Who We Are
A branch of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
We are one of many branch churches and societies affiliated with The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, which is the world headquarters of the Christian Science movement. The church was organized in 1879 “to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing” (Mary Baker Eddy, Church Manual, p. 17). To learn about the history of our branch church here in Williamsburg, click on this link. To learn more about The Mother Church and its activities, go to: christianscience.com. If you don’t live in the Wiliamsburg, Virgina area, you can find a Christian Science branch church and a Reading Room in your area. Visit christianscience.com. and click on the Find Us tab.
Christ Jesus
We are a Christian religion, and as individuals we read the Holy Bible daily and follow Christ Jesus’ example to the best of our present ability. This includes praying not only to uplift thought to God but also to confront evil and errors of every kind. The Bible contains the four canonical Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—which each tell the story of Jesus. The Bible is available to read, borrow, or purchase at our Reading Room, as are Bible reference and study books.
“Jesus Teaches the People by the Sea” by James Tissot (Brooklyn Museum).
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
(I John 1:1–3)
Our Church's History
Photo credit: Courtesy of Longyear Museum, Chestnut Hill, Massachussetts
Discoverer, Founder, Leader
Mary Baker Eddy
Mary Baker Eddy was a faithful follower of Christ Jesus who lived in New Hampshire and Massachusetts from 1821 to 1910. She was raised in a religiously oriented family and became a member of the Congregational Church in her teens. After years of seeking to understand how Christ Jesus healed, in 1866 she experienced a remarkable healing and became active in healing others through prayer. She published a book to explain her discovery of the Christ Science, or Christian Science, in 1875; its full title is now Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which is available in our Reading Room and at the Williamsburg Regional Library. She had hoped that established churches would be overjoyed with her discovery and ideas, but that failed to happen. She needed to establish a church of her own to support Christian Scientists in their worship of God and protect her ideas from distortion.
To find out more about her life, you can turn to biographies that are available to read, borrow, or purchase at our Reading Room. A good introductory one for all ages is A World More Bright: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy, by Isabel Ferguson and Heather Vogel Frederick. This is available at the Williamsburg Regional Library as well as at our Reading Room. A biography focusing on Mrs. Eddy’s healing work is Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer by Yvonne Caché von Fettweis and Robert Townsend Warneck. Robert Peel wrote a thorough, scholarly trilogy, documenting her life work. The volumes are: Mary Baker Eddy: Years of Discovery; Mary Baker Eddy: Years of Trial; Mary Baker Eddy: Years of Authority. These are all available in the Reading Room.
Here is a website where you can learn more about the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science: marybakereddylibrary.org
Tenets
[These may be found in Science and Health on pages 496-497, and in the Church Manual on pages 15-16; both books are by Mary Baker Eddy.]
1.
As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.
2.
We acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the Holy Ghost, or divine Comforter; and man in God’s image and likeness.
3.
We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.
4.
We acknowledge Jesus’ atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man’s unity with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death.
5.
We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the nothingness of matter.
6.
And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.