"What is your pastor's name?" asked a little girl during a group tour of a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. When two books were held up and it was explained that our pastor was not a person but the Bible, and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, the group was plainly impressed. They quickly grasped how the Bible and a textbook—a key that unlocks the Scripture's spiritual meaning—could be, in Mrs. Eddy's words, "our only preachers." "Explanatory Note," Christian Science Quarterly, p. 2.
Mrs. Eddy revealed the unique identity of the pastor when she reassuringly wrote her Church, "Your dual and impersonal pastor, the Bible, and 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' is with you; and the Life these give, the Truth they illustrate, the Love they demonstrate, is the great Shepherd that feedeth my flock, and leadeth them 'beside the still waters.'" Miscellaneous Writings, p. 322.
It is noteworthy that our dual pastor is not two pastors but one consisting of two parts. Some time ago a national magazine featured a nostalgic article about the stereoscope, an optical device popular around the turn of the century. The stereoscope uses a dual-image card consisting of two photographs taken at slightly different angles. When inserted in a holder and viewed through the stereoscope's two lenses, the two pictures seem to coalesce into a single impression, but one of three-dimensional depth and quality.
