Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy is, along with the Bible, one of the two central texts of the Christian Science religion. Eddy described it as her "most important work".[1] She began writing it in February 1872,[2] and the first edition was published in 1875. However, she would continue working on it and making changes for the rest of her life.[3]
Author
English
Christian Science Publishing Co.
1875 (first edition)
US
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.[4]
As of 2001, the book had sold over nine million copies.[5]
Christian Science develops its theology and its healing method from these statements contained in Science and Health:
Copyright[edit]
The first edition was copyrighted by Eddy in 1875, in part to help separate her work from the "sea of metaphysical writing" circulating at the time.[10] The copyright for Science and Health went through several renewals including a posthumous renewal in 1934 by the Christian Science Board of Directors. In December 1971, Congress passed a law extending the copyright on Science and Health by 75 years to the Christian Science Board of Directors.[11][12] There was some opposition to the bill, as it would prevent dissident groups from publishing their own edited versions of the book.[13][3]
In 1985 however, following a legal suit brought by United Christian Scientists, a group which wanted to publish their own version of the book, the copyright extension was found unconstitutional by Federal District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson.[3] In 1987 the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the ruling of the district court.[14][15] As a result, Science and Health has been in the public domain since 1987.
Summary[edit]
Science and Health encapsulates the teachings of Christian Science and Christian Scientists often call it their "textbook". At Sunday services, the sermon consists of passages from the Bible with "correlative passages"[19] from Science and Health. Eddy called the two books Christian Science's "dual and impersonal pastor".[20]