What is Christian Science?
Christian Science is a religious denomination and healing practice founded on the belief that sickness, sin, and death are illusions that can be overcome through spiritual understanding of God’s nature. Practitioners rely exclusively on prayer for healing rather than conventional medicine, viewing physical reality as a misperception that can be corrected through alignment with divine Truth. The movement centers on the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy’s 1875 book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which adherents study alongside the Bible as complementary texts revealing the scientific laws underlying Jesus’s healings.
Origins & Lineage
Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) founded Christian Science following what she described as a miraculous recovery from a severe injury in February 1866 in Lynn, Massachusetts. After studying the account of Jesus healing a paralytic in Matthew 9, Eddy reported experiencing immediate healing that convinced her spiritual laws governed physical health. She spent the next nine years developing her system, publishing Science and Health in 1875 and establishing the Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston in 1879.
Eddy’s metaphysical framework drew from New England Transcendentalism, Protestant Christianity, and her study with mesmerist Phineas Quimby in the 1860s, though she later distanced herself from Quimby’s influence. The church’s organizational structure, established through the Manual of The Mother Church (1895), created a centralized governance model that persists today. The Christian Science Publishing Society, founded in 1898, launched the internationally recognized newspaper The Christian Science Monitor in 1908.
How It’s Practiced
Christian Science practice revolves around daily study of the Bible and Science and Health, following a structured “Lesson-Sermon” published quarterly in the Christian Science Quarterly. These lessons, studied individually throughout the week, are read aloud during Sunday services in Christian Science churches worldwide, which feature no clergy or sermons—only elected lay readers.
When illness arises, Christian Scientists typically contact a Christian Science practitioner—a church member who has completed Primary class instruction and devotes time to praying for others. Treatment consists of affirmative prayer recognizing the patient’s spiritual perfection and the unreality of matter. Practitioners do not diagnose, prescribe, or physically touch patients, working entirely through metaphysical means. Some adherents utilize Christian Science nursing care, which provides non-medical support during healing.
Wednesday evening testimony meetings allow members to share accounts of healings and spiritual insights. Reading Rooms in many communities offer a quiet space to study Christian Science literature and receive information from volunteer attendants.
Christian Science Today
The Church of Christ, Scientist maintains its international headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, where the 14-acre Mother Church complex includes the original Romanesque Revival edifice (1894) and a massive domed extension (1906). Membership has declined significantly since its mid-20th-century peak—from an estimated 270,000 in the 1930s to fewer than 50,000 today—though exact figures are not published.
Seekers encounter Christian Science through Reading Rooms in urban centers, The Christian Science Monitor’s journalism, online lectures, and the church’s JSH-Online platform offering digital access to publications and testimonies. The Longyear Museum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts preserves Eddy’s historical artifacts. Sunday Schools teach children through age 20, and Primary class instruction (a two-week intensive course) remains the gateway to practitioner status.
Controversy surrounds cases where Christian Scientists’ reliance on prayer over medical care has resulted in preventable deaths, particularly of children. Several U.S. states have modified religious exemption laws in response. The church maintains that members are free to choose medical treatment without penalty, though doing so while simultaneously relying on Christian Science treatment is considered metaphysically inconsistent.
Common Misconceptions
Christian Science is not Scientology—the two organizations are entirely unrelated. Despite the name, it is not a scientific methodology in the empirical sense but rather a religious system describing spiritual laws. It does not involve the study of science, meditation techniques, or positive thinking affirmations, though critics note similarities to New Thought movements.
Christian Scientists do not reject all medical intervention uniformly; policies allow for dental care, optometry, and setting of broken bones in many cases, though practices vary among adherents. The movement is distinctly Christian, affirming Jesus as the Son of God, though it rejects traditional doctrines of the Trinity, substituting a metaphysical interpretation where God is infinite Mind and Jesus demonstrated the Christ idea.
How to Begin
Those curious about Christian Science typically start by reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, available at Reading Rooms, libraries, and online. Attending a Sunday service or Wednesday testimony meeting at a local Church of Christ, Scientist requires no membership or commitment. The church’s website (christianscience.com) provides introductory articles, healing testimonies, and a “Find a Church” directory. Free Bible Lessons and Christian Science Quarterly subscriptions are available through the church’s outreach programs. Formal instruction begins with Primary class, offered periodically by authorized teachers listed in The Christian Science Journal.