IN THE GLOSSARY of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy defines Christ as “the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error” (Science and Health, p. 583 ). This is a statement directly in line with historical Jewish apocalyptic concepts of the Christ. Apocalyptic thinking included the belief that Satan seemed to be in control of the world, and that this control manifested itself, not only in suffering caused by sin, disease, and death, but in the control of Israel by a series of foreign nations.

The apocalyptic outlook on the world is said by scholars to have arisen among the Jews about 150 to 200 years before the time of Jesus, and it was a response to the suffering of the Jewish people. Jewish apocalypticists held that God wouldn’t put up with this indefinitely, but would soon send a Messiah (in Greek, a Christ) who would be the one to deal with this situation. There were various ideas among the Jews as to the exact role and nature of the Messiah. But apocalypticists held that he, as God’s representative, would overthrow Satan (as well as the oppressing foreign nations), and usher in the kingdom or reign of God, in which there would be no more sin, sickness, or death. (For further information about Jewish apocalypticism, see Paula Fredriksen, Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity, and Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium.)

Jesus as the Messiah

Christians understand Jesus of Nazareth to be that anticipated Messiah, and Christian Science teaches that Jesus was the incarnation or embodiment of the eternal Christ, “the divine manifestation of God.” He thus became known as Christ Jesus or Jesus Christ. While his ministry didn’t involve the overthrow of the occupying Romans by military force, his healing works (including the healing of sin and raising the dead) were dynamic and powerful, as were the manifestations of the Christ by the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ ascension.

It was natural for early Christians to believe that these were signs that the reign of God was beginning to become manifest in human life. Likewise, Mary Baker Eddy saw the healing work that launched the Christian Science movement and that continues today to be the result of this same power of the Christ. She taught that, to the extent Christians became conscious of this dynamic power, they’d experience demonstrations of the presence of God’s kingdom, similar to those of Jesus and early Christians.

Meaning of Christ consciousness

Christ consciousness was a term used occasionally in Mrs. Eddy’s time by some Christian Scientists (but never by Mrs. Eddy herself). And for them it apparently denoted a vivid awareness of the Christ’s active healing power, in line with Mrs. Eddy’s statement that this source of all Christian healing is “a divine influence ever present in human consciousness” (Science and Health, p. xi ). But another use of this term began to crop up in Mrs. Eddy’s time among various groups that had rejected the specifically Christian theology Mrs. Eddy believed was essential to her teachings. These groups tended to think of the Christ consciousness as referring more to a private inner state, rather than to the awareness of the presence of the dynamic power that comes to the flesh and destroys all that is unlike God. And the usage of the term Christ consciousness to mean a mystical state persists today in some quarters of the New Age movement (numerous examples can be found in New Age literature—in books and on the Internet), where it often involves the belief that through certain types of meditation, one can attain this state and achieve “enlightenment.”

Mary Baker Eddy never taught that the Christ is merely an inner mystical state of consciousness. In fact, there are places where she specifically argues against cultivating any state apart from the living of a Christian life, which makes one a transparency for the power of the Christ. In the first edition of Science and Health she wrote, “There is no ‘inner life,’ for Life is God …” (Mary Baker Glover, Science and Health [1st edition], p. 104). In a manuscript titled “Religions and Christian Science” she argued against the beliefs of those who “demand that we look inwardly for all enlightenment”: “Christian Science demands as did St. Paul’s Christianity, that we look outwardly for divine power, and away from human consciousness. St. Paul argues against introspection whereby to work out the salvation of men …” (A10398, Mary Baker Eddy, “Religions and Christian Science,” The Mary Baker Eddy Collection, The Mary Baker Eddy Library). And in a column in the October 1886 Journal, after showing an inquirer that Christian Science has nothing in common with the mysticism of theosophy and “Esoteric Buddhism,” she wrote: “God made manifest in the flesh is the divine outer action upon the inner vile affections of mortals. The influence from without cometh from Spirit. Whatever is from within is of the flesh.…

“Man is not as an iceberg; he is the image and likeness of his Maker …. ‘Can one believe both Theosophy and Christian Science and be a successful healer?’ I answer, No! ‘As well might a camel go through the eye of a needle.’ Christ is the Way …” (The Christian Science Journal, October 1886, p. 161).

Watching our language

Researching the history of the Christian Science movement, I naturally spend time looking at the records of Christian healing that have accumulated as a result of its practice, and I’ve realized that it’s important for Christian Scientists to distinguish their use of Christ consciousness from the very different meanings it’s been given by some. I’ve been struck by accounts that illustrate how earth-shaking and powerful Christian Science is when an individual experiences the same Christ that Jesus embodied.

Even today this power of the Christ is wiping out disease and sin and dramatically turning lives around as the result of outstanding healings. In light of this, it would be a shame to divorce the understanding of the Christ from what it has historically meant and implied. Truly, experiencing this power is what people are yearning for today. It’s what will radically heal and transform their lives.