The official name of this organization is Church of Christ, Scientist, and states that its purpose is ". . . to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." Like Mormonism, Christian Science believes that its goal is to establish the true church, effecting the modern restoration of primitive Christianity.
Christian Science is so closely tied to its founder, Mary Baker Eddy, that a survey of her life is necessary. Your textbook gives very scant information on the life of Eddy, but presents clearly the basic beliefs of the religion. So this lecture will focus much on the life of Eddy and give way to the reading as a source for the basic beliefs.
Predominant Geographical Concentration.
The world headquarters for the Church of Christ, Scientist is located in Boston, Mass. Current membership data is unknown because the Church of Christ, Scientist does not publish such statistics. Estimates range from 100,000 to 400,000 worldwide. The majority of the population is in the United States. The next largest concentrations can be found in Germany and Great Britain. Smaller populations reside in sixty other countries.
Principal Person(s).
Mary Ann Morse Baker was born in 1821 in Bow, New Hampshire. She was the daughter of Congregational parents. As a child she battled illness and spinal problems. In 1843, at the age of 22, Mary Baker married businessman George Washington Glover. He died of yellow fever shortly after their move to Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1844. In the fall of that year, their son, George Washington Glover, Jr. was born. The death of her husband, combined with her own poor health, led Mary Glover to return to her parents' home. Someone else.
was given responsibility for raising the son. She was married for a second time in 1853 to a dentist, Daniel Patterson. This second marriage was an unhappy one.
