FROM TIME TO TIME, readers of the weekly Christian Science Bible Lessons and attendees at Christian Science services ask about the use of the King James Version of the Bible in the Lessons. We wanted to share with you the kinds of questions they've asked lately, along with the historical context that has come to light as we've researched questions like the following ones:
1. Mary Baker Eddy quoted from the King James Bible almost exclusively in her writings, including the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures—but did she ever study, or quote from, modern Bible translations?
Mrs. Eddy clearly loved the King James Bible and preferred it above all other Bible translations available to her. She urged at least one of her copy editors assisting on Science and Health to conform the Bible quotes to the King James text. L07631, Mary Baker Eddy to James Henry Wiggin, September 4, 1890, The Mary Baker Eddy Collection, The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity . "I like the old, better than the new, in some respects,—in a majority of instances, I will say," she wrote in 1901 to Rev. William P. McKenzie, then a Trustee of The Christian Science Publishing Society. L10602, Mary Baker Eddy to William P. McKenzie, November 20, 1901, The Mary Baker Eddy Collection.
