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The Christian Science Tradition Religious Beliefs and Healthcare Decisions Edited by Deborah Abbott Revised by Stephen Gottschalk he Church of Christ, Scientist, was founded in T1879 and reorganized in 1892 by Mary Baker Eddy, a Congregationalist who had experienced a dramatic healing in 1866 while reading a biblical passage about Jesus’ healing powers. For many years, Eddy had had limited success in achieving health using a wide variety of methods, most notably home- Contents opathy and the mind-cure methods of Maine healer The Individual and the 5 Phineas Quimby. The moment of her healing repre- Patient-Caregiver Relationship sented a breakthrough not only in her search for health but in her understanding of the nature of Family, Sexuality, and Procreation 6 reality. The essence of her 1866 discovery, which she Genetics 8 called Christian Science, was that reality is, in truth, Organ and Tissue Transplantation 8 spiritual, and that the material world is only the human mind’s primitive, distorted view of reality, Mental Health 9 which she understood as God’s kingdom, always at Medical Experimentation 9 hand. Eddy spent the next several years developing and Research an extensive theology and metaphysics to help others Death and Dying 10 understand the implications of her discovery; the first edition of her magnum opus, Science and Health with Special Concerns 11 Key to the Scriptures, was published in 1875 under the title Science and Health. The metaphysical and theological basis of Christian Science is distinctive; comprehending it can require time and careful study. Adherents of Christian Science, called Scientists, are considered “students” and are Part of the “Religious Traditions and Healthcare Deborah Abbott, M.P.H., formerly with the Park Ridge Center, is Decisions” handbook series currently affiliated with Georgia State University. published by the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith, and Ethics Stephen Gottschalk, Ph.D., is a scholar in the field of religious studies, specializing in Christian Science. THE PARK RIDGE CENTER expected to spend time each day studying the upholds Jesus as the Savior and “Way-shower”; Bible and Science and Health. Through this it has always distinguished itself from other study, they seek to change their view of reality metaphysical traditions (to which it is often and to understand more fully the true nature of compared) by its focus on Christ Jesus and its God. One of the major principles of Christian Christian roots, and especially by its emphasis Science is that because God is not the cause of on the need for redemption. Christian Science is sin, sickness, and disharmony, these can be over- “scientific” in that Eddy believed that her come through a deeper understanding of divine discovery embodied a truth so real that it could truth. Christian Science teaches that God could be repeatedly verified by anyone willing to prac- not create disharmony; therefore, because God is tice its “divine Principle” according to its fixed the creator of all things, it follows that dishar- rules for demonstration. mony is not in accord with God’s will and has no ontological reality—however real it seems to conventional human perception. Another major FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS CONCERNING principle is that the miracles of Jesus (including HEALTH CARE his healings, resurrection, and ascension) exem- plify ultimate freedom from the bondage of phys- Christian Scientists believe that all illness and ical laws and that we, too, should strive to free suffering are ultimately illusory. Obviously, ourselves from the delusion that mortality and Scientists feel sick and experience disease as the suffering it entails are divinely instituted and others do, but they believe illness results from a in consonance with God’s will. Jesus’ miracles do mistaken view of the nature of reality, indicating a not represent exceptions to the laws of nature but need for spiritual renewal. One prominent rather illustrate what can happen when one is Christian Scientist has framed the issue in this able to see the reality of God shining through the way: difficulties that only appear to be true. When Jesus was confronted with a diseased person, for This [understanding] does not deny that within a instance, he did not see the physical appearance strictly physical framework of causation, certain as a fixed reality; rather, he discerned the pres- conclusions are warranted—for example, that many ence of a spiritual individual perfectly created by infections have a bacterial origin. And a Christian God. The clarity of Jesus’ vision brought imme- Scientist would not presume to question the accu- diate health to the individual. To Christian racy from a medical standpoint of a competent Scientists, Jesus represents perfect understanding diagnosis. What a Christian Scientist does question of and harmony with God and therefore stands as is the physical framework of causation itself . To the model for all time. take a medical analogy, a Christian Scientist Christian Science, though distinct in many regards all forms of disease as symptomatic of an ways, has more links to traditional Christianity underlying condition that needs to be healed. This than its critics (and some of its adherents) may is the healing, or spiritual wholeness, that he or have supposed. Mrs. Eddy, for example, teaches she seeks to effect through prayer.1 that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three aspects or offices of one God, signifying God as Prayers therefore focus not on the symptom, Father-Mother; Christ as divine manhood; and the sickness, or disease, but rather on the under- the Holy Comforter as God’s sustaining power, lying condition—flawed human perception and which Mrs. Eddy believes has been revealed estrangement from God. Through their prayers through Christian Science. Christian Science is and practices, Christian Scientists hope to align “Christian” in that it grew out of the Christian human understanding with God’s divine, disease- tradition, relies heavily on the Bible, and free reality, thereby restoring spirituality to the 2 THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TRADITION: RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND HEALTHCARE DECISIONS human spirit and destroying the illusion of family difficulties, and other such problems. All disease. A renewed relationship with God is the practitioners listed in Christian Science periodi- primary goal. Physical healing is simply a natural cals have undergone an intensive two-week by-product. Eddy wrote, “Healing physical sick- course of training and are committed to full- ness is the smallest part of Christian Science. It time ministry. Consultation with a practitioner is only the bugle-call to thought and action, in often occurs over the telephone, and he or she the higher range of infinite goodness. The normally receives a modest fee. emphatic purpose of Christian Science is the Christian Science nurses complement the healing of sin; and this task, sometimes, may be work of practitioners with nonmedical physical harder than the cure of disease; because, while care. They provide spiritual support; feed and mortals love to sin, they do not love to be sick.”2 bathe patients; help patients use canes, walkers, Despite her view of bodily healing as secondary and wheelchairs; prepare meals; and provide to the healing of sin, Eddy still saw it as a vital other nonmedical care. Especially important is part of Christian salvation. Christian Science their mission of maintaining a mental atmo- periodicals regularly publish dramatic personal sphere conducive to spiritual healing. Christian accounts of healing. Since 1900, over 53,900 Science nurses do not receive any information such accounts have been published, most about medication or physical therapy as part of involving physical healing.3 their training. (See “Pain control and palliative According to Christian Science, drugs do not care,” below.) have real power; they are effective only insofar More than thirty Christian Science nursing as they are supported by general human faith in homes and sanatoria are located in the United material cause and effect. “Certain results, States and Canada. Most major health insurance supposed to proceed from drugs, are really companies cover the cost of Christian Science caused by the faith in them which the false care, including practitioners’ fees; unreimbursed human consciousness is educated to feel.”4 payments are deductible as medical expenses for Because this faith is fundamentally misguided, the purposes of federal income tax assessment.6 the effect can only be temporary. Eddy Among Scientists, sole reliance on Christian explained, “A hypodermic injection of morphine Science treatment is clearly preferred over the is administered to a patient, and in twenty use of medicine and medical treatments, minutes the sufferer is quietly asleep. To him although individual Christian Scientists are there is no longer any pain. Yet any physician— permitted to decide for themselves which kind allopathic, homoeopathic, botanic, eclectic—will of care they receive. Christian Science teaches, tell you that the troublesome material cause is however, that while both medicine and Christian unremoved, and that when the soporific influ- Science seek the healing of the patient, they rest ence of the opium is exhausted, the patient will on very different bases and are therefore incom- find himself in the same pain, unless the belief patible with each other in practical situations. which occasions the pain has meanwhile been It makes little sense, Scientists believe, to admin- changed.”5 ister medical treatment to a patient while at the Christian Scientists and others in need of same time denying the ultimate reality of matter healing often rely on Christian Science practi- and the reality of material cause and effect, tioners, professionals who are committed to the which is the basis of medical treatment. ministry of healing. This ministry involves Therefore, the two methods should not be consultation with the sick, discussion of used simultaneously—not to satisfy some stan- Christian Science principles, and prayer.
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