0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

  	    Do you mean by this that God is a person? 

  	    The word person affords a large margin for misappre-
12	hension, as well as definition. In French the equivalent
  	word is personne. In Spanish, Italian, and Latin, it is
  	persona. The Latin verb personare is compounded of
15	the prefix per (through) and sonare (to sound). 
  	    In law, Blackstone applies the word personal to bodily
  	presence, in distinction from one's appearance (in court,
18	for example) by deputy or proxy. 
 
   
Rudimental Divine Science by Mary Baker Eddy                          2


 1	    Other definitions of person, as given by Webster, are
  	"a living soul; a self-conscious being; a moral agent;
 3	especially, a living human being, a corporeal man, woman,
  	or child; an individual of the human race." He adds,
  	that among Trinitarian Christians the word stands for one
 6	of the three subjects, or agents, constituting the Godhead. 
  	    In Christian Science we learn that God is definitely indi-
  	vidual, and not a person, as that word is used by the best
 9	authorities, if our lexicographers are right in defining
  	person as especially a finite human being; but God is
  	personal, if by person is meant infinite Spirit. 
12	    We do not conceive rightly of God, if we think of Him
  	as less than infinite. The human person is finite; and
  	therefore I prefer to retain the proper sense of Deity by
15	using the phrase an individual God, rather than a per...-
  	sonal God; for there is and can be but one infinite indi-
  	vidual Spirit, whom mortals have named God. 
18	    Science defines the individuality of God as supreme
  	good, Life, Truth, Love. This term enlarges our sense
  	of Deity, takes away the trammels assigned to God by
21	finite thought, and introduces us to higher definitions. 
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