A beautiful image of the scope of Jesus’ life is painted by the words of the Apostle John. He concludes his gospel report of all that people had seen by saying, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25).
Something echoing that could be said of the impact of Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures since it was first published on October 30, 1875. The collective gratitude felt by readers for their experiences of healing is incalculable. If just a single healing has resulted from every copy of the Christian Science textbook in circulation over the past 150 years, that would amount to over ten million healings. Yet the book’s hundred-page chapter “Fruitage” points to so much more. It shows how studying and pondering the truths in Science and Health leads to a life transformed by Christ, with God’s demonstrated presence and power woven into the very fabric of every day.
For all that, the book is in the early days of all it can and will do for humankind. It’s the key to the Scriptures, and therefore unlocks the timeless spiritual understanding of the Bible that is pivotal to humanity’s salvation. It also brings into sharp relief the mental nature of both the problems we face and the solutions they call for. It says, “Truth is an alterative in the entire system, and can make it ‘every whit whole’ ” (p. 371). Understanding the truth that God’s nature as divine Spirit is expressed in each of us as a wholly spiritual identity, the very image of God, adjusts discord to harmony in our bodies and our characters, and in any aspect of our lives.
Such individual healing is priceless. But there’s more that Science and Health accomplishes, and will accomplish going forward. There’s a world in need, and the ideas in Science and Health are big enough to address those needs. If we see our brother’s or sister’s need, do we love them enough to consider sharing Science and Health with them and encouraging them to read and seek healing in its liberating message? And do we read Science and Health with the expectancy that the inspiration we gain from the Science in the Christian Science textbook will reach lives beyond our own?
Jesus had a very expansive thought for his time and for ours, to say the least. While most people were focused on their immediate surroundings, he regularly talked in terms of God’s supremacy over the world. His final advice to his disciples—not exactly world travelers!—was “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). And they went far and wide, sharing the good news and proving its validity through healing.
Similarly, the author of Science and Health had a very expansive vision of its role. She saw the whole world’s need for the Science within its pages, yet also conveyed the scope of Science in even broader terms. Speaking of Christian Science as “the soul of divine philosophy,” she said, “It is not a search after wisdom, it is wisdom: it is God’s right hand grasping the universe,—all time, space, immortality, thought, extension, cause, and effect; constituting and governing all identity, individuality, law, and power” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 364).
This is not a departure from the Scriptures; it is grounded in them. She continued, “[Christian Science] stands on this Scriptural platform: that He made all that was made, and it is good, reflects the divine Mind, is governed by it; and that nothing apart from this Mind, one God, is self-created or evolves the universe.”
Reading this cosmic explanation of Science, we might feel akin to the disciples, wondering how to go into “all the world” when they likely had little more than a couple of fishing boats between them. How do we look beyond our surroundings to embrace the universe, including all of humanity?
The key is to look up—to lift our thoughts beyond the belief that life is material to recognize and accept the spiritual nature of reality that Jesus proved and Science and Health expounds. Because if all is thought, it is the universe of thought that needs embracing, uplifting, upholding—and healing. Since we seem to live in a mental realm where spiritual and material thinking mix and mingle, every spiritual thought we entertain helps tilt the balance of human consciousness in the right, Christly direction.
In another of her writings, Mrs. Eddy says that “the textbook of Christian Science is transforming the universe” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 372). That surely doesn’t mean the book itself lying idle on a table will transform even a molecule. Without anyone opening Science and Health, reading it, thinking about its ideas, praying and living on the basis of those ideas, the mental forces manifest as health care, politics, climate, and so on will not be transformed. The book transforms the universe by every spiritualized thought, prayer, and loving deed it inspires in those willing to have their consciousness shifted by the ideas in it—shifted from “matter is,” the material view, to “Spirit is All,” which is the true view, God’s view.
The first perception of the universe to be transformed is ours. We might find that a healing need of our own dissolves into its native nothingness as we let Christ, the true idea of God, uplift and purify our thoughts. But like a benign version of the proverbial butterfly fluttering its wings and causing a storm across the globe, the blessings don’t stop with us. Let’s not underestimate the mental ripples going forth as we read, embody, and share the truths in Science and Health. These truths embrace everything from the minutiae of our daily lives to the ultimate salvation of humanity from all sickness and sin.
Given that range of blessings as our thoughts are transformed, a wonderful way to step boldly into the next 150 years of Science and Health might be to do as its author recommends: “Read this book from beginning to end. Study it, ponder it” (p. 559). If we literally follow this very specific guidance from the author—just as she so faithfully followed the world-saving way Christ Jesus exemplified—we will lead a life more full of God’s demonstrated presence and power that draws others to the Christ light, be increasingly open to sharing Science and Health, and more consistently heal through practicing its ideas.
And—thought by uplifted thought—Science and Health will continue to transform the universe.
The Editors
