Along with the Bible, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is the central text of the Christian Science religion. Mary Baker Eddy described it as her "most important work." She began writing it in February 1872 and the first edition was published in 1875. However, she would continue working on it and making changes for the rest of her life. The book was selected as one of the "75 Books By Women Whose Words Have Changed The World," by the Women's National Book Association.
Basic beliefs
Christian Science develops its theology and its healing method from these simple statements: "God is All-in all." "God is good." "God is Mind, and God is infinite; hence all is Mind." The conclusions are that humans are all perfect spiritual ideas of the one divine Mind, and manifest Spirit, not a material body. The five physical senses, which take no account of Spirit, are the origin of all false beliefs. Adherents of Christian Science claim that sickness is just a belief, not a property of matter. Praying from this standpoint removes the belief and brings healing.
Structure
The latest edition of the book consists of a short preface, the main section, a "Key to the Scriptures", and Fruitage. Some editions include a word index.
Main section
The main section is 500 pages long and comprises chapters titled as follows:
This 100 page long section consists of 84 testimonials of the healing power derived from reading the text in Science and Health. There are descriptions of addiction, asthma, broken bone, cataract, cancer, deafness, eczema, a fibroid tumor, and rheumatism. Prior intervention by physicians is mentioned in 50 of these cases, and one relates a confirmatory X-ray by a physician.
The first edition was printed by W. F. Brown & Co. Their invoice for 1,000 copies, dated 30 October 1875, was made out to George M. Barry and Edward Hitchins for $2285.35. It consisted of 456 pages, plus 2 pages of errata. Unfortunately there were hundreds of typographic errors, some because the printer, not understanding the author's meaning, had tried to correct the wording without consulting her. The second edition, printed by Rand, Avery & Co, appeared in 1878, with 167 pages of new material. It was called Science and Health Volume 2 to indicate that it was a supplement to the first edition, but it, too, was full of typographic errors. However the third edition, printed by John Wilson at the University Press in Cambridge was of a high standard. Twelve further two-volume editions followed, before the 16th edition appeared as a single volume in 1886. This edition of the book had 552 pages, plus an index of 38 pages, and "with Key to the Scriptures" had been added to the title. Eddy remained loyal to the University Press for the rest of her life, and in 1897 even made a substantial investment to save it from bankruptcy. Eddy closed her college and left Boston in 1889, in order to revise the text for the 50th edition. This consisted of 578 pages plus a 73-page index, and for the first time included marginal headings. The 226th "thousand" appeared in 1902, and this included "Fruitage," making up the page count of 700 pages which remains to this day. The last numbered edition was the 418th, which appeared in 1906, but further changes were made until 1910. The German translation appeared in 1912. At Eddy's insistence, the English text of each page was printed opposite the German translation. The same format was kept for the subsequent versions in other languages: Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. During the 1990s, a trade edition was released which included an index and a banner headline "More than 10 million copies sold." This edition was intended for marketing through ordinary booksellers.
Summary
Science and Health encapsulates the teachings of Christian Science and Christian Scientists often call it their "textbook." At Sunday services, passages from the book are read along with passages from the Bible. Eddy called the two books Christian Science's "dual and impersonal pastor."
