ABSTRACT
The Church Universal and Triumphant emerged as a lineal descendant of earlier esoteric groups in the Ascended Master tradition. Founded as The Summit Lighthouse in 1958, the small, Washington, D.C.-based group assumed the character of a religio-political movement from its inception. Organized by Wisconsin native Mark L.Prophet (1919-73), a onetime Army Air Corps veteran and railway laborer who had been associated with other metaphysical religious movements, The Summit Lighthouse constructed a theology which blended together strident anticommunism and patriotism with a vision of human transcendence to the Godhead. As the organization matured, its esoteric outlook became dominated by images of enemies who were believed to oppose its millennial dream for America’s rebirth as a chosen nation.
