In the summer of 1985 nearly three thousand students and faculty members from colleges and universities around the world took part in a conference in Boston called "Individual spirituality and the future of mankind." The three-day gathering included panel discussions and small group exchanges, as well as talks and videos presented in the Extension of The Mother Church. The theme of the conference remains timely. And we felt that Journal readers might enjoy excerpts from the final talk and film presentation, as adapted for the Journal. It was narrated by Scott Preller and included brief videotaped interviews with Robert H. Mitchell of Edinburgh, Scotland; Mary Gottschalk of Wellesley, Massachusetts; Lee Z. Johnson of Winchester, Massachusetts; Phil Davis of Elgin, Illinois; Dorothea Luther of London, England; Sondra Elkins of Scottsdale, Arizona; Olga Chaffee of Houston, Texas; Hans-Joachim Trapp of Berlin, Germany; Jill Gooding of Esher, Surrey, England; Kathleen Smith of St. Petersburg, Florida; Margaret Rogers of San Francisco, California; David Kennedy of Duxbury, Massachusetts.
Scott Preller: For many people today the advances in science and technology—in computers, space travel, and telecommunications—seem to be setting the course for the future of humanity. But if Christian Science really is what it says it is, then the practice of it must be on the very cutting edge of humanity's progress.
Of course, fascination with inventions and gadgets is nothing new. In fact, in 1876 there was a huge Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia that had the latest in technological wonders and progress. One of the people who visited it was Mrs. Eddy. She was thrilled with what she saw. In fact, she wrote a glowing account of it in her local newspaper. But the very next week she sent in another contribution—a poem called "Hymn of Science." The words are familiar:
