Mary Baker Eddy: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

Questions for Further Study

• 1. The entry notes that “Christian Science was one of the fastest-growing sects in the country in the first decades of the twentieth century.” Why do you think this was so? What appeal did Christian Science have? Why do you think the number of Christian Scientists has diminished in more recent decades?
• 2. Christian Science was one of numerous “breakaway sects” of Christianity that emerged during the nineteenth century in America. What conditions in nineteenth-century America might have given rise to this apparent need for alternative forms of Christianity?
• 3. To what extent, if any, do you think that Christian Science bears similarities to Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism? For reference, see, for example, the entries on the Vishnu Purana or the Noble Eightfold Path.
• 4. In later times, researchers have seemingly established that prayer and other spiritual exercises can, in fact, have a positive impact on a person’s health. From a strictly scientific point of view, this would appear to make no sense. But how might such a conclusion be defended?
• 5. What is your position on the issue of parents denying medical care or immunizations to their children on the basis of religious belief? Do you believe that the state has an interest in forcing such care, or do you believe that the religious rights of parents take precedence? Defend your position.