The History of Spirituality III

By time the weekend rolled around, I’d heard that Leah and Anthony were coming visit me the next Tuesday. I was delighted and invigorated to get all my reading done, as well as start on the 10 page paper that was due at the end of class. But I also wanted to go to the Science Museum in Boston. Needless to say I didn’t sleep much.

Friday afternoon I bought a ticket for the trolley train and made my way to Boston. I got off one stop to soon and so walked quite a distance to the museum. The Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit was fantastically interesting.

Waking and getting up at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday was not a problem mainly because the dorm bed consisted of plastic wrapped around a wooden board. About 7:30 a.m. I decided to go grocery shopping before the crowds. I was flabbergasted to learn Whole Foods didn’t open until 8 a.m., the middle of the day in my eyes. But, I waited, and bought more watermelon, my staple food while at college.

Mary Baker Eddy historic house

Back to my homework, until time to go on my daily walk later in the afternoon. Each day I ventured out farther and farther. Walking along Chestnut Hill Road, I came across a Mary Baker Eddy historic home. It was closed. I then found a trail through the woods which was really nice.

I contemplated comments made by the professor. When reading old text, there is a challenge to acknowledge the historic context of the text. To truly engage the text, it must be admitted that the writer was unaware of what we know today. We want to avoid the “trash can” approach to read only what we want and throw out the rest. The “fundamentalist” approach to reading canonizes the writer and reads literally. Basically, texts are not simple, and the act of interpretation must be a conversation with the writer. Otherwise the wisdom goes into geriatric decline.

The First Church of Christ, Scientist

On Sunday, I rode the trolley back into Boston to attend a church service at The First Church of Christ, Scientist. The service was fine. A modern version of the Bible was read from at the closing otherwise they stuck to old text in the sermon. The idea of “global language,” mentioned by the professor, certainly is more inclusive, otherwise a church service looks like a tight knit clique.

I went through the Mary Baker Eddy Library and heard the video voice say, “Woman has the right to interpret Scripture.” Woman also has the right to interpret Eddy’s writings, such as in 21st Century Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: A modern version of Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health.

Back to the dorm and back to reading and writing after the nice morning.