The output of research in the next year would be so large that one man would have to do round-the-clock reading for four hundred and sixty years in order to read it all! The majority of all research scientists who ever lived are alive and at work today. Is it any wonder that the statement is made in academic circles that many books in an academic discipline written more than ten years ago are hopelessly out of date?

That can never be said of the Bible or Science and Health. What makes these books great are the absolute truths they reveal of God and man. These truths, the very Science of Christ, continue to permeate human thought at every point as mankind work to free themselves from various shackles of limitation. In whatever direction one looks today, he can see the bonds breaking.

When asked about her attitude toward modern, material inventions, Mrs. Eddy answered (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 345): "Oh, we cannot oppose them. They all tend to newer, finer, more etherealized ways of living. They seek the finer essences. They light the way to the Church of Christ. We use them, we make them our figures of speech. They are preparing the way for us." It seems plain that if we are to use these inventions and rejoice in them, we can participate purposefully in the creation of them all along the way, from the research laboratories to the sales department.

Christian Science recognizes any discipline which contributes to the legitimate and useful needs of mankind as worthy of study. Any occupation that promotes the welfare of society may be pursued with the conviction of the opportunity to apply spiritual understanding in meeting a human need. The person who feels that to be a research chemist, for example, is somehow less spiritual than to be a lawyer or that to be a salesman is somehow better than to be an atomic physicist fails to recognize the need for active, working, thinking Christian Scientists at every point in the human enterprise.

One concern sometimes voiced is that the college campus is considerably more materialistic than almost any other place, that the college student must be spiritually strong to withstand the campus onslaughts of materialism. But the arguments and assertions of materialism are certainly as present in the armed services or in a business firm or on a farm as on a college campus. Wherever he is, the young person must recognize materialism, in whatever form, for what it is: mere dogma, speculative theory, nauseous fiction.

Christian Science does not obviate the concentrated, careful research required of an academic discipline. "Observation, invention, study, and original thought" are never easy. They require hard work and dedication.

The Christian Scientist today has the opportunity to work on the very frontiers of scholarship whatever his field. Knowing something of the unreality of matter and its concurrent theories, he is in a position to help lead world thought in its step-by-step advance as various academic disciplines approach nearer and nearer the ultimate Truth, the Principle of being.

He will prove for himself that academic study is expansive and that it will "promote the growth of mortal mind out of itself, out of all that is mortal." In his pursuit of academic education he will keep foremost in thought the injunction of the writer of Proverbs (4:7), "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding."