What is Christian Science?

Christian Science is a religion based on the word and works of Christ Jesus. It draws its authority from The Bible, and its teachings are set forth in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. Christian Scientists endeavour to follow Jesus’ teachings, including healing the sick by spiritual means.

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, (known as The Mother Church) was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1897. Branch churches are located throughout the World. Reflecting the non-clerical nature of the early Christian Church, it has no ordained clergy. The student of Christian Science is encouraged to seek spiritual understanding through study, prayer, and daily practice of Christ Jesus’ teachings. Instead of having a personal pastor to expound on Bible passages, or to offer counsel, this church has an impersonal pastor — The Bible along with Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

Core Beliefs

Christian Scientists believe in one infinite God who is All and all-good. They believe that God is not distant and unknowable, but is all-encompassing and always present; and that each individual is loved by God, cared for by Him, and made in God’s image – spiritual, not material. Christian Scientists believe in the Bible and in Christ Jesus as the Son of God, or promised Messiah. And they believe that Jesus’ teachings and healing work expressed scientific Christianity, or the application of the laws of God -laws which are still practical and provable today, by anyone, anywhere.

Christian Scientists consider the Commandments, as well as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, to be central to their lives and practice of Christianity. Above all, Christian Scientists believe in the saving, healing power of God’s love – that no one is beyond redemption, that no problem is too entrenched or overwhelming to be addressed and healed. Christian Scientists don’t believe that salvation occurs at some point in the future, but that the presence of God’s goodness can be experienced here and now – and by everyone.