© 2000 Meredith Sprunger
© 2000 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
Probably the major concern of dedicated students of the Urantia Papers is how to effectively share the spiritual enlightenment and supernal wisdom of the Fifth Epochal Revelation with the people of the world. In short, what is the most effective method of enculturating the world with the enlarged spiritual vision of The Urantia Book?
The most reliable way to gain insights in laying foundations for the future development of spiritual values and religious activities is a study of historical religious events and development. Such a study reveals two basic insights. First of all, new and enlarged spiritual vision has been unable initially to win the recognition and approval of the majority of the old religious power structure. Secondly, the new spiritual paradigm is unable to enculturate society until it is institutionalized. Although the institutionalization of cultural values and religious practices handicaps spiritual growth, it is a necessary condition of social development and integration.
The Brotherhood constitution provided ordained teachers for the leadership of the movement. Dr. Sadler and I used to discuss the development of a new religious institution stemming out of the Urantia Papers. He ventured the opinion that the unusual origin of the Urantia Papers would provide the “masterful mystery” and “worthful unattainable” of the “new cult” mentioned on page 966.
But very early in the Urantia movement the majority of the power structure of the Brotherhood were people who had negative experiences with institutional religion or who had convictions regarding the danger of institutional religion. As a result the Brotherhood was formulated as a secular organization with educational and religious interests. The directive providing for ordained teachers was removed from the constitution. In the numerous Foundation lawsuits it was repeatedly emphasized that they were not a religious organization. The secular aspects of the Urantia movement became dominant over the religious interests.
During the last ten or twenty years there has developed the realization in many study groups and societies that a bona fide religious organization was needed to serve the spiritual needs of members. This ambiguity in the Urantia movement characterizes our present situation. There will always be students of The Urantia Book who prefer personal religious activity and reject any social religious involvement. There are others who see the need for participation in a religious organization. There will, no doubt, be many different religious organizations coming into being as the result of the inspiration of the Urantia Papers.
The basic question remains: How will the Urantia Papers’ paradigm of spirituality enculturate society? In my judgment, this will only occur through the institutionalization of its teachings. If this is correct, we should currently be spreading the vision of The Urantia Book through various means of communication, public discussion, and the formation of study groups. And at the same time we should be engaged in preparation for the formation of religious groups or institutions by promoting theological, philosophical, and polity discussions germane to an appropriate symbolism and socioreligious expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation.