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https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christian_Science&diff=594311808&oldid=594305930 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christian_Science&diff=594000819&oldid=593999399 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christian_Science&diff=594305930&oldid=594008825 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christian_Science&diff=593995628&oldid=593975557 Clerical reactionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christian_Science&diff=593975557&oldid=593974405

Protestant clergy were frustrated with Christian Sciences wide appeal Protestants labeled Christian Science as heretical, a form of Hinduism, Brahamism, Islam. Eddy was accused of "plagerisin Plato, Hegal, Anton Mesmer and Quimby. And "in an anti-Catholic turn" one Canadian  Methodist compared Christian Science to Roman Catholism.  This "heathenizing" of Christian Science, Klassen asserts was a "strategy of discrediting by analogy" and in effect an attempt on the part of many protestants to show superiority over all the world's religions.

Since the overwhelming majority of sources given in the Christian Science theology section are scholars who do not agree that Christian Science is Christian, Melton sourced 8 times Jenkins sourced 4 times Martin 2 times Weddle 2 times Rescher Stark Bainbridge Prentiss

The footnotes add alot of information marginalizing Christian Science from Christianity. I think it is fair to have 2 or 3 sources of scholars so the table isn't quite so tipped. What do you think SV?


 * "Christian Science falls within the Judeo-Christian tradition in major aspects of it's theology" McLoughlin (page 16,17)http://books.google.com/books?id=C9uLMCJQzFEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=mcloughlin+revivals+awakenings&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YsEDU7a3F_LNsQTA3oCgDw&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=national%20displacement&f=false


 * Gooden argues that Eddy's view of Atonement was consonant with the view of the Atonement in the divie healing movement where man is saved not just from sin, but from sickness and suffering. Faith Curess, and Answers to Prayer.

Examples Wiki article.
 * Two periods of Protestant Christian revival known as the Second and Third Great Awakening (c. 1800–1830 and c. 1850–1900) nurtured a proliferation of cults and sects in the United States, including Christian Scientists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Latter Day Saints, Adventists, Spiritualists and Swedenborgians.[11]

Yet another source
 * Revivalism and the work of charismatic leaders had also been an important source of new denominations contributing not only to the schims of the Great Revival period earlier in the century but also to the later emergence of such denominations as the Seventh Day Adventist, Christian Science, Salvation Army, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Pentecostal Holiness Church. Wuthhow, Robert The Restructuring of American Religion, Princeton University Press, Page (21)

We are making choices on the words we use to color this article. I purpose we use all three labels in order to support the articles neutrality.


 * 1. "cult" as described my Gordon Melton is a "perjorative label used to describe certain religious groups outside of mainstream western religion."
 * 2. 'religious movement' Gordon Melton "most writers, except for the harshest of anti-cult polemicists, have moved away from the term 'cult' and now use the less perjorative term 'new religion'
 * 3. denomination - "An organization that is on good terms with the institution from which it developed and must compete with other denominations for members." Kornblum, Sociology in a Changing World, page G-2

Many scholars refer to Christian Science as a denomination

Wuthow, Robert, The Restructuring of American Religion, Princeton University Press, Page (21)
 * Revivalism and the work of charismatic leaders had also been an important source of new denominations contributing not only to the schims of the Great Revival period earlier in the century but also to the later emergence of such denominations as the Seventh Day Adventist, Christian Science, Salvation Army, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Pentecostal Holiness Church. Wuthhow, Robert The Restructuring of American Religion, Princeton University Press, Page (21)

Christian, Kevin, Sociology of Religion. Contemporary Developments (Page 190 )
 * "At the same time two entrprenuai women were instrumental in founding new denominations. Mary Baker Eddy in the case of Christian Science and Ellen G. White with the Seventh Day Adventists"http://books.google.com/books?id=EYtjY7GJav4C&pg=PA190&dq=denominations+founded+by+woman+eddy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tFUPU--lAeKZ1AHj1ICABw&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=denominations%20founded%20by%20woman%20eddy&f=false Oppenheimer, Mark; Knocking on Heaven's Door: American Religion in the Age of Counterculture, Yale Press (page 134)

Miller, Timothy, America's Alternative Religions
 * "Christian Science has drawn a conservative middle class membership, and with one exception functions liturgually and organizationally like any other conservative Protestant denomination"

Melton, Gordon and Gottschalk, Stephen - Encyclopedia Britannia,''' http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/115181/Christian-Science/8362/Significance
 * Christian Science, religious denomination founded in the United States in 1879 by Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910), author of the book that contains the definitive statement of its teaching, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1875). It is widely known for its highly controversial practice of spiritual healing.... (50 of 2,341 words)

Christian, Kevin, Sociology of Religion. Contemporary Developments (Page 190 )
 * "At the same time two entrprenuai women were instrumental in founding new denominations. Mary Baker Eddy in the case of Christian Science and Ellen G. White with the Seventh Day Adventists"http://books.google.com/books?id=EYtjY7GJav4C&pg=PA190&dq=denominations+founded+by+woman+eddy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tFUPU--lAeKZ1AHj1ICABw&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=denominations%20founded%20by%20woman%20eddy&f=false

Oppenheimer, Mark; Knocking on Heaven's Door: American Religion in the Age of Counterculture, Yale Press (page 134)
 * were preaching and some like the Pentecostal Aimme Semple Mc Phersm, the Shaker Ann Lee, The Seventh Day Adventist Ellen Gould White, and the Christian Scientist Mary Baker Eddy, founded their own denominations.http://books.google.com/books?id=7j6wzn4Aoz8C&pg=PA134&dq=denomination+founded+by+women+eddy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lVwPU97vMO-50AGF4YGoBQ&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=denomination%20founded%20by%20women%20eddy&f=false

Vorton, James C, Nature Cures, The History of American Medicine in America, Oxford University Press (page 123)http://books.google.com/booksid=N21eyOQlE0kC&pg=PA123&dq=women+founded+denomination+eddy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ymEPU6uzDeHQ0wHwkoDoBQ&ved=0CFYQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=christian%20science&f=false
 * Between 1900 and 1925 Christian Science was far one of the fastest growing denominations in the United States

Stark, Rodney, The Rise of Christianity, page 40.
 * The U.S. Census data of American denominations published during the first 3rd of this century reveal that Christian Science far surpassed all other denominations


 * were preaching and some like the Pentecostal Aimme Semple Mc Phersm, the Shaker Ann Lee, The Seventh Day Adventist Ellen Gould White, and the Christian Scientist Mary Baker Eddy, founded their own denominations.http://books.google.com/books?id=7j6wzn4Aoz8C&pg=PA134&dq=denomination+founded+by+women+eddy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lVwPU97vMO-50AGF4YGoBQ&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=denomination%20founded%20by%20women%20eddy&f=false

Vorton, James C, Nature Cures, The History of American Medicine in America, Oxford University Press (page 123)http://books.google.com/booksid=N21eyOQlE0kC&pg=PA123&dq=women+founded+denomination+eddy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ymEPU6uzDeHQ0wHwkoDoBQ&ved=0CFYQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=christian%20science&f=false
 * Between 1900 and 1925 Christian Science was far one of the fastest growing denominations in the United States

Stark, Rodney, The Rise of Christianity, page 40.
 * The U.S. Census data of American denominations published during the first 3rd of this century reveal that Christian Science far surpassed all other denominations

While Cunningham argued that 'mind cure' was a phenomenon separate from the Christian tradition, Rosemary Gooden argues that mind cure stemmed from the beliefs of nineteenth century evangelical Protestantism and its belief in the spiritual power of healing. Specifically, Gooden views Christian Science as providing 'historical evidence' of the link between 'mind cure' and Christian theology.

Divine Healing Movement, Eddy's debt to Wesley, and Tremont Temple

The 19th century religious landscape was complex making it difficult to categorize the healing movements of the time. The explosion of Protestant divine healing movements (also referred to as faith healing, faith cure, or simply healing movement) starting in the early 1800’s in England with the Primative Methodists inspired by "A Plain Account of Christian Perfection" written by John Wesley. the minister who founded Methodism. This movement opened the way for women to participate in American religion. As a healer she was “an heir to Wesley’s understanding of Christian Healing.” As a female religious leader, Eddy needs to be understood within the context of this movement. As a theologian Eddy was entangled with the divine healing movement

John Wesley‘emphasized the importance of subjective experience of the Spirit’ and wrote “I believe that God now hears and answers prayer even beyond the ordinary course of nature.” Although he healed, spiritual healing was not his focus. In the 1830’s American Methodist lay woman, Phoebe Palmer who “reformulated” John Wesley’s teaching.

Palmer argued that ‘perfection’ or ‘holiness’ didn’t need to be a process but could be immediate. Physical healing of the body was evidence of instantaneous sanctification. Ethan O. Allen a Methodist layman who believed that purification from sin would eradicate sickness, became the first evangelist to make healing his ministry. Charles Cullis, an Episcopal layman and homeopathic physician in Boston advocated that complete salvation included both spiritual and physical healing. Moving into the 1870’s, according to P. Harvey<, all of popular healing movements “indicated that healing involved rejecting a materialistic view of the body” and “resisting the devotional ethic of passive resignation.” Mary Baker Eddy is included in the list of Protestant reformers “who objected to the notion that God ordained bodily suffering”. Amanda Porterfield also argues the Eddy is also Porterfield, Amanda; Healing in the history of Christianity, Oxford University Press, pp 178-180. however, although having similar strategies, Christian Science and other ‘divine healing’ leaders never joined forces. Yet she faced opposition from conservative Protestant ministers in Boston who argued that Christian Science was a ‘false religion’. “Faith cure and Christian Science did seem to propose a similar hermeneutics of healing”. When clergy tried to point out the differences, for the public, it seemed the same. According to Gooden, faith cure and Christian Science had in common the beliefs of nineteenth century evangelical Protestantism and a strong belief in the spiritual power of healing. In 1885 Methodist minister and Boston University Professor Luther T. Townsend, an adversary among others, of the divine healing movement and mind cure movement, wrote a treatise called “Faith Work, Christian Science and Other Cures”. In that treatise Townsend highlighted the similarities between the divine healing movement and Christian Science saying both were the response of the operation of ordinary ‘physical laws’ without intervention or the miraculous power of God. Around the same time A.J. Gordon a proponent of Christian perfection and involved in the movement, wanted to distance his movement from Christian Science. A letter, written by Gordon was read by the popular Evangelical Boston lecturer Joseph Cook, in February 1885 at the Tremont Temple Monday lectures, to a crowd of 3,000. In that letter, Gordon attacked Christian Science saying it was a false religion. “it was anti-christian in it’s no personal Deity, no personal devil, no personal man, no forgiveness of sin, no such think as sin, no sacrificial atonement, no intercesary prayer”. In response to the attack, Mary Baker Eddy asked for the opportunity to reply and was given by Cook, only 10 minitues to defend her system of healing as Christian in front of an antagonistic crowd of 3,000.ref>Gooden, Rosemary, Faith, Cures, and Answered Prayers, Syracuse Press p xxxvii On March 16, 1885 at Tremont Temple, in an extemporaneous reply, Eddy asked “Do not the reverend gentlemen demand the right to explain their creed?” She then commenced to explain her doctrines on atonement, God, sin and the trinity. She said Do I believe in a personal God? I believe in God as the Supreme Being. I know not what the person of omnipotence and ominipresence is, or what the infinite includes; therefore, I worship that of which I can conceive, first as a loving Father and Mother; then as thought ascends the scale of being to diviner consciousness, God becomes to me, as to the apostle who declared it, “God is Love”, - divine Principle, - which I worship; and ‘after the manner of my fathers, so worship I God.” In reply to attacks on her doctrine of atonement, Eddy replied that ‘this becomes more to me since it includes man’s redemption from sickness as well as from sin. I reverence and adore Christ as never before.” Both Gooden and Stilson argue that Eddy’s doctrine of atonement, which includes both salvation from sin and suffering was the same of the doctrine of the faith cure movement. Yet Stilson says that while her ideas sound like 'historic Protstantism', their full explanation places them outside traditional Christian theology. Still, with it's "obvious ties to Christian tradition", Gooden feels Christian Science specifically shows the commonlality of Christian theology, the centrality of the person of Christ, and a belief in spiritual power to heal in both faith cure and mind cure making both a result of the Protestant healing movement of the 1830’s. . Today Christian Scientists distance themselves from 20th century faith cure movements who have have “ridgely proscriptive views of medicine”. Palmer, Luanne; When Parents say No: Religious and Cultural Influences New Start! The 19th century religious landscape was complex making it difficult to categorize the healing movements of the time. The explosion of Protestant divine healing movements (also referred to as faith healing, faith cure, or simply healing movement)crossed several Protestant denominations starting in the early 1800’s in England with the Primative Methodists inspired by "A Plain Account of Christian Perfection" written by John Wesley. the minister who founded Methodism. Christian Science needs to be viewed within the context of the Holiness movement both because of the access this movement gave to women and because Eddy was “an heir to Wesley’s understanding of Christian Healing.”

John Wesley ‘emphasized the importance of subjective experience of the Spirit’ and wrote “I believe that God now hears and answers prayer even beyond the ordinary course of nature.” Although he healed, spiritual healing was not his focus. In the 1830’s American Methodist lay woman, Phoebe Palmer  “reformulated” John Wesley’s teaching. Palmer argued that ‘perfection’ or ‘holiness’ didn’t need to be a process but could be immediate. Physical healing of the body was evidence of instantaneous sanctification. Ethan O. Allen a Methodist layman who believed that purification from sin would eradicate sickness, became the first evangelist to make healing his ministry. Charles Cullis, an Episcopal layman and homeopathic physician in Boston advocated that complete salvation included both spiritual and physical healing.

Mary Baker Eddy is included in the list of Protestant reformers “who objected to the notion that God ordained bodily suffering”. Porterfield, Amanda; Healing in the history of Christianity, Oxford University Press, pp 178-180. however, although having similar strategies, Christian Science and other ‘divine healing’ leaders never joined forces. Yet she faced opposition from conservative Protestant ministers in Boston who argued that Christian Science was a ‘false religion’. “Faith cure and Christian Science did seem to propose a similar hermeneutics of healing”. When clergy tried to point out the differences, for the public, they seemed the same. According to Gooden, faith cure and Christian Science had in common the beliefs of nineteenth century evangelical Protestantism and a strong belief in the spiritual power of healing. In 1885 Methodist minister and Boston University Professor Luther T. Townsend, an adversary among others, of the divine healing movement and mind cure movement, wrote a treatise called “Faith Work, Christian Science and Other Cures”. In that treatise Townsend highlighted the similarities between the divine healing movement and Christian Science saying both were the response of the operation of ordinary ‘physical laws’ without intervention or the miraculous power of God. Around the same time A.J. Gordon a proponent of Christian perfection and involved in the movement, wanted to distance his movement from Christian Science. A letter, written by Gordon was read by the popular Evangelical Boston lecturer Joseph Cook, in February 1885 at the Tremont Temple Monday lectures, to a crowd of 3,000. In that letter, Gordon attacked Christian Science saying it was a false religion. “it was anti-christian in it’s no personal Deity, no personal devil, no personal man, no forgiveness of sin, no such think as sin, no sacrificial atonement, no intercesary prayer”. In response to the attack, Mary Baker Eddy asked for the opportunity to reply and was given by Cook, only 10 minitues to defend her system of healing as Christian in front of an antagonistic crowd of 3,000.ref>Gooden, Rosemary, Faith, Cures, and Answered Prayers, Syracuse Press p xxxvii On March 16, 1885 at Tremont Temple, in an extemporaneous reply, Eddy asked “Do not the reverend gentlemen demand the right to explain their creed?” She then commenced to explain her doctrines on atonement, God, sin and the trinity. She said Do I believe in a personal God? I believe in God as the Supreme Being. I know not what the person of omnipotence and ominipresence is, or what the infinite includes; therefore, I worship that of which I can conceive, first as a loving Father and Mother; then as thought ascends the scale of being to diviner consciousness, God becomes to me, as to the apostle who declared it, “God is Love”, - divine Principle, - which I worship; and ‘after the manner of my fathers, so worship I God.” In reply to attacks on her doctrine of atonement, Eddy replied that ‘this becomes more to me since it includes man’s redemption from sickness as well as from sin. I reverence and adore Christ as never before.” Both Gooden and Stilson argue that Eddy’s doctrine of atonement, which includes both salvation from sin and suffering was the same of the doctrine of the faith cure movement. Yet Stilson says that while her ideas sound like 'historic Protstantism', their full explanation places them outside traditional Christian theology. Still, with it's "obvious ties to Christian tradition", Gooden feels Christian Science specifically shows the commonlality of Christian theology, the centrality of the person of Christ, and a belief in spiritual power to heal in both faith cure and mind cure making both a result of the Protestant healing movement of the 1830’s. . Today Christian Scientists distance themselves from 20th century faith cure movements who have have “ridgely proscriptive views of medicine”. Palmer, Luanne; When Parents say No: Religious and Cultural Influences on  Pediatric HealthCare Treatment, Sigma Theta Tau International Publishing pg 81.

One of Eddy's early students, Emma Hopkins, who later was involved in the founding of the New Thought Movementhad the opportunity to view all of Eddy's correspondence to Dresser and Quimby. Hopkins was employed by Eddy at the time and felt Eddy's letters demonstrated clear departure from Quimby. She wrote several years after leaving Eddy's movement "I found Eddy free to her own original... inspiration. I saw all the letters said to be written to Dresser and Quimby and not one of them could be held as argument against her supreme originality".

The Faith Cure Movement and Tremont Temple
The 19th century religious landscape was complex making it difficult to categorize the healing movements of the time. The explosion of Protestant divine healing movements (also referred to as faith healing, faith cure, or simply healing movement) was non-denominational including several Protestant denominations. It's roots lying in the Primative Methodists inspired by "A Plain Account of Christian Perfection" written by John Wesley. the minister who founded Methodism. Christian Science needs to be viewed within the context of the Holiness movement both because of the access this movement gave to women and because Eddy was “an heir to Wesley’s understanding of Christian Healing.”

John Wesley ‘emphasized the importance of subjective experience of the Spirit’ and wrote “I believe that God now hears and answers prayer even beyond the ordinary course of nature.” Although he healed, spiritual healing was not his focus. In the 1830’s American Methodist lay woman, Phoebe Palmer  “reformulated” John Wesley’s teaching. Palmer argued that ‘perfection’ or ‘holiness’ didn’t need to be a process but could be immediate. Physical healing of the body was evidence of instantaneous sanctification. Ethan O. Allen a Methodist layman who believed that purification from sin would eradicate sickness, became the first evangelist to make healing his ministry. Charles Cullis, an Episcopal layman and homeopathic physician in Boston advocated that complete salvation included both spiritual and physical healing.

Mary Baker Eddy is included in the list of Protestant reformers “who objected to the notion that God ordained bodily suffering”. . “Faith cure and Christian Science did seem to propose a similar hermeneutics of healing”. and Christian Science had in common the beliefs of nineteenth century evangelical Protestantism which included a strong belief in the spiritual power of healing. All of these healing movements "involved rejecting a materialistic view of the body" and giving up the ethic of passive resignation. Clergy tried to make a distinction between Christian Science and the divine healing movement. Still in the eyes of the public, they seemed the same. In 1885 Methodist minister and Boston University Professor Luther T. Townsend, an adversary among others, of the divine healing movement and mind cure movement, wrote a treatise called “Faith Work, Christian Science and Other Cures”. In that treatise Townsend highlighted the similarities between the divine healing movement and Christian Science saying both were the response of the operation of ordinary ‘physical laws’ without intervention or the miraculous power of God. Around the same time A.J. Gordon a proponent of Christian perfection and involved in the divine healing movement, wanted to distance his movement from Christian Science. A letter, written by Gordon was sent to the popular Evangelical Boston lecturer Joseph Cook, and in February 1885 at the Tremont Temple Monday lectures, to a crowd of 3,000, the letter was read by Cook. Through the letter Gordon attacked Christian Science saying it was a 'false religion'. He also said through Cook that “it was anti-christian in it’s no personal Deity, no personal devil, no personal man, no forgiveness of sin, no such think as sin, no sacrificial atonement, no intercesary prayer”. Hearing about the attack, Mary Baker Eddy wrote Cook and asked for the opportunity to reply. He agreed and gave her 10 minitues to defend her system of healing as Christian at one of the Monday Tremont Temple lectures

On March 16, 1885 at Tremont Temple, to a crowed of 3,000 in an extemporaneous reply, Eddy asked “Do not the reverend gentlemen demand the right to explain their creed?” She then commenced to explain her doctrines on atonement, God, sin and the trinity. She said
 * Do I believe in a personal God?
 * I believe in God as the Supreme Being. I know not what the person of omnipotence and ominipresence is, or :::what the infinite includes; therefore, I worship that of which I can conceive, first as a loving Father and Mother; then as thought ascends the scale of being to diviner consciousness, God becomes to me, as to the apostle who declared it, “God is Love”, - divine Principle, - which I worship; and ‘after the manner of my fathers, so worship I God.”

In reply to attacks on her doctrine of atonement, Eddy replied that ‘this becomes more to me since it includes man’s redemption from sickness as well as from sin. I reverence and adore Christ as never before.” Some argue that Eddy’s doctrine of atonement, which includes both salvation from sin and suffering was the same doctrine of the faith cure movement and a result of the Protestant healing movement of the 1830's  Although having "obvious ties to Christian tradition",  many theologians feel a deeper understanding of the theology places it outside traditional Christian theology. Today Christian Scientists distance themselves from 20th century faith cure movements who have have “ridgely proscriptive views of medicine”. .