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Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910 C.E.) was the founder of the religious movement known as Christian Science, formally organized in 1879 with the establishment of the Church of Christ, Scientist. She authored the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which remains the authoritative text of Christian Science and is treated by adherents as a divinely inspired guide for interpreting the Bible. Eddy claimed to have rediscovered the true Christian gospel—one centered not on sin, atonement, and resurrection, but on metaphysical healing through correct thought.
Her theology fundamentally redefines every essential doctrine of biblical Christianity. Christian Science is neither Christian nor scientific. Its philosophical foundations are rooted in Gnosticism, idealism, and metaphysical dualism, and it categorically rejects the historic, biblical gospel. Eddy’s reinterpretation of God, Christ, sin, salvation, Scripture, and reality itself constitutes a dangerous heresy that undermines the authority of the Word of God and the exclusivity of salvation through Jesus Christ.
This article presents a comprehensive analysis of Mary Baker Eddy’s life, theological system, key teachings, and their direct conflict with Scripture. The evaluation is grounded in a literal, grammatical-historical interpretation of the Bible and upholds the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture as the final authority in all matters of doctrine.
Biographical Background
Mary Baker Eddy was born Mary Morse Baker in Bow, New Hampshire, in 1821. Throughout her life, she suffered from chronic health problems and displayed a fascination with alternative medicine and religious philosophy. In 1862, she became a patient of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, a mesmerist and mind healer who taught that illness is caused by erroneous beliefs and can be cured through correct mental alignment.
Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) Christian Science
Eddy later distanced herself from Quimby but appropriated much of his terminology and methodology in her own teachings. In 1875, she published Science and Health, which she claimed was a direct revelation from God. She founded the Church of Christ, Scientist, in 1879 and established a broad organizational structure, including The Christian Science Journal and later the Christian Science Monitor. She remained the unquestioned authority in her movement until her death in 1910.
Scripture and Revelation in Eddy’s Theology
Eddy claimed that the Bible was inspired but flawed, requiring correction and interpretation through her own writings. Science and Health is frequently presented by Christian Scientists as a “key” that unlocks the true spiritual meaning of Scripture.
She wrote:
“The Bible has been my only authority. I have had no other guide in the ‘straight and narrow way’ of Truth” (Science and Health, p. 126).
Despite this claim, she also said:
“The manifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the thirty thousand different readings in the Old Testament, and the three hundred thousand in the New,—these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some extent the inspired pages” (Science and Health, p. 139).
This statement reveals an underlying skepticism toward the reliability of the biblical text, directly contradicting what the Bible says about its own preservation and authority:
“The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous judgments is everlasting.” (Psalm 119:160)
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
Eddy’s treatment of her own writings as interpretive keys to the Bible constitutes a functional replacement of Scripture, violating the sufficiency and finality of God’s Word.
The Doctrine of God: Impersonal Principle, Not Personal Creator
Eddy rejected the biblical view of God as a personal, sovereign being. Instead, she redefined God as an impersonal Principle, synonymous with Mind, Truth, Life, and Love.
She wrote:
“God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love” (Science and Health, p. 465).
She explicitly denied that God is a person:
“God is not person, but Principle” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 334).
However, the Bible consistently reveals God as a personal being who speaks (Genesis 1:3), loves (John 3:16), judges (Psalm 96:13), and reveals Himself to His creation (Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 46:9–10). Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9), not “Our Principle in heaven.” Reducing God to a metaphysical abstraction removes His capacity for relationship and contradicts His self-revelation in Scripture.
Christology: Jesus and the Christ Are Not the Same
Eddy taught a sharp distinction between “Jesus” and “the Christ.” According to her, Jesus was the human man, while “Christ” is the divine idea or spiritual principle that he embodied. She denied the incarnation and the deity of Jesus in the biblical sense.
She wrote:
“Jesus is the name of the man who, more than all other men, has presented Christ, the true idea of God… Jesus is the human man, and Christ is the divine idea” (Science and Health, p. 473).
“The Virgin-mother conceived this idea of God, and gave to her ideal the name of Jesus” (ibid.).
This teaching is a rejection of the biblical doctrine that Jesus is the Christ, the eternal Son of God who became flesh (John 1:1, 14; Matthew 16:16; 1 John 2:22). The New Testament affirms over and over again that Jesus is the Christ (e.g., Acts 2:36). To separate the man Jesus from “the Christ idea” is to deny the true identity of the Savior.
1 John 4:2–3 warns against such heresy:
“Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist.”
Sin, Death, and the Nature of Reality: Denial of the Material World
Christian Science categorically denies the reality of matter, sin, sickness, and death. These are treated as illusions or errors of the mortal mind rather than objective realities.
Eddy taught:
“There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation” (Science and Health, p. 468).
“Sin, sickness, and death are to be classified as effects of error. Christ came to destroy the belief of sin” (ibid., p. 473).
This metaphysical idealism is indistinguishable from ancient Gnosticism, which likewise denied the reality or goodness of the material world. Scripture, by contrast, affirms the goodness of the created order (Genesis 1:31), the reality of physical death as a consequence of sin (Genesis 2:17; Romans 5:12), and the need for atonement (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22).
Sin is not an illusion. It is rebellion against God’s holy law (1 John 3:4), and its wages are real: death (Romans 6:23). Denying sin and death removes the entire foundation of the gospel. There is no salvation if there is no real peril from which to be saved.
Salvation and the Work of Christ
Eddy reinterpreted salvation as self-realization through understanding divine Mind. She denied that Jesus’ death on the cross was substitutionary or necessary.
She wrote:
“The material blood of Jesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed upon the accursed tree, than when it was flowing in his veins as he went daily about his Father’s business” (Science and Health, p. 25).
This is a flat rejection of the gospel. The Bible teaches that Christ’s blood was necessary and sufficient to secure redemption:
“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22)
“We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Ephesians 1:7)
“While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Eddy’s gospel is not the biblical gospel. It is a man-centered doctrine of mental enlightenment, not a divine act of substitutionary atonement. Her teaching places her under the condemnation of Galatians 1:8.
Resurrection and Eternal Life
Eddy denied the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ, claiming instead that His post-crucifixion appearances were spiritual, not bodily. She viewed resurrection as a spiritual awakening to the truth of divine Mind.
But Scripture declares:
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17)
“See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; touch me and see.” (Luke 24:39)
The bodily resurrection of Jesus is not a symbolic event—it is the vindication of His atoning work and the guarantee of future resurrection for believers (1 Corinthians 15:20–23). Denial of this truth is a denial of Christianity itself.
Conclusion
Mary Baker Eddy was not a prophet, reformer, or Christian theologian. She was the originator of a system that distorts every essential doctrine of the Christian faith. Her teachings about God, Christ, sin, Scripture, and salvation are not merely flawed—they are fundamentally opposed to the truth of the Bible.
Christian Science is not Christian. It is a metaphysical religion that draws from pagan philosophy, Gnostic dualism, and subjective idealism. It replaces the living God with an impersonal principle, the real Christ with a mental idea, and the gospel of grace with the illusion of mental self-healing.
Faithful Christians must reject Mary Baker Eddy’s teachings as heresy and expose them with the light of Scripture. Only through the real Jesus Christ—eternal God made flesh, crucified and risen—can sinners be reconciled to the true and living God.
EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 220+ books. In addition, Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).
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3 thoughts on “Mary Baker Eddy: A Biblical and Theological Evaluation of the Founder of Christian Science and Her Doctrinal Departures from Scriptural Truth”
This statement reveals an underlying skepticism toward the reliability of the biblical text, directly contradicting what the Bible says about its own preservation and authority:
My research of Christian Science and Mary Baker Eddy uncovered the fact that Eddy first published Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures in 1875, before she founded a church. Eddy constantly updated her book, hundreds of times, until her death in 1910. Perhaps with the goal to be accurate and faithful to the Bible. The first tenet of Christian Science, written by Eddy, is “to adhere to the inspired Word of the Bible as a sufficient guide to eternal Life.” The following five tenets relate to one God, Christ, Jesus the Christ, and overcoming sin (sin is admitted in the book to be very real to human sense).
I appreciate different perspectives and find quite a few statements in this post useful for further contemplation. I even read page 25 of Science and Health, to ponder the sentence quoted by Andrew beginning, “The material blood of Jesus…” and when placing the text in context, I interpreted from Eddy’s words an expanded, deeply felt respect and gratitude for not only the crucifixion and resurrection that reveals substantial redemption but also for our ability to follow Christ Jesus in thought and deed. The sentence from page 25 of Science and Health quoted in this post is soon followed by Eddy’s acknowledgement that, “Implicit faith in the Teacher and all the emotional love we can bestow on him will never alone make us imitators of him. We must go and do likewise, else we are not improving the great blessings which our Master worked and suffered to bestow upon us.”
Eddy was an individual who shared her thoughts on the Bible. Eddy wasn’t perfect, she made mistakes, like all humans do but as far as I can tell, Eddy admitted that human mistakes aside, the authority of the Bible remains. She quoted from the Bible about 500 times in her last edition of Science and Health.
The concept of defining God as divine Principle can feel awkward, however, I wrote the following sentences in “Parallel Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” and the 7th edition of “21st Century Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: A modern version of Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health”:
1. “If you turn away from people who have fewer advantages, you are not ready to be blessed by our divine Father-Mother who blesses everyone.”
2. “Until it is learned that God is Father-Mother, marriage will continue. Let mortals not permit a disregard of law which might lead to a worse state of society than now exists. Sincerity and virtue ensure the stability of the marriage promise.”
3. “The human mind’s sense of personality admits a more expansive thought of God and us as the infinite Principle and infinite idea—as one Father-Mother with a universal family held in the gospel of Love.”
And I must add the next sentence to show my appreciation for this post as it draws on a skepticism that should apply to any human reasoning that doesn’t recognize uncertainty. Experience teaches me that it is silly, perhaps dangerous for me to mentally accept or reject teachings with such a certainty that I am not open to new knowledge, divine revelation and inspiration. Again the quote is from 21st Century Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: A modern version of Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health. “God is Love, the divine Father-Mother, infinite Principle, perhaps called Person in the sense that God is personable. Our true consciousness is known mentally, in the likeness of one Spirit. Consciousness is not found in the likeness of human beings. Indeed, the physical body presents no proper likeness of divinity, though personal human ego would gladly have us believe otherwise.”
Again, thanks for sharing your thoughts, and I thank God for the movement of mind and honest investigation.
Thank you for the feedback. There are 41,000 denominations claiming to be true Christians and all claim to be interpreting the Bible correctly. However, almost all are wrong and read there interpretation into the Scriptures (eisegesis). Instead, they should take what the author meant by the Words that he use out of (exegesis) the Scriptures.
This statement reveals an underlying skepticism toward the reliability of the biblical text, directly contradicting what the Bible says about its own preservation and authority:
My research of Christian Science and Mary Baker Eddy uncovered the fact that Eddy first published Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures in 1875, before she founded a church. Eddy constantly updated her book, hundreds of times, until her death in 1910. Perhaps with the goal to be accurate and faithful to the Bible. The first tenet of Christian Science, written by Eddy, is “to adhere to the inspired Word of the Bible as a sufficient guide to eternal Life.” The following five tenets relate to one God, Christ, Jesus the Christ, and overcoming sin (sin is admitted in the book to be very real to human sense).
I appreciate different perspectives and find quite a few statements in this post useful for further contemplation. I even read page 25 of Science and Health, to ponder the sentence quoted by Andrew beginning, “The material blood of Jesus…” and when placing the text in context, I interpreted from Eddy’s words an expanded, deeply felt respect and gratitude for not only the crucifixion and resurrection that reveals substantial redemption but also for our ability to follow Christ Jesus in thought and deed. The sentence from page 25 of Science and Health quoted in this post is soon followed by Eddy’s acknowledgement that, “Implicit faith in the Teacher and all the emotional love we can bestow on him will never alone make us imitators of him. We must go and do likewise, else we are not improving the great blessings which our Master worked and suffered to bestow upon us.”
Eddy was an individual who shared her thoughts on the Bible. Eddy wasn’t perfect, she made mistakes, like all humans do but as far as I can tell, Eddy admitted that human mistakes aside, the authority of the Bible remains. She quoted from the Bible about 500 times in her last edition of Science and Health.
The concept of defining God as divine Principle can feel awkward, however, I wrote the following sentences in “Parallel Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” and the 7th edition of “21st Century Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: A modern version of Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health”:
1. “If you turn away from people who have fewer advantages, you are not ready to be blessed by our divine Father-Mother who blesses everyone.”
2. “Until it is learned that God is Father-Mother, marriage will continue. Let mortals not permit a disregard of law which might lead to a worse state of society than now exists. Sincerity and virtue ensure the stability of the marriage promise.”
3. “The human mind’s sense of personality admits a more expansive thought of God and us as the infinite Principle and infinite idea—as one Father-Mother with a universal family held in the gospel of Love.”
And I must add the next sentence to show my appreciation for this post as it draws on a skepticism that should apply to any human reasoning that doesn’t recognize uncertainty. Experience teaches me that it is silly, perhaps dangerous for me to mentally accept or reject teachings with such a certainty that I am not open to new knowledge, divine revelation and inspiration. Again the quote is from 21st Century Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: A modern version of Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health. “God is Love, the divine Father-Mother, infinite Principle, perhaps called Person in the sense that God is personable. Our true consciousness is known mentally, in the likeness of one Spirit. Consciousness is not found in the likeness of human beings. Indeed, the physical body presents no proper likeness of divinity, though personal human ego would gladly have us believe otherwise.”
Again, thanks for sharing your thoughts, and I thank God for the movement of mind and honest investigation.
Thank you for the feedback. There are 41,000 denominations claiming to be true Christians and all claim to be interpreting the Bible correctly. However, almost all are wrong and read there interpretation into the Scriptures (eisegesis). Instead, they should take what the author meant by the Words that he use out of (exegesis) the Scriptures.