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A renaissance of
healing
The discovery
of Christian Science was the spontaneous result of half a lifetime of
personal scientific and spiritual development of Mary Baker, a
farmer's daughter, who grew in an environment of treasured spiritual
values and an age of a near explosive scientific development. Mary
Baker drew a certain conviction from this background at the moment of
a personal health crisis that threatened to become fatal. She
reasoned that if the remarkable cures that were performed in the first
century of the Christian era were the result of a higher perception,
they were not miraculous in nature, but were repeatable once the
underlying principle was understood. Within those moments of reaching
out for this advanced understanding she found herself suddenly
completely healed, so much so that she personally opened the front
door for the preacher who had stopped by her house to prepare her for
death.
This breakthrough was
the beginning of a development in scientific awareness that would
eventually be felt around the world. She said to herself that she must
find the science for this advanced awareness. The early years of
her unfolding discovery were rich in profound and absolute conclusions,
which she immediately applied to the healing of others. She
applied herself in helping physicians, taking on their difficult and
hopeless cases, producing astonishing healings. One of the
physicians urged her that she should document her discovery in a book,
so that all could benefit from whatever discovery she had made.
Years later, such a book was indeed produced. Its first edition
appeared in 1875.
Since its first printing
nearly 500 editions have been produced. Many of the earlier
editions were required to clarify statements and to restructure the
presentation. 200 different editions were produced over the first 25
years, so rapid was the unfolding scientific development within her
own thoughts.
The book bears the
title: Science
and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
It is universally regarded as the textbook of Christian Science, and
rightfully so. Nevertheless, most people, even those who utilize the
book daily, including those who are teaching from it, are quite
unaware of what the book actually contains. This textbook it
totally different than any other textbook this author has ever
encountered. It appears to be a standard format textbook the presents
a discovery and explains the underlying logic, except, this is just
the surface appearance. If one looks deeper, one finds that the
book reflects St.John's foursquare matrix structure that represents in
metaphor the principle of scientific development. This foursquare
structure is made up of 16 elements. The textbook,
correspondingly, is made up of 16 chapters. And even in the
smaller context, many described structures within the textbook are
made up of 16 parts of multiples thereof. The book's glossary,
for instance, is made up of 9x16 definitions of terms.
What all this adds up to
is nothing more that the simple fact that the textbook is itself but
an element of a much larger structure, and that this structure is not
designed to indoctrinate, but to open the door to individual
scientific and spiritual development. It reflects what St.John foresaw
as the driving factor in a development that invariably leads to the
end of all evil.
This may appear as a
daring assessment, especially if one considers the relatively minor
role Mary Baker Eddy's accomplishment is playing in the larger sphere
of healing. However, if one considers what the book has already
accomplished for individuals over the century of its existence while
no one knew what the book actually contains, one can expect tremendous
developments forthcoming in areas as yet unimaginable, when, what the
book represents, becomes fully understood.
A hundred pages of
testimonies of healing have been included at the back of the book from
random selections. These healings have occurred as the result of
people simply reading the book, at times without actively seeking a
healing. The advances in consciousness have been sufficient for
the requisite mental movement to occur. A vast body of
testimonials has been presented over the last century of tremendous
healing. Often these healings were brought about when the textbook and
the Bible are combined within the context of the Bible lessons that
are the backbone of the Christian Science Church. No preachers
preach in this church. Its pastors are the Bible and the
textbook that read correlatively by which prepared selections develop
and understanding of the central theme of the lesson.
Through these lessons,
which contain selections from the textbook, the entire Bible lesson
structure becomes related to St.John's foursquare matrix and Mary
Baker Eddy's representation of this matrix as scientific development
structure.
link
to research books - a 9 volume series exploring Mary Baker
Eddy's representation of St.John's city foursquare as an all-embracing
structure for scientific and spiritual development (the product of 15
years of research)
link
to the textbook - available on-line, fully indexed
link
to Bible lessons - a set of 26 Bible lessons completely on-line,
reproduced from the year 1898 at which these lessons were introduced.
The
Bible on-line
The
Church Manual on-line
The
Christian Science Hymnal on-line
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