When Mary Baker Eddy established The Herald of Christian Science almost 100 years ago, she was responding to the spiritual needs of people outside the United States. At first, the demand for more information about Christian Science came from English-speaking countries, but fairly soon, Germans who could read English were asking for materials that they could share with friends and relatives who could not. After a lot of research on the part of The Christian Science Publishing Society, and more than a little prayer, the German edition, Der Herold der Christian Science, was born.
During the next 11 months, we'll be celebrating the history of the Herald of Christian Science. We'll be looking at how the international mission of that magazine has developed over the past 100 years. This month's segment is based on an interview with Heloísa Rivas, Managing Editor of The Herald of Christian Science, and Michael A. Seek, Managing Editor of Der Christian Science Herold, the German edition.
Today, a lot of market research goes into the establishment of a magazine. Even though in the late 1800s The Christian Science Publishing Society wasn't doing that kind of research, it was getting plenty of feedback from people around the world. People in English-speaking countries as well as others —especially those in Germany—had been exposed to Mary Baker Eddy's book Science and Health. They had seen its usefulness in healing conditions in their own lives, and they wanted it to be available in the language of their fellow citizens. "At the end of the 19th centuary, interest in Christian Science was developing in a modest way in Germany," explained Michael Seek. "But virtually all Christian Science material available to Germans was in English, and that limited their ability to share ideas and learn more about the Science. As a result, a desire developed for materials on Christian Science in German. The main difficulty appears to have been finding a competent translator.
