Christian Healing (Home Page)

Christian Healing was Charles Fillmore's first book. It was first published in 1909 and then revised in 1926. Although it was his first book, we know that articles written by Charles Fillmore had been appearing in Unity periodicals since the first issue of Modern Thought in 1889. Charles Fillmore had been writing about Truth ideas for twenty years before Christian Healing was published.

The book is presented in twelve lessons (chapters) with statements or affirmations concluding each lesson. These statements are designed to be used for spiritual discipline — a very important theme for Mr. Fillmore. A study guide with questions from each lesson has been added to the text to facilitate reflection and understanding.

Christian Healing is the most systematically organized of all the Fillmore works. It is an excellent primer for persons interested in spiritual healing and Idealism. Of all the numerous books published by Unity over the years, this first great work by Charles Fillmore remains the most thorough and satisfying explication of Unity's foundational basis in Christian Idealism. It is an evangelical text and a revolutionary document. The first six chapters are especially significant in this regard. When persons ask what Christian Idealism is, they can be referred to the first six chapters of Christian Healing for the answer. The text as a whole serves as a good introduction to the rest of Charles Fillmore's works; for example, The Twelve Powers ofMan is prefigured in chapters seven through twelve.

Christian Healing is the source for numerous statements that have become Unity classics. Here we find these definitive statements:

On love: "Love in Divine Mind is the idea of universal unity" (CH, p. 130).
On prayer: "...prayer is cumulative. It accumulates spiritual substance, life, intelligence; it accumulates everything necessary to [our] expression" (CH, p. 78).
On Divine ideas: "Divine ideas are [humanity's] inheritance; they are pregnant with all possibility, because ideas are the foundation and cause of all that [humanity] desires" (CH,p.l3).
On Idealism: "The foundation of our religion is Spirit, and there must be a science of Truth. The science of Truth is God thinking out creation. God is the original Mind in which all real ideas exist. The one original mind creates by thought" (CH, p. 18). "Every idea projects form" (CH, p. 34).
On "the law of mind action": "An understanding of the Logos reveals to us the law under which all things are brought forth—the law of mind action" (CH, p. 18). See also, p. 24. "Every word brings forth after its kind" (CH, p. 65).
On the trinity: "The Trinity is known commonly as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; metaphysically it is known as mind, idea, and expression The mind of God is Spirit, soul, body; that is mind, idea, expression" (CH, pp. 20 and 21).
On regeneration: "When [humanity] realizes that there is but one body-idea and that the conditions in [the] body express the character of [one's] thought, [one] has the key to bodily perfection and immortality in the flesh" (CH, p. 34). "This is the 'regeneration' of the New Testament, [is] a process of body refinement to the point of physical immortality" (CH, pp. 38-39).
On the purpose of life: "The object of [humanity's] existence is to demonstrate the Truth of Being" (CH, p. 55).
On Life: "Life in Divine Mind is unlimited as an idea back of perpetual, omnipresent action..." (CH, p. 44).
On Substance: "Substance in Divine Mind is an idea of perfection in form..." (CH, p. 44).
On Intelligence: "Intelligence in Divine Mind is all-knowing..." (CH, p. 44).
On the role of humanity in the Divine economy: "[Humanity], being the highest emanation of Divine Mind, has great directive power and is really co-operator with God in forming the universe" (CH, p. 68).

These selections represent only a small sample of the magnificent collection of classical statements of Unity's traditional teachings on these subjects. Students are encouraged to make a thorough and systematic study of Christian Healing and so discover the many other exemplary expressions of our teachings and their meaning.

—Unity's Foundational Teachings, Course Two — Unity Progressive Council

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Christian Healing (Home Page)

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