10 a.m.

The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston. / © The First Church of Christ, Scientist. Used with permission.

A different kind of hub

The storied history
of Boston and
Christian Science

By Julia Guilardi

Boston is known as a hub for education, medicine, and technological innovation. But at 10 a.m. on Sunday, it’s a different kind of hub: the center of worship for the Christian Science community.

Inside the room known as the “Original Edifice” — a title that distinguishes it from a 1906 expansion — one of the largest pipe organs in the world churns out resonant instrumentals as churchgoers settle into orange-cushioned wooden pews, reading from light gray hymnal books and glossy pamphlets titled Christian Science Quarterly. Intricate panels of stained-glass depict scenes from the Bible and images of founder Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which serves along with the Bible as the church’s predominant religious text. A quotation from Eddy adorns one wall: The best sermon is the practice of Truth and its demonstration through the destruction of sin, sickness, and death,” opposite a saying attributed to Jesus: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

The inside of the Original Edifice. / © The First Church of Christ, Scientist. Used with permission.

Since 1894, the First Church of Christ, Scientist — known as the Mother Church — has loomed over Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, a striking presence in a city where the Catholic church steeples defines the skyline. The building serves as the Christian Science equivalent of the Vatican, acting as the primary church and administrative headquarters.

The origin of Christian Science can be traced back to 1875, when Eddy first published Science and Health. Four years later, Eddy and 26 of her followers established the Church of Christ, Scientist. At the time, services were held in Lynn, Mass., before the church formally moved to Boston. The church found its permanent home in 1894, when the Mother Church was erected. In the early 20th century, the church’s membership grew beyond its physical capacity, and a towering domed extension was added.

According to Ashley Squires, author of Healing the Nation: Literature, Progress, and Christian Science, the church’s move to Boston was tied to the city’s prominence in publishing, which aligned with the desire of Eddy and her followers to produce a wide array of publications with religious influence.

There’s just a tremendous output of material, thus they have a huge library just to come and look at, Squires said. They were printing the Christian Science Journal and the Christian Science Sentinel, all of these religious-based magazines, and then churned out a newspaper, and Mary Baker Eddy spent most of her life revising this book. These were just very wordy people.

In its beliefs, the church retains many similarities to Christian faith. Its most notable difference lies in its stance on health and medicine—the church believes that all sickness is an illusion to which prayer is the sole cure. This prayer, the church argues, is most effective when not combined with modern medicine.

Basically, somebody tells you that you can control your personal, physical well-being by thinking the right thoughts, Squires said. It is the ultimate independence from everything else, to be able to think the right thoughts and feel better.

The concept of prayer as a means for healing is highlighted during the Sunday church services. Louis E. Benjamin, referred to as the First Reader, and Diane Uttley Marrapodi, referred to as the Second Reader, lead the congregation in a modification of the Lord’s prayer, which emphasizes the church’s belief that God will protect his followers not only from evil, but from sickness. And God leadeth us not into temptation, the modification states, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.

Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science. / Wikimedia Commons.

Benjamin and Marrapodi also recite a set of readings based on the week’s theme, which can range from Soul to Matter to Christ Jesus. A passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, known as the scientific statement of being, is read as well. It further highlights the belief held by Christian Scientists that illness is not tangible, but a product of human illusion. There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All in all, the statement goes. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error.

While the First and Second Readers lead the church services, they are not considered pastors or reverends. Squires notes that beginning in the late–19th century, preaching was outlawed in the Christian Science community, and it was determined that services would be based entirely around readings.

The Sunday services from the Mother Church are recorded and published online, making them accessible to members of the church across the globe. According to the church’s website, there are nearly 1,400 branch churches and societies worldwide.

But they all take the lead from Boston, the place that the Mother Church calls home.

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