Gaining an accurate perspective on events is not easy when we're in the middle of them. We understand adolescence better when we're no longer teen-agers. We understand what marriage means after several years of marriage. Theories on child care come easy; the actual experience of raising children is quite different.
We're still learning of the impact of the Second World War on today's world. A visit to the memorial for Vietnam veterans in Washington, D.C., taught me many lessons even years after that conflict. We all have similar experiences where we gain perspective only when we can begin to see what is happening from a larger point of view.
The same is true of Christian Science. And while we might think of it as having been around a long time, a century is a short time in the life of religions. If we look at early Christianity after about a century, it was still a fringe movement under severe persecution. The early written records of the Gospels were new. Many years would pass before Christianity could be seen as a permanent, prevailing movement in the world. The Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses firmly represented state power and authority.
Tertullian, the great Christian defender—quoted in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy: "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church"Science and Health, p. 37—was still about a century in the future of that early Christian community. Luminaries like St. Augustine lay some three centuries in the future; the great Protestant Reformation more than a millennium after Augustine. And yet we need perspective, even in early stages of development.
New ideas go through at least three stages before having sufficient exposure and record for fact to begin to outweigh rumor and misunderstanding in public thought. The first stage is often one of initial skepticism, criticism, and even ridicule as a new idea conflicts with established authority and practices. The next stage involves further testing, explanation, and reasoned defense as an idea reaches out beyond a usually small circle of initial adherents. Finally, in the third stage serious consideration of the idea by large numbers of people begins to develop.
In the middle of such transition it's difficult to sort out exactly what is happening. Think of what it must have seemed like on the day, for example, when many of Christ Jesus' students left him.See John 6:66 Or, how would one have felt upon learning that the apostles themselves had been arrested and imprisoned?See Acts 5:17, 18 It would have required great foresight on such occasions to believe that Christianity would recover and advance.
Mrs. Eddy described a cycle regarding the development of Christian Science. Speaking to her Church at the turn of the century, she quoted an observation by Professor Agassiz of Harvard University: "Every great scientific truth goes through three stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible. Next, they say it has been discovered before. Lastly, they say they had always believed it."
Then she continued, "Having passed through the first two stages, Christian Science must be approaching the last stage of the great naturalist's prophecy."Message to The Mother Church for 1901, pp. 27-28
We're still transitioning into this final stage, and it's a crucial one in the history and development of Christian Science. Nothing less than the continuance of the spiritual understanding of Christian healing is at issue. In a number of places in her writings, the Discoverer of Christian Science indicated that this century would be extremely important for Christian Science. Just a few weeks after the dedication of The Mother Church, she spoke of looking ahead "three quarters of a century hence,"Pulpit and Press, p. vii when the children of her day would be the elders of a new century and, thus, in a better position to assess the public impact of Christian Science.
Mrs. Eddy had a historical as well as a spiritual view of Christianity. She possessed a far-reaching outlook on the consequences of decisions. She also had strong faith that truth would eventually prevail over error. Such faith came from her love of Christ and the reality of God in her life. It did not come from optimistic confidence in human nature or events. She realized that human nature itself is capable of great evil, and that only the spiritual renovation of such nature could redeem history and preserve humanity on a course of spiritual and moral progress.
Mrs. Eddy had a historical
as well as a spiritual view of
Christianity. She possessed
a far-reaching outlook on the
consequences of decisions.
She also had strong faith that
truth would eventually prevail
over error. Such faith came
from her love of Christ and
the reality of God in her life.
Undoubtedly she lived within the context of the spiritual realism of New Testament Christianity. The healing works of Christ Jesus and his followers were not to her mythical, symbolic, or merely idealistic affirmations of faith. Christian healing was to her the evidence of the presence of God and the utter reality of man as the spiritual offspring of God.
What she said about Christ Jesus in one of her annual messages to her Church could have come straight from the lips of the Apostle Paul: "It is well to know that even Christ Jesus, who was not popular among the worldlings in his age, is not popular with them in this age; hence the inference that he who would be popular if he could, is not a student of Christ Jesus."'01., p. 28 And while Mrs. Eddy had tremendous capacities to adapt to changing situations—often far exceeding her more conventional students—she never compromised the divine Principle that undergirded her spiritual discovery.
Thus, not surprisingly, constant reference to Christ Jesus permeates the teachings of Christian Science; the apostolic commission to follow his example is seen as falling upon anyone who follows his example and lives in the light of his life. The ground upon which students of Christian Science can meet mankind is one of Christian healing, upon which the conviction of man as the spiritual expression of God's being will practically and finally overcome evil.
An accurate perspective of Christian Science is inseparable from the character of Christian discipleship. The most powerful witness to Christianity—in Jesus' day as well as today—is the healing and saving effect that it has on people. This is why spiritual healing must be central to Christian Science. It's not simply a benefit; it's confirmation of the power and presence of God in the world. Without healing and the radical spiritual reformation that causes it, Christianity and Christian Science are drained of significance.
Regarding Christian character, or discipleship, Mrs. Eddy understood that trustworthiness is also central. The demand to merit and to earn the trust of mankind was clear in her teachings. At one point she said: "I have passed through deep waters to preserve Christ's vesture unrent; then, when land is reached and the world aroused, shall the word popularity be pinned to the seamless robe, and they cast lots for it? God forbid! Let it be left to such as see God—to the pure in spirit, and the meek that inherit the earth; left to them of a sound faith and charity, the greatest of which is charity—spiritual love."Ibid., p. 26
Where this vision of selfhood and service is taking hold in people's lives, scientific Christianity is becoming firmly, irreversibly, anchored in the world. This spiritual growth lies at the heart of Christian Science. And such development in our lives will evolve the perspective we need in order to accomplish what we must, here and now, in order to forward and to protect the cause of scientific, Christian healing.
