| Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. PRACTICES AND BEHAVIORAL STANDARDS: The moral code of Christian Science is contained in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. Members abstain from the use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. Some also refrain from tea, coffee or other caffeinated drinks. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: The Church of Christ, Scientist, consists of the Mother Church, the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, and branches throughout the world. Governing by laws are published in the Church Manual written by Mrs. Eddy. Manual provisions are administered by a Board of Directors, who appoint chief officers of the Mother Church. Branch churches are democratically self governed. They choose officers from their congregation by election for limited Periods of office. MINISTERIAL LEADERSHIP: The church has no clergy. Christian Science practitioners are lay members who devote full time to the public Christian healing ministry of Christian Science. Practitioners hold no special church offices unless elected to them, like any other member of the congregation. On base ministry to service personnel and dependents is provided through Christian Science field workers accredited by the Mother Church, and include Chaplains, Christian Science Ministers for Armed Services Personnel, and Christian Science Representatives in the Armed Forces. As appropriate, field workers hold Sunday and mid week worship services, conduct Sunday School for those under 20, supply Christian Science treatment through prayer when called upon. They also assist students of Christian Science in the military to participate in local branch church activities. WORSHIP: Formal services are conducted by two lay Readers, elected by members of each branch church or society from their own congregation. Readers usually serve for 3 years. While the church has no ordained clergy, some Christian Scientists do serve as Protestant Chaplains in the military. Although group worship is not required, Christian Scientists consider attendance at services a privilege, and ordinarily attend whenever it is possible for them to do so. Christian Scientists have no ritual or liturgical religious practices or requirements. Members ordinarily study daily the weekly Bible "lesson sermons" read at Sunday church services. Mrs. Eddy instructed members to pray daily: "Thy kingdom come"; let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!" Services center around selections of readings from the Bible and the denominational textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, and prayer. Recognized branch churches and Christian Science Societies meet in their own buildings if possible, or in rented space. Informal groups of Christian Scientists may meet for worship in the spirit of Jesus' words in Matthew: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” DIETARY STANDARDS: None. FUNERAL AND BURIAL REQUIREMENTS: Matters of individual decision. Autopsy is not a practice, except under special circumstances. A practitioner or other official is not required at time of death. MEDICAL TREATMENT: A Christian Scientist relies on spiritual means alone through prayer for healing. Normally members would request exemption from medical care and treatment, as well as a permanent waiver of immunizations on the ground that it is inconsistent with religious convictions. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS: Members have served in the military in wartime and peace time, while others seek alternative service. Historically, the Church's main thrust of outreach has been its ministry of Christian healing. This is reflected both in the work of practitioners and members, and in the Church periodicals, The Christian Science Journal, Christian Science Sentinel, and The Herald of Christian Science. The Christian Science Monitor, an international newspaper, reflects the Church's basic redemptive purpose in the context of specific social concern. The Church participates in interfaith or ecumenical activities on local, national, and international levels. Representatives have served as consulting or associate members in local councils of churches, have attended as invited guests or delegates to various interfaith conferences, and have taken part in denominational level ecumenical dialogue. GENERAL SOURCE BOOKS: Christian Science: A Sourcebook of Contemporary Materials. Boston: The Christian Science Publishing society, 1990. 348pp. Peel, Robert. Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1987. 203pp. Rosten, Leo, ed. Religions of America. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975. 672pp. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Nathan A. Talbot, Manager of the Committee on Publication The First Church of Christ, Scientist 175 Huntington Ave. Boston, MA 02115 Telephone (617) 450-3301 |
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| Black Rose Spiritual Center, Inc : Belief Systems |
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| Scientist Church of Christ |
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| ADDRESS: Christian Science Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02115 OTHER NAMES: Christian Scientists MEMBERSHIP: Not reported. HISTORICAL ROOTS: Founded in Boston in 1879 as "a church designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master (Christ Jesus), which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." The Church's founder, Mary Baker Eddy, had a Protestant Christian background, having grown up as a devout Congregationalist. A lifelong Bible student, Mrs. Eddy was healed of a severe injury in 1866 as she read the account of one of Jesus' healings in the New Testament. The healing led her to the conviction that healing through prayer is a natural and normal aspect of the Christian experience and to the discovery of what she understood as the Science of Christianity. She later wrote the Christian Science textbook (1875), established the Church of Christ, Scientist (1879), and established the Christian Science periodicals, including The Christian Science Monitor (1908). BASIC TEACHINGS AND BELIEFS: The brief religious tenets of Christian Science are given on p. 497 of Science and Health, and read: |
| 1. As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal life. 2. We acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God. We acknowledge His Son, One Christ; the holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God's image and likeness. 3. We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts. 4. We acknowledge Jesus' atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man's unity with God through Christ Jesus the Way Shower; and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death. 5. We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life, even the all Ness of Soul, and the nothingness of matter. 6. And we solemnly promise to watch and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just and pure." |
The teachings of Christian Science are rooted in the Bible. The basic theological and ethical statements of Christian Science are set forth in the denominational textbook, Science and Health with Key to the |
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