by francopoli
Eddy devoted the rest of her life to the establishment of the church, writing its bylaws, The Manual of The Mother Church, and revising Science and Health. By the 1870s she was telling her students, "Some day I will have a church of my own." In 1879 she and her students established the Church of Christ, Scientist, "to commemorate the word and works of our Master [Jesus], which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." In 1892 at Eddy's direction, the church reorganized as The First Church of Christ, Scientist, "designed to be built on the Rock, Christ...." Some years later in 1881, she founded the Massachusetts Metaphysical College,[84] where she taught approximately 800 students between the years 1882 and 1889, when she closed it. Eddy charged her students $300 each for tuition. This was a large sum for the period and generated considerable controversy.
Christian Scientists are basically naturalpaths and holistic healers. Think of the people using "ancient Chinese remedies," add in a bit of prayer healing with a big side of Jesus and you got the general idea. One of several off-shoots of this theology are the Jehovah's Witnesses and the other sects that believe in health through prayer alone and reject modern medicine.