Mary Baker Eddy discovered that the Bible is most useful in daily life when seen through a spiritual lens, and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the textbook of Christian Science, presents the Bible through this lens. True to its title, Mrs. Eddy's book unlocks the Scriptures—throws open a window to the practical message of the Bible's spiritually inspired Word.
In a bold stroke she named the Bible and Science and Health as pastor of her Church. It was a revolutionary, unique concept at the time, a crucial part of her remarkable Church design—books as pastor? —and it is no less so today. That's why these two books are the exclusive source for the Lesson-Sermons that are compiled by the Bible Lesson Committee for the Christian Science Quarterly.
Mary Baker Eddy wanted people to have an enduring, steadfast, and ever-available pastor, one that could minister to anyone's needs anywhere, any time. As she expressed it at one point, "Your dual and impersonal pastor, the Bible, and 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' is with you; and the Life these give, the Truth they illustrate, the Love they demonstrate, is the great Shepherd that feedeth my flock, and leadeth them 'beside the still watersMiscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, p. 322. The weekly Bible Lessons are an important way that this right-here-and-now pastoring presence has been felt by people around the world for over 100 years.
