Medicine and Science
Christian Science is a pseudoscience. Christian Science is opposed to science and uses the appearance of being a science to give itself extra legitimacy. Eddy regarded Christian Science much like science, except she viewed its creation as a spiritual rather than a physical discovery, with herself as the divinely chosen discover. Christian Science regards science as not important and an illusion, while the text by Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is promoted by the Church as "a pioneer in the science of the mind body connection". Eddy viewed herself as similar to Copernicus. She believed that Christian Science healing is available to all people now as much as in biblical times. Christian Scientists see themselves as practising a well-defined process with a proven track record.
Many Christian Scientists use prayer as their first choice for treatment over medical treatments such as drugs and surgery. They believe that healing only occurs through complete submission to God. In Christian Science it is not forbidden to seek medical attention, but they believe that those who do have turned their back on their beliefs. Eddy put this as "if we trust matter, we distrust spirit". Exceptions described by Eddy include going to the dentist, fixing broken limbs, and basic surgical procedures. The official stance of the Church of Christ, Scientist is against diagnosing illness. However, numerous claims of healings of near- and far-sightedness, dental problems and broken bones have been reported in the periodicals published by the Church.
Eddy wrote that she learned the Christian Science method of healing as she recovered from an injury in 1866 after reading a Bible passage describing one of Jesus' healings. Eddy's healing principles relied on some of the concepts of homoeopathy. From 1862 Eddy was a student of the homoeopath and spiritualist Phineas Quimby after he helped her with a spinal problem. She believed that Quimby had cured her because "the truth which he establishes in the patient cures him", From 1863 at the latest, Quimby referred to his theories as "Science of Health and Happiness", "Science of Christ", and "Science" and in "Aristocracy and Democracy" he referred to it as "Christian Science". For several years she defended him publicly and regularly talked with him, and worked to perform healings based on his methods. Eventually, in 1872 she distinguished her methods by the name of Christian Science. Later, she stated that Quimby had not been a major influence and that Quimby healed by animal magnetism, something which she had denied earlier in her public writings.
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