>Christian Science originated in 19th-century New England with Mary Baker Eddy, who argued in her 1875 book Science and Health that sickness can be healed by prayer alone
>Adherents subscribe to a radical form of philosophical idealism, believing that reality is purely spiritual and the material world an illusion. This includes the view that disease is a mental error rather than physical disorder, and that the sick should be treated not by medicine but by a form of prayer that seeks to correct the beliefs responsible for the illusion of ill health
>Eddy viewed God not as a corporeal person, but as "All-in-all" and "infinite Spirit".
>Christian Scientists see Jesus as the "Way-shower" between humanity and God, and view Christian Science as based on the teaching and example of Jesus
>Christian Scientists accept as true the Genesis 1:1–2:3 creation narrative—that God created man in His image and likeness—but see the Adam and Eve story as allegorical rather than literal.[56] According to Bryan R. Wilson, at the core of Eddy's theology is the view that the spiritual universe is the only reality and is entirely good, and that the material universe, with its evil, sickness, and death, is an illusion; he stated that Eddy saw man as the "idea of Mind [God]" that is "perfect, eternal, unlimited, and reflects the divine", and what she called "mortal man" is simply humanity's distorted view of itself