The writings of Mary Baker Eddy are the foundation of Christian Science. Through her works millions have found the spiritual enlightenment and healing for which they had been searching for. By opening these books, you can experience inspiration, joy, and hope, for they will enable you to heal, regenerate, and transform the inner self.
Christian Science first came to light in the Victorian Age. At a time when a materialistic philosophy dominated the scientific world, Mrs. Eddy wrote brilliantly and accurately about the mental and spiritual nature of creation. She succeeded in resolving the age-old conflict between science and religion, defining scientifically the divine cause of the universe and man.
At the turn of the century, Mrs. Eddy presented concepts that only now are being universally considered. She defined God as the one cause and creator, and she revealed the spiritual nature of man and the universe as the effects of one spiritual cause. She declared that there is no matter, and that evil has no power or reality beyond what the human mind gives it. She recognized sickness, disease and aging to be caused by mental and emotional disturbance. She discovered the spiritual and scientific laws underlying Christ Jesus’ healing works and established a form of prayer that put spiritual healing on a scientific basis. She uncovered the lethal effect of malicious mental manipulation and secret hypnosis, and showed how prayer can protect the mind from all forms of thought control. She proved that the power of drugs to heal is only in proportion to one’s faith in them.
Because of her extraordinary vision, her writings are especially relevant to the present age. Not only are her books visionary, profound, and divinely inspired, but they are practical. An understanding of Christian Science can meet every human need. This is proven by the healing effect it has on those who study it and live it in their daily lives.
Her Published and Unpublished Writings
Mrs. Eddy’s writings can be divided into two main categories: 1) those she published herself; 2) collections of her personal letters, essays, prayers, students’ notes of her teaching, and other recorded items, classified as her unpublished writings. Mrs. Eddy’s published writings are the foundation for the study of Christian Science. However, the personal teaching she gave her students in the form of her unpublished writings help explain some of the more advanced ideas in her published writings. A number of years after she passed on, her personal teachings were collected and published by Gilbert Carpenter, Jr.