Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
First edition of Science and Health (1875)
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| Author | Mary Baker Eddy |
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| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
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Publication date
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1875 |
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Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is the central text of the Christian Science religion. Mary Baker Eddy described it as her "most important work." She began writing it in February 1872 and the first edition was published in 1875.
There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.
"God is All-in all." "God is good." "God is Mind, and God is infinite; hence all is Mind." Christian Science develops its theology and its healing method from these simple, yet radical statements. The conclusions are that we are all perfect spiritual ideas of the one divine Mind, and manifest Spirit, not a material body. The five physical senses, which take no account of Spirit, are the origin of all false beliefs. Sickness is just a belief, not a property of matter, and it must be annihilated by the understanding of the divine Mind. Praying from this standpoint removes the belief and brings healing. This proves that this Science is correct, and that one has understood it.
The latest edition of the book consists of a short preface, the main section, a "Key to the Scriptures", and Fruitage. Some editions include a word index.
The main section is 500 pages long and comprises chapters titled
This section is 100 pages long, and comprises
This section consists of 84 testimonials of the healing power derived from reading the text in Science and Health. There are descriptions of addiction, asthma, broken bone, cataract, cancer, deafness, eczema, a fibroid tumor, and rheumatism. Prior intervention by physicians is mentioned in 50 of these cases, and one relates a confirmatory X-ray by a physician.
The first edition was copyrighted in 1875. The copyright for Science and Health went through several renewals including a posthumous renewal in 1934 by the Christian Science Board of Directors. At the request of the Christian Science Board of Directors, in December 1971 Congress passed a law extending the copyright on Science and Health by 75 years. However, following a legal suit brought by David James Nolan and Lucile J. Place of United Christian Scientists, the copyright extension was found unconstitutional in 1985 by Federal District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson. In 1987 the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the ruling of the district court. As a result, Science and Health has been in the public domain since 1987.
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