In her writings, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, refers to her church in two ways. On occasions she calls it the church militant; in the Church Manual and elsewhere, speaking of the spiritual verity, she calls it the church triumphant.
In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy defines "Church" as follows (p. 583): "The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle. The Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick."
In the latter part of this definition Mrs. Eddy has set forth the function of the church militant in its relation to human affairs. It is militant because it challenges all evil, as well as perfunctory religion. It challenges at once the teachings of scholastic theology concerning the nature of evil, the teachings of physical science concerning the nature of matter, and materia medica concerning the nature of disease. Briefly, it challenges the entire mass of human belief in the reality of material creation with its sin, disease, and death. Her "scientific statement of being" (ibid., p. 468) summarizes this challenge, and our Leader has made this definitive declaration a part of the church services.
