Branches of the The First Church of Christ, Scientist also known as The Mother Church in Boston, Mass. maintain public Christian Science Reading Rooms in their communities where the public can study, borrow, or purchase Christian Science literature. There are approximately 2000 Christian Science Reading Rooms worldwide.
Reading rooms are often storefronts in a busy part of a city, though occasionally situated within a church building itself. They are open either full or part-time, and attended by members of the local Christian Science church. A Reading Room is a bookstore and place for quiet and prayerful study of the Scriptures and the church’s denominational textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures written by the Discoverer, Founder, and Leader of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. Available for purchase or study are the denomination’s three main books, the KJV of the Bible, Science and Health and Prose Works also written by Mrs. Eddy. Also available for purchase are the denomination’s periodicals, a monthly publication, The Christian Science Journal, a weekly magazine the Christian Science Sentinel, the international Herald of Christian Science, the Pulitzer Prize award winning newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor, various pamphlets, and musical CD’s. All periodicals are published by the Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston.
The first Christian Science Reading Room was established in Boston in 1888 by Mrs. Eddy. By the early twentieth century, Christian Science reading rooms began to appear in the business districts of cities where there was a church and featured the Christian Science Monitor as well as the church’s religious literature."
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