Critical literature vs personal experience

As mentioned in a previous post, Chapter 8 of our book, Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age by Robert Peel, recounts some of his own family's story.

As a Harvard undergraduate, Peel tells us he "read all the critical material [he] could find on Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, the Church of Christ, Scientist, Christian Science metaphysics, Christian Science healing, etc." He continues: "Some of this polemical material was extremely convincing--until I started on the research in depth which showed me how much prejudice, misunderstanding, sloppiness, and sometimes deliberate falsification of the facts lay beneath the surface of much of this critical literature" (p. 183).

His family took up Christian Science when Robert was just ten, and "everything changed totally" (p. 184). His story is worth reading.

Something else this blog's readers may be interested in reading is a paper written by Thomas Johnsen titled "Christian Scientists and the Medical Profession: A Historical Perspective", published in the journal Medical Heritage 2, No. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1986), pp. 70-78. This article is referenced in the Notes for Chapter 4 (p. 201).

Reading Peel's book again has made me keen to return to his Mary Baker Eddy trilogy to refresh my memory of his thorough and detailed research on the life of the Discoverer of Christian Science.

Julie Swannell

Divine Love does the healing

As mentioned in my previous blog, in his book Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age, author Robert Peel makes a big point of saying that there are many, many wonderful healings accomplished through Christian Science which have never been published in the print periodicals.

One of these healings is the very first one in our book: the significant healing of Les Wiederkehr. It is recorded as an Affidavit by his mother Doris, in addition to an interview with her by the Christian Science Committee on Publication.

(Christian Science Sentinel Radio did broadcast Mrs. Wiederkehr’s testimony and that can be found on JSH-Online entitled Children of Light.)

No one who has read this record of healing could possibly forget it, or, surely, be impressed mightily by it. Baby Les was an unwanted child. Doris describes his physical state when he was born: “The child was born with multiple handicaps, including unformed vocal cords, a damaged heart, and a serious bone condition. We were also told that he had cerebral palsy. The physicians on the case informed us that there was little that could be done for the child medically and that they knew of no child born with similar difficulties who had lived beyond the age of six or eight months. We were permitted to take him home when he was five days old” (p. 54).

The nine-page account tells of the step-by-step journey of courage, persistence, and love of the parents and his siblings that resulted in the healing of all the conditions.

Joyce Voysey

Ed. I particularly love that Doris “could not accept this verdict [of the physicians]” (p. 54). She then refers to her own healing of curvature of the spine. Later she explains that “…we had to learn that divine Love—you need the human love, but divine Love does the healing” (p. 63).

The fact of Christian Science healing

On page 149 of Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age, Peel refers to the Bible story of Jesus and the ten lepers, saying that it still has its point. What is that point? Only one returned to give thanks. I will copy the story from the King James Version of the Bible – Luke 17:11-19.

And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there no ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Peel points out that there many, many Christian Science healings which have not been recorded in the Christian Science periodicals by those healed. He has heard expressions of great gratitude for remarkable healings and asked if the person has submitted it for publication. More often than not, this has not been done. (Ed. See page 149.)

Which reminds me that at the back of his book, in a chapter entitled Personal Testament, Peel, perhaps a little shamefacedly, says, in a letter to a friend, “I’ve never got around to bearing witness to my own firsthand experience with this subject—not in writing, at any rate” (p. 183). Readers of this blog will appreciate this family’s testimonies of remarkable healings. Peel even tells us of his “period of  healthy skepticism” (p. 183) about the teachings of Christian Science. He also says, “But one thing I could never for one moment doubt, even at my most skeptical, was the fact of Christian Science healing” (p. 184).

On page 150 we read about the training required for a person to be ready for recognition as a Christian Science practitioner. He is aware that some critics assume that the full training consists of two weeks Class Instruction from a teacher of Christian Science. Peel quotes from the Journal of Pastoral Counseling (Vol 4, Iss. 1 Spring 1969, p. 40):

The training for this task begins with the individual’s first commitment to the study of Christian Science. Basically this is a self-conducted study, centred on the Bible and the Christian Science textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. From the outset it imposes a strict discipline on the serious student. The Word made flesh, he is emphatically reminded; the abstract must become concrete, understanding be tested in healing, ontological concepts be related to life situations, if he is to make any real progress.

At some point he must complete a short course of intensive instruction from an authorized teacher of Christian Science, but the chief and continuing emphasis is on his daily practice of a discipline which includes the demand for practical results as well as for prayer, study, application, and spiritual growth. There is no resting satisfied with the advancement made at any given point, since nothing less than the New Testament record of instantaneous healing is the standard of achievement held before him.

There is a little superscript ¹ at the end of that piece which takes one to the Notes at the back of the book. It turns out that Peel is quoting himself. It reads: Robert Peel, “The Christian Science Practitioner” in Journal of Pastoral Counseling.

Joyce Voysey

Christian Science in the public arena

Chapter 4 of Robert Peel's Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age, "Faith and Works in a Pluralist Society", opens with a quote from James 2:18 - "Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works" (p. 32). But Peel points to the following passage by Christian Science Founder, Mary Baker Eddy:

"Healing physical sickness is the smallest part of Christian Science. It is only the bugle-call to thought and action, in the higher range of infinite goodness. The emphatic purpose of Christian Science is the healing of sin; and this task, sometimes, may be harder than the cure of disease; because, while mortals love to sin, they do not love to be sick" (Rudimental Divine Science 2: 22-2) (Quoted on p. 35.)

The very thorough Robert Peel then introduces his readers to a comment made in 1894 by physician, psychologist and philosopher William James: "I assuredly hold no brief for any of these healers, and must confess that my intellect has been unable to assimilate their theories, so far as I have heard them given. But their facts are patent and startling; and anything that interferes with the multiplication of such facts, and with our freest opportunity of observing and studying them, will, I believe, be a pubic calamity" (p. 43).

What follow are many pages relating to children. In this regard, of particular interest is a letter from a medical practitioner who was employed by a number of Christian Science parents in the delivery of their babies. The law in most countries requires the employment of a physician or licensed midwife in all cases of childbirth. 

The medical practitioner wrote: "It has been my fortunate experience to work with a number of Christian Science practitioners during the birth process, all of whom have accepted my efforts with flexible understanding and love, while still maintaining their faith and devotion to God's law. ... In the beginning I must admit there was apprehension by me as well as the hospital staff in regard to our Christian Science patients. This fear centred on imagined interference with our duties, a denial of our problems and possible legal entanglement. Our experience has been entirely contrary to these fears. Our Christian Science patients have at all times given careful consideration to our problems. In certain instances they have courteously declined, or legally waived, many examinations considered routine; thus they have taken upon themselves the responsibilities for these omissions. Their expression of gratitude toward the staff has gained the staff's understanding and devotion.

"When medical action appeared necessary it was preceded by a calm and considerate discussion of the situation with both the patient and the practitioner. It was my constant observation that the practitioner urged the patient to exercise free choice and was then supportive of that choice. A sensitivity was maintained that each Christian Scientist demonstrates what he can to the best of his understanding....

"Frequently an interval of time was requested in which to work out the problem through Christian Science. Most frequently the situation then became resolved." The letter continues with the recounting, in the physician's own words, of "an irrefutable demonstration of the healing power of Christian Science" (pp. 116-119). Readers can read about that particular circumstance on page 118.

What I appreciate here is the message that the patient was always free to make their own decision regarding the treatment given.

FYI: Our Reading Room in Redcliffe currently has three copies of Peel's book in our Lending Library. 

Julie Swannell

Convinced?

I was on the hunt for information about Rev. James J. Rome, the author of the words to hymns 69 and 423, "Give me, O Lord, an understanding heart". I didn't find the particular note I was looking for*, but I did find that Peel mentions James Rome in his book Mary Baker Eddy: Years of Authority. 

This book is an important reference book for me.  I have written before of my copy's ragged state!

One page 304 of the book, Peel refers to an article about the theory of induction, written by Rome in The Christian Science Journal of July 1902. But Peel didn't quite agree with Rome's reasoning about why Christian Science is scientific.

Referring to current scientific philosophic thought in the first decade of the 20th century, Peel writes that "Mrs. Eddy, on the other hand, had no illusion, as some of the Journal writers obviously had, that the intellectual sophisticate would be argued into Christian Science.  His thought must become spiritualized before he can comprehend its most simple meaning" (ibid.)

Our present blog book, Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age, is also written by Robert Peel.  It seems to me that he was on a mission, in much of his writing, to convince those intellectuals. 

*PS  I must hunt out my copy of The Building of The Mother Church for my Rome story.

Joyce Voysey

Ed. Mary Baker Eddy's own words are helpful: "The unbiased Christian thought is soonest touched by Truth, and convinced of it." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. x: 25-27)

Miracles?

 As I write, I am anticipating watching closely a lecture by Christian Science practitioner and teacher Heike Arneth from Germany tomorrow evening, Sunday Feb. 13 2023. The title of her talk is - Miracles re-defined: overcoming crises and finding security. The lecture is generously sponsored by First Church of Christ, Scientist, Ringwood in Victoria.

The reason that my interest has been especially aroused at this time is that it coincides with my reading of Chapter 2 of Robert Peel's Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age, published in 1987.

Page 16 includes this: "One of the problems [with spiritual healing] is with the expressions faith healing and miracle. Neither is in the vocabulary of many who practice Christian healing wholeheartedly."

Peel then recounts "a remarkable healing of cancer experienced by Alice Newton of Leavenworth, Kansas" (p. 16), a healing that puzzled the physicians and created a stir in her community because it had apparently occurred as the result of prayer and thus was regarded as "a miracle, a setting aside of natural law as generally understood, especially when they found that Newton had lost thirty-eight and a half pounds in ... one night's experience" (p. 17).

One might ask, along with Peel "What did the disappearance of that thirty-eight and a half pounds show about the nature of matter? If God could choose to bring about such a healing, why did he permit the disease in the first place? What kind of law may be involved in such a healing? How does this relate to faith in medical means? How does it relate to Jesus' announcement of the kingdom of God within? What are the implications of such a healing for our very concept of reality?"

Peel continues: "... just such questions as these had been asked back in 1866 by a woman in Lynn, Massachusetts, who experienced a healing less dramatic in character than Newton's but vastly more far-reaching in its effect" (p. 18). Of course, here he is talking about the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. 

He writes: "[on the third day] she read in her Bible the account of one of Jesus' healings. As she read, a flood of light poured into her thought, a sudden insight (as it seemed to her) into the heart of true being. Put in terms closer to her own, it was a revelation of the spiritual perfection of the universe as it exists in the mind of God--or, to use her later terminology, the Mind that is God" (p. 19).

Reading this reminded me of an interview with neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander, published in the February 2014 edition of The Christian Science Journal. At one point, in describing his insights about "being eternal", insights gained as a result of his "miraculous" recovery from a coma - a near-death experience - Alexander says: "I would say my view of healing now is we're not just talking about healing someone who has an illness or an injury. I would say by being eternal, the only progress that we make that's in a direction of causality in that higher realm is towards love, towards oneness, compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, knowing that we are eternally and infinitely loved by all-loving, all-powerful God...

"Our infinitely powerful Creator loves us infinitely no matter what. We are here to learn lessons, so it's all about love and forgiveness--showing love to strangers, showing love to our enemies. That has infinite power and will completely undo evil in the world."

As Peel notes, in Mary Patterson's (Eddy) case, the "real miracle" can be summed up in these words: "That short experience included a glimpse of the great fact that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely, Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of existence" (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 24:14–18).

 How grateful I am for evidences of the applicability of Christian Science to healing in my life.

Julie Swannell

What's healing all about?

 

Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age by Robert Peel

 Well, that is the name of the book chosen by the Editor/Librarian, but I got out Healing Spiritually (the sequel to A Century of Christian Science Healing (1966)) and browsed through that a bit. 

One thought really took my attention. Beginning on page 115 we find: “The boy said, “I want God.”” A three year old boy asked his mother to “Get the book” when he was in need of healing.

The book, of course, was Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. The fever left. But it returned twice before the mother saw the unreality of the claim. She sums up the experience in the last paragraph: “This taught me the valuable lesson that we must always be grateful, of course, for every healing, but that we must never make a reality out of an illness, even after it has been healed.”

 “Even after it has been healed.” Very telling!

A story from Emi Abiko’s little book A Precious Legacy: Christian Science comes to Japan came to mind. A lot of the book speaks of Miss Boynton, an American teacher who supported well-to-do families in learning English and coaching them in Christian Science. Emi, when a young adult, had a serious problem on which she worked prayerfully with Miss Boynton. I will quote directly from the book here: “When the problem was solved, she said to me that she had never seen such a young woman overcome a trial of this kind. I was very happy about my triumph, but she said right away, “But, my dear, you must remember that nothing has ever happened. The only thing that has happened and that will ever happen is the unfolding of the Christ consciousness.”

Somehow this reminded me of our mulling over seeming disasters like travel problems, earthquakes, bushfires and floods here in Australia and elsewhere in the world. Are we hanging on to the experience rather than declaring that in reality no bad thing could have happened in a universe filled with good.

I will finish CS in Japan, then get on with the real February study book. Yes, it was in the cupboard!

Joyce Voysey