Very early in her seminal work, Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy makes the bold and evocative statement, “The time for thinkers has come” (p. vii). Then, as if to underscore the truth and power inherent in that statement, she goes on to present, on nearly every page, a veritable feast of propositions that challenge the reader to exercise intelligence, reason, and insight.
Mrs. Eddy did not hesitate to proclaim, in unmistakable terms, that man ought to be free to think true thoughts—the eternal, limitless ideas of divine Mind—and not merely parrot the humanly erroneous opinions and suppositions of temporal, mortal mind. In Science and Health, she quoted Christ Jesus’ immortal affirmation “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), and proceeded to make good the promise indwelling that marvelous proclamation. Further, she confidently averred: “The power of God brings deliverance to the captive. No power can withstand divine Love” (Science and Health, p. 224), thus establishing that it is the action of Love that emancipates us from the shackles of a limited mortal sense of life.
Before becoming a student of Christian Science, my thoughts and opinions were largely shaped and influenced by others, or by general worldviews. For many years, I felt I had the potential to think for myself, but the courage to do so seemed lacking due to this or that human circumstance, ranging from the domestic to the religious. It seemed I was powerless to change that. Though I read the Bible daily, the traditional interpretations I had been taught to embrace no longer gave me any spiritual satisfaction; they eventually produced a great restlessness of mind, and a constant desire to find better answers—somehow, somewhere.
