Christian Science

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29004, 19 September 1959, Page 3

Christian Science

Christian Science Today. Power, Policy, Practice. By Charles S. Braden. Allen and Unwin. 417 pp. Index. The author of this work is a distinguished American Methodist. He writes in a friendly but critical spirit, and the scope of his book is wider than its title would indicate. For instance, he studies the life of the founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, in some detail, and traces the history of her church from its beginning. Dr. Braden starts with fundamental issues. “Are they Christian?” he asks. “Of course they 'are. Traced historically, Christian Science is an offshoot of Protestant | Christianity. Its basis is the I Bible. It purports to be a reIcovery of the lost emphasis of I primitive Christianity, especially in healing.” Mrs Eddy’s own career, as described in "Christian Science Today," is a -wonderful record of patient endeavour. In the bitterness of controversy her influence grew. But it seems that she did not at first envisage the magnitude of the organisation that is based upon her ideas. In the first edition of “Science and Health,” she wrote, “We have no need of creeds and church organisations to sustain or explain a demonstrable platform that defines itself m healing the sick and casting out error” From 1866 onwards. Mrs Eddy herself taught the students who in due course became practitioners. It was not until 1879 that she secured a charter in the State of Massachusetts for what was called “The Church of Christ (Scientist).” It was not until January. 1895, that the permanent “church edifice” in Boston was dedicated.

Dr. Braden next traces a process which will be perfectly familiar to all who have studied the history of any great institution Consolidation is followed by a struggle for power within the movement. This is described in laborious detail in “Christian Science Today.” It takes up the whole central section of the book, and is perhaps the explanation of the terms "Power, Policy" in the long title of the work. No comment need be made here, except this, that not all readers will admire what Dr. Braden records. A more interesting series of chapters describes the growth of Christian Science theology. Al) systems of belief are subject to development; but Christian Science proceeds with greater individuality and speed than most other systems. It therefore offers a profitable field for detailed study of the type favoured by Dr. Braden In fairness to the author, however, it should be added that he considers “all the stages still evident today in the movement may be found in Mrs Eddy’s writings and practice.” Many of those who have seemed to innovate, “sometimes against great opposition, have continued to play down the older levels of her thinking . . and to emphasise the higher reaches of her thought.”