May 2024
When our practices of science or religion become unscientific or irreverent, when our theories bump up against reality, the ethical imperative must be met to move the mind, perform honest investigations, and respond with substantial evidence of scientific renewal.
I was a church member for forty years. When I felt compelled to produce 21st Century Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: A modern version of Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health, now in its sixth edition, I realized the book must be revised otherwise it’s message is unscientific. As a result, when church leaders told me to stop revising, I instead withdrew my membership and finished the first edition, finding help in unforeseen, astonishing, sometimes comical places.
Click Pondering a Revision of Science and Health for more information.
Healing Science Today 
Yes
The Ark Edition because it is challenging to locate an original copy
What I like about your book, is that it is a loving desire to return to a “pre-church” mindset that Mrs. Eddy introduced with Christian Science in the first place. Key to The Scriptures was a later mindset, albeit the “Science” of Science and Health was of course based on the Bible. Had it not been, it would have been summarily overlooked back then as some nice lady writing some good thoughts in her chair.
The “Science” of the science of being is what was taught to early students, but the pure Truth couldn’t simply be stated. It would be too hard to digest to the infant metaphysical mind. So it was fed with loving spoonfuls (no jokes please) of religion, of which the students were eager to eat, in the hopes that the spiritual nourishment would sink in. Some students got it, but some did some wacky things, much akin to throwing the food on the ground, or wiping it in their hair.
Long story – I Love Mrs. Eddy – that is in a spiritual and not a deified context, but I try to read S&H without any religious regard. I want Science, not religion – there are plenty of those from which to choose – and I love them all for those who so choose. I can roll with the original S&H, but long years of conditioning tempts me to read it with 19th century poetic license, or some droning reverential reading, getting sleepy and missing the truth. I didn’t read my algebra book in high-school that way.
What your revision does, even though I don’t agree with all of it, is keep me awake to the Truth, as if I were talking to a modern woman. Much like Mrs. Eddy would have talked conversationally with her early students. Sure, they had the early handwritten Science of Man (pre S&H), but you know they didn’t “talk” like they do in print! So thank you for your revision, since seen spiritually, it IS church.
I appreciate your thoughts on my book, 21st Century Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: A modern version of Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health. Although I do not remember a desire to return to a pre-church mindset, I do remember the desire to follow through on Eddy’s pattern of constantly revising Science and Health to demonstrate the scientific workings of spirituality. And now that you mention it, I can see that church IS writing, revising, reading, and reviewing texts spiritually, with love rather than fear. Text of any sort, religious or secular, isn’t something to agree with or not, but IS living opportunity to entertain, commune with, and practice Truth, Principle. Thank you so much.
Without dragging this too far out of scope, it is that errant mind that wants you to be fearful and deny your own existence. How DARE you express an original thought as demonstrated by such a thing as a modernized revision? (smile) 🙂
That same errant mind craftily caught me, by telling me I could only express the Truth by quoting from the Bible or S&H, and use the same words and phraseology of Mrs. Eddy in my affirmations or denials, or communications with others. Or quote from articles that they themselves quoted from others! In essence, that errant mind wanted me to become an Eddy clone in thought, and not think for myself and express the Truth in my own words. Sadly, I realized that if I were a student of Mrs. Eddy’s, and she asked me “So tell me what you think”, and all I could do was parrot back her own words, she would flunk me. Lesson learned.
That’s why your revision has taught me things beyond just the surface level of it!