It is sometimes asked, "Why aren't wedding ceremonies performed in Churches of Christ Scientist?" From the year 1900 up to just a few years ago, there is no available evidence that wedding ceremonies were performed in edifices of branch Churches of Christ, Scientist. Today there is only one branch church where weddings are known to be taking place regularly, but others reportedly occasionally allow wedding ceremonies to be held in their edifices.

Prior to 1900 there was a By-Law in the Church Manual that specifically provided for "a wedding in the church." That By-Law was revised three times over a four year period. None of the three By-Law revisions mentioned the original provision for reading "from Science and Health appropriate paragraphs on marriage" nor mentioned the original provision for "a wedding in the church," but they also did not exclude those possibilities.

In the original version of the By-Law, Mary Baker Eddy stated:

If a Christian Scientist is to be married, the ceremony shall be performed by a Christian Scientist who has been regularly authorized to preach the gospel and administer its ordinances according to the forms and rules of some ecclesiastical denomination.

The Christian Scientist who performs this ceremony shall read from Science and Health appropriate paragraphs on marriage, and repeat properly the pledge between bridegroom and bride. Such other matters as relate to a wedding in the church shall receive due attention.

The first revision no longer mandated that "the ceremony shall be performed by a Christian Scientist," and the second revision stated, "According to our present laws a Christian Scientist alone cannot unite individuals in wedlock." The final By-Law read:

A Legal Ceremony. SECTION 1. If a Christian Scientist is to be married, the ceremony shall be performed by a clergyman who is legally authorized.

According to church historians there were specific legal issues that led Mary Baker Eddy to make the changes she did to the "Marriage" By-Law.

In 1970 The Christian Science Board of Directors stated that there was a "long-established policy" that "marriage ceremonies are not held in The Mother Church or branch Churches of Christ, Scientist." In more recent times, when asked for guidance by branch churches, The Mother Church officials have not referrred to the 1970 policy statement; rather, they have simply posed questions for branch churches to consider. They have not not interfered with the interpretations or decisions of branch churches on this issue.

The article below explores:

• The wording in the original By-Law and the three revisions of that By-Law.
• The historical setting of the By-Law and its three revisions.
• Interpretations of that "Marriage" By-Law today.
• Mrs. Eddy's education and experience regarding church weddings.
• A history of the religous implications and the physical location of the weddings of Christians since the time of Jesus.

Article IX, Section 1 (Man 49:19. See also CSJ Vol. 17, page 702)

1. In the 10th Edition of the Church Manual (the first of four editions in 1899), Mary Baker Eddy introduced specific provision for wedding ceremonies to be held in Churches of Christ, Scientist, and performed by "a Christian Scientist who has been regularly authorized..." Under the article heading "Marriage," she wrote:

If a Christian Scientist is to be married, the ceremony shall be performed by a Christian Scientist who has been regularly authorized to preach the gospel and administer its ordinances according to the forms and rules of some ecclesiastical denomination.

The Christian Scientist who performs this ceremony shall read from Science and Health appropriate paragraphs on marriage, and repeat properly the pledge between bridegroom and bride. Such other matters as relate to a wedding in the church shall receive due attention.

[Previously ordained Christian Scientists, such as Rev. William McKenzie and Annie Knott, may be typical of those who had been performing or who did now perform such wedding ceremonies in Churches of Christ, Scientist. William McKenzie had been ordained by the Presbyterian Church, and Annie Knott was ordained by the "Church of Christ (Scientist)," prior to 1894.]

2. In the 12th Edition of the Church Manual (the third of four editions in 1899), the By-Law was revised to read:

Christian Scientists who desire to be married shall employ only those legally qualified to perform the marriage ceremony.

3. In the 14th Edition of the Church Manual (the first of six editions in 1900), the By-Law was further revised to read:

If a Christian Scientist is to be married, the ceremony shall be performed by a clergyman who is legally authorized. According to our present laws a Christian Scientist alone cannot unite individuals in wedlock.

[This revision of the By-Law first appeared in the January, 1900, issue of The Christian Science Journal (TCSJ, Volume 17, page 702). This and other By-Laws had been: "Prepared July, 1899, and adopted by The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Massachusetts, December 22, 1899."]

4. In the 29th Edition of the Church Manual (the second of eleven editions in 1903), the By-Law received its final revision, which now appears in Article IX, Section 1 (Man 49:19) and still reads:

A Legal Ceremony. SECTION 1. If a Christian Scientist is to be married, the ceremony shall be performed by a clergyman who is legally authorized.

Article VIII, Section 20 (Man 46:1) The first form of this By-Law appeared in 1895. (See Robert Peel's Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977, page 446, footnote 88)

1. In the 19th Edition of the Church Manual (the sixth of six editions in 1900), this By-Law read:

Illegal Adoption. SECT. 4. No person shall be made a member of this Church, or remain a member, who claims a spiritually adopted child; or a spiritually adopted husband, or wife; except they have been legally adopted, or legally married, according to the laws of our land.

Any member who is found living with a child improperly, or claiming a child not legally adopted, or claiming, or living with a husband, or a wife, to whom they have not been legally married, shall immediately be excommunicated, on the grounds of moral unfitness to be a teacher of Christian Science or a member of this Church.

2. In the final edition of the Church Manual, this By-Law reads:

Illegal Adoption. SECT. 20. No person shall be a member of this Church who claims a spiritually adopted child or a spiritually adopted husband or wife. There must be legal adoption and legal marriage, which can be verified according to the laws of our land.

Some relevant questions are:

1. What was the basis for the 10th Edition addition of the "Marriage" By-Law?
2. What was the basis for the 12th Edition revision?
3. What was the basis for the 14th Edition revision?
4. What was the basis for the 29th Edition (and final) revision?
5. How is the "Marriage" By-Law interpreted today?
6. What are the Christian foundations for "the Science of wedlock" (My 268:24-27)

It seems that the most productive way to begin answering these questions is to make available all that is known, and encourage a collective effort to add all available missing pieces. This will progressively enable individual students and churches to make their own assessment and draw their own conclusions, based upon the most complete information that is available.

Anyone who has additional information on anything discussed on this webpage is encouraged to write to editor@bibletexts.com to contribute to the body of knowledge on this subject. All verifiable information will be posted on this page, regardless of whether it supports or does not support the current conclusions or implications found on this webpage.

With respect to conclusions, the word current is emphasized, because the intent here is to arrive at the most accurate and honest conclusions possible, regardless of how uncomfortable those conclusions may be. This webpage will not seek to justify the opinions of anyone, but it will seek to let the broadest available facts lead to honest conclusions. Such conclusions will never be considered final, because they will always be open to further refinement and even reversal, if new facts so dictate.

Historical reconstruction of what was happening at that time in the life of Mary Baker Eddy and the church may give us some clues.

As chronicled in Robert Peel's Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977, page 372-373), the events in Mrs. Eddy's life in the years 1899-1901 were dominated by the Woodbury case. The events below in bold, black type relate directly to the Woodbury case. Those events in bracketed italicized bold, black type are those Woodbury-related events that Bibletexts.com added to Peel's chronology.

Josephine Curtis Woodbury had been a member of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and a teacher of Christian Science. In 1890 she had a child by man other than her husband and continued to claim that it was immaculately conceived, because it was known that she had had no sexual relationship with her husband for over a year. After several years of very manipulative and unchristian conduct, she was excommunicated in 1896 or 1897.

The relevance of the Woodbury case to the "Marriage" By-Law revisions may be indicated by the following passage from Peel's Year of Authority (page 153):

The time had come, Mrs. Eddy now felt, when the latest phase of evil needed denouncing. It was not a matter of counterattacking Mrs. Woodbury, but of exposing the sort of thinking she stood for.

One of the institutions of which Mrs. Woodbury had made a mockery was wedlock.

Also the eminent Massachusetts lawyer Samuel Elder, in preparing Mrs. Eddy's defense in the Woodbury case, reviewed the Church Manual and advised Mrs. Eddy on the legal soundness of many of the By-Laws and recommended many changes. She clearly rejected some of his advice, but it is noteworthy that the term "legally qualified" and other changes entered the "Marriage" By-Law revision after Mrs. Eddy employed Elder on the Woodbury case. (For more details on the Woodbury case, refer to pages 143 to 174 of Peel's Years of Authority.)

It is also fair to say that although the Woodbury case may have been a factor in the By-Law revision, Mrs. Eddy often addressed issues that were very much ahead of her time -- and ahead of anyone else's time. Some of her legal and By-Law actions preceded any explainable cause for taking such actions. She was dealing not only with events in time but also with theology and spirituality, which transcend time and events.

To put Mrs. Eddy's views and provisions in further context, it is appropriate to note that Jesus (by explicit statement), Paul (by implication), and Mrs. Eddy (by explicit statement) referred to marriage as having its proper and needed place in the present world, but not in life beyond this world. (For the texts of some of their statements, see http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/marriage.htm.) Referring to John the Baptist and Paul, Colin Brown writes: "They show symbolically that marriage is only something provisional in the light of the coming kingdom (cf. 1 Cor 7:1-9, 26-29)" [The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Volumes 1 through 3, edited by Colin Brown (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1975-1978), Vol 2: pages 580]

Question 1. What was the basis for the 10th Edition addition of the "Marriage" By-Law?

Answer 1. There is no available hard evidence as to why Mrs. Eddy's added the "Marriage" By-Law.

Question 2. What was the basis for the 12th Edition revision?

Answer 2. The 12th edition revised By-Law considerably modified the first sentence of the By-Law, which originally read:

If a Christian Scientist is to be married, the ceremony shall be performed by a Christian Scientist who has been regularly authorized to preach the gospel and administer its ordinances according to the forms and rules of some ecclesiastical denomination.

It was changed to read:

Christian Scientists who desire to be married shall employ only those legally qualified to perform the marriage ceremony.

Question 2.1. Did Mrs. Eddy mean a previously ordained Christian Scientist when she originally described "a Christian Scientist who has been regularly authorized to preach the gospel and administer its ordinances according to the forms and rules of some ecclesiastical denomination?"

Answer 2.1. This seems likely from the wording,

Question 2.2. Did Mrs. Eddy see impractical limitations for Mother Church members in the wording, "If a Christian Scientist is to be married, the ceremony shall be performed by a Christian Scientist who has been regularly authorized to preach the gospel and administer its ordinances according to the forms and rules of some ecclesiastical denomination?"

Answer 2.2. That original "Marriage" By-Law wording required Christian Scientists to be married by a Christian Scientist. The new By-Law made it possible for Christian Scientists to wed anywhere, including in places where there were no Christian Scientists who were "legally authorized" to perform a wedding ceremony. With a strictly literal interpretation of the original By-Law, it would seem to have been virtually impossible for loyal Mother Church members in many parts of the world to be wedded, because of the virtual impossibility of having a "regularly authorized" Christian Scientist available to perform the wedding ceremony.]

Question 2.3. Did Mrs. Eddy and/or Samuel Elder see legal problems with the wording, "If a Christian Scientist is to be married, the ceremony shall be performed by a Christian Scientist who has been regularly authorized to preach the gospel and administer its ordinances according to the forms and rules of some ecclesiastical denomination?"

Answer 2.3. This seems to be Mrs. Eddy's primary focus in the revised wording. Some Christian Scientists who may have considered themselves "regularly authorized" were not "legally authorized" to perform wedding ceremonies. If this was the case, public exposure of this could have been construed as not only a legal issue for the church but also a moral lapse or even making a mockery of wedlock. Such legal and/or public charges could have been especially detrimental at the time of the Woodbury suit.

The 12th edition revised By-Law entirely removed the second and third sentences of the original By-Law. This eliminated the following:

The Christian Scientist who performs this ceremony shall read from Science and Health appropriate paragraphs on marriage, and repeat properly the pledge between bridegroom and bride. Such other matters as relate to a wedding in the church shall receive due attention.

This revised By-Law no longer specifically included the following three provisions

1. A "Christian Scientist ... [to perform the] ceremony."
2. The reading "from Science and Health appropriate paragraphs on marriage."
3. "A wedding in the church."

Question 2.4. By omitting any reference to all of these provisions, did Mrs. Eddy now question the appropriateness of all of these prior provisions and now disallow them? Or did Mrs. Eddy intend the absence of references to the prior provisions to only apply to some of them? Or was the absence of references to them insignificant, with her only attention being given to ensure that the wedding ceremony was performed "legally?"

Answer 2.4. In October, 1970, The Christian Science Board of Directors provided an official policy statement:

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY

Christ Jesus began his public career by attending a wedding feast. The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 65), "May Christ, Truth, be present at every bridal altar to turn the water into wine and to give to human life an inspiration by which man's spiritual and eternal existence may be discerned."

Why, then, are weddings not held in Christian Science church edifices?

There is evidence that Mrs. Eddy gave profound thought to every aspect of marriage, including the way in which it is solemnized. She knew that, in general, the traditional churches regard marriage as a divinely ordained institution and the wedding service as a religious rite. This is in line with the commonly held view that God has created a material earth, a human race, and a system of procreation which are part of His divine plan and purpose.

Mrs. Eddy's view is set forth in Science and Health (p. 56), where she writes, "Marriage is the legal and moral provision for generation among human kind." This statement, like others in the same chapter, presents marriage as a human rather than a divine institution. The subject is viewed within the framework of moral law and legal obligation, not of religious sanction. In all of her writings Mrs. Eddy emphasizes the strong moral foundation of the marriage relationship, and always she shows a tender concern for the spiritual strengthening of the marriage vows and family affections, but she nowhere confounds the human with the divine or temporal necessity with eternal law.

Thus her particular concern with marriage ceremonies was that they be in accordance with the laws of the land. She gives the title, "A Legal Ceremony" - not A Religious Ceremony - to Article IX, Section 1, of the Manual of The Mother Church, which reads: "If a Christian Scientist is to be married, the ceremony shall be performed by a clergyman who is legally authorized."

In the early days of Christian Science, there was a tendency to ask clergymen who had become Christian Scientists to officiate at weddings. A question arose as to their authority to do so, since they were no longer acting as clergymen of the denomination in which they had been ordained. The By-Law quoted above put an end to this practice. The emphasis of the By-Law is on legal authority rather than on the need for a clergyman to perform the ceremony. Although it assumes that Christian Scientists will normally turn to a clergyman for this service, it does not rule out their having a civil marriage in those countries and those situations in which this seems necessary or preferable to a religious ceremony.

Even when a clergyman consents to include readings from Science and Health or a Christian Science hymn in the marriage service, this does not make it a Christian Science service. If a justice of the peace or other civil officer who is a Christian Scientist marries a couple, he is acting in his official legal capacity and not as a Christian Scientist. Our churches are intended for the purpose of public worship (see Deed of Trust, Church Manual, p. 131, items 3 and 5), not for weddings, funerals, or other occasions of private or personal kind.

A study of the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings brings to the student a deeper insight into the relations of human institutions to spiritual facts, and the Christian Scientist who is contemplating marriage works out the details of the wedding day through his understanding of these teachings. It is of special significance that the Christian Scientist has the opportunity to bring to his marriage the joy, inspiration, and deep spiritual commitment, which characterizes his religion. Only the demonstration of such qualities can bring to his life with another unity, strength, and true happiness.

Question 2.5. What was Mrs. Eddy's education and experience regarding church weddings? And what is the origin and experience of church weddings in Christian history?

Answer 2.5. It should be noted that Mrs. Eddy and her immediate family members all were married by clergy in private homes. She had grown up as a member of the Congregational Church, whose roots were in the Puritan tradition, in which wedding ceremonies were not conducted in churches. This Puritan tradition rejected sacraments, rites, and ceremonies that arose after Constantine became Emperor of Rome early in the fourth century. Puritans not only rejected the celebration of Christmas (which was simply a traditional pagan Roman holiday that was reinterpreted to give it Christian significance and justification), but Puritans also rejected conducting weddings in churches. Even today, though the Roman Catholic church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and some other churches consider matrimony as a sacrament, most Protestant denominations do not consider matrimony as a sacrament, even though they hold religious weddings in their church edifices.

George Wesley Buchanan (Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Revised Edition, edited by Paul J. Achtemeier, with the Society of Biblical Literature, NY: Harper Collins, 1996, pages 956-957) explains the history of the consideration of matrimony by some as being a sacrament and by others as not being a sacrament:

Although baptism and the Eucharist were considered the primary sacraments, the term "sacrament" was used in the early church to describe many kinds of religious ceremonies and practices. By the twelfth century Hugo of St. Victor listed some thirty sacraments. This was probably the result of Augustine's definition of sacraments as signs pertaining to things divine, or visible forms of an invisible grace. Since there is no limit to the number of ways God's grace can be expressed, the number of sacraments increased with Christian sensitivity and imagination, but this made administrative control difficult. Therefore the Council of Trent (A.D. 1545) decreed that not all signs of sacred things had sacramental value. Visible signs become sacraments only if they represent an invisible grace and become its channels.

At a later council, the Roman Catholic church limited the number of sacraments to seven: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders, and matrimony. Part of the need for exact definition came during the sixteenth century in response to the Reformation. The Reformers, in turn, responded to the conclusions of the Roman Catholic church as it was redefined at the Council of Trent.

The Reformers held that the number seven was chosen arbitrarily, so they defined "sacrament" still more sharply, claiming that "sacrament" should apply not to all visible means of an invisible grace but only to those means which Jesus himself commanded to be practiced. This limited the number to two -- baptism and the Eucharist...

First-century Jews and Christians did not hold weddings in synagogues or churches. Kenneth Scott Latourette comments (A History of Christianity, Volumes I, Revised Edition, New York: Harper & Row, 1975, pages 204-205):

Christians were not required to seek the blessing of the Church to give validity to their marriage. However, by the time of Tertullian [160-225 A.D.] it seems to have become customary to have a Christian ceremony in which the Church cemented the marriage, confirmed it with an oblation, and sealed it with a benediction.

A religious wedding ceremony did not begin to be considered as a sacrament until almost three centuries later, and, as mentioned above, it was not officially recognized as one of the seven sacraments until the Council of Trent, between 1545 and 1563. Wedding ceremonies very likely were performed in Christian homes prior to Constantine. Up to the time of Constantine churches were not edifices that were specifically built for Christian worship. They were Christians' houses in which fellow Christians gathered and worshipped, maybe the same houses in which weddings sometimes took place. It wasn't until the fourth century that Church edifices began to be built. The beginning of consideration of the wedding ceremony as a sacramental rite roughly coincided chronologically with the erecting of church edifices, which increasingly replaced houses as the places of worship.

Question 3. What was the basis for the 14th Edition revision?

Answer 3. This revision added, "According to our present laws a Christian Scientist alone cannot unite individuals in wedlock."

Likely reflecting Elder's expert legal opinion, the 14th edition revision appears to reflect a further clarification of the 12th edition revision. In essence the new By-Law was more explicitly articulating that previously ordained Christian Scientists were no longer "legally authorized." To avoid all legal problems, it was stated, "According to our present laws a Christian Scientist alone cannot unite individuals in wedlock."

Question 4. What was the basis for the 29th Edition (and final) revision?

Answer 4. The 14th Edition of the Church Manual had added the wording, "According to our present laws a Christian Scientist alone cannot unite individuals in wedlock." As noted above, this wording effectively precluded Christian Scientists from performing wedding ceremonies without having a clergyman who was "legally authorized." Since the final wording of the By-Law requires that "the ceremony shall be performed by a clergyman," and since no office within the Church of Christ, Scientist, is officially recognized as "clergy," it can be argued that to Mrs. Eddy the 29th Edition's elimination of the wording, "According to our present laws a Christian Scientist alone cannot unite individuals in wedlock," had no practical effect. It only simplified the wording that already required that "the ceremony shall be performed by a clergyman who is legally authorized."

Question 5. How is the "Marriage" By-Law interpreted today?

Answer 5. It appears that after the 12th edition revised By-Law was published, weddings were no longer held in Churches of Christ, Scientist. According introductory letter to the 1970 statement by The Christian Science Board of Directors, there is a "long-established policy" that "marriage ceremonies are not held in The Mother Church or branch Churches of Christ, Scientist."

[Only in recent years has at least one branch Church of Christ, Scientist, allowed wedding ceremonies to be performed in its edifice, with "legally authorized" clergy supplied by the couple to be married. This may be due in part to the fact that clergy are now much more willing to performing wedding ceremonies in churches other than their own. Until the growing ecumenicism of the latter part of the twentieth century, "legally authorized" clergy generally performed wedding ceremonies either in their own churches or in some public or private place. Performing wedding services in other denominations' edifices was not the generally acceptable practice that it is today.]

Question 6. What are the Christian foundations for "the Science of wedlock" (My 268:24-27)?

Answer 6: See http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/marriage.htm.

1. In 1899 Mary Baker Eddy officially introduced specific provision for wedding ceremonies to be held in Churches of Christ, Scientist.

When in 1899 Mary Baker Eddy introduced the "Marriage" By-Law in the 10th edition of the Church Manual, she also officially introduced specific provision for wedding ceremonies to be held in Churches of Christ, Scientist.

2. All revisions of the "Marriage" By-Law were focused on the legal requirements of the wedding ceremony.

In all of the revisions of the "Marriage" By-Law -- in the 12th, 14th, and 29 Editions of the Manual -- Mrs. Eddy's revision efforts were focused on the legal requirements for the wedding ceremony. This appears to directly coincide with Mrs. Eddy's handling of the Woodbury suite against herself, during which Mrs. Eddy's lawyer, Samuel Elder, reviewed the Church Manual and the legal standing of each By-Law. She originally required that the one performing the wedding ceremony be simply "regularly authorized" to perform the wedding ceremony. All revisions of the "Marriage" By-Law required that the one performing the wedding ceremony be "legally authorized." (The phrase "legally authorized" is the one consistent phrase throughout all three revised wordings.)

3. The 12th Edition revision of the "Marriage" By-Law removed the following provisions relating to wedding ceremonies: (1) provision for a Christian Scientist to conduct a wedding ceremony, (2) provision for the reading "from Science and Health appropriate paragraphs on marriage," and (3) provision for "a wedding in the church."

In the original "Marriage" By-Law, Mrs. Eddy required that the wedding ceremonies of Christian Scientists be performed by authorized Christian Scientists. Her 12th Edition revision of the original By-Law would no longer require a Christian Scientist to perform the wedding ceremony, but instead would require that the one performing the wedding ceremony be "legally authorized."

In that 12th Edition revision, provision for a Christian Scientist to conduct a wedding ceremony was even not mentioned, but that was not necessarily interpreted to mean that the practice was to be discontinued. To definitively discontinue the practice, Mrs. Eddy wrote into the 14th Edition revision, "According to our present laws a Christian Scientist alone cannot unite individuals in wedlock."

Though ultimately the provision for a Christian Scientist to conduct a wedding ceremony was explicitly forbidden, the second provision (reading from Science and Health during the wedding) and third provision (performing the wedding in a church) simply were no longer included in the Church Manual.

In fact after the 12th Edition of the Church Manual, there appears to be no mention of anything relating to "reading from Science and Health appropriate paragraphs on marriage" or relating to "a wedding in church" in later revisions of the Church Manual or in Mrs. Eddy's correspondence or conversations. Reading at weddings from the Bible and from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is still the norm when Christian Scientists are married. Performing weddings in Churches of Christ, Scientist, is very rare.

4. According to the The Christian Science Board of Directors in 1970, the "long-standing" policy had been that ceremonies are not held in the edifices of Churches of Christ, Scientist, but the Church Manual provides that each branch church is "distinctly democractic" (Article XXIII, Section 10) and practices "self-government" (Article XXIII, Section 1) with "no interference" from any "individual" or from any "other church" (Article XXIII, Section 10). Thus, since the Church Manual neither explicitly nor implicitly forbids wedding ceremonies in branch churches, the decision is ultimately with the local membership of each branch church, with "no interference" from any "individual" or from any "other church."

Recently when one branch church asked The Mother Church for guidance on the issue of allowing wedding ceremonies to be performed in that branch church, the 1970 policy cited above was not even mentioned. No directives were given. Only questions were posed to evaluate the motivation of the couple and of the church. Given the Manual's prohibition against "interference," The Mother Church's response seems appropriate. The decision rests with the local branch church.

The Board of Director's 1970 policy statement mentioned "Deed of Trust" on page 131, items 3 and 5. It should first be pointed out that that Deed of Trust is "the Deed of Trust Conveying Land for Church Edifice" of The Mother Church "on Falmouth street in said Boston" (Church Manual, page 128). It has no bearing on a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. That having been said, items 3 and 5 do not even limit wedding ceremonies from taking place at The Mother Church; but it is the Manual-prescribed right of The Christian Science Board of Directors to transact "the business of The Mother Church" in accordance with the Church Manual." Not only does The Mother Church "assume no general official control of other churches," but also "it shall be controlled by none other" (Article XXIII, Section 1). So it would be inappropriate for any individual or any church to pressure the Board of Directors to house weddings or to do anything else that the Church Manual does not require.

[Item 3 requires that the Board "shall maintain public worship in accordance with the doctrine of Christian Science in said church." It does not say the Board shall allow no activity except public worship." If so, then class instruction, association meetings, many other non-public meetings, public organ recitals, community forums, and many other commonly held activities would never have begun their long history of taking place within the edifice of The Mother Church.]

[Item 5 requires that, "Said Board of Directors shall not allow or permit in said church building any preaching or other religious service which shall not be consonant and in strict harmony with the doctrines and practice of Christian Science as taught and explained by Mary Baker G. Eddy in the seventy-first edition of her book entitled 'Science and Health,' which is soon to be issued, and in any subsequent edition therof." A wedding ceremony performed by a "legally authorized" clergyperson is actually required in the Church Manual. Many weddings of Christian Scientists are performed by clergy "consonant and in strict harmony with the doctrines and practice of Christian Science."]

In accordance with primitive Christian history and the history (and apparent inclination) of Mrs. Eddy, it is very reasonable for a Christian Scientist to be inclined toward holding all weddings in a non-church setting and having the ceremony performed by an ordained clergyperson who is "legally authorized." If, on the other hand, a Christian Scientist is inclined towards having Christian Scientists married in another Christian denomination's church edifice, the Golden Rule would argue for allowing wedding ceremonies consonant with the theology and practices of Christian Science performed in that Christian Scientist's own church. (The Golden Rule of churches may be stated: "Initiate in other church edifices only those activities that you would want initiated in your own church edifice.") Still, it would be up to the democratic process of all the members of each branch church to determine each branch church's policy.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The conclusions in this document are intended to clarify, to edify, and to provide food for thought. They are not intended to prescribe definitive policies that should be followed by individuals or by churches, and they are not intended as a means of judging others' past, present, or future actions. I respect others' honestly-derived, differing conclusions on these matters. I am simply sharing the conclusions I have thusfar reached, based upon all the available facts that I have been able to garner. My responsibility is to conscientiously monitor my own thoughts and actions, not the thoughts and actions of others. If the articulation of my own conclusions can be of any help to others in their own conscientious endeavors to think and act rightly, I am grateful. Regardless of whether or not the conclusions that others draw from the facts described in this document agree with my conclusions, we have a solid basis for fellowship in the integrity of our mutually honest endeavors. Mrs. Eddy writes regarding marriage, "Honesty and virtue ensure the stability of the marriage covenant" (S&H 64:29-30). I genuinely believe that "honesty and virtue" also ensure the stability of fellowship.

5. Non-church weddings were the norm for early Christians and for Mrs. Eddy.

First-century Jews and Christians did not hold weddings in synagogues or churches. Religious wedding ceremonies did not begin to be established as a sacrament until almost three centuries later. Wedding ceremonies very likely were performed in Christian homes prior to Constantine. Up to the time of Constantine churches were not edifices that were built for Christian worship. They were Christians' homes in which fellow Christians gathered to meet and worship, maybe the same home in which weddings sometimes took place. It wasn't until the fourth century that church edifices began to be built. The beginning of consideration of the wedding ceremony as a sacramental rite roughly coincided chronologically with the erecting of church edifices, which increasingly replaced homes as the houses/places of worship.

Mrs. Eddy and her immediate family members all were married by clergy in private homes. She had grown up as a member of the Congregational Church, whose roots were in the Puritan tradition, in which wedding ceremonies were not performed in churches. Even today, though the Roman Catholic church, Eastern Orthodox, and some other denominations consider the matrimony to be a sacrament, most Protestant denominations do not consider matrimony to be a sacrament, even though they hold religious weddings in their church edifices.

6. The Christian foundations for "the Science of wedlock" (My 268:24-27) were established by Jesus and further articulated by Paul and by Mary Baker Eddy.

Jesus' words, as found in the New Testament

NRSV, Mar 10:6 From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.

[In verse 6, Jesus is quoting from Gen 1:27. In verses 7-8, Jesus is quoting from Gen 2:24. See also Mat 19:4-6. The gospel verses here are cited from Mark, because Mark is widely believed to the earliest of the four gospels.]

NRSV, Mar 12:25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

[See also Mat 22:30; Luk 20:34-36]

Paul's words, as found in the New Testament

NRSV, 1Co 7:1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is well for a man not to touch a woman.” 2 But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. 9 But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.

25 Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.

28 ...If you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that.

32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; 33 but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord. 36 If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his fiancée, if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry. 37 But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancée, he will do well. 38 So then, he who marries his fiancée does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.

"The Science of wedlock" (My 268:24-27): a few selections from Mary Baker Eddy's writings

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (S&H) 56:7-8 Marriage is the legal and moral provision for generation among human kind.

S&H 57:1 Chastity is the cement of civilization and progress. Without it there is no stability in society, and without it one cannot attain the Science of Life.

S&H 60:16-18 Marriage should improve the human species, becoming a barrier against vice, a protection to woman, strength to man, and a centre for the affections.

S&H 61:4-11 The good in human affections must have ascendency over the evil and the spiritual over the animal, or happiness will never be won. The attainment of this celestial condition would improve our progeny, diminish crime, and give higher aims to ambition. Every valley of sin must be exalted, and every mountain of selfishness be brought low, that the highway of our God may be prepared in Science.

S&H 61:30-31 The scientific morale of marriage is spiritual unity.

S&H 64:17-32 Marriage should signify a union of hearts. Furthermore, the time cometh of which Jesus spake, when he declared that in the resurrection there should be no more marrying nor giving in marriage, but man would be as the angels. Then shall Soul rejoice in its own, in which passion has no part. Then white-robed purity will unite in one person masculine wisdom and feminine love, spiritual understanding and perpetual peace. Until it is learned that God is the Father of all, marriage will continue. Let not mortals permit a disregard of law which might lead to a worse state of society than now exists. Honesty and virtue ensure the stability of the marriage covenant. Spirit will ultimately claim its own,--all that really is,--and the voices of physical sense will be forever hushed.

S&H 65:3 May Christ, Truth, be present at every bridal altar to turn the water into wine and to give to human life an inspiration by which man's spiritual and eternal existence may be discerned.

Miscellany 268:24-27 Truth, canonized by life and love, lays the axe at the root of all evil, lifts the curtain on the Science of being, the Science of wedlock, of living and of loving, and harmoniously ascends the scale of life.

See also: S&H 57:4-11; S&H 58:7; S&H 58:21; Mis 286:7-15; My 268:20-27

My primary sources of information have been:

• The writings of Mary Baker Eddy, including the current Church Manual
• The Christian Science Journal and Christian Science Sentinel, especially1899 and 1900 issues, including:
• "Notice" - Christian Science Sentinel, Vol. 1, Number 46, July 13, 1899, page 15:
  • The eleventh edition of the Church Manual is now on sale. The list of members to date is published separately in pamphlet form. A copy of this list is furnished with each Manual. The list will not be sold separately. The price of the Manual including list of members, will be one dollar as usual...
• "The Church Manual" - Christian Science Sentinel, Vol. 2, November 16, 1899, page 173:
  • The 12th edition, containing the names of all the members of the Mother Church, including those admitted November 7 last, is now ready. The importance of the members keeping themselves informed of the Church Rules and By-laws is so apparent that we do not deem it necessary to more than suggest it. The Manual is now in two volumes, one containing the names exclusively.
• "Church By-Laws" - Christian Science Sentinel, Vol. 2, December 21, 1899, page 257:
  • Article XXXV., section 1, is amended to read: -- If a Christian Scientist is to be married, the ceremony shall be performed by a clergyman who is specially legally authorized to perform this ceremony. According to our present laws, a Christian Scientist alone cannot unit individuals in wedlock.
• "By-Laws" - The Christian Science Journal, Vol 17, January, 1900, page 702.
  • Section 1, Article XXXV., is amended to read: -- If a Christian Scientist is to be married, the ceremony shall be performed by a clergyman who is legally authorized to perform this ceremony. According to our present laws, a Christian Scientist alone cannot unit individuals in wedlock.
• The writings of Robert Peel, especially Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977).
• Information provided to me from the Church archives.
• 1900 and 1905 editions of the Church Manual that I have in my own library.
• The October, 1970, statement from The Christian Science Board of Directors, "Christian Science and the Marriage Ceremony."
• Resources in the Bibletexts.com research library, including:
• Backgrounds of Early Christianity, Second Edition, by Everett Ferguson (Grand Rapids, MI; Eerdmans, 1993), pages 65-69.
• Divorce and Nullity, by R.H. Charles (London: T&T Clark, 1927), pages 58-67.
• Early Christians Speak: Faith and Life in the First Three Centuries, Revised Edition - by Everett Ferguson (Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 1987), page 76.
• Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Revised Edition, edited by Paul J. Achtemeier, with the Society of Biblical Literature, NY: Harper Collins, 1996, pages 656-657, 956-957
• A History of Christianity, Volumes I, Revised Edition, by Kenneth Scott Latorourette (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), pages 204-205.
• The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1976), Vol 3: pages 278-287, Supplemental Volume: pages 573-577.
• The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Volumes 1 through 3, edited by Colin Brown (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1975-1978), Vol 2: pages 575-590.
• Other resources in the Bibletexts.com research library, a partial listing of which is at http://www.bibletexts.com/bibliogr.htm.

If you have historical information or insights that shed further light on anything above, either in agreement with or contrary to what has been stated above, please email editor@bibletexts.com. The desire of the Bibletexts.com website is to arrive at honest conclusions that are consistent with all available facts. I deeply respect all who honestly arrive at genuine conclusions, even if those conclusions differ from my own current conclusions. It is not my intent to prop up any opinions, which are often the result of one's selectively using only those facts that support such opinions -- and conveniently disregarding facts that undermine such opinions. I myself do not want to have any personal opinions. I only want to develop faith-inspiring, honest conclusions that lead to being "filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding." (Col 1:9, NRSV) So please feel free to share with me any facts that may help lead to even better or further refined conclusions.

To explore the history of "Weddings in the Bible and early Christianity," see http://www.bibletexts.com/glossary/wedding.htm.

To explore a topical index on "Marriage," see http://www.bibletexts.com/topics/marriage.htm.