SOURCE: "Christian Science Textbook: An Analysis of the Religious Authority of Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy," in Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 84, No. 3, July, 1991, pp. 273-97.

In the following essay, Weddle argues that Christian Science is based on a "mythic vision of Christian history."

A holy book arouses the greatest respect even among those (indeed, most of all among those) who do not read it … and the most sophistical reasoning avails nothing in the face of the decisive assertion, which beats down every objection: Thus it is written. It is for this reason that the passages in it which are to lay down an article of faith are called simply texts. The appointed expositors of such a scripture are themselves, by virtue of their occupation, like unto consecrated persons; and history proves that it has never been possible to destroy a faith grounded in scripture. [Immanuel Kant...