As a researcher in The Mary Baker Eddy Library, I naturally do a lot of reading of historical documents about Mrs. Eddy and the history of Christian Science. And since Christian Science is based on the Bible, I also enjoy reading Biblical scholarship, especially books about the New Testament.
Something that's jumped out at me is that most Bible scholars recognize that the historical Jesus had a reputation as a powerful healer, and that he and his followers viewed these healings as crucial signs that the kingdom, or reign, of God was beginning to break into human life. Jesus expected his followers to also be healers, and healing through spiritual means was a well-known phenomenon among Jesus' disciples and in the early Church. These Christians saw their healing work as foreshadowing what could be thought of as the ultimate healing—the final and forever destruction of all "works of Satan"—sin, disease, and death.
Mary Baker Eddy understood her discovery, Christian Science, as the complete statement of eternal and universal divine Science, the very revelation of the spirit of Christ. She saw it as the power of God dynamically at work today and destined to not only wipe out sin, sickness, and death, but to transform our perception of the entire universe, enabling us to see it from God's perspective—limitless, perfect, and spiritual. As Mrs. Eddy and early Christian Scientists gave themselves over to this power, healings comparable to those of New Testament times began to take place in the modern world, and Christian Science as an organized religious movement grew rapidly.
