Virginia S. Harris is a teacher and
practitioner of
The First Church of Christ, Scientist. She previously served as Publisher of The Writings of
Mary Baker Eddy, President and founding Trustee of The
Mary Baker Eddy Library, and member and Chairman of The Christian Science Board of Directors between 1990 and 2004.
Biography
In her early career, Harris worked as a schoolteacher, television host, businesswoman, and child abuse prevention activist.
[Virginia Harris, CSB](_blank)
The First Church of Christ, Scientist. Harris was involved in a near-fatal car crash, and attributed her recovery to Christian Science.
[Ashish Virmani]
"Patients with a spiritual component heal more quickly: Virginia Harris"
DNA India. Feb 16, 2015. In 1979, she became a
practitioner listed in ''
The Christian Science Journal'', and in 1982 became a teacher of Christian Science.
Harris became Clerk of
The Mother Church
The First Church of Christ, Scientist is the administrative headquarters and mother church of the Church of Christ, Scientist, also known as the Christian Science church. Christian Science was founded in the 19th century in Lynn, Massachusetts ...
in March of 1986. She traveled to
East Germany in mid-April 1989 with Jill Gooding, a member of the Board of Directors, to support the Christian Science community in the country. Christian Science had been illegal in Communist controlled East Germany since March of 1951, but Gooding and Harris helped support a reversal of the ban in November of 1989, a week before the
fall of the Berlin Wall. When Gooding retired from the Board in 1990, Harris replaced her there, then becoming Board Chair the next year, and serving on the Board in that position until 2004.
While on the Board, Harris took steps to modernize the church and address some of the issues that troubled it.
In 2002, Harris was instrumental in the establishment of The
Mary Baker Eddy Library and opening the archival collection of The Mother Church, including its large collection of 19th and early 20th century letters and artifacts, to scholars and the public for the first time.
[Sarah Gardner Cunningham. ''Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. pp. 745-746.]
Harris has spoken extensively on Christian Science and Mary Baker Eddy, and has encouraged cooperation with medical researchers.
She was on the faculty of
Harvard Medical School's semi-annual ''Spirituality & Healing in Medicine'' symposium from 1995–2002, speaking on Christian Science healing to hundreds of physicians, nurses, healthcare professionals, and clergy.
Virginia Harris, C.S.B. She appeared in two exclusive interviews on '' Larry King Live'', in 1999 and 2001, and has been interviewed by ''The Boston Globe'', ''The New York Times'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', NPR and many other media sources.
References
External links
link to Virginia Harris's talk at Harvard Medical School symposium, ''Spirituality & Healing in Medicine'' at this pageChristian Science MonitorVirginia Harris website
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American Christian Scientists
Harvard Medical School faculty