Christian Science

By Mark Twain

Christian Science is Mark Twain's razor-sharp attack on a popular movement which was sweeping the country at the turn of the 20th century. One of the tenets of Christian Science is the healing of physical illness through prayer. Having recently lost a daughter to meningitis, Twain responded angrily to the notion that pain and sickness were easily surmounted. His deep-seated iconoclasm also caused him to take aim at Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, who he saw as self-promoting and fraudulent. Using all of the satire and wit for which he is famous, Twain pokes fun at a movement he feared would become a powerful force in the country.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Classics
• Release date: Dec 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781627938174

Mark Twain

Mark Twain, who was born Samuel L. Clemens in Missouri in 1835, wrote some of the most enduring works of literature in the English language, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc was his last completed book—and, by his own estimate, his best. Its acquisition by Harper & Brothers allowed Twain to stave off bankruptcy. He died in 1910. 

Reviews for Christian Science

[devil_llama · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Twain turns his acerbic wit to examining what was then a new religion on the American scene. He uses Mary Baker Eddy's own words to demonstrate that Christian Science is vacuous, fatuous, and incoherent. Heavy use of irony could lead some concrete thinkers to assume that he admires the woman (at times), but those familiar with Twain's style will get the joke. There are many good moments, though some of the work lacks the charm of his other outings, though the anger he feels clearly shines through. Twain was wrong, however, in predicting that Christian Science would become the dominant religion in America and would be in full control of the government by the middle of the century.

[quantum_flapdoodle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Twain turns his acerbic wit to examining what was then a new religion on the American scene. He uses Mary Baker Eddy's own words to demonstrate that Christian Science is vacuous, fatuous, and incoherent. Heavy use of irony could lead some concrete thinkers to assume that he admires the woman (at times), but those familiar with Twain's style will get the joke. There are many good moments, though some of the work lacks the charm of his other outings, though the anger he feels clearly shines through. Twain was wrong, however, in predicting that Christian Science would become the dominant religion in America and would be in full control of the government by the middle of the century.