Abstract

The Christian Science Split

One hundred years ago Mary Baker was bon in Bow, New Hampshire. During her lifetime she built up an organization which now has adherents in every part of the world; as Mary Baker Eddy she is known as the founder and leader of one of the great religious movements of modern times, a movement particularly interesting because its origin was distinctively American. At the time of the anniversary itself the Christian Science Monitor published a full-page article about the centenary. Evidently, the trustees of the Publishing Society were not much concerned about the opposition of the Christian Science Board of Directors to such observance. The trustees and the directors, of course, are the opposing figures in the voluminous litigation in which Christian Science affairs are now involved. There was, then, an evident lack of harmony between trustees and directors, and among the directors themselves and matters were coming to a crisis. Christian Scientists are jealous of the word science and will not permit its use in the publications, in its usual sense, unless it is qualified as "natural science."