Tallahassee’s First Church of Christ, Scientist, commonly known as Christian Science
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Title
Tallahassee’s First Church of Christ, Scientist, commonly known as Christian Science
Subject
Christian Science church buildings--Florida--Tallahassee
Christian Science--Florida--Tallahassee
Description
Essay describing the history of Christian Science in Tallahassee. This is an example document. Student choosing project option 1 should not follow this example. This was created as an example of option #4.
Creator
Crow, John L.
Date
2016-04-12
Contributor
John L. Crow
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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
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PDF of MS Word Document
Language
English
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Document
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Text
Tallahassee’s First Church of Christ, Scientist, commonly known as Christian Science
By John L. Crow, Spring 2016
Christian Science is an American born religious traditions that originated in Boston, Massachusetts in the 1870s. The founder of the tradition was Mary Baker Eddy. In February of 1866, Eddy suffered from a fall that seriously injured her spine. Yet, only after a few days, she found herself healed, she claimed, by reading the Bible and trusting in God. Her neighbors considered the transformation miraculous, as did Eddy. Shortly after she began the process “searching the Scriptures” to understand how “Mind-healing” cured her (S&H 109: 11-15). The result was the book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, published 1875, and subsequently founded the Church of Christ, Scientist in 1879. A foundational belief of the church is that the cause of illness is not physical but based on an error of belief. Eddy writes in Science and Health, “Therefore the only reality of sin, sickness, or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring belief, until God strips off their disguise” (472: 25-29). Eddy add in the Preface, “The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus’ time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural” (S&H xi: 9-15). Based on the beliefs in prayer and mental healing, Christian Scientists frequently reject conventional medical practices and, instead, turn to prayer and faith in God’s ability to heal illness.
After being founded in Boston in 1879, the Church began to spread throughout the United States, reaching Florida in the late 1890s. Some of the earliest Tallahassee lectures about Christian Science took place as early as 1903 with regular services were being offered in a variety of locations by 1905. All throughout this period many lectures came to Tallahassee to inform the general public about the teachings of Christian Science resulting in a growth in the membership within Tallahassee. Local members also attempted to educate the public about Eddy’s teachings by giving lectures and publishing explanations. For instance, in the newspaper, The True Democrat in May 1905, contained almost two full page spreads, explaining various aspects of Christian Science, its beliefs, history, and relationship to the Bible, and its optimism and how Christian Science doctrine understands the world around us.
This early phase of explanation and community buildings was necessary to attract new members and build a congregation large enough to apply to the State of Florida for a non-profit religious organization charter. This had already taken place in 1905 in Pensacola, but it was not until 1908 that the members in Tallahassee were in a position to apply. In the April 24, 1908 edition of the True Democrat, founding members of the Tallahassee First Church of Christ, Scientist, published their intent to apply for a charter. Thereafter, there is a continuously running advertisement of weekly worship services, although the venue changes from time to time. While the congregation had a charter and a corporate identity, they had no church building of their own. Instead they had to rent and use various spaces throughout Tallahassee.
This changed in the early 1920s when the membership had grown large enough and saved up enough money to hire Lloyd Greer, a renowned architect based in Valdosta, Georgia, to design their new church building. Construction was completed in 1923, placing the First Church of Christ, Scientist, on North Adams Street, the same place it occupies today. The building was built of brick with a stucco outside. The front of the church has multiple columns, designed to match the cornice style. Inside, the sanctuary was designed to be rectangular with the front door opening directly across from the front, central altar. The blueprint show the intent was to have the pews radiate out from the front center in the form of an arc, placed at specified distance from the altar.
The church continued to expand over the decades, adding a Sunday school to the north side of the building, a Reading Room building out front and other properties not adjacent to the church itself. One important property was acquired in the 1950s. It was called the Gramling house and was located next to the church. The Tallahassee Democrat states it was acquired in August of 1950 for $45,000 which, by today’s money is about $1,240,000 as calculated by the GDP per capita method (https://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/result.php?year_source=1950&amount=45000&year_result=2014#). Another property the church acquired was the “Greene-Lewis” House located at 535 W. College Avenue. This property was built in 1916 and designed by Foster C. Gilmore. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. It was first owned by E. Peck Greene, a chemist, but sold to the Lewis family in 1928. The Lewis’ owned a bank and were practicing Christian Scientists. With the death of Clara Lewis, the house was placed in trust and is today owned and by the Asher Student Foundation. However, as part of this arrangement, a scholarship was put in place to house a Christian Science female student attending Florida State University.
In 1974 while earning her master’s degree, Arlene Fradkin conducted interviews with Tallahassee Christian Science Church Members and published a short essay in the Florida Anthropologist entitled, “Christian Science: A Religion and a Way of Life.” In the essay, Fradkin describes the doctrine of the Christian Science church and the worship habits of the church members. She notes that the congregation numbers around 200 members. While the majority of the essay focuses on the teachings of the church and the way members work to implement them in their lives, she also notes that the state has instituted legal protections and exemptions for church members including the ability to opt out of certain required vaccinations for schools and travel, established provisions for certified members to practice healing in a religious context, and not medical, and for children to be able to opt out of certain science courses taught in school (121). In 1988, a little over a decade after she published her essay on the Tallahassee Christian Scientists, Fradkin graduated from the University of Florida with her PhD in Anthropology and today researches zooarchaeology, the study of animal bone and shell remains recovered from archaeological sites, at Florida Atlantic University. Nevertheless, much like the newspaper article in the True Democrat, Fradkin’s essay is mostly general information supplied for the overall education of the public.
Indeed, since its beginning, Christian Scientists in Tallahassee have been active participants in the community, working for the common good of the city, state, and nation. The church members have desired to educate the public about their religious denomination, looking for those who are interested to join their ranks, and for all other to simply be better informed about the church and its teachings. At times they have encountered some resistance in the community, but overall they have been welcomed and the church has flourished. In 2008 the church celebrated its centennial anniversary to great fanfare and even the front page of the Tallahassee Democrat’s religion section. While not as well known, the Church of Christ, Scientist, has been a constant and reliable participant in Tallahassee’s religious community. They still have services on the weekend in which all are welcome to attend and the reading room is open during the week, warmly greeting all to enter and inviting them to learn more about the miraculous healing of Mary Baker Eddy and the worldwide church that that resulted from it.
By John L. Crow, Spring 2016
Christian Science is an American born religious traditions that originated in Boston, Massachusetts in the 1870s. The founder of the tradition was Mary Baker Eddy. In February of 1866, Eddy suffered from a fall that seriously injured her spine. Yet, only after a few days, she found herself healed, she claimed, by reading the Bible and trusting in God. Her neighbors considered the transformation miraculous, as did Eddy. Shortly after she began the process “searching the Scriptures” to understand how “Mind-healing” cured her (S&H 109: 11-15). The result was the book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, published 1875, and subsequently founded the Church of Christ, Scientist in 1879. A foundational belief of the church is that the cause of illness is not physical but based on an error of belief. Eddy writes in Science and Health, “Therefore the only reality of sin, sickness, or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring belief, until God strips off their disguise” (472: 25-29). Eddy add in the Preface, “The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus’ time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural” (S&H xi: 9-15). Based on the beliefs in prayer and mental healing, Christian Scientists frequently reject conventional medical practices and, instead, turn to prayer and faith in God’s ability to heal illness.
After being founded in Boston in 1879, the Church began to spread throughout the United States, reaching Florida in the late 1890s. Some of the earliest Tallahassee lectures about Christian Science took place as early as 1903 with regular services were being offered in a variety of locations by 1905. All throughout this period many lectures came to Tallahassee to inform the general public about the teachings of Christian Science resulting in a growth in the membership within Tallahassee. Local members also attempted to educate the public about Eddy’s teachings by giving lectures and publishing explanations. For instance, in the newspaper, The True Democrat in May 1905, contained almost two full page spreads, explaining various aspects of Christian Science, its beliefs, history, and relationship to the Bible, and its optimism and how Christian Science doctrine understands the world around us.
This early phase of explanation and community buildings was necessary to attract new members and build a congregation large enough to apply to the State of Florida for a non-profit religious organization charter. This had already taken place in 1905 in Pensacola, but it was not until 1908 that the members in Tallahassee were in a position to apply. In the April 24, 1908 edition of the True Democrat, founding members of the Tallahassee First Church of Christ, Scientist, published their intent to apply for a charter. Thereafter, there is a continuously running advertisement of weekly worship services, although the venue changes from time to time. While the congregation had a charter and a corporate identity, they had no church building of their own. Instead they had to rent and use various spaces throughout Tallahassee.
This changed in the early 1920s when the membership had grown large enough and saved up enough money to hire Lloyd Greer, a renowned architect based in Valdosta, Georgia, to design their new church building. Construction was completed in 1923, placing the First Church of Christ, Scientist, on North Adams Street, the same place it occupies today. The building was built of brick with a stucco outside. The front of the church has multiple columns, designed to match the cornice style. Inside, the sanctuary was designed to be rectangular with the front door opening directly across from the front, central altar. The blueprint show the intent was to have the pews radiate out from the front center in the form of an arc, placed at specified distance from the altar.
The church continued to expand over the decades, adding a Sunday school to the north side of the building, a Reading Room building out front and other properties not adjacent to the church itself. One important property was acquired in the 1950s. It was called the Gramling house and was located next to the church. The Tallahassee Democrat states it was acquired in August of 1950 for $45,000 which, by today’s money is about $1,240,000 as calculated by the GDP per capita method (https://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/result.php?year_source=1950&amount=45000&year_result=2014#). Another property the church acquired was the “Greene-Lewis” House located at 535 W. College Avenue. This property was built in 1916 and designed by Foster C. Gilmore. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. It was first owned by E. Peck Greene, a chemist, but sold to the Lewis family in 1928. The Lewis’ owned a bank and were practicing Christian Scientists. With the death of Clara Lewis, the house was placed in trust and is today owned and by the Asher Student Foundation. However, as part of this arrangement, a scholarship was put in place to house a Christian Science female student attending Florida State University.
In 1974 while earning her master’s degree, Arlene Fradkin conducted interviews with Tallahassee Christian Science Church Members and published a short essay in the Florida Anthropologist entitled, “Christian Science: A Religion and a Way of Life.” In the essay, Fradkin describes the doctrine of the Christian Science church and the worship habits of the church members. She notes that the congregation numbers around 200 members. While the majority of the essay focuses on the teachings of the church and the way members work to implement them in their lives, she also notes that the state has instituted legal protections and exemptions for church members including the ability to opt out of certain required vaccinations for schools and travel, established provisions for certified members to practice healing in a religious context, and not medical, and for children to be able to opt out of certain science courses taught in school (121). In 1988, a little over a decade after she published her essay on the Tallahassee Christian Scientists, Fradkin graduated from the University of Florida with her PhD in Anthropology and today researches zooarchaeology, the study of animal bone and shell remains recovered from archaeological sites, at Florida Atlantic University. Nevertheless, much like the newspaper article in the True Democrat, Fradkin’s essay is mostly general information supplied for the overall education of the public.
Indeed, since its beginning, Christian Scientists in Tallahassee have been active participants in the community, working for the common good of the city, state, and nation. The church members have desired to educate the public about their religious denomination, looking for those who are interested to join their ranks, and for all other to simply be better informed about the church and its teachings. At times they have encountered some resistance in the community, but overall they have been welcomed and the church has flourished. In 2008 the church celebrated its centennial anniversary to great fanfare and even the front page of the Tallahassee Democrat’s religion section. While not as well known, the Church of Christ, Scientist, has been a constant and reliable participant in Tallahassee’s religious community. They still have services on the weekend in which all are welcome to attend and the reading room is open during the week, warmly greeting all to enter and inviting them to learn more about the miraculous healing of Mary Baker Eddy and the worldwide church that that resulted from it.
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Crow, John L. , “Tallahassee’s First Church of Christ, Scientist, commonly known as Christian Science,” Religion @ Florida State University, accessed April 28, 2024, https://religionatfsu.omeka.net/items/show/208.
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