This month we have taken the opportunity to speak with Jean Stark Hebenstreit and Michael B. Thorneloe, who have been teachers in the Board of Education established by Mary Baker Eddy. The Board of Education offers the Normal class once every three years to prepare teachers of Christian Science. Mr. Thorneloe taught this class in 1988, and Mrs. Hebenstreit in 1985 and 1991.
Normal class graduates offer Primary class instruction to students of Christian Science once each year. Participants usually find that this can be a turning point in their lives. The names of teachers can be found in the directory in the back of this Journal.
Below is an interview with Mrs. Hebenstreit and Mr. Thorneloe about Primary class instruction.
Many people wonder, What is the purpose of Primary class instruction in Christian Science?
Mr. Thorneloe: Each student receiving class instruction should gain a better understanding of the pure Science of Christ and how to put it into practice more effectively. This includes awakening within the student an understanding of the nature of God and man and their indestructible relationship.
Mrs. Hebenstreit: Mrs. Eddy makes reference in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany to class teaching and "that for which it was established; viz., the elucidation of the Principle and rule of Christian Science through the higher meaning of the Scriptures." Class instruction helps the student learn what true being is and includes; what his purpose is; what his prospects can be; how he can go into the laboratory of everyday experience to prove this Science of Christ in his own life, and in his ability to help others. It is designed to enhance one's understanding of how to use this dynamic Science, in specifically dealing with error and disposing of it.
Mr. Thorneloe: It's also helpful to know the student's purpose in seeking class instruction, and so this is a question I ask on the form each applicant completes before taking class. A student who is seeking to grow in his spiritual understanding for the purpose of blessing others has an open heart that is ready for progress.
How does a teacher prepare to conduct a class in Christian Science?
Mrs. Hebenstreit: Figuratively, on his knees! It calls for deep study and prayer to fulfill what is expected, as Mrs. Eddy says, in "imparting, so far as we reflect them, Truth, Life, and Love to all within the radius of our atmosphere of thought" (Miscellaneous Writings).
Mr. Thorneloe: Each class needs individual prayerful preparation. This includes a recognition that "they [the students] shall be all taught of God" (John). This is reconfirmed by our Leader where she says in Science and Health, "The intercommunication is always from God to His idea, man." The Master's motive for teaching was love for God and man. Teachers strive to follow his example. They work with the ideas which our pastor, the Bible and Science and Health, gives to us regarding teaching. Our Master, Christ Jesus, and his steadfast follower, Mary Baker Eddy, are preeminent in teaching Christianity and its healing law. They show us how to do it.
Mrs. Hebenstreit: Inasmuch as law and order characterize the work for the classroom, there's a need for systematic and orderly presentation of the subjects to be covered. Those subjects are specified in the chapter "Recapitulation" in Science and Health. Mrs. Eddy herself called that chapter her class-book, so it is a divinely dictated course of instruction for ... us. The spontaneity of Christ would be the basis for elucidating the Principle and rule of Christian Science presented in this chapter.
Mr. Thorneloe: That's so true, Jean. Every teacher would review in depth the chapter "Recapitulation" from Science and Health, our textbook. The chapter begins with five questions as to the nature of God, including the demands of the Science of Soul. After "the scientific statement of being," we expand the discussion of that statement to substance, Life, intelligence, and Mind. Following the question on doctrines and creeds, we see that error is that which would reverse or contradict "the scientific statement of being." Then a class explores several questions about man, including what he is and what he isn't. All this is showing us how to heal. Then we come to the question that explains how to handle the belief in a power apart from God, which we term animal magnetism, and related questions on material sense, belief, and the five corporeal senses. This is a culmination, or climax, before we discuss the answer to the question "Will you explain sickness and show how it is to be healed?" It is then natural for a class to ask where we go from that point. Mrs. Eddy deals with that by asking and answering "How can I progress most rapidly in the understanding of Christian Science?" And finally, in the Tenets, that powerful summation of all that has been taught. (See Science and Health, pp. 465—497.)
What do teachers look for in prospective students?
Mrs. Hebenstreit: Spiritual mindedness, receptivity, teachableness, unselfishness would be prime qualities. A prospective student who has glimpsed the true import of Christ Jesus' mission and wants to follow in his footsteps by serving the Church of Christ, Scientist, in support of the greatest Cause the world has ever known, is positioned to comprehend the magnitude of what is contained in "Recapitulation." The spiritual sense that impels the earnest seeker after truth beyond simply wanting to know more about this Science for a little more comfortable situation readies him for adopting the joy of the Master's purpose mentioned in the Gospel of Luke: "I am among you as he that serveth." The rewards for following in the steps of the master Christian are unequalled. And we have the assurance from our Leader that we find our own in another's good.
Mr. Thorneloe: I agree. A desire to heal and bless others is essential. Mrs. Eddy also stresses the need for a high moral sense in order for each of us to be able to progress. Also, flexibility of thought is of vital importance. Is the prospective student teachable? A rigid thought cannot grow; a flexible thought can and will.
It is always helpful to meet with applicants if this is possible. If this cannot be done, a teacher will correspond with the individual, or speak to him or her on the telephone. I encourage students to tell me about the spiritual progress they have already made or are desirous of making. Often they share a healing experience that has been of particular importance and relevance to them. It's important to find out what they are expecting from class.
Mrs. Hebenstreit: The applicant's readiness would be related to his acceptance of Christian Science, in Mrs. Eddy's words, "as the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony" (Rudimental Divine Science); his living in accord with its Tenets; his relying on spiritual means alone for healing; and his understanding of Mary Baker Eddy as Discoverer, Founder, and forever Leader. As Michael has already mentioned, the student must have the necessary moral and spiritual qualifications.
Mr. Thorneloe: The length of time someone has been studying Christian Science is not really significant. If an applicant has been a student of Christian Science for, say, twenty years, is it really twenty years or one year twenty times over? A genuine desire to progress is what is important.
In the Manual of The Mother Church, Mrs. Eddy refers to "good past records. " Does this mean if I have made serious mistakes in the past that I can 't be accepted in a class?
Mrs. Hebenstreit: Indeed it does not. The Biblical account of the sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet offers a heartening example of serious mistakes, even sin, overcome with reformation and rebirth. She erased the record of past mistakes. The third tenet of Christian Science is plain: "We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts" (Science and Health). The belief in sin abandoned presents, then, a good record of demonstrating this exact Science. Such reformation and regeneration would present some most promising proclivities.
How can students prepare themselves for class?
Mr. Thorneloe: The penultimate question in "Recapitulation" is "How can I progress most rapidly in the understanding of Christian Science?" The first sentence of Mrs. Eddy's answer is "Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit." She makes it plain in her writings that pupils must study the assigned passage from "Recapitulation" before the class session when it will be discussed. Since every teacher of Christian Science uses this chapter as the basis for his or her class, the preparatory study before class obviously includes that chapter from Science and Health. Although study assignments are certainly individual, I always encourage students to review the chapter "Christian Science Practice" in addition to the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments from the Bible. The Lesson-Sermon, upon which our Leader tells us that "the prosperity of Christian Science largely depends," also is an integral part of preparation, helping us to know our pastor, the Bible and Science and Health.
Sometimes very few seem to be interested in applying for Primary class. What should we be alert to in that case?
Mr. Thorneloe: Every idea of God is complete, and His inviolable law impels unfoldment. Nothing can obstruct that which God has ordained. We can know this not only for ourselves but for the whole of the teaching faculty in Christian Science.
Mrs. Hebenstreit: The belief of a lack of interest in class instruction, like any other false belief, is a sense of limitation, stemming from animal magnetism's attempt to hinder the Christian Science movement. In the Bible is the question "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?" All teachers have chosen this fast—to loose the bands of torpor, delay, disinterest, complacency—in upholding God's law of attraction that governs mankind. God's law of "adhesion, cohesion, and attraction" (Science and Health) antidotes any resistance of the anti-Christ to Mrs. Eddy's established and divinely designated system of education and communication. The teacher must deal metaphysically with what Mrs. Eddy alerts us to when she writes of prospective Primary class pupils, "Students who are ready for this step should beware the net that is craftily laid and cunningly concealed to prevent their advancement in this direction" (Miscellany). The prospective pupil should be able to go forward naturally in this God-ordained provision for his spiritual advancement and endowment—and joy.
Mr. Thorneloe: The Master tells the parable of the guests at a wedding feast. Everyone had an excuse as to why he or she could not come! Teachers can know that there is no power that can in any way prevent an individual from being in his right place, for man is maintained by Truth at the point of absolute perfection. Unfounded doubts on the part of the student as to his or her readiness for class—"Can I cope?"—cannot interfere with what is right. Each can fulfill his or her God-appointed task. Arguments such as not having time to spare for class, or money to pay for it, are simply red herrings which have no authority to deflect thought and impede spiritual growth. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me," the Master says in the Gospel of John. This is not personal to the teacher but is absolute fact that the Christ attracts. And that attraction cannot be reversed.
Why is class instruction important?
Mr. Thorneloe: Because in Science and Health our Leader says so! One of the twenty-four questions Mrs. Eddy asks in "Recapitulation" is "Will you explain sickness and show how it is to be healed?" Part of her answer states, 'A full answer to the above question involves teaching, which enables the healer to demonstrate and prove for himself the Principle and rule of Christian Science or metaphysical healing." Primary class instruction gives the student a firm basis for progress in the practice of spiritual, or Christian, healing.
Mrs. Hebenstreit: Mrs. Eddy tells us that the Church Manual By-Laws were impelled by a power not her own, so it is through divine impulsion that there is a provision for class instruction as an intelligible avenue for study of God and man (see Miscellaneous Writings, p. 148). Class instruction is divinely authorized for spiritual enlightenment, growth, and advancement. Then its importance to the salvation of the individual and to his world almost defies overstatement.
Mr. Thorneloe: Our Leader has a whole chapter in Science and Health and a section in the Church Manual both of which are entitled "Teaching Christian Science." Also in the Manual there's an entire section called "Board of Education." All this shows the great importance Mrs. Eddy places on class teaching. The God-inspired provision for class illustrates our Leader's love for us and for our continuing spiritual progress.
Is it naive for students to expect to be able to help others right after class instruction?
Mr. Thorneloe: Not at all! In biographies about Mrs. Eddy, there are instances where she asked members of her classes to take a case and heal it. Most of them did so, returning with reports of clear-cut spiritual healing. And this was even before the class instruction was completed. Applicants today have on occasion helped others before and during class.
Mrs. Hebenstreit: It certainly is not naive for students to expect to heal others before, during, and after class instruction. The classwork, however, should enable them to heal more quickly, and educate them in their realization of their dominion over all the aspects or suggestions of animal magnetism. Michael, as you know, the final paragraph of the chapter "Teaching Christian Science" in the textbook has this marginal heading: "The right motive and its reward." The reward of increased healing ability is the blessing class instruction imparts.
Mr. Thorneloe: You are so right, Jean. I recall on one occasion there was a very senior lady in one of my classes who cherished the desire to help others. She proved to be the most youthful member of the class! Within a few months her application to advertise in the Journal as a practitioner was accepted, and she spent many years successfully practicing the Science of Christian healing.
Mrs. Hebenstreit: The teacher helps the student to see, through the study of the Bible and of Science and Health, that the practice of Christian Science is for everyone. For one to see the joy of this healing work makes the attractiveness of the public practice beyond competition. The teacher, being devoted to the practice himself, can impart the feeling of fulfillment that accompanies following in the footsteps of Christ Jesus.
Mr. Thorneloe: Our Leader yearned for every student to practice his or her understanding for the benefit of others. After all, we are a movement of practitioners, not a movement of patients! Since Christ is the light of Soul, the manifested power of Truth, we can know with complete certainty that there is no power which can in any way prevent spiritual healing from blossoming in the heart of each one of us.
Mrs. Hebenstreit: I agree that everyone who has been given the unmatched gift of Christian Science is in position to practice it in healing. The healing work is not confined solely to those advertising in the Journal. The textbook's instructions are addressed to every single member of the human race. It is the great joy of those who have glimpsed the nature of Christianity, as defined in Christian Science, to begin and to continue to practice it for themselves and others, and so come to know the realities of Spirit and Spirit's creation.
What are the yearly association meetings for?
Mr. Thorneloe: They are an important element in the ongoing spiritual education our Leader provides for all of us— Bible Lessons, Sunday School, class instruction, association meetings, and so on.
Mrs. Hebenstreit: The association meetings are postgraduate work, another day of instruction where there is a going forward, a day of advancement under the law of infinite progression.
Mr. Thorneloe: Association meetings enable us to explore a given subject in depth, providing an opportunity for spiritual enrichment in an atmosphere of rich family unity and prayer. It opens thought to a deepening commitment to our Leader's Church and to the practice. One student, in a letter of gratitude to her teacher after the association day, said that at the end of the afternoon she could not remain in her seat—she just had to go out and put the teaching into practice.
Mrs. Hebenstreit: The association meeting is not what is sometimes called a "refresher course." The student can keep himself refreshed. It is ongoing, a forward march. Association meetings are to teach, inspire, uplift, spiritually educate, and advance the growth of everyone in attendance. They promote our growth in love as learned in Christian Science, and such love is all-conquering to anything that would oppose it.
What responsibilities do Christian Science teachers have toward their students?
Mrs. Hebenstreit: The answer is in the Manual. The Manual says "A teacher shall not assume personal control of, or attempt to dominate his pupils, but he shall hold himself morally obligated to promote their progress in the understanding of divine Principle, not only during the class term but after it, and to watch well that they prove sound in sentiment and practical in Christian Science." The directive that a teacher isn't to try personally to control or dominate his pupils is really great for both the teacher and the pupil! But our Leader is definite that teachers have a continuing, nurturing relationship with the pupil to be responsive to his needs; to always be there for the pupil.
Mr. Thorneloe: That's it exactly. Mrs. Eddy intended the teacher's interest in each student to extend beyond the twelve days of the class itself. It's a shepherding—a loving interest that rejoices in the spiritual growth of each pupil. When you look at our Leader as a teacher of Christian Science, you see her demonstration of divine Mind as the only Teacher. She committed each searching heart to the arms of divine Love. At the same time she was unflagging in her care for her own students. The relationship between a teacher and student is unique, very special indeed.
