Customer Reviews
I support the author: but one has to be devoted if one is going to finish this book. - By: T. S. Ward, 05 Nov 2008 
To my mind, there are two things of import here: one - does the author express herselfin a succinct & clearly understandable way; two - does Christian Science stand up to scrutiny. Some say that she had a ghost writer, or not least a co-author when writing the book. Such a claim does not surprise me because there does seem to be an enormous amount of repetitionin the book; perhaps a sign that more hands than one were involvedin the writing thereof. Even though I support the knowing of Christian Science, I really had to strugglein order to finish reading the book. Mary Baker Eddy was one smart lady; no doubt about it. Christain Science is efficacious if properly understood.
A superb book - By: Singer, 18 May 2007 I found this bookin a library just over 4 years ago. I have been reading & studying it since. During that time, I have received innumerable benefits & blessings from applying the ideas it teaches. If you are wondering about the true nature of God & His/Her creation, & what that means for you, then this is the book to read! It truly is healing.
True healing - By: Joanna C. Harris, 09 Apr 2007 Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy has literally saved my life after being diagnosed with terminal cancer at the age of 27. Previously I had studied Zoology at Imperial College & appreciated science & would not just believe something because someone has told me or that it is convenient at a particular time. I like proof & I like to understand what & why something has happened. When I was diagnosed & given a very poor prognosis, one of the hardest things for me to understand was the whole concept for me about the ability for one's body to destroy itself & work against the mindin sickness did not make sense to me. The very mind that your body & the sickness couldn't even be perceived or have knowledge withoutin the first place. The so called fact that a person along with all their life experiences & amazing qualities can be destroyed by a few cells mutating did not make sense to me. Neither did the assumption that thought can control the body, inner muscles & bones when it tells it to walk, jump, dance but this rule does not apply to other parts of the body such as the Immune system. What is it thenin these parts of the body that change from one to the other allowing one to be controlled by thought & the other not to. Most of the time I asked people why this is meant to be the case they said "because it just is". Well, I wasn't happy with that. I wanted to know & Science & Health answered these questions & healed me by showing us the reality of man & his capabilities through being governed by a Spiritual Law which sustains us & not weak forms made of blood bones, DNA which can be destroyed by mutated cells. This book can not be read quckly, cover to cover & the content is,in no doubt, radical & could put off readers on the offset BUT if this book is read with an open inquisitive mind & the ideas are really thought about your start to get a few pieces of the 'life puzzle', & then a few more & then a few more & it's effects can be wonderful on the person spiritually & physically. Mary Baker Eddy is not telling you to take on her 'religion' as to do exactly what she says. This book starts you off, & guides you through your own insight into the real, spiritual, harmonious Man. The real Man which is free from disease, unhappiness, trauma. The book is just telling us something that is true for all men & right here for us to see right now. If you get a glimpse of this & you gain more pieces of the puzzle, certain passages of the book that did not make any sense before jump out at you & seem perfectly clear because as you read & ponder this new way of thinking, your thought is changed. The human limits start to go somewhat & you can accept more ideas. This is why I think some of the context of this book cannot be understood. As I said before it has to be read slowly & the ideas must be allowed to sink in. I started this book thinking that I could never manage it & had to refer to my dictionary at least every paragraph!! I still do need my dictionary but now I see where Mary Baker was going, that she had such inspirational ideas & insights that come only through deep contemplation & commitment to finding the true 'meaning of life'. Christian Science & this book are only showing people what is there already & everytime I read it, I admire the time spent & how diligent Mary Baker Eddy wasin putting this knowledge down on paper for the good of all of us. She is taking our thought to a more limitless place where you begin to see these ideas as understandable but this understanding come from our spiritual self, not the human mind. I love this book & would recommend it to anyone. What I have learnt has healed mein so many situations since, physical & emotional. It is a treasure.
Jo Harris
Meaningless ramblings - By: TruthSeeker, 10 Dec 2006 
If the reader is seeking a life changing book which expounds the mysteries of God, man & the universe, then it is quite frankly a waste of time to read this book. Having spent the first two decades of my life raised as a Christian Scientist ("Science ahd Health" is the primary textbook of the Christian Science religion), I am very familiar with its contents. The book is extremely poorly written, badly organised &in places utterly unintelligible. I give the following example to illustrate the style of prose (pp187-188):
"The human mind tries to classify action as voluntary & involuntary, & suffers from the attempt. If you take away this erring mind, the mortal material body loses all appearance of life or action, & this so-called mind then calls itself dead; but the human mind still holdsin belief a body, through which it acts & which appears to the human mind to live, -- a body like the one it had before death. This body is put off only as the mortal, erring mind yields to God, immortal Mind, & man is foundin His image."
By quoting this, I may well be accused of quoting something out of context, however "context" is extremely hard to findin "Science & Health", since the book consistently fails to present coherent threads of logical thought.
The author spends much time using completely irrelevant word-play. For example, Adam (the bible character) is referred to as "a dam or obstruction". This achieves nothing except perhaps to generate some amusement on the part of the reader !
The final chapterin the book, entitled "Fruitage" is a list of "testimonies" from people who, living at the time of the author, had claimed to experience physical healings as a result of their reading of this book. Unfortunately at the time the book was written, modern science-based medicine was not generally available & the anecdotes of healing must remain impossible to substantiate. If a reader is tempted by the book to rely totally on God for physical healing rather than upon modern medicine, then he or she would do well to first obtain an estimate of the success rate of the two approaches.
The book is only usefulin a historical context as a reminder of the quaint muddled thinking of the Victorian era.
A BOOK WORTH READING - By: Bill, 12 Jul 2006 
I am a follower of Jesus Christ & have read Science & Health for many years. [...]Why?
Firstly, from a theological standpoint, there are many ideasin Science & Health that other Christian's that I know agree with! The Bible is not a book that can be viewed only one way, & God is not a God who saves only the few & condemns the rest to eternal punishment. So I would be very careful when reading comments from those who read the Bible & condemn Mrs Eddy's viewpoint. They obviously have a very narrow viewpoint themselves.
Secondly, although I understand the concerns of manyin the medical profession regarding the teaching'sin Science & Health on the subject of exclusive reliance on God for healing; it is noticeable that there are literally tens of thousands of people who claim to have been healed by relying on God as taughtin this book, & of these there is a substantial minority that have been medically diagnosed & their cases cannot be explained away by Placebo, Spontaneous Remission or any of the other medical theories that have sprung up. I suggest you read Dr Larry Dossey's commentsin this regard (and he is not the only medical doctor who supports the evidence of healing through prayer).
There is an issue over abuse of the teachingsin Science & Health & miss-understandings that arise, especially where a religious institution (i.e. The Christian Science Church) has taken a standin attempting to gain exemptionsin law that allow Christian Science treatment to be given to childrenin lieu of medical treatment. However, abuse happensin all walks of life, includingin medical institutions. Patients die under medical care. The question I would raise, is what would have happened if those cases had be given over to Christian Science? They may have lived, you just don't know!
I would suggest that the practice of healing (whether medical or not) involves a sacred trust that means having an open heart & a willingness to change if things aren't working out, but this should work both ways. People should have the choice & Science & Health doesn't deny them that choice.
The least you could do is to read the book & make your decision based on what you have read!
God bless.
Ps. Although I am a Christian, this book was written for "thinkers", not necessarily Christians. So whether you're an atheist, agnostic, or a member of a particular religious denomination, this book is for you.
