The question “What is the scientific statement of being?” is found in the chapter “Recapitulation” in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (page 468 in current editions). This statement is also read as part of every Christian Science church service.
“Recapitulation” reflects Eddy’s experience as a teacher of Christian Science healing. Following her discovery of Christian Science in 1866, she began teaching others how to heal as she did. Her earliest teaching manuscript was an exegesis on several texts from the New Testament book of Matthew.1 The next text, Questions and Answers in Moral Science (1872), most likely represents Eddy’s teaching method from about 1870 to 1872.2 Four years later, after the writing of her major work, Science and Health, she revised Questions and Answers in Moral Science and published it as a pamphlet titled The Science of Man.3 And although the arrangement and the questionsin The Science of Man are very similar to those in the final version of “Recapitulation,” the answers have grown and developed considerably.
In 1881, The Science of Man was revised and placed in Science and Health as the chapter “Recapitulation.” This was a logical step. The Science of Man needed to be with Science and Health, and Eddy added it to the 3rd edition of her book as a recapitulation, a summary or synopsis. Later, in order to provide uniformity in Christian Science teaching, Eddy directed that “teachers of the Primary class shall instruct their pupils from the said chapter on ‘Recapitulation’ only,” while teachers of the Normal class use “Recapitulation” and the platform of Christian Science as the basis of their instruction.4
This handout provides an exploration of the development of one individual question from “Recapitulation.” It includes all eight versions of “What is the scientific statement of being?” beginning with its first appearance in The Science of Man. (This question does not appear in Questions and Answers in Moral Science.) The use of the “scientific statement of being” in Christian Science church services and Sunday Schools was established some years after its placement in Science and Health. In the February 1896 issue of The Christian Science Journal Eddy announced her wish that “the First Reader in each Church of Christ, Scientist, wherever it be, close the Sunday service by reading the ‘Scientific Statement of Being’ from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, immediately before the benediction.” In the March 21, 1901 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel, Eddy requested that “the scientific statement of being” and the correlative Scripture from I John, third chapter, be read prior to the benediction.
QUESTION AND ANSWER AS GIVEN IN THE SCIENCE OF MAN (1876)
Ques. What is the scientific statement of being?
Ans. No Life, Substance, or Intelligence in matter. That all is mind and there is no matter. Spirit is immortal Truth; error is mortal, and belief has named it matter; Spirit is real and eternal; matter is unreal and mortal; Spirit is God; and man “the image and likeness of God;” hence, man is spiritual and not material.
3RD EDITION (1881) OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Ques. What is the scientific statement of being?
Ans. There is no Life, substance, or intelligence in matter; all is Mind, there is no matter. Spirit is immortal Truth, matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal, matter the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness; hence, man is spiritual and not material.
16TH EDITION (1886) OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Question. -- What is the scientific statement of being?
Answer. -- There is no Life, Substance, or Intelligence in matter. All is Mind. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness; hence, man is spiritual and not material.
50TH EDITION (1891) OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Question. -- What is the Scientific statement of Being?
Answer. -- There is no life, substance, or intelligence in matter. All is Mind; there is no matter. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness; hence, man is spiritual and not material.
81ST EDITION (1894) OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Question. -- What is the Scientific statement of Being?
Answer. -- There is no life, truth, substance, or intelligence in matter. All is infinite Mind and its manifestation. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness; hence, man is spiritual and not material.
111TH EDITION (1896) OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Question. -- What is the Scientific statement of Being?
Answer. -- There is no life, truth, intelligence, or substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All in all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness; hence, man is spiritual and not material.
226TH EDITION (1902) OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Question. -- What is the Scientific statement of Being?
Answer. -- There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness; hence, man is spiritual and not material.
1907 EDITION OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Question. -- What is the scientific statement of being?
Answer. -- There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual. [Note: This 1907 version is the version found in current editions of Science and Health.]
1A10062B, Article and Manuscript Collection of The Mary Baker Eddy Library Collection, The Mary Baker Eddy Library. A transcription of this can be found in In My True Light and Life: Mary Baker Eddy Collections (Boston: The Mary Baker Eddy Library, 2002), pp. 203-211.
2A11316, Article and Manuscript Collection of The Mary Baker Eddy Library Collection, The Mary Baker Eddy Library. A transcription of this can be found in In My True Light and Life, pp. 213-229.
3This pamphlet, as well as all editions of Science and Health cited here, are available in the Research Room of The Mary Baker Eddy Library.
4Manual of The Mother Church, p. 86.
