Popular Culture Review Vol. 2, No. 2, July 1991 | Page 57

Christian Science in the Gilded Age

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natural law. As envisioned by Mrs. Eddy, the triumph of the spirit
would occur when material humanity yielded to the love of God,
realizing its helplessness before the divine law.(16 ) Her belief that
evil was unnatural seemed to agree with the prevailing materialistic
ethic(17) but her subsequent rejection of materialism(18) defies
categorization of this sort.
In the 1870s, the contradiction in her thought was already
apparent; her denial of matter,(19) sickness, sin and death was
"sensational and sinister" to Herbert Spencer.(20) And to more
progressive minds she seemed conspicuously uninspired: "There is no
indignation . . .There is no pity for the sufferings of those around her;
the long tragedy of human history leaves her unmoved."(21)
Before the end of the first complete postbellum decade, Mrs.
Eddy became obsessed with malicious animal magnetism (the "evil
eye"); shortly, her morbid preoccupation became a doctrine: she
conceded the existence of evil —something she had never been
willing to admit (except to the extent that it exists in "mortal"
mind).(22) Ostensibly, the tenets of her faith were so relative that
they could be interpreted as an affront to both pragmatists and Social
Darwinists. Consequently, neither philosophy truly accepted
Science, and bombardment from both camps was inevitable.
A fresh, energetic philosophy initiated by the Quimby clique
challenged Christian Science in the 1880s. Julius Dresser and Walter
Felt Evans, a Methodist minister, developed an optimistic theory
which did not contradict the laws of evolution. New Thought
utilized the Quimby belief that mind and matter were separate;
although physical disease existed, it stemmed from a basic
unsoundness in the mind. Their acknowledgment of the reality of
matter led them to the conclusion that cures were effected through
the use of mental healing in conjunction with formal medical care.
They held that absent treatment achieved satisfactory results in
some situations but, for the most part, an essential physical
relationship between doctor and patient was most conducive to the
latter’s well-being. Finally, they trusted in the power of positive
thinking. Concentration on the "higher life" would, in their opinion,
reduce mental disorders, thereby preventing somatic ailments.(23)
Hence, New Thought did not deny the existence of matter or disease;
it merely affirmed the power of the mind.(24)