Christian Science is a system of religious thought and practice developed by Mary Baker Eddy based on her study of the Bible and explained in her work Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures. In it, Eddy describes the teachings of Jesus as a complete and coherent divine science. Its adherents may be, but are not required to be, members of the main church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, a branch church, or both. Its central texts are the Bible and Science and Health.
The major teachings of Christian Science include the belief that spiritual reality is the only reality and all else is illusion or "error." In contrast to conventional Christian theology, Christian Science rejects both the common Christian views of the atonement and the concept of Hell as a place of eternal punishment.
Christian Scientists believe that sickness and disease are the result of fear, ignorance, or sin, and should be healed through prayer or introspection. Combined with a belief that the use of medicine is incompatible with Christian Science healing methods, this has led to outbreaks of preventable disease and a number of deaths. Its claim that sickness can be healed through prayer rather than medicine, its rejection of science as illusory, and its attempts to present itself as science make Christian Science a pseudoscience.
Read more about Christian Science: Theology, Medicine and Science, Social Views, Church of Christ, Scientist, Christian Science Monitor, Journal and Sentinel
Famous quotes containing the words christian and/or science:
“One memorable addition to the old mythology is due to this era,—the Christian fable. With what pains, and tears, and blood these centuries have woven this and added it to the mythology of mankind! The new Prometheus. With what miraculous consent, and patience, and persistency has this mythus been stamped on the memory of the race! It would seem as if it were in the progress of our mythology to dethrone Jehovah, and crown Christ in his stead.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The sweetest and most inoffensive path of life leads through the avenues of science and learning; and whoever can either remove any obstructions in this way, or open up any new prospect, ought so far to be esteemed a benefactor to mankind.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)