A stumbling block in the way of many students of Christian Science will probably be the false and perverted, but commonly accepted, meaning of the word "atonement."
The writer was greatly surprised on first reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," at the interpretation there given: "At-one-ment,"—meaning man's reconciliation, or unity with God. This seemed at first a deliberate perversion of the ordinary sense and accepted meaning of the word, a mere play upon the three syllables composing it. Believing there may be others like the writer, who have had misgivings over this interpretation as found in Science and Health, the following results of an investigation are given, which have removed all doubt. As Mrs. Eddy truly says: "The atonement is a hard problem in theology" (Science and Health, p. 328). It is a hard problem, because theological teaching, as distinguished from Christ's teaching, has deliberately and persistently fixed a latter-day or secondary meaning to the word, which latter-day or secondary meaning is "expiation," "sacrifice or reparation for the commission of sins."
It can be abundantly proved that this secondary meaning of the word has been purely an outgrowth of dogmatic theology.
