Blue Windows

Description

From Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christian Science, to Deepak Chopra, Americans have struggled with the connection between health and happiness. Barbara Wilson was taught by her Christian Scientist family that there was no sickness or evil, and that by maintaining this belief she would be protected. But such beliefs were challenged when Wilsons own mother died of breast cancer after deciding not to seek medical attention, having been driven mad by the contradiction between her religion and her reality. In this perceptive and textured memoir, Wilson surveys the complex history of Christian Science and the role of women in religion and healing.

Description

Barbara Wilson's Memoir about her girlhood under the watchful God of Christian Science is an absorbing account of the search for faith despite the evidence of doubt. Barbara Wilson grew up in the middle of classic 1950s suburban California, but each day in her house was directed by the strict tenets of Christian Science. She was assured that evil did not exist - that the world should be viewed through rose windows, not blue - yet troubling secrets bubbled beneath the calm, happy surface of her family. She was told that there was no sickness or sadness that prayer could not cure, yet she watched in pain and bewilderment as her mother was stricken with cancer. As her mother fell sick, went mad, attempted suicide, and finally died, Wilson's life became a crisis of faith. Her keen eye both exposes and celebrates her childhood religion, and this ambivalence is the source of one of the richest and most even-handed looks inside Christian Science to date. With great insight and bravery, she explores its origins as a religion created by and largely empowering to women. She points out that from Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, to Deepak Chopra and Marianne Williamson, Americans have always struggled with the connections between body and soul, health and happiness.

First Sentence

One of our next-door neighbors, when I was a child, had a model railway in his garage, and occasionally he invited me and my brother and other kids over to see it run.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Blue Windows: A Christian Science ChildhoodHardcoverPicador1997-01-15
• Blue windowsPicador USA1997-01-01
• Blue windowsPicador USA1998-01-01
• Blue WindowsPaperbackPicador1998-03-15
• Blue WindowsPicador2014-01-01