Thursday, December 29, 2011

Theology Thursday: Church of Christ, Scientist

An organization founded by Mary Baker Eddy...in 1876 Eddy formed the Christian Scientist Association and three years later chartered the Church of Christ, Scientist...The tenets and bylaws of the church were incorporated by Eddy into the church manual of 1895. The church's fundamental theological teachings are presented in Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

Theologically, the Church of Christ, Scientist, does not concur with the basic tenets of historic orthodox Christianity...Christian Science's view of God is monistic. God is divine principle, not a supreme being. God is mind, and mind is all...The characteristics and attributes of God become God..God, Christ and Holy Spirit are not persons...Christian Science denies a physical incarnation of Christ...The need of an atonement is nullified since sin, evil, sickness and death are delusions, not reality...Salvation to the Christian Scientist is the gaining of understanding that man's life is wholly derived from God the Spirit and is not mortal and material.



P.G. Chappell, "Church of Christ, Scientist." in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter A. Elwell, 2nd Ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), 261-2.

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