Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, written by Mary Baker Eddy, is the foundation of the Christian Science movement.

It was inspired by the biblical studies she began in 1867, following her healing experience during the prior year. The first edition appeared in 1875 and went through over two hundred revisions before Eddy's death in 1910.

Science and Health encapsulates the teachings of Christian Science. Christian Scientists often call it their "textbook." At Sunday services, passages from Science and Health are read from the lectern along with complementary passages from the Bible. Eddy called the two books Christian Science's "dual and impersonal pastor."

The book itself posits a wholly metaphysical view of Christianity in which sin, disease, and death are not of God, and are therefore not real. Christian Scientists believe that by striving toward a spiritual view of the world as God's creation, they can overcome the "false beliefs" of these adversities.

The copyright for Science and Health went through several renewals. In 1972, at the urging of two Christian Scientists in the Nixon administration, Congress dramatically extended the copyright on it, effectively reserving it exclusively to the church, but this was later found unconstitutional, and private distributions have appeared through entities such as the Aequus Institute.

During the 1990s, which saw other controversies including the attempted media ventures of the Christian Science Publishing Society and the publication of The Destiny of The Mother Church, a trade edition was released which included an index and an unprecedented introduction by a church director. This unusual edition was marketed outside of the historical channels of individual distribution and Christian Science Reading Rooms.

The book has three sections. The main section, which makes up the bulk of the book, is comprised of the first 500 pages. The second section, "Key to the Scriptures", illustrates how to interpret the scriptures (i.e. The Bible), by examining parts of Genesis and Revelation, and providing a Glossary of commonly-used terms from the Bible with their metaphysical interpretation. The final section, the last 100 pages, are testimonies of people who had "been reformed and healed through the perusal or study of (the) book".

The title of the chapters are:

1. Prayer
2. Atonement and Eucharist
3. Marriage
4. Christian Science versus Spritualism
5. Animal Magnetism Unmasked
6. Science, Theology, Medicine
7. Physiology
8. Footsteps of Truth
9. Creation
10. Science of Being
11. Some Objections Answered
12. Christian Science Practice
13. Teaching Christian Science
14. Recapitulation
15. Genesis
16. The Apocalypse
17. Glossary
18. Fruitage

External links

• Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures at spirituality.com
• Project Gutenberg e-text of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
• Daily Weblog of one who practices the teachings in Science and Health
• Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures presented by Line Of Light
• Former Christian Scientists (See Discussion under "Balance")

Christian Science texts | 1875 books

Wissenschaft und Gesundheit mit Schlüssel zur Heiligen Schrift | Science et santé avec la clef des écritures