As with most New Thought, The Science of Mind relies heavily on Christian imagery, and is filled with biblical quotations. It also uses regularly teh person of Jesus to illustrate its own metaphysical concepts. For example, in the chapter on "Physical Perfection." Holmes writes: "It is probable that when Jesus forgave the man his sins, he realized that the man had a complex of condemnation within himself. The sense of condemnation which the race holds about itself weights it down, and it must be removed. This explains why Jesus said: "Thy sins be forgiven thee.""
Similar to the Fillmores, who were fellow students of Emma Curtis Hopkins, Holmes sees the Christ as a Divine archetype, as a Godly quality that we all possess, a goal we can all aim toward. And while he remains "the Master Teacher," he is not the only paragon of Good that the world has seen. This New Thought reading of Jesus is much closer to Hindu and Buddhist understandings of Great Teachers and Realised Ones. It is also this refusal to recognise the unique and exclusive divinity of Jesus that puts Religious Science outside the parameters of conventional Christianity.
Science of Mind teaches that Jesus is "the great example, not the great exception," who points us toward the Universal Oneness to which we all belong, and in which we are all Divine. But Holmes' great love for the Bible, and his heartfelt adoration of Jesus, is palpable throughout The Science of Mind, and to this end I see it as one of the really monumental works of Christian devotion.
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