Many regard 1905 as the most remarkable year of creative output by a single scientist in recorded history. Albert Einstein published three papers in 1905 that revolutionized our views of heat, light, and space-time. Recognizing 2005 as the centennial World Year of Physics, schools, colleges, universities, and many scientific organizations worldwide have been promoting a variety of activities to celebrate progress in Einstein's discipline of physics.

One of Einstein's papers acknowledged microscopic movement to individual molecules, and explained the cause of random motion of tiny particles—the so-called Brownian motion—in warm liquids as resulting from bombardment by moving molecules. A second paper assigned a fixed quantity of energy to a speck of light (called a photon), and proposed that the photon was absorbed by a particle, which utilized the photon's energy in lifting itself above the bonds of its environment in the process—in what's known as "photoelectric effect." In his third paper Einstein sought to remove an asymmetry between the laws of optics and those of mechanics, by advancing the postulate of relativity, which asserts that the speed of light is the same for all observers, regardless of their motion.

Perhaps just as significant as his discoveries in physics—and what endear him more to the public at large—are Einstein's spiritual qualities. Examples abound. His three most favorite things were his sailboat, violin, and approval by colleagues. He tolerated and encouraged others to listen to thinkers who had views wildly divergent from the accepted norm. A noteworthy example of this was his open-minded encouragement of the visit to Princeton by Immanuel Velikovsky, author of the 1950 book Worlds in Collision, which was vilified for advancing novel assertions about planetary history without scientific evidence to support them. Especially pertinent to the philosophy of science and religion was Einstein's conviction of the union of Spirit and the natural universe. He expressed his urge to understand the laws of nature as a wish to hear God speak. The rest, he famously said, was "just details."

Today there are widely diverging attitudes about the relation between science and religion. Ian G. Barbour compares and contrasts these attitudes in his book When Science Meets Religion. Barbour's four-part taxonomy includes conflict, independence, dialogue, and integration, with the latter suggesting that theology and science have supportive goals and methodologies. The scientist Charles D. Townes, winner of both Templeton and Nobel prizes, regards science and religion as using similar tools and methods to study the universe. Science, Townes observes, focuses on how the universe works, while religion focuses on the purpose of the universe. Both disciplines use observation, experimentation, contemplation, and reasoning. However, the issue of the relationship between science and spirituality has been a controversial one, especially since Galileo and Newton suggested that the universe runs like a clock, needing no divine source for causation.

In the late 19th century, events occurred that would break new ground on the understanding of space-time and matter. In 1866 Mary Baker Eddy discovered a system of healing based solely on the understanding of God as infinite and supreme, and creation as having a spiritual rather than material basis. Mrs. Eddy's own healing through prayer of a life-threatening injury was the catalyst of her discovery. She would call her quick recovery "the falling apple that led me to the discovery how to be well myself, and how to make others so" (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 24). Her metaphor refers to the legendary incident of the falling apple that led to Newton's discovery of the law of gravity, and suggests the universal truth she saw in her findings.

Understanding that Jesus healed by a reproducible process that needed to be systematized and written down, Mrs. Eddy regarded her discovery as an integration of scientific reasoning and religion. So she consciously named the discovery Christian Science, and named her church the Church of Christ, Scientist. Growing rapidly in the early 20th century, the teachings of Christian Science attracted the attention of Albert Einstein, who once attended a Wednesday testimony meeting in New York City. Following the meeting, Einstein spoke with George Nay, a former associate editor of the Christian Science periodicals. Mr. Nay recalled Einstein saying to him, "Do you realize what a wonderful thing you have?"

What is there about Christian Science that makes it a credible scientific religion for the 21st century? There are at least three answers to this question. First, there are concrete rules or laws that define the nature of God and His relationship to the universe, including all men and women. For example, God is limitless and wholly good; therefore, what He creates must be unlimited and inherently good. This rule is not supported by what the physical senses perceive, but is based upon truths revealed originally in the Bible, and can be proved true by healing or "demonstration," similar to the way a scientist tests the truth of a hypothesis through laboratory demonstration.

Second, faithful application of the rules or laws of God in prayer brings results—although just as fruitful scientific research begins with laying aside preconceptions about outcome, so effective prayer is free of outlined results. But if prayer is unselfish and places total reliance on God as all-powerful, the result should be good and positive. The scientific nature of Christian Science includes systematic and dependable reliance on proving the validity of its teachings.

Third, the discipline and method of divine Science are set down in a textbook that anyone can read and follow, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, first published by Mary Baker Eddy in 1875.

The scientific process is often described in school as 1) hypothesis formulation, 2) testing the hypothesis, and 3) accepting the hypothesis as law if the test is positive, or rejecting the hypothesis if the test is negative. However, observation of actual scientists at work suggests another description of the process, which might go like this: 1) observe a phenomenon, 2) invent a means of predicting it, 3) study the causes behind it, and 4) relate findings to similar observations. This process of observation, detailed thought, and creative synthesis of causes or relationships is very much like the statement by Mrs. Eddy concerning "academics of the right sort" (among which she included astronomy, natural history, chemistry, music, mathematics). She gave what might be called an operational definition of the scientific process on page 195 of her textbook: "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."

Before it was scientific, however, Mrs. Eddy's discovery was Christian. She called Jesus of Nazareth "the most scientific man that ever trod the globe" (ibid., p. 313). Not a theorist, Jesus practiced spiritual healing on the streets of his day, but he didn't write down rules for us to study. He healed sin, sickness, and death by a process that had all the certainty of scientific proof. His words (or theology) and his healing method (scientific demonstration of divine law) were so iconoclastic that they incited hatred and rejection, climaxing in his crucifixion. Yet his crucifixion and eventual resurrection gave an unparalleled example of the immortality of life when God is understood to be its source.

Scientific Christianity is the lost Science of Jesus' works, which Mary Baker Eddy labored to set down for future generations. Science and Health contains the definitive account of the method Jesus practiced.

As you contemplate the impact of Einstein's "miracle year" on this centennial, consider the import of a woman's amazing rediscovery of Jesus' method of healing. It enables any thinker to practice Christian healing with scientific precision.

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