Christian Science

"Christian Science" by Mark Twain is a satirical work that critiques the Christian Science movement, written during the early 20th century. In this revealing venture, Twain analyzes the claims and practices of Christian Science, as well as offering a portrait of its founder, Mary Baker Eddy. The book begins with humorous anecdotes about the author's personal experiences with the healing practices of a Christian Scientist, setting the stage for a broader examination of the movement's doctrines and its followers’ beliefs. At the start of the book, Twain shares a comical account of his injuries after falling off a cliff and the ensuing challenges of addressing those injuries through the lens of Christian Science. He provides a vivid interaction between himself and a Christian Science practitioner, where he underscores the absurdities of the belief system that insists pain and illness are mere illusions of the mind. Through this dialogue, Twain critiques the tenets of Christian Science, illustrating the illogical conclusion that physical ailments do not exist if the mind chooses not to acknowledge them. As he introduces his observations on the movement's philosophy and its founder, Twain sets a critical tone, combining humor and skepticism as he unpacks the implications of such beliefs on individual health and societal understanding of reality. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." Twain's novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." He also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) and cowrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.