A review by nferre
fathermothergod: My Journey Out of Christian Science by Lucia Greenhouse
3.0
More than a memoir of how the author left the church, it's a familiar memoir of what the Church and its teachings did to divide her family. Lucia had had enough of the Christian Science Church by the time she was a teenager in high school. Respectful of her parents, she kept most of her feelings to herself until her mother fell very ill. Then all hell broke loose.
My grandmother, born in 1866, lived in Lynn, Massachusetts, the home of CS founder, Mary Baker Eddey. She became a follower and died an awful, painful death without medical assistance and against the wishes of her husband in 1935. Her daughter, my aunt, lived to be 98 years old, in a wheelchair for the last 20 years of her life. She had false teeth and eye glasses, but refused medical care. Her daughter, my cousin, was diagnosed with breast cancer in the 1980s. Their solution was to pray, sell the house, buy an RV and travel the country and stay happy. As my cousin got sicker, she and her husband decided to seek medical help. It was too late and she died in her mid 40s.
I have never understood this religion and I can't say that this book enlightened me. I still scratch my head in wonderment at how normal, intelligent people can follow this sort of very unscientific religion.
My grandmother, born in 1866, lived in Lynn, Massachusetts, the home of CS founder, Mary Baker Eddey. She became a follower and died an awful, painful death without medical assistance and against the wishes of her husband in 1935. Her daughter, my aunt, lived to be 98 years old, in a wheelchair for the last 20 years of her life. She had false teeth and eye glasses, but refused medical care. Her daughter, my cousin, was diagnosed with breast cancer in the 1980s. Their solution was to pray, sell the house, buy an RV and travel the country and stay happy. As my cousin got sicker, she and her husband decided to seek medical help. It was too late and she died in her mid 40s.
I have never understood this religion and I can't say that this book enlightened me. I still scratch my head in wonderment at how normal, intelligent people can follow this sort of very unscientific religion.