It is necessary to be clear about the central teachings of Pietistic Universalism, so we can later see what specific elements of the tradition were being neglected.

        1. Creeds and formalisms are secondary to a living, tolerant faith.

        2. God’s love for all creation and the eventual restoration of all creation to "happiness and holiness."

        3. A deeply felt need for a personal relationship with God, which could involve a conversion experience,   possibly called a "theology of experience."

        4. Reformation of the existing churches along New Testament lines, with an emphasis placed on              individuals taking responsibility for their own spiritual developments, Bible study, and lay ministry.

        5. While retaining the Bible as an authority, Pietists did not take it literally, but read it in the light of "the spirit." Experience was to be trusted much more than any literal interpretation.

        6. An element of hope in the theology, leading to the search for the transformation of life in the present.

        7. A focus on individual growth that may have supported the emerging critical reason of the Enlightenment.

THE EVOLUTION OF UNIVERSALIST COVENANTS FROM PIETISM TO PLURALISM

One of the enduring struggles for Unitarian Universalists has been how to create genuine bonds of community in the midst of a movement that places high value on freedom, especially on individual freedom of belief. The stress on human freedom is natural for a religious tradition with a more hopeful view of human nature than Calvinism offers and a fear of a centralized spiritual authority (because people had been burned at the stake in the name of orthodoxy).

When the movement was predominantly Christian, what bound Unitarians or Universalists together was a shared theological tradition as well as common stories and rituals. As the movement became more diverse, especially as it encountered and incorporated a new trinity of pluralism, humanism, and secularism, it became much more difficult to assert common ground.

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[Here is the] 1984 statement adopted by the General Assembly that still stands as the official covenant of the denomination..:.

We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person.

Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.

A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.

The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.

Respect for the interdependent web of life, of which we are a part.

The living tradition we share draws from many sources:

Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces that create and uphold life.

Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love.

Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life.

Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.

Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision. As free congregations we enter into this covenant, promising to one another our mutual trust and support.

Omitted from the statement of principles are most of the doctrinal issues from past covenants, such as the nature of God, the place of Jesus, and the destiny of humanity. Missing, too, are groundings of the statement in Scripture; instead, the authority appeals to multiple sources. The language itself–"grateful for the religious pluralism"–provides the clue to the master metaphor for Unitarian Universalism: pluralism. The task becomes how to create genuine spiritual community while affirming a plurality of religious views.

But while the emphasis of the new statement shows the impact of both Enlightenment faith ("Human teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason"), some language that opens up Unitarian Universalists to an emerging spirituality is intriguing. Consider two of the values: acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations, and respect for the interdependent web of life. Both these values are communal and relational, not ones that can be carried out in isolation. One of the sources of authority for these values–"direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder..."–has Pietist overtones, if not outright mysticism. Just as the early Universalists stressed the realm of experience as the place where God speaks to human beings, so, too, this statement reaffirms it, speaking of "God" as "that transcending mystery and wonder"–the same principle.

Listening to people in our congregations–especially the newcomers–has taught me that of the principles in the UUA statement, two have become increasingly important: spiritual growth and respect for the interdependent web of life. Interest is growing in firsthand experience of what the statement refers to as "that transcending mystery and wonder." George de Benneville often spoke of the interwoven network of life, spiritual growth, and the experience of personal transformation; he may hold the keys to our future.

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GROWTH, DECLINE, AND SPIRITUAL FERMENT

AMONG UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS

In 1983 the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Extension Department asked me to look at the denomination’s demographics of growth and decline since 1961, and to offer some general suggestions about my discoveries. I have used this research and updated it to 1992.

Membership declined from 1961 until well into the 1980s for factors both external and internal to the denomination. In particular, the unclear spiritual climate in which Unitarian Universalists traveled and their general resistance to traditional paths of spiritual expression were important factors. Many Unitarian Universalists defined themselves in opposition to other faiths, seeing themselves as an alternative to religion and not as a powerful religious alternative. As we have articulated our faith more clearly in the last decade, we have grown.

Many other demographic factors enter into the last decade of growth; but the struggle to reaffirm what we hold in common has been one major reason that newcomers have sought us out. In a pluralistic faith, a greater degree of particularity is required to avoid confusion; our 1984-85 Statement of Principles and Purposes was a major factor in our growth. From 1982 until 1992, Unitarian Universalism grew at the rate of about two percent (adults and children) each year. One of the reasons is demographic–especially the arrival of the baby boomers to our congregations–but another, less verifiable reason for our advance may be our new seriousness about what makes us a religious community, including the recovery of our heritage and identity and a new focus on communal expressions of our spirituality, such as worship and religious education.

There is also a great deal of spiritual ferment in the movement, especially about what constitutes "spirituality." My conclusions are based on both denominational studies and my experiences as a minister. I will argue that the movement is now experiencing the dying of an old mythology (the Enlightenment faith or Religion of Reason) and the emergence of a new mythology that bears the spirit of the early Pietists, if not their actual language.

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In 1973, Robert B. Tapp published a study of some 12,000 Unitarian Universalists, Religion Among the Unitarian Universalists, whose conclusion was to classify many in the denomination as "posttraditional," beyond traditional Christianity. Interestingly, the subtitle of Tapp’s book, Converts in the Stepfathers’ House, indicates an uneasy connection to the past.

Tapp found posttraditionality to be the major characteristic of the Unitarian Universalist movement. He found that people coming into the movement in the early 1970s were not taking over the faith of previous Unitarian Universalists–hence, their designation as stepchildren. Tapp writes:

There is a clear sense in which the posttraditional UUs are religious dropouts in relation to the Jewish and Christian outlooks that dominated the Western Culture in its formative periods. Furthermore, it may be noted that dropping out is an active rather than passive process. They have identified themselves with a presumably new and different form of religion (Tapp 1973, 195).

The central element of the Unitarian Universalist religious experience, according to Tapp, was conversion, not to be confused with the more emotional conversion experience of some religious groups. Rather, it was a gradual conversion experience–away from the childhood religion to Unitarian Universalism. It has been estimated that from eighty to ninety percent of the movement today includes converts from other faiths.

In assessing personal beliefs and attitudes, Tapp discovered the following:

– twenty-eight percent felt that "God" was a harmful concept

– sixty-three percent seldom or never prayed

– seventy-three percent felt the most important part of a church service was "intellectual stimulation"

– only sixteen percent felt that Jesus’ teachings were still valid

– forty-three percent defined their religion as Christian

– sixteen percent felt closest in beliefs to Ethical Culturists (Tapp 1973, 223-250)

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A 1989 survey of 1,286 Unitarian Universalists (The Quality of Religious Life in Unitarian Universalist Congregations), provides the most detailed picture of the spiritual ferment among Unitarian Universalists, although it lacks a specific focus on the emerging spirituality of younger and more recent members and an in-depth discussion of how the denomination could respond to their spiritual needs.

In terms of the nature of worship, while intellectual stimulation still ranks high, there is a new interest in the communal dimension. The report noted: "There is a trend toward being more ‘overtly religious,’ that is, valuing aspects traditionally associated with religious worship. This is strongest among young adults, women, and other ‘marginalized people’" (UUA 1989, 5).

The communal, spiritual parts of the worship were greatly valued, though not always present in our services. In addition to preaching skills, ministers’ skills in spiritual leadership and dealings with people were highly valued.

The report notes ferment in the movement with regard to ideas about God. Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed found one of these statements about God closest to expressing their beliefs: (1) "God is the ground of being"; (2) "God may approximately be used as a name for some natural process within the universe, such as love." Again, contrast the differences between this and the 1967 surveys: In 1989, two percent of those surveyed felt the concept of God to be harmful; in 1967, 28 percent felt the same. Though the sample of African Americans was tiny, it is interesting that almost no one had difficulty with the word "God"; most prayed and twenty-eight percent identified themselves as Christian or Christian Humanist. In a denomination of few African Americans (less than one percent), perhaps the prevailing intellectual worship style and lack of spiritual language are among the main barriers.

Sixty-nine percent of those questioned in the 1989 survey felt Jesus’ teachings were still useful and true for today’s life. Sixty-eight percent rated "spiritual growth" as vital to the quality of their congregation, yet only nineteen percent ranked their congregation high in terms of meeting this need. Only thirteen percent never prayed; fifty-seven percent prayed often or occasionally. Almost fifty percent identified "the divine" as either a Creative Force or the Highest Potential.

Again, the 1989 report notes that the desire to make the movement into a more or less humanist organization has dissipated. "The survey results ... show the old humanist-theist controversy is passé. Rather, responses indicate a ... human-focused religiousness, rooted in a sense of relatedness to trans-human cosmic process or power, not ‘supernatural’ but continuous with humans and their universe" (UUA 1989, 31).

Only among a people struggling with rationality would such a statement appear! Among the Unitarian Universalists surveyed there is spiritual ferment about the most fundamental questions: What is the meaning of my life? What or who is God? What is worship? And what is spiritual about my religious community?

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THE REFORM PLATFORM

The Pia Desideria ["Pious Desires"], Phillip Jacob Spener’s Pietistic handbook for the reform of the Lutheran Church, includes a simple, three-part division: the shortcomings of the church in Spener’s time; the possibilities for reform, and practical steps for a renewal of the faith. This division seems relevant to Unitarian Universalism today, although there are great differences in history and theology between the two movements.

Unitarian Universalism at present lacks spiritual depth and passion–or roots and wings. This malady comes when increasing numbers of newcomers are asking for both depth and passion. While there are many hopeful signs of renewal in the movement, there remains a marginal quality about what kind of spiritual community we might become. What does it affirm? What common values do its members share? How pluralistic is its diversity and what cannot be tolerated in a movement expressing toleration? How can its religious communities acknowledge their Christian roots, while recognizing that the communities themselves are no longer Christian? These are the perplexing and troublesome questions being raised by many Unitarian Universalists. The words of historian David B. Robinson are on target:

[We are aware of a] feeling or a hunger for a deeper inner life and a more profound experience of the world than we share. We’re haunted by the specter of our own superficiality, the uneasy feeling that life is sliding by and leaving no deep mark upon us... . We’ve found ways of dealing with this hunger, or masking it, but we’ve found it has a curious persistence (1992 Selected Essays, UUMA 150).

The Unitarian Universalist movement is passing through a major time of transition, from a movement dominated by the Enlightenment faith in human reason and science to an emerging spirituality–one that has much in common with the Pietist tradition, but is also concerned with building community. The emerging spirituality will remain pluralistic but with much clearer parameters. In fact, the clearer the parameters, the more specific the theology, the stronger the movement will become.

The irony of our hunger is that one source of its fulfillment has been close at hand in the heritage of Universalism, more specifically, in Pietistic Universalism. The needs of depth and passion can be addressed in light of our heritage. In Universalism, the often-vague notion of spirituality is made concrete, specific, historical. The gift of Universalism is that it provides two hundred years of an American spiritual heritage. The central Pietistic need for a deeply personal, almost passionate experience of transcendence is another important wisdom that comes from our past.