Christian Science Sunday Service Essay

For my visit, I chose to attend the Sunday service at the Sixteenth Church of Christ, Scientist of Chicago, here in Rogers Park. Christian Science is a denomination of the monotheistic, Abrahamic faith, Christianity. It was founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879. The prominent Christian Science text that she wrote is called Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. While there are similarities between Christian Science and other denominations of Christianity, there are key aspects that set them apart. Some of these are that Christian Scientists do not believe in Original Sin, they do not have an ordained hierarchy, and that they have a heavy emphasis on spiritual healing. It is also worth noting that this faith is a female dominated one, that

One similarity is that during both the Friday prayer and Sundays service, passages are read from the Quran and Bible, respectively. They both have different excerpts chosen every time and have a designated person read it to the congregation. Outside of this, though, there are quite a few differences. One difference is that the holy day of worship for Muslims is Friday, and for the Sixteenth Church of Christ, is it on Sunday. The Christian Science service was in English, while the Muslim one was in Arabic. On top of this, there were two leaders running the Christian Science service, a woman and a man. They would take turns reading out of their holy books and were seen as equal in terms of their responsibilities. At the mosque, Imams are always men, and from what I experienced and know to be true, there is usually only one Imam. People who gather at the mosque are separated by gender, and while a woman can lead a service for women, my experience included a man leading. He stayed on the men’s side and used a speaker to address everyone. Another difference that I found interesting about the Christian Science service was the incorporation of singing and instruments in between the reading of scriptures. During Muslim services, singing and instruments are not incorporated at all, though the Imams recite