Between 1872 and 1875, Mary Baker Eddy was writing the textbook to explain the Science she had discovered in 1866 through divine revelation. Since that discovery, she had been intensively studying the Bible, healing the sick through prayer alone, and teaching others how to heal. She suspended teaching in 1872 in order to devote her full time to writing The Science of Life. This was the original title for her work, which she changed after learning of a book with that title already in print. Mrs. Eddy later wrote of this:
Mary Baker Eddy:
a lifetime of healing
Six weeks I waited on God to suggest a name
for the book I had been writing. Its title, Science
and Health, came to me in the silence of night,
when the steadfast stars watched over the world,
—when slumber had fled,—and I rose and re
corded the hallowed suggestion. Message to The Mother Church for 1902, p. 15.
