Christian Science was discovered by Mary Baker Eddy in Massachusetts in 1866. She began to publish her writings on this subject there in 1875. Originally composed and published in English, they were not published in any other language for many years. The first translating of her writings that Mrs. Eddy authorized was from English into German; and from 1912 the authorized publication of her principal book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," having alternate pages of English and German, gave a strong impetus to the Christian Science movement in Germany. Before this occurred, however, Christian Science had a goodly number of adherents there, after having several introductions that were distinct and separate.
The evidence available now indicates that the first German to become an avowed Christian Scientist was Hans Eckert of Cannstadt. Able to read and speak English, he began to study Christian Science in 1889, he had class instruction from an authorized teacher two or three years later, and he became a member of The Mother Church in 1893. During this time, he was in the United States temporarily (at Los Angeles, California; Portland, Oregon; and Tacoma, Washington). In 1894, Herr Eckert returned to Germany. Soon he began to speak of Christian Science there, as he found opportunities, but the people in the vicinity of Cannstadt and Stuttgart evinced an interest in this subject slowly. After several years, most of those who had become interested joined in the holding of Sunday services in Stuttgart, for which he did the translating. In 1904, these informal services were succeeded by the Christian Science Society of Stuttgart, a branch of The Mother Church having a card in The Christian Science Journal. Of this society he became the First Reader, and was named as such in the Journal according to the custom of that time. In 1913, this society was succeeded by First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Stuttgart, which has continued to the present time.
Christian Science had a more fruitful introduction into Germany at Hannover through Frau Bertha Günther-Peterson. She began to study this subject there in 1894, and became a member of The Mother Church in 1897. She, also, could read and speak English. Her father and her husband had been physicians, and she had assisted them in their professional work. Doing this had given her a great desire to help mankind cope with disease, and she had been reared in an atmosphere of sincere piety. She heard of Christian Science from a friend of German descent at Minneapolis, Minnesota, who had been healed by this Science after a physician had given her up to die.
In 1894, when Frau Günther-Peterson heard of this healing, she sent for a copy of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and began to study it earnestly. After two years, she went to the United States for class instruction from an authorized teacher, and obtained this teaching at New York in November, 1896. In June, 1897, after visiting her friends at Minneapolis and doing some healing there, she returned to Hannover to make Christian Science known in Germany. Mrs. Eddy encouraged her in this undertaking by sending a loving message to her by her teacher. Frau Günther-Peterson announced herself as a practitioner at Hannover by a card in The Christian Science Journal for October, 1897.
The first patient that Frau Günther-Peterson had after returning to Hannover was a dressmaker (Fräulein Isermann), who was afflicted by a dangerous disease, for which she had been advised to undergo an operation. Having heard that Frau Günther-Peterson had studied a new healing doctrine in America, Fräulein Isermann refused her consent to the operation until she had given the new teaching a trial. The result was that Christian Science completely healed her in three weeks. Then, her healing from the disease in question was discussed by her friends and the families for whom she worked. Soon, the reports of her healing and other healings spread beyond Hannover. Consequently, within a year Frau Günther-Peterson had patients from eighteen different cities or towns; and the healings that they reported became known to many people in many districts of Germany.
In 1899, she became an authorized teacher of Christian Science by special permission from Mrs. Eddy, given because a Normal class for which she traveled from Hannover to Boston was postponed. In 1906, Frau Günther-Peterson received a teacher's certificate from the Board of Education of the Christian Science Mother Church, after having attended one of this Board's Normal classes. Many of her pupils became active workers, not only at Hannover, but also in other cities and towns in different parts of Germany.
In the summer of 1897, a few interested persons began to hold Christian Science services in Frau Günther-Peterson's home. For these services, she did the translating and acted as Reader. After a while, increased attendance called for more room; hence, a flat was rented in the same apartment house. After another while, a further increase in the attendance at these services caused the renting of a hall near the center of Hannover. In March, 1898, when the attendance was about fifteen, the Christian Scientists of Hannover organized as First Christian Science Church in Germany. One year later, it was reorganized as First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Hannover. At this time, the church had an audience of from three hundred to four hundred persons, but had only twelve members, because persons who withdrew from the "established" church were likely to encounter difficulties and incur detriments. Persecutions in the name of government had begun in the summer of 1898, and they continued intermittently for several years.
In February, 1900, Mrs. Eddy gave one thousand dollars to First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Hannover, for its building fund. The church bought ground in October, 1901, and dedicated the completed building in October, 1902. This building was the first one in Europe to be constructed for use by a Christian Science church. It was not, however, the first one in Europe to be acquired for this purpose. In 1897, First Church of Christ, Scientist, of London, bought and remodeled a building for its use. For this building, also, or for remodeling it, Mrs. Eddy contributed one thousand dollars.
Another distinct introduction of Christian Science into Germany occurred at Dresden through Mrs. Mary Beecher Longyear, of Marquette, Michigan, and Mrs. Frances Thurber Seal, of New York. While at Dresden during the winter of 1896-1897, Mrs. Longyear and another Christian Scientist endeavored to make Christian Science known there. Mrs. Longyear did some healing; and they gave three "informal talks" on Christian Science, which were attended by American, English, and German people. In The Christian Science Journal for June, 1897 (p. 142), Mrs. Longyear said, "In Dresden, there has been a wonderful awakening." When she returned to New York, she arranged with a teacher there to send one of her pupils (Mrs. Seal) to Dresden for Christian Science work, and Mrs. Longyear furnished financial support for this work there for several years.
In 1896, Christian Science healed Mrs. Seal of failing eyesight and threatened blindness. In November of that year, she studied this Science with an authorized teacher. Soon she began to practice healing; she also became evening librarian for one of its Reading Rooms in New York City. In December of 1897, she went to Dresden to begin Christian Science work there, even though she could not read or speak German. Her first patient there was a girl from Russia studying to be a singer; her second patient was the rector of the Episcopal church in Dresden. Both were healed quickly; and these healings led to others, and they to more—in Dresden, elsewhere in Germany, and in other countries.
Christian Science services began to be held at Dresden in January, 1898. At first, they were conducted only in English, but they began to be conducted in German in September of the same year. Mrs. Seal was announced as a practitioner at Dresden by a card in The Christian Science Journal for February, 1898. In the spring of that year, she opened a Christian Science Reading Room, using her sitting room in a pension for this purpose. First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Dresden, was organized in February, 1900. Before this, Mrs. Seal had moved to Berlin, and had been succeeded as a practitioner at Dresden by Miss Emily Cotton, whose card as such appeared in the Journal for November, 1899.
In January, 1899, Mrs. Seal became an authorized teacher, after having been admitted to the first Normal class of the Board of Education of the Christian Science Mother Church. Not all members of this class were certified as teachers, but the Board gave a certificate to Mrs. Seal with the expectation that she would return to Germany and would make Berlin the center of her work. Accordingly, she moved from Dresden to Berlin in the autumn of 1899, after she had continued her practice at Dresden and had taught a class of five pupils there. This class included Miss Cotton, in whose pension she had lived when she first went to Dresden. Afterward, Mrs. Seal held her classes in Berlin, but she often went to Dresden for the purpose of seeing patients and helping to carry on the movement there.
Christian Science has had a continuous history in Berlin from 1899. The indications are that Fräulein Johanna Bruno was the first German in Berlin to become a Christian Scientist. She was admitted to The Mother Church on June 3, 1899, after having studied with an authorized teacher in London. Able to read and speak both English and German, she did the translating for the first Christian Science services in Berlin. She also began to practice healing there at about the same time. Her card as a practitioner appeared in The Christian Science Journal from June, 1900.
Mrs. Seal leased an apartment in Berlin in the summer of 1899, the owner agreeing that she could live in it and could hold meetings in it for the purpose of teaching Bible lessons. Christian Science services, open to the public, were held in this apartment from the first Sunday of October in 1899. They were first advertised in the Journal in December of that year. The first audience consisted of eight persons. The Readers were Mrs. Seal and Miss Amy Bentinck-Beach, both of whom came to Berlin from Dresden.
Mrs. Seal's first patient in Berlin was a concert singer, whose healing from several disorders, including blindness, became known widely. It attracted other patients, and led to many other healings. In a contemporary letter (from Berlin, April 30, 1900) Mrs. Seal wrote: "I have had all that I could do all winter. ... I have had as many as thirty patients at one time; and had to have one of my Dresden students come and join me. She also is quite busy. Nearly all of the patients come from outside of Berlin, from all parts of Germany.... I have not had a dozen American or English patients since I came to Berlin, in October, and the majority speak no English."
In the Christian Science Sentinel for November 1, 1900, the clerk of First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Berlin (which had been organized in September), reported a lively and steadily growing interest in Christian Science among the Americans and the English in Berlin, but that most of the healing work had been done among the Germans. The number of practitioners had increased to four, who were busy and doing good work.
First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Berlin, was organized on September 20, 1900, by twelve members. From the first, the number of its attendants greatly exceeded the number of members. Many attendants were cautious about canceling other connections, and at least a few were deterred by the attitude of the police. Interference by the police began while the church was small, and continued intermittently for more than a year. Most of it consisted of notices or threats to landlords, which were intended to keep them from letting halls or apartments to the church or to its practitioners. In more than a few instances, leases actually were cancelled or refused. Finally, however, the Christian Scientists obtained an admission from the head of the Berlin police that nothing they were doing was forbidden by German law.
In 1900 and following years, the Christian Scientists in Germany had an occasion to accept or reject the suggestion that they should divide themselves from the Christian Science movement founded by Mrs. Eddy, and proceed separately. This argument presented itself particularly at Hannover and Berlin. In the end, however, all but a few of the avowed Christian Scientists in Germany either gave no regard to the suggested division or deliberately rejected it. All who are named in this article opposed division and maintained unity.
Frau Günther-Peterson, in 1899, and Mrs. Seal, in 1902, had the great privilege of an interview with Mrs. Eddy. On December 24, 1899, Mrs. Eddy received Frau Günther-Peterson at her home near Concord, New Hampshire. As Frau Günther-Peterson has written: "I was ushered into a little parlor at the left of the entrance. A few minutes later, our beloved Leader, then counting almost seventy-nine years, came down stairs with a light elastic step and greeted me with warm cordiality as 'dear child,' both of her outstretched hands taking mine. . . . Before leaving me she took me into her arms, kissed my forehead, and blessed me and my work." During this interview, as Frau Günther-Peterson has also written, Mrs. Eddy said, "I look upon the German nation as one of the chief supporters of Christian Science." For the reason that Christian Science had made little progress in Germany at that time, this statement by Mrs. Eddy was evidently prophetic.
Mrs. Seal went to Boston in June, 1902, to attend an Annual Meeting of The Mother Church. Incidentally, she went to Concord, where Mrs. Eddy resided. To Mrs. Seal's surprise, Mrs. Eddy called on her at her hotel. Mrs. Eddy explained that she could not receive visitors then, and continued thus: "I could not let you go away without taking your dear hands in mine, and looking into your brave eyes, and saying Thank you; thank you for being brave and true, for facing error courageously and standing with Truth." This incident is one of many that illustrated Mrs. Eddy's acquaintance with the course of Christian Science affairs, as well as her appreciation of and interest in the accomplishments of her followers.
