74 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 3, 2012
fathermothergod: My Journey Out of Christian Science
By Lucia Greenhouse
Reviewed by Rita Swan, PhD
New York, NY: Broadway (a division of Crown
Publishers), August 28, 2012. ISBN-10:
0307720934 ISBN-13: 978-0307720931
(paperback), $15.00 ($10.95, Amazon.com). 320
pages.
A Family Torn Apart by Dogma
Lucia Greenhouse’s memoir, fathermothergod:
My Journey Out of Christian Science, has been
widely praised and draws large crowds at her
public readings.
The author captures a child’s perception with
near-perfect pitch in selected memories. The
child’s trust in the religious precepts so
important to her parents is juxtaposed with her
nagging awareness that something about her
world does not make sense. Both parents
express a tender love for their children, but that
love also is conditioned on the assumption that
the entire family will rely on, and will not
question, Christian Science for healing all
problems.
When Lucia throws up at public school, the
school nurse calls her father. He tells his
daughter her illness will disappear when she
“knows the Truth,” and that she should go back
to her classroom.
When the parents see an opportunity to advance
the father’s career as a Christian Science
“practitioner” or spiritual healer, they move the
family from Minnesota to London, England, and
put the children in Christian Science boarding
schools. They don’t ask for the children’s
feelings about their plans, and when the children
object, the father tells them to do “[their] part for
the Cause.” The children also are enlisted to
keep the plan secret from the non-Christian
Science relatives and to do “metaphysical work”
to protect the movement from “mental
malpractice” by others.
In 1985, Lucia’s mother becomes seriously ill.
Again, the parents impose secrecy because of
the Christian Science belief that disease is a
moral issue. Disease is caused by sin, broadly
defined to include fear and doubt, either the sins
of the sick person or of others whose evil
thoughts are mental malpractice. Even others’
awareness of the disease can be mental
malpractice that prevents a Christian Science
healing. Thus, unlike the Pentecostal faith-
healing sects that call upon the entire
congregation to pray for a sick member,
Christian Science tries to limit awareness of the
disease to as few people as possible.
This practice created excruciating conflicts for
Lucia and her siblings. Their parents were adult
converts to Christian Science. None of their
relatives were Christian Scientists. Their
mother’s brother was a medical doctor. Yet the
siblings were expected to prevent their maternal
grandmother, aunts, and uncles from seeing their
daughter and sister and learning that she was
seriously ill.
Lucia’s mother spent more than six months at a
Christian Science sanatorium in New Jersey
where unlicensed “nurses” with no medical
training encouraged everyone to have a cheerful
attitude and expect a spiritual healing. A nurse
tells Lucia that her parents dance “sweetly” and
“tenderly” in the hall alone at night. Lucia’s
father saddled his children with guilt, telling
them the illness was their fault for straying from
the faith.
Finally, the mother becomes delirious and
screams to go to a hospital in Minnesota and be
with her parents. The Christian Science
administrators absolve themselves of respon-
sibility, saying care is always the patient’s
choice. The children talk their mother into
agreeing to treatment at a nearby hospital.
fathermothergod: My Journey Out of Christian Science
By Lucia Greenhouse
Reviewed by Rita Swan, PhD
New York, NY: Broadway (a division of Crown
Publishers), August 28, 2012. ISBN-10:
0307720934 ISBN-13: 978-0307720931
(paperback), $15.00 ($10.95, Amazon.com). 320
pages.
A Family Torn Apart by Dogma
Lucia Greenhouse’s memoir, fathermothergod:
My Journey Out of Christian Science, has been
widely praised and draws large crowds at her
public readings.
The author captures a child’s perception with
near-perfect pitch in selected memories. The
child’s trust in the religious precepts so
important to her parents is juxtaposed with her
nagging awareness that something about her
world does not make sense. Both parents
express a tender love for their children, but that
love also is conditioned on the assumption that
the entire family will rely on, and will not
question, Christian Science for healing all
problems.
When Lucia throws up at public school, the
school nurse calls her father. He tells his
daughter her illness will disappear when she
“knows the Truth,” and that she should go back
to her classroom.
When the parents see an opportunity to advance
the father’s career as a Christian Science
“practitioner” or spiritual healer, they move the
family from Minnesota to London, England, and
put the children in Christian Science boarding
schools. They don’t ask for the children’s
feelings about their plans, and when the children
object, the father tells them to do “[their] part for
the Cause.” The children also are enlisted to
keep the plan secret from the non-Christian
Science relatives and to do “metaphysical work”
to protect the movement from “mental
malpractice” by others.
In 1985, Lucia’s mother becomes seriously ill.
Again, the parents impose secrecy because of
the Christian Science belief that disease is a
moral issue. Disease is caused by sin, broadly
defined to include fear and doubt, either the sins
of the sick person or of others whose evil
thoughts are mental malpractice. Even others’
awareness of the disease can be mental
malpractice that prevents a Christian Science
healing. Thus, unlike the Pentecostal faith-
healing sects that call upon the entire
congregation to pray for a sick member,
Christian Science tries to limit awareness of the
disease to as few people as possible.
This practice created excruciating conflicts for
Lucia and her siblings. Their parents were adult
converts to Christian Science. None of their
relatives were Christian Scientists. Their
mother’s brother was a medical doctor. Yet the
siblings were expected to prevent their maternal
grandmother, aunts, and uncles from seeing their
daughter and sister and learning that she was
seriously ill.
Lucia’s mother spent more than six months at a
Christian Science sanatorium in New Jersey
where unlicensed “nurses” with no medical
training encouraged everyone to have a cheerful
attitude and expect a spiritual healing. A nurse
tells Lucia that her parents dance “sweetly” and
“tenderly” in the hall alone at night. Lucia’s
father saddled his children with guilt, telling
them the illness was their fault for straying from
the faith.
Finally, the mother becomes delirious and
screams to go to a hospital in Minnesota and be
with her parents. The Christian Science
administrators absolve themselves of respon-
sibility, saying care is always the patient’s
choice. The children talk their mother into
agreeing to treatment at a nearby hospital.
