Eschatology (religious movement)

New Thought denominational movement

the apocalyptic theologies in major religions

Eschatology is a New Thought movement founded by American writer and former practitioner William W. Walter. Walter was formally a member of the Catholic Church and then The First Church of Christ, Scientist until 1912 when he rejected organized religion in order to found his own metaphysical system. Although it is generally classified as a new religious movement, Walter did not see it as a religious movement, and his followers reject the association with religion. He originally named his organization "The Walter Method of Christian Science"; and the term Eschatology as a trademark for Walter's teaching was not used until the 1920s. Walter died in 1941, but some groups following his teaching have survived and remain active; mostly in the United States, particularly in California, and in Mexico.

Since William Walter, who founded Eschatology, was a former Christian Scientist, there are some doctrines which are shared by the two groups, though there are also many doctrinal differences as well. For instance, both groups believe in the Bible and differ from fundamentalists in that they regard the Bible as having a symbolic meaning in addition to a literal one; they reject the physical existence of hell as eternal damnation (a belief that still appears in Eschatology, a book written by Pope Benedict XVI); and they also both regard Mary Baker Eddy as the re discoverer of the "Science of Life" which they believe was taught by Jesus but lost in early Christianity, and consider that Jesus healed by his knowledge of a Science of Life. However, Walter also rejected much of what Eddy wrote, especially her theism. Walter's system strongly rejects the belief in a personal god. In the chapter "Experiments and experiences" of The Sickle Walter confess the extreme tribulation, or "mental warfare" as he called it, that he endured in the process of abandoning theism. As a result Walter and the Eschatologists' view of God are much closer to New Thought and the New Age movements than to Christian Science and Christianity; and The Walter Method is generally grouped with other New Thought groups such as the Church of Integration, the Infinite Way, and the Church of the Higher Life. Walter also believed in the existence of various controversial phenomena (such as what is generally known in the secular world as psychokinesis or telekinesis) and believed that these psychic abilities can supposedly be developed to the point of conquering old age and even death. He also believed that suffering, especially disease, occurs mentally first in belief, or fear in the reality of the problem, (what he called "wrong thinking") before being manifest on the body. Walter also developed the notion that after Eddy's death a conspiracy within the Christian Science church veiled the original meaning of the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Throughout his later career Walter maintained that in her unaltered writings Eddy's notion of God was nontheistic and that, after the alteration, the writings were given a theistic taint. However, there is no evidence that Eddy rejected the belief in a personal God; and Christian Scientists point to the fact that there is no evidence of alterations from Eddy's texts, since the editions of the texts printed before and after Eddy's death are the same. Regarding the similarities between Eschatology and other metaphysical systems, in his 1993 book, the author Martin Gardner wrote that he "was astonished by the extent to which today's New Age fantasies were so thoroughly aired a hundred years ago by New Thought leaders."

After Walter's unexpected death in 1941 the movement fell into confusion. Eventually Genevieve L. Rader, who began her study with Walter in 1921, continued his work. In the early 1960s she moved the organization's headquarters from Aurora, Illinois to Pacific Palisades in California. Rader wrote the Questions and Answers commentary to Walter's four stages in the teaching of Eschatology: the Beginners Course, The Sickle Course, the Primary Notes Course and The Sharp Sickle Course. She also delivered the annual Teacher's Graduate Course. In July 1981 Rader relinquished the responsibility of Director of Teaching and was succeeded by her secretary, Evelyn Durling. In July 1987, at Durling's recommendation, Marjorie D. Westad was appointed as her successor, and in August 1998 Westad recommended Bruce C. Smith, then Debby Clark, the current Director of Eschatology. From the 1970s through the 21st century the movement has continued to exist in other countries, particularly in Mexico. In May 2001, Juan del Río, founder of a school based on Eschatology teachings in Mexico City and author of Sánate a ti mismo (How to heal yourself) died of cancer after a four year battle with the disease.