Regarding the Print Edition of the Concordance to all of Mrs. Eddy's Writings

[rv.ros...@gmail.com]

The following was mailed to me from Sheep Mailings, Inc.
with the request that it be shared as widely as possible.
It is very important as it concerns the termination of
the publication of the print edition of the Concordance
to Science and Health and to Mrs. Eddy's Writings other
than Science and Health. This plan to cease this
publication should be reversed inasmuch as the Concordance
is in effect the spiritual and metaphysical toolbox for
the working Christian Scientist. The importance of becoming
familiar with the report below cannot be stressed highly
enough.

I know that David Nolan would desire this message to be posted
here.

Sincerely,

Paula

* * * * * * * * copied verbatim * * * * * * * *

September 23, 2010, will go down in history of the Christian
Science movement as a day of abject betrayal of the Founder of
this religion. For those who have been reluctant to see the
enormity of the error being promoted by the Christian Science
Church against the Founder, Mary Baker Eddy, the following
information should be enough to not only awaken them, but to
set them on fire to take a stand.

The announcement was sent to Reading Rooms that "A
Complete Concordance to the Writings of Mary Baker Eddy" has
been discontinued. It is out of stock - not available to be
ordered by Reading Rooms. That leaves no print concordance
to any of Mrs. Eddy's writings published by The Mother Church.
The announcement advises Reading Room librarians to refer
customers who want a concordance to the electronic version,
"Concord," which is a helpful study tool but does not displace
the printed Concordance which Mrs. Eddy authorized.

Knowing the history helps. In 1902, in preparation for the
publication of the Concordance to her work, Science and Health,
Mrs. Eddy removed the index from the textbook. Subsequently,
she stated in her Preface to the Concordance, published in
1903, and revised in 1908, that a complete Concordance is "the
only satisfactory way" to meet the requirements of the students
of our textbook." While reading this mailing, you should stop
long enough to open Mrs. Eddy's Preface to the Concordance and
see her words for yourself. Notice that she uses the word
"only" - "the only satisfactory way." Imagine the Church she
established to protect, preserve, and promote her work refusing
to publish a print Concordance which she approved and instructed
to be published!

Today's computer generation may argue that the electronic version
is the same as (or better than) the print version. That is not
true. The electronic version can be a helpful adjunct to study,
but it cannot replace the print Concordance. The print
Concordance has vital subtleties of instruction available to
deep searchers which the electronic version does not have.
Equally important, the print Concordance had Mrs. Eddy's
approval and support. Time will never change that, and it
will *never* absolve the Directors from the moral
obligation - the absolute God-given demand - to publish the
book that Mary Baker Eddy said needed to be published.
It is therefore forever binding on the Directors to publish
that book, whether or not anyone buys it. In addition to
that, no one can argue that an electronic medium is as
stable, dependable, and tangible as a book. Even those who
know and use the electronic medium find advantages to the
print Concordance.

A former associate archivist at The Mother Church, speaking to a
group of Christian Science lecturers-in-training in 1979, made
this statement: "If you want to get acquainted with Mrs. Eddy,
read all of the references in the Concordance under the heading,
"Eddy, Mrs. Mary Baker." There are five columns and 323
references under many subheadings (Mrs. Eddy's own statements
about herself) in the Science and Health Concordance under that
heading. The print Concordance to Mrs. Eddy's other writings
provides 58 columns and more than 4,000 references under the
general heading "Eddy," which includes both statements by our
Leader about herself and statements by others. Ever since
the "Concord" computer software came out over twenty years
ago, if one entered the words "Mary Baker Eddy" on the
search bar, only one reference would show up for Science and
Health as compared to the 323 in the print Concordance. In
Prose Works, the computer software showed only 167 references
under "Mary Baker Eddy", as compared to more than 4,000 in
the print version. During those twenty years, advertising for
the print Concordance virtually disappeared, and advertising
of all kinds to lure the students out of their books and onto
the computer took precedence.

As an aside, it is helpful to remember how the print Concordance
came to be. It was an unfoldment from pure inspiration. Albert
Conant, then organist for The Mother Church, in his continuing
thorough and systematic study of Science and Health, saw the
need of a Concordance. He had been healed through Christian
Science of heart trouble after the doctors had given him up.
As a result, "his gratitude knew no bounds, and he longed to
do some lasting work for our Cause" (see "The Compiling of the
Concordances" by Laura C. Conant, The Christian Science Journal,
March 1944, p.163). He submitted samples of three versions of
indexing to Mrs. Eddy, and she approved the one that involved
a complete Concordance, encouraging him to go forward with it.
One marvels at the perseverance, devotion, precision, and
reverence with which he did the work. Think of the love of the
project and the patience it would take (there were no copy
machines or electric lights) to labor five years, often
eighteen hours a day, to complete the work. It could not be
done mechanically but required patient analysis to assemble
the lists so that they elucidated the revelation. Mrs. Eddy
wrote Mr. Conant a letter of praise and included these words:
"I appreciate your correctness more than words can express"
(Ibid.,p.164).

There is a very precious "sacred secret" tucked into the
print Concordance, which those who recognize Mrs. Eddy as
the one appointed by God to bring the final revelation of
Truth to humanity have been aware of and have shared with
others. That which would attempt to destroy Christian Science
(that is, the "liar" of whom Jesus spoke so specifically
and eloquently in John 8:44) would have one major focus -
that is, to mesmerize students away from recognition of
Mary Baker Eddy's place as God-appointed. To find and
understand the "sacred secret" requires thinking - reasoning
and pondering. It is hoped that anyone reading this
information mailing will open his Concordance and see for
himself what is pointed out. First, the reader has to look
at the "Compiler's Preface" to see (in the seventh paragraph
on the first page) these words: "Every reference to the
author of SCIENCE AND HEALTH will be found under the heading
"Eddy, Mrs. Mary Baker."

Included in the 323 references under "Eddy, Mrs. Mary Baker"
in the print Concordance to Science and Health are the words
"messenger" and "one." In both cases, the page cited is
455 - once for the word "messenger" and twice for the word
"one." What is most important to discover is that those
words - messenger" and "one" - that appear on page 455 are
only referenced under "Eddy, Mrs. Mary Baker." They are
*not* referenced in the Concordance under the words "one" or
"messenger." Therefore when the student reads those
sentences on page 455 with Mr. Conant's statement in mind -
that every reference to the author is found under "Eddy, Mrs.
Mary Baker" - he is compelled to read them this way:

"God selects for the highest service *one* [Mary Baker Eddy]
who has grown into such a fitness for it as renders any abuse
of the mission an impossibility. The All-wise does not bestow
His highest trusts upon the unworthy. When He commissions
a *messenger* [Mary Baker Eddy], it is *one* [Mary Baker Eddy]
who is spiritually near Himself" (S&H 455:20, emphasis added).

Because this is the one point of understanding which anchors
the student's consciousness forever in the Science of Christ,
the "liar" (that which would attempt to wipe Christian
Science out) would make every effort to eliminate it. It would
use people to divert attention away from it. For example,
in "Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer" by Yvonne von Fettweis
and Robert Warneck, a letter from Mrs. Eddy to Albert Conant
was included in which Mrs. Eddy is quoted as saying that she
wished she had never started the Concordance but had just kept
an index in the back of the book (see p. 188, 1998 edition).
It was noticed by an alert student that that letter did not
reference a date. An inquiry to one of the authors revealed
that the letter was dated April 22, 1903, eleven days prior
to Mrs. Eddy's written statement that has appeared consistently
as the Preface to the Concordance. That statement, declaring
the necessity of the Concordance, takes precedence over the
earlier letter quoted in "Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer."

Mr. Conant's listing "messenger" and "one" only under "Eddy,
Mrs. Mary Baker" did not appear in the first electronic
concordance, which simply eliminated all of the subheadings
appearing in the print Concordance. The real and deep students
of Mrs. Eddy's writings - that is, her loyal followers - have
energetically worked to preserve the precious "sacred secret"
of Mrs. Eddy as the "messenger." They continue to work
earnestly to keep it alive in the consciousness of the field.
The audacious announcement that the print Concordance
will simply not be published anymore is a clear indication
that the decision-makers in Boston are being used by the
"liar," who would have to be hoping that there are few real
warriors left in the movement to stand up and say "no."
Let's hope that the "liar's assumption is incorrect and that
there will be a major uprising from the Field - a deafening
cry of outrage over such a travesty!

The most subtle and insidious aspect of this whole lie is
that the new electronic "Concord" has added related words
under the heading "Mary Baker Eddy," leading the unaware
student to believe that everything in the print Concordance
is now replicated in the electronic concordance. Not so!
When the student puts "one" or "messenger" on the search
bar, page 455 appears in each case, eliminating the point
made by Mr. Conant that those sentences in "Science and
Health" apply *only* to the author of the book.

To eliminate the Concordance is to rob the whole movement,
both those who are computer literate and those who aren't,
of a study tool that has no substitute. Remember that Mary
Baker Eddy approved the Concordance - both the original
and revised editions. It required deep, analytical, and
inspired thought - judgments made by someone who understood
Mrs. Eddy as the one chosen to bring the final revelation
to humanity - to compile the Concordance. The degree of
inspiration and analysis based on spiritual understanding
that Mr. Conant expressed is not required for putting together
computer software. Actually, a non-Christian Scientist with
technical skills could do it.

The Mother Church's excuse for discontinuing the Concordance
is that "it's simply not economical for us to print this
Concordance again because of low sales and uniquely-high
production costs" (see "Reading Room Resource Bulletin,"
September 23, 2010). The price of the "Concord" computer
software is $325. The price of a print Concordance has been
$60. It may save the Church money not to print it, but it
is certainly costly for the student. A search of
spirituality.com reveals a number of frivolous products -
foolish e-cards and screen savers, for example - all of which
cost money to design and produce. Why not do without the
frivolity and use the money to provide the substantive tools -
Concordances, for example - that will enable students to
do deep research in the books? The money could also be used
to encourage students through advertising to do that kind of
research instead of discouraging them by suggesting that the
Concordance is not important enough to publish.

It is hoped that each individual who receives this mailing
will share it broadly among his friends and fellow church
members. Surely this travesty of discontinuing a book that
Mrs. Eddy approved and authorized as necessary to meet the
requirements of the student of the textbook is enough to
awaken a sleeping Field to the irresponsibility of the
Directors and their poor decision-making. The facts just
need to be known. And again, this fact is that even if no
one ordered or bought a Concordance, the Directors are still
under the timeless obligation to publish it.

* * * * * * * *end of verbatim report issued by
Sheep Mailings, Inc. 5030 N. May, Ste. 354
Oklahoma City, OK 73112)

http://www.sheepmailings.org/