Customer Reviews

Christian Science

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This isn't one of Twain's best books, but it is a pretty hilarious send-up of Christian Science nonetheless. I think it is funnier if you know a little bit about the religion, but it probably doesn't seem as funny to people who actually practice the religion.

A CS friend told me that CSs are fond of quoting passages from Twain that "prove" he became a fan of Eddy in later life. The quote they cite as proof is typical of the sarcasm in this book: "Mother Eddy deserves a place in the Trinity as much as any member of it. She has organized and made available a healing principle that for two thousand years has never been employed except as the merest kind of guesswork. She is the benefactor of the age."

If the above quote strikes you as funny, buy this book. If you believe the quote is serious, I'd advise you to give it a miss.

The first part of Mark Tawin's work on "Christian 'Science'" is very funny; he shows through parody and wit just how ignorant, stupid, superstitious, and gullible human beings can be. The second part is much more serious: Twain shows how the sinister organization came into existance, and remarks upon Eddy's criminal and abusive acts when starting the business, as well as mentions some of the plagerism she committed.

This is by far one of the best books about how the "Christian 'Science'" organization came to exist. While the book is a classic, it is also timeless.

If you are interested in Eddy or "Christian 'Science,'" this is the single best source for you to explore. I recomend this book HIGHLY!

If you love Mark Twain, you'll love this book. Be prepared there is no Becky and Big Jim to be found, just Twain's delightful writing style. Twain taking on the CHristian Scientists is enlightening and informative. I liked it very much

Twain enjoyed skewering odd-ball reigions, especially ones he thought had a chance of causing great mischief, witness his appendix to Roughing It (Mark Twain Library), in which he preserved for all time the Mormons' disgraceful slaughter of innocent settlers (the "Mountain Meadow Massacre") and this book. The first is great writing, but this suffers from Twain's use of endless repetition to make a point.

A better book on Christian Science is The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science, a thorough debunking of Christian Science and Mary Baker Eddy. Highly recommended.

Christian Science is neither Christian nor science but is merely a pseudo-scientific cult that has lead to the deaths of many people, including innocent children. I am all in favor of religious tolerance but tolerance ends when a religion starts to harm the rights of others, as Christian Science has done in allowing a number of their children to die. You have the right to martyr yourself if you like, but NO ONE has the right to martyr their children! People who review this book negatively are either ignorant Christian Scientists or idiotic individuals who think tolerance entends to even those who allow their children to die for their parent's beliefs. Christian Science is a rapidly dying cult that will be gone by the end of this century and the world will be a better place becasue of it.

I recommend all books by this author.
I also love the fact that the publisher, 1stWorld Library (or 1stWolrd Publishing) has made the text slightly larger which is a blessing for my thirty-something eyes. Great job. I have dozens of books by this publisher.

The Second Declaration
Wild Knowing
Every Day A Miracle Happens
Les Miserables, Volume I & II
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO Vol II
Animal Farm
Planets
American Buddha
Your Star Child: Attracting, Birthing and Parenting an Evolved Soul
The Devil's Disciple

The book begins with a comic tale of how Twain once fell over a cliff in a remote area of Austria, and "broke some arms and legs and one thing or another." There was no medical doctor around, so someone suggested a Christian Science doctor a few miles away who could cure anything. Twain sent a messenger to fetch her. She sent a message back saying she couldn't conveniently come that day, but that there was no hurry since there was nothing the matter with Twain.

"Did you tell her I walked off a cliff seventy-five feet high?" Twain asked the messenger.
"Yes."
"And struck a boulder at the bottom and bounced?"
"Yes."
"And struck another one and bounced again?"
"Yes."
"And struck another one and bounced yet again?"
"Yes."
"And broke the boulders?"
"Yes."
"That accounts for it; she is thinking of the boulders. Why didn't you tell her I got hurt, too?"
"I did. I told her what you told me to tell her: that you were now but an incoherent series of compound fractures extending from your scalp-lock to your heels, and that the comminuted projections caused you to look like a hat-rack.. . . She said you would have these delusions, but must pay no attention to them. She wants you to particularly remember that there are no such things as hunger and thirst and pain."

OK. That's funny, but the book quickly descends into the ranting and ravings that were a hallmark of much of Twain's writing in his waning years.

Like Twain, many of the other people who have reviewed this book on Amazon obviously have a bone to pick, so to speak, but other than having a friend who died of Christian Science when I was in college, I have nothing in particular against CS or other forms of wishful thinking. I do have strong feelings about the book, however. I have read all of Twain's books, many of them several times. I love Twain's writing, but I rate this book, along with What is Man, at the absolute bottom of the heap. It is not particularly funny and Twain's arguments are often muddled. For example, he spends several paragraphs "proving" that because Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of CS, once mentions the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and herself in that order in the same sentence that she must rank herself above Jesus since the Virgin Mary obviously ranks below Him.

I did NOT enjoy this book, and if I ever get to Austria, I shall throw my copy off a cliff, if I can find one with sufficiently jagged boulders.

It's interesting to read this book after 100 years have gone by. Twain, a self discribed cynic would by nature write this type of book. None the less, If you know people that have been healed by CS, you realize the impact that CS has on society over the last 100 years. I wonder what MT would have written about Martin Luther?

I have a word for Crissypoo in So. California, obviously you ARE NOT a Christian Scientist, and Know nothing about it! Also ..UMMM.... where is YOUR proof that Mark Twain's Daughter was not healed by Mary Baker Eddy? Really now before you start making assumptions why DONT YOU DO SOME MORE RESEARCH! The one reviewer with the lengthy review gives some very good starters for research! Also look further in to Mark Twains writings 12 years after his bashing of Mary Baker Eddy where he writes HIMSELF about the healing of his daughter by Mary Baker Eddy!

When Twain penned this book in 1907, the idea of spiritual healing was radical and new to this time and perhaps more than a little frightening. After all, in the early 20th Century, the "scientific method" was all the rage and with the advent of the germ theory, folks were pretty confident that all the answers lay in science.

But this is the 21st Century and hopefully, we know better now. Spiritual healing has been proven to be a real and true alternative to conventional medicine. Harvard Medical School now offers courses on "spirituality and healing" and "Spiritual healing practices."

I suppose it was easy to take potshots at Mrs. Eddy's new religion in 1907 when so many in the media were ready to denigrate a woman for having the nerve and audacity to establish a healing system (and a church and an international religion) wholly independent of the patriarchal and male-dominated field of medicine.

And to show Twain's confusion over this, he also stated in THIS book: "She [Eddy] was the most interesting woman who ever lived and the most extraordinary...It is 1300 years since the world has produced anyone who could measure up to Mrs. Eddy's waistbelt."