Urantia

Urantia is the name of the planet Earth according to The Urantia Book. "Urantia" and "Urantian" are terms sometimes used to denote a spiritual movement inspired by The Urantia Book. Image File history File links Urantia. ... Image File history File links Urantia. ... Earth, also known as Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third-closest planet to the Sun. ...

Overview of The Urantia Book

General information

The Urantia Book, also sometimes referred to as "The Urantia Papers," is reported by its authors to be The Fifth Epochal Revelation to the world. It was first published in 1955 by The Urantia Foundation. General Information The Fifth Epochal Revelation is otherwise known as the papers found in The Urantia Book. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Celestial beings collaborated to write the papers of The Urantia Book as a revelation to the dimming of spiritual truth in the world, in cooperation with two physicians, Drs. Lena and William S. Sadler, who lived in the vicinity of Chicago, Illinois, USA. The doctors were actively involved with the celestial beings to produce the papers. To assist, there was a "Forum" of approximately seventy volunteers who formulated questions to ask the celestial beings. The answers to the questions were given as papers and were ultimately gathered to form The Urantia Book. All material in the book is presented as authored by the celestial beings. For information on the last book of the New Testament see the Book of Revelation. ... Dr. William S. Sadler (1875 - 1969) was a psychiatrist and college teacher in the school of medicine at the University of Chicago, and one of the individuals closely associated with the publishing of the Urantia Book and the Urantia movement. ... ...

The book itself is divided into a Foreword and 196 papers across four major parts -- a total of 2,097 pages. The book was first published in English and has since been translated into a number of other languages. In 2001, the Urantia Foundation:[1] lost a court decision concerning the book's U.S. copyright, and the text of the original English version is in the public domain. Full electronic copies are available on the Internet [2]. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

Structure

The Urantia Book consists of the following:

1. Table of Contents
2. The Foreword
3. Part I: The Central and Superuniverses
4. Part II: The Local Universe
5. Part III: The History of Urantia
6. Part IV: The Life and Teachings of Jesus

Each section of The Urantia Book follows an orderly and well-developed structure. The papers build on concepts presented in the previous papers and weaves the themes together with increasing expansion and development. Some readers have encouraged people to read the book by examining the table of contents and selecting topics that may catch their interest. Other readers say the book is intended to be read sequentially because of the immense amount of new and unusual conceptual information necessary for an understanding of the succeeding parts. They say that misinterpretations have occurred as a result of spot reading in this complex and deeply conceptual tome.

The Urantia Book begins on page 1 of the Foreword by saying that there is much confusion regarding "God": God is the term used to denote the Supreme Being believed by monotheistic religions to exist and to be the creator and ruler of the Universe. ...

"In the minds of the mortals of Urantia—that being the name of your world—there exists great confusion respecting the meaning of such terms as God, divinity, and deity. Human beings are still more confused and uncertain about the relationships of the divine personalities designated by the numerous appelations. ..."

The Foreword addresses in outline form several aspects of this confusion and includes definitions of words used throughout the rest of the book.

Part I consists of 31 papers dedicated to a narrative describing "The Central and Superuniverses". Among the types of topics covered by the papers in Part I are "The Nature of God", "God's Relation to the Individual", "The Paradise Trinity", "The Eternal Isle of Paradise", and "Personalities of the Grand Universe".

Part II consists of papers 32 through 56 which are dedicated to the topic of "The Local Universe". Among the papers in this part are such topics as "The Evolution of the Local Universes", "The Local Universe Sons of God", "The Seraphic Hosts", "Energy-Mind and Matter", and "The Lucifer Rebellion".

Part III consists of papers 57 through 119 and compiles a broad history of the earth titled "The History of Urantia". Among this set of papers are such topics as ""The Origin of Urantia", "Life Establishment on Urantia", "The First Human Family", "The Planetary Rebellion", "The Default of Adam and Eve", "The Origins of Worship", "The Foundations of Religious Faith", "Deity and Reality", "The Adjuster and the Soul", "Personality Survival", and "The Bestowals of Christ Michael".

Part IV consists of Papers 120 through 196 and is dedicated to the narrative of "The Life and Teachings of Jesus". Among the topics covered in Part IV are the "Birth and Infancy of Jesus", "The Early Childhood of Jesus", "The Later Adult Life of Jesus'," a trip to Rome Jesus took before his public work, "John the Baptist", "Baptism and the Forty Days", "The Twelve Apostles", and "Beginning the Public Work." The book narrates several preaching tours in detail and events that led to Jesus' crucifixion. His death and resurrection are covered, as well as Pentecost, and the book concludes with "The Faith of Jesus" and the "Supremacy of Religion".

Teachings

The major recurring teaching of The Urantia Book is that above all else God is to be considered as a Father. God Himself is a personality, and by all universal logic, only personalities can know personalities. Therefore, human beings, who have personalities can know God and God knows every human being. God is not to be anthropomorphized. God is Spirit.

Numerous types of themes, among them concerning history, cosmology, biology, evolution and philosophy are presented with "God as a loving Father" who is the foundation of all created reality. One of the most famous quotations about history and the value of studying history, by Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, reads: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ... Cosmology, from the Greek: κοσμολογία (cosmologia, κόσμος (cosmos) world + λογια (logia) discourse) is the study of the universe in its totality and by extension mans place in it. ... Main articles: Life The most salient example of biological universality is that all living things share a common carbon-based biochemistry and in particular pass on their characteristics via genetic material, which is based on nucleic acids such as DNA and which uses a common genetic code with only minor... A phylogenetic tree of all living things, based on rRNA gene data, showing the separation of the three domains, bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes, as described initially by Carl Woese. ... These five broad types of question are called analytical or logical, epistemological, ethical, metaphysical, and aesthetic respectively. ... Reality in everyday usage means everything that exists. ...

The Urantia Book explains that God as the loving Father is the highest concept mankind can conceive of Him. This was the message that Jesus taught and is reflected in his life which was devoted to revealing the true nature of God to Man. A famous painting of Jesus from the Chapel of Łagiewniki Jesus, also known as Jesus of Nazareth, is the central figure of Christianity, in which context he is known as Jesus Christ (from the Greek Ιησούς Χριστός ; transliteration: Iesous Christos). He is also considered an important prophet in Islam. ...

Jesus is described as a divine Son of God who incarnated on earth as the last of several bestowals which were required of Him in His creation. His life is the fullest representation and revelation of the personality, attitude, and nature of the Father to human beings.

Paper 196, the final paper in the book, states:

"One of the most important things in human living is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose. Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it."

The Urantia Book teaches that the greatest adventure and purpose of all mankind is the quest for God.

The next section, "Comparison to Christianity", describes more specifics about how Jesus is portrayed. Paper 196 also serves as a useful summary of modern day Christianity vs. what the religion of Jesus is. Beliefs Though enormous diversity exists in the beliefs of those who self-identify as Christian, it is possible to venture general statements which describe the beliefs of a large majority . ...

God is the Heavenly and Unseen Father of each person. It is by His gift of a piece of His spirit, a "fragment" which is described in much detail that comes to indwell every normal human being that Man and God have a relationship with an eternal destiny. Destiny or Fate concerns the fixed natural order of the universe. ...

Around the age of six, on average, normal children are said to typically arrive at their first independent moral decision, and at this time, this "fragment" of God known as Thought Adjuster among other names, comes to indwell them as their own intimate "spirit within" or "still small voice". This "fragment" or "piece" is a sovereign and unique, individual, gift from God to each and every moral person. A moral in basically me doing your mom. ...

The Thought Adjuster is also variously termed a "Mystery Monitor", "inner voice", "divine spark", and like a "pilot light". Each normal-minded person receives one such fragment, and it serves as a divine partner for the rest of life, constantly attempting to lead the individual toward more spiritualized thinking. The concept is in ways comparable to the Hindu atman and the ancient Egyptian ka. From philosophy, the concept is similar to what Socrates referred to as his "daimon." In relation to Christian traditions, it is described by the book as the meaning behind "being made in God's image" and the "kingdom of God is within", or "God within you". A Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, the predominant religious, philosophical and cultural systems of Bharat (India) and Nepal. ... This is a disambiguation page for the term atman (or atma). ... KA, Ka or ka may mean: Georgian language (ISO 639 alpha-2) Ka, a letter of Cyrillic alphabet Ka is a part of the soul in Egyptian mythology Ford Ka, model of car made by Ford an abbreviation for the Russian Kamov design bureau an abbreviation for the Kappa Alpha... These five broad types of question are called analytical or logical, epistemological, ethical, metaphysical, and aesthetic respectively. ... This article is about the ancient Greek philosopher, for all other uses see: Socrates (disambiguation) Socrates (June 4, ca. ... A tradition is a story or a custom that is memorized and passed down from generation to generation, originally without the need for a writing system. ...

A person's Thought Adjuster is described as distinct from the soul. The book lists five constitutive aspects to humans: the physical body, the mind, the personality, the Thought Adjuster, and the soul. The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is the ethereal substance — spirit (Hebrew:rooah or nefesh) — particular to a unique living being. ... With regard to living things, a body is the integral physical material of an individual, and contrasts with soul, personality and behavior. ... The mind is the term most commonly used to describe the higher functions of the human brain, particularly those of which humans are subjectivel // holaMedia:Example. ... It has been suggested that Personality psychology be merged into this article or section. ... The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is the ethereal substance — spirit (Hebrew:rooah or nefesh) — particular to a unique living being. ...

• The physical body is described as a product of evolution and as wholly material. Humans are only slightly higher than animals on the cosmic scale according to the book, largely dominated by their physical drives, emotions, and inclinations toward self-interest.
• The mind is described as being a product of the material mechanism of the brain, but also as having the capacity for free will. Human beings have evolved to the extent that they possess "will dignity" and the capacity to know God, which differentiates them from animals. Though the Adjuster always tries to lead a person into more divine patterns of thought throughout life, it is necessary for the human partner to accept those leadings.
• In The Urantia Book's teachings, the degree to which a human mind chooses to accept its Adjuster's guidance becomes the degree to which a soul "grows" and becomes a reality that can then survive death. The soul is in essence a spiritual embryo, with one parental factor being the divine Adjuster and the other being the human will.
• Personality is considered to be something of a mystery, even by the so-called celestial beings who provide so much detail on other topics. Personality is described as a direct gift of the Father that is unique for each individual, the part of a person that is their identity and volition. Personality is described as innately creative and not subject to antecedent causation. Despite growth of intellect and spiritual insight in this life and during the extensive afterlife activities of the next, personality is said to be the one thing that stays the same, "permanence in the presence of change."

The book many times links the biblical New Testament teachings of becoming like a little child in attitude of trust and sincerity as being the essential and ideal stance each person should have toward their Thought Adjuster. This attitude of open-minded teachability toward it is what facilitates spiritual growth, and this invariably leads to an impulse to love and serve other people. The book teaches that neither science nor logic will ever be able to prove the existence of God, faith is necessary to become conscious of God's presence in human experience, the indwelling Adjuster. A phylogenetic tree of all living things, based on rRNA gene data, showing the separation of the three domains, bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes, as described initially by Carl Woese. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anenomes) Placozoa (trichoplax) Subregnum Bilateria (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Orthonectida (flatworms, echinoderms, etc. ... In psychology and common use, emotion is an aspect of a human beings mental state, normally based in or tied to the persons internal (physical) and external (social) sensory feeling. ... The mind is the term most commonly used to describe the higher functions of the human brain, particularly those of which humans are subjectivel // holaMedia:Example. ... Comparative brain sizes In the anatomy of animals, the brain, or encephalon (Greek for in the head), is the higher, supervisory center of the nervous system. ... Free will is the philosophical doctrine that holds that our choices are ultimately up to ourselves. ... Death is the cessation of physical life in a living organism or the state of the organism after that event. ... The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is the ethereal substance — spirit (Hebrew:rooah or nefesh) — particular to a unique living being. ... Insight is: Look up insight in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The New Testament, sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures, is the name given to the part of the Christian Bible that was written after the birth of Jesus. ...

From Paper 101, "The Real Nature of Religion":

"Your deepest nature -- the divine Adjuster -- creates within you a hunger and thirst for righteousness, a certain craving for divine perfection. Religion is the faith act of the recognition of this inner urge to divine attainment; and thus is brought about that soul trust and assurance of which you become conscious as the way of salvation, the technique of the survival of personality and all those values which you have come to look upon as being true and good."

From Paper 5, "God's Relation to the Individual":

"Religious experience, being essentially spiritual, can never be fully understood by the material mind; hence the function of theology, the psychology of religion. The essential doctrine of the human realization of God creates a paradox in finite comprehension. It is well-nigh impossible for human logic and finite reason to harmonize the concept of divine immanence, God within and a part of every individual, with the idea of God's transcendence, the divine domination of the universe of universes. These two essential concepts of Deity must be unified in the faith-grasp of the concept of the transcendence of a personal God and in the realization of the indwelling presence of a fragment of that God in order to justify intelligent worship and validate the hope of personality survival. The difficulties and paradoxes of religion are inherent in the fact that the realities of religion are utterly beyond the mortal capacity for intellectual comprehension."

Persistently embracing sin is the same as rejecting the leadings of the Adjuster, the same as rejecting the will of God. Constant selfishness and sinful choosing will lead eventually to iniquity and full identification with unrighteousness, and since unrighteousness is unreal, it results in the eventual annihilation of the individual's identity -- personalities like this become "as if they never were." The book says that "in the last analysis, such sin-identified individuals have destroyed themselves by becoming wholly unreal through their embrace of iniquity." Also from Paper 5: Sin has been a term most usually used in a religious context, and today describes any lack of conformity to the will of God; especially, any willful disregard for the norms revealed by God is a sin. ... The grammar in this article needs to be checked. ... God is the term used to denote the Supreme Being believed by monotheistic religions to exist and to be the creator and ruler of the Universe. ...

..."Mortal man may draw near God and may repeatedly forsake the divine will so long as the power of choice remains. Man's final doom is not sealed until he has lost the power to choose the Father's will. There is never a closure of the Father's heart to the need and the petition of his children. Only do his offspring close their hearts forever to the Father's drawing power when they finally and forever lose the desire to do his divine will--to know him and to be like him. Likewise is man's eternal destiny assured when Adjuster fusion proclaims to the universe that such an ascender has made the final and irrevocable choice to live the Father's will.

"The great God makes direct contact with mortal man and gives a part of his infinite and eternal and incomprehensible self to live and dwell within him. God has embarked upon the eternal adventure with man. If you yield to the leadings of the spiritual forces in you and around you, you cannot fail to attain the high destiny established by a loving God as the universe goal of his ascendant creatures from the evolutionary worlds of space."

The book describes that a person is ultimately destined to fuse with his or her divine fragment and become one inseparable entity with it, if the person has chosen to accept the Adjuster's leadings and becomes identified with it. The act of fusion is described as the moment when a human personality has successfully and unalterably won eternal life, typically taking place in the afterlife, but also a possibility during earthly life. The result during earthly life is a spontaneous immolation of the material body as the soul is "translated" to the hereafter (e.g. Elijah being taken to heaven without death in "chariots of fire"). Once merged with his or her fragment of God, a person continues as an ascending citizen in the universe, traveling through numerous worlds on a long, adventurous pilgrimage of growth and learning that leads eventually to Paradise. There is not a concept of Hell or earthly reincarnation in The Urantia Book. It presents a philosophy that a person creates his or her own figurative "hell" by erroneous choices made. Elijah (אֱלִיָּהוּ Whose/my God is the Lord, Standard Hebrew Eliyyáhu, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĔliyyāhû), also Elias (NT Greek Ἠλίας), is a prophet of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. ... Medieval illustration of Hell in the Hortus deliciarum manuscript of Herrad of Landsberg (about 1180) Hell is, according to many religious beliefs, a place or a state of painful suffering. ... Past Lives redirects here. ...

The corollary to the fatherhood of God concept is the brotherhood of mankind. The book places much emphasis on the idea that all individuals have the same opportunity to come to know God, that "God is no respecter of persons," and it says nothing can hinder or hurt a human being's spiritual progression if he or she is sincerely motivated to be spirit led. Mankind is to actively work to understand each other and seek to live in love and peace, being of help to one another. The practice of the "religion of Jesus" is to provide unselfish service to each other, to love the Father with a person's whole being, and to love each other the way Jesus loves people.

Comparison to Christianity

The book somewhat erroneously has been associated with the New Age movement, likely because its origin is thought by some to be through channeling or a mysterious type of materialization. Of all current world religions, The Urantia Book's teachings are likely most consistent with the teachings of Christianity. There are differences between The Urantia Book and common Christian beliefs. Many believers see it as extending Judeo-Christian religious concepts in a way that is somewhat analogous to how the New Testament can be considered a growth of Old Testament ideas. New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... Channeling can refer to Channeling (physics) Channeling (mediumistic), a term used in reference to the process of receiving messages or inspiration from invisible beings or spirits This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Beliefs Though enormous diversity exists in the beliefs of those who self-identify as Christian, it is possible to venture general statements which describe the beliefs of a large majority . ...

Jesus is held in high regard by The Urantia Book, as he is in the Bible. More than one third of the page count in The Urantia Book is devoted to a narrative that retells his life. The divinity of Jesus is fully embraced by the authors of the book as is his human nature.

The following are attributed to Jesus, as in the Bible:

• He was a Son of God incarnate, born to Mary and Joseph
• He was God in man; both human and divine
• He lived a perfect life
• He is "the light of the world"
• He revealed God to man as "the way, the truth, and the life"
• He revealed God as a loving Father
• He performed many of the miracles described in the Bible, such as the resurrection of Lazarus, the turning of water into wine, the feeding of the five thousand, and numerous healings of the blind, diseased, and infirm
• He taught twelve apostles, eleven of whom who went on to spread his teachings
• He settled a rebellion with Satan
• He was crucified and three days later rose from the dead
• He will return again someday

The Urantia Book shares the following general concepts of God with most Christian faiths: Saint Mary redirects here. ... Saint Joseph, also referred to as Joseph the Betrothed and as Joseph of Nazareth, was the foster-father of Jesus, according to the New Testament (Matthew 1:16; Luke 3:23). ... The Bible (sometimes The Book, Good Book, Word of God, The Word, or Scripture), from Greek (τα) βιβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, plural of βιβλιον, biblion, book, originally a diminutive of βιβλος, biblos, which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos, meaning papyrus, from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported this writing material... Resurrection of Lazarus by Juan de Flandes, around 1500. ...

• God is described as a loving personality
• God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite and eternal
• God is a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
• God has a "heavenly host"
• God is love, truth, and beauty and there is no sin, unrighteousness, or evil in Him
• Believers can have a personal relationship with God
• Believers will survive death
• God knows what people need before they ask it
• God provides angels to guard and minister to people throughout their lives

Differences with orthodox Christianity include:

• Jesus' crucifixion is not considered an atonement for the sins of humanity. His death is described as an outcome of the fears of the religious leaders of the day. His teachings were a threat to their positions of authority.
• Jesus is described as the human incarnation of Michael of Nebadon, one of 700,000 "Paradise Sons" of God who have created their own local universes. He is the "sovereign ruler of our local universe called Nebadon." He is not accorded the rank of second person of the original Paradise Trinity, as he is in Christianity. The book refers to the second person of the Trinity as the Eternal Son.
• He is said to have a co-creator consort, "Mother Spirit of Nebadon", who is the bestower of mind to all living things and beings in Nebadon.
• Jesus was born on earth from natural means of conception. The Virgin Birth is said to be a product of human myth developed later.
• In rising from the dead, Jesus was in a "more glorified form", a stage between material and spiritual existence that is termed "morontia" by the book. His actual body was not raised, but rather decomposed at a heightened rate.
• The return of Jesus is described as "an event of tremendous sentimental value," but otherwise "of no more practical importance to human beings than the common event of natural death." The book says that it is not unreasonable to think that Jesus will return even more than once. Common Christian eschatology doctrines, such as the Rapture, where Jesus returns to take faithful believers to heaven and leaves behind unbelievers for tribulation, are not supported.
• Women are equal to men spiritually, and as concerns them overall and in religion, are not to be minimized in any way. The book even says that women more often than men have been the real spiritual upholders of humanity.

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity states that God is a single being who exists, simultaneously and eternally, as a communion of three Persons: the Father, the Son (the eternal Logos, incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth), and the Holy Spirit. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article is about the use of the term in Christian eschatology, primarily in US Protestant Premillennalism. ... The Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the entities that bring false peace, War, famine, pestilence, and death. ...

Comparison to other religions

Numerous facets of the book are recognizeable in other world religions, such as Buddhism's teachings of compassion and peacefulness. There are notable commonalities with Islam, Taoism, Judaism, Cynicism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Suduoanism, Shinto, and Confucianism, and several other religions throughout recorded history. The authors of The Urantia Book encourage the study of all religions to take "the best" from them citing that most religions of the planet are of evolutionary development and almost all of them have truth, beauty and goodness worthy of note and understanding.

Paper 131: The World's Religions discusses more in-depth those facets of some of the world's religions which have commonalities with the religion of Jesus, but there are also numerous other references to the world's various religions throughout Part III, The History of Urantia beginning with Paper 86 - Early Evolution of Religion.

Mystery of origin

Much has been made of the mystery surrounding the origin of not only the book but also its authors by those who have read it.

It is said that there was a "sleeping subject" who was wholly unconcerned about the material being sent "through him". It is thought that Dr. William Sadler, a psychologist and skeptic of the supernatural, was the physician who attended the person through whom the celesital authors worked. But this is really not known.

Additionally there were approximately seventy people who gathered together every week to ask profound questions of the celestials. They were called the "Forum". The names of all humans involved in the project were intentionally withheld to prevent their unintended exaltation. Their possible identities are discussed in a matter of recent court record (p.9), but are as yet uncertain. Exaltation is the theological term for trance; although it is practiced by many religious groups nowadays, it was seen as an alliance with the devil earlier in history. ...

According to a skeptical analysis called Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery by Martin Gardner, there was a "Contact Commission" which originated with a group of people who were former Seventh-day Adventists. Martin Gardner (born October 21, 1914) is an American recreational mathematician, skeptic, and author of the long-running but now discontinued Mathematical Games column in Scientific American. ... The Seventh-day Adventist Church is evangelical Christian denomination based on the teachings of the Bible and also those of Ellen G. White. ...

Gardner, being a skeptic of the book, suggests in his writings, that The Urantia Book is of purely human origin. But the book itself describes that the papers were transmitted through "contact" of a man who was sleeping as described above.

Gardner's felt he had identified the man as Wilfred Kellogg, a relative of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, who was a friend and one time employer of Dr. William Sadler, and the uncle of his wife Dr. Lena Sadler. However, Gardner's compilation is a theory that is still unproved. John Harvey Kellogg (1852-1943) Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (February 26, 1852 – December 14, 1943) was a medical doctor in Battle Creek, Michigan who ran a sanitarium using holistic methods, with a particular focus on nutrition, enemas and exercise. ...

Others, but less well known skeptics have suggested that the "Contact Personality"—who slept throughout all of the contact transactions—was Edgar Cayce. Yet still others remain open to the idea that The Urantia Papers "sleeping subject" has never been identified. Edgar Cayce. ...

The Sadlers and other Contact Commission members, now all deceased, claimed that the book was physically materialized. This materialization, paper by paper, was carried out over more than a decade. A group of the Sadlers' friends and colleagues who originally began meeting for intellectual discussions became a focus group for the celestial revelators. They were known as the Forum, and their entire function was to devise questions about the material. The celestial revelator's purpose was to educate Sadler and some others about existing misconceptions of God, Divinity and Deity on this world. They were to become teachers who would teach more teachers thus assisting the planet in further spiritual growth. All this work was apparently done preceding the actual reception or materialization of the Papers. This is part of the ongoing mystery that surrounds the controversies concerning the authorship and factuality of the origin of The Urantia Book.

As a result of the mysterious origin and the lack of real facts regarding how The Urantia Papers were actually written it has been thought by some readers to have been "channeled". Although these and other controversial claims of the origin of the text and content of the papers in The Urantia Book have never been factually discovered and proven, the celestial writers indicate that a "Contact Personality", whose identity was protected as anonymous, was used to aid in its reception.

Due to a lack of verifiable facts, neither human nor divine origin has ever proven one way or the other. In summary, the actual origin and authorship, by human means of discovery, is an unsolved mystery.

Criticism

The Urantia Book has not received a great deal of formal or public critical analysis.

From a skeptical point of view, likely the three most common contentions are:

• It claims to be a revelation from godly celestial beings and is written as if directly presented by these same celestial beings.
• Parts of the science it describes are wrong when compared to some modern accepted theory.
• Some of the concepts have been alleged to have been plagiarized.

Revelation

Significant claims are made by the authors of The Urantia Book about its importance. The book matter-of-factly states that it is the Fifth Epochal Revelation to mankind in all of history, the Fourth Epochal Revelation having been the life of Jesus Christ.

For atheists, the claim is not credible on its face, but they also point to aspects of its science that they see as flawed as evidence that it is a product of human efforts. For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ...

For theists, the claim of religious revelation seems to be difficult to accept. The book has been in print for 50 years, but its influence has not spread widely yet, especially in comparison to the high growth rates of religions such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Scientology, which are based around other modern holy books. Because it departs from tenets of orthodox Christianity while claiming to be the real story of Jesus, a few who have read The Urantia Book from a Christian perspective have considered it to be Satanic. Still others feel that at over 2,000 pages -- nearly twice the length of the King James Bible -- it is far too long, laboriously written, and bureaucratic in its thinking to be accepted. The temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located in Salt Lake City, Utah is the largest attraction in the citys Temple Square. ... A Scientology Center on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. ... Many religions and spiritual movements believe that their sacred texts (or scriptures) are the Word of God, often feeling that the texts are wholly divine or spiritually inspired in origin. ... This page is about the version of the Bible; for the Harvey Danger album, see King James Version (album). ...

Science

Regarding the book's presentation of science, one paper admits that:

"within a few short years many of our statements regarding the physical sciences will stand in need of revision in consequence of additional scientific developments and new discoveries. These new developments we even now foresee, but we are forbidden to include such humanly undiscovered facts in the revelatory records."

Supporters say that the chief purposes of the book are spiritual, and the scientific content mainly is to provide context. The revelators were not permitted to provide "unearned knowledge" to humanity. Still, skeptics allege that the book contains information that would have been deemed pseudo-science even when it was written. Aspects of its teachings in astronomy, physics, and biology are most typically cited. Some believers say that there are no errors in the science, or believe that what appears to be discrepencies with modern science now will prove to be correct as science progresses. They point to instances where they believe the book has predicted advances in science already as evidence that apparent differences with science will similarly be resolved in the future. A pseudoscience is any body of knowledge purported to be scientific or supported by science but which fails to comply with the scientific method. ...

Perhaps of most controversy, the book on occasion makes what seems to be unsettling statements on racial issues. Supporters state that this criticism has arisen mainly due to people not reading The Urantia Book in its entirety, and instead only reading parts out of context. They also say that changes in usage of the American English language since the book was written have created further barriers to understanding what it says. Martin Gardner asserts that Dr. William Sadler had a known history of writing racist and eugenicist works, and since he believes that Dr. Sadler had a hand in writing or editing the book, he believes this to be how the ideas came to be included.

A sample where The Urantia Book makes an "unsettling statement" on racial issues:

"As long as present-day races are so overloaded with inferior and degenerate strains, race intermingling on a large scale would be most detrimental, but most of the objections to such experiments rest on social and cultural prejudices rather than on biological considerations."

According to supporters, use of the words inferior and degenerate have to do with disease resistance, abilities, or intelligence as they pertain to simple biology. They say they view the genetically ill as loved, though unfortunate, and those who suffer from such conditions should voluntarily avoid passing on their misfortune through reproduction. The supporters of the book do not condone eugenics of the kind abused in world history. Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ...

Elsewhere in The Urantia Book, it addresses prejudice as being unworthy of God-loving and God-knowing individuals and describes it as an indicator of immaturity.

Plagiarism

Over time there have been a number of questions about whether or not any of the writings in The Urantia Book have been plagiarized.

The Urantia Book states in its Foreword that it freely used "human concepts, assembled from the God-knowing mortals of the past and the present." In recent years, students of the book have found that the free use of other sources appears to be literally true, though none of the material used from other sources is cited or referenced specifically as such within the book.

In 1992, a reader of The Urantia Book, Matthew Block, self-published a paper "Some Human Sources for Materials Used in The Urantia Book", which showed nineteen allegedly specific examples of The Urantia Book utilizing material published earlier. All of the source authors identified in Block's paper were published in English between 1905 and 1943 by U.S. publishers and are typically scholarly or academic works. At least one of the source book authors was quoted in earlier works by Dr. Sadler, and most of the books purportedly would have been available to Dr. Sadler or Forum members in Chicago prior to 1955.

To date, Block claims to have discovered over 125 source books and articles written by over 90 authors that he reports have been incorporated into the papers. His complete list remains unpublished at this time, but examples of likely use of outside source materials have since been verified by other researchers.

For instance, Paper 85 appears to have been taken from the first eight chapters of "Origin and Evolution of Religion" by E. Washburn Hopkins, published by Yale University Press in 1923. Each section of the paper corresponds to a chapter in the book, with several passages possibly used as direct material. Likewise, Paper 41, "Physical Aspects of the Local Universe" incorporates scientific material and analogies from W.F.G Swann, "The Architecture of the Universe" published by The Macmillan Co in 1934. Much of The Urantia Book material relating to the evolution of mankind appears to have been directly lifted from Henry Fairfield Osborn, "Man Rises to Parnassus: Critical Epochs in the Prehistory of Man" published by Princeton University Press in 1928. Dr. Sadler quoted other works written by Osborn in his earlier writings on eugenics. Henry Fairfield Osborn (August 8, 1857 — November 6, 1935) was an American paleontologist and geologist. ... Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ...

The narrow selection of source materials is considered by some researchers to strike a major blow against claims for the divine origin of The Urantia Book, however this has been disputed.

Also, researchers have identified similar suspicious usage in earlier works by Sadler, such as his 1938 book "The Sex Life, Before and After Marriage" which adapts material directly from Havelock Ellis "Psychology of Sex: A Manual for Students" published in 1933. Havelock Ellis (1859-July 8, 1939) was a British doctor, sexual psychologist and Fabian. ...

It should be noted, while there seems to be an undeniable borrowing of human concepts, the wording and phraseology is not an exact 'verbatim' replication and no exact plagiarism has been proved beyond a doubt officially.

In some instances, the writers of The Urantia Book have made subtle changes to or expansion of the source material. Urantia believers propose that the source texts were improved and this points to their divine origin. However, in some cases the book also propagates material from the original sources which modern science has shown to be incorrect.

No legal claims of plagiarism have ever been pursued against organizations or individuals associated with The Urantia Book. Since The Urantia Foundation lost its claim to the copyright on the book in a U.S. court, no one is legally recognized as its author, and so it is unclear who could even be a target of an investigation.

An argument can be made that if The Urantia Papers have no recognized human authors, and are indeed found to be divinely written by celestial beings who intended to present a revelation to mankind, then perhaps the plagiarism is by "source authors" who had the concepts revealed to them by their inner spirit through any number of processes of revelation - in other words, in religious circles it can be argued that God is only one who owns original ideas and concepts and no human being can claim a right to them but instead should be required to attribute credit where it is due. For information on the last book of the New Testament see the Book of Revelation. ... For information on the last book of the New Testament see the Book of Revelation. ...

Also, many of the books apparently used as sources of material are now obscure, out-of-print, and may no longer be under copyright.

Fact or fiction? Literary or documentary?

While being skeptical or dismissive of its religious claims, some people still have considered the book to be exceptional from a creative writing and literary point of view. It has been enjoyed as a form of science fiction or fantasy. The Urantia Book is noted for its high level of internal consistency and its advanced writing style. As fiction it is enjoyed as mythology and as literature as philosophy. The entire tome draws on numerous topics related to religion, science, history, and philosophy all of which can be viewed as either fact or fiction. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Fantasy is a genre of art, literature, film, television, and music that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of either plot, theme, setting, or all three. ... ... These five broad types of question are called analytical or logical, epistemological, ethical, metaphysical, and aesthetic respectively. ...

Parts I, II, and III are chiefly written in direct, expository language and are essential for a full understanding of every other part. In creativity, these sections of The Urantia Book are original and unique. The tone and meter of these papers is informational, matter of fact and instructional while at the same time presentational. Either as fiction or literature, these first three parts are well written and regarded as superior workmanship from the standpoint of the usage of the English language.

Part IV of the book, "The Life and Teachings of Jesus," is presented as a biography which takes on a more "familiar" tone linguistically. Sometimes considered as being apart from the first three sections of The Urantia Book it has a critical connectivity woven in. Literary enthusiasts consider the content of Part IV to be a rich compilation of narratives involving well-developed characters, a high attention to detail, woven sub-plots, and realistic dialogue.

There is a stand-alone printing of Part IV (minus Paper 120) called "Jesus, A New Revelation" which is 774 pages, and is considered by some literary circles to be equal if not superior to other literary retellings of Jesus' life, such as The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago and Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock. José Saramago José Saramago (born November 16, 1922) is a Portuguese writer, playwright, and journalist. ... Behold the Man is a novella by Michael Moorcock, first published in 1966 by New Worlds S.F. It is the story of one Karl Glogauer who travels back in time in a time machine constructed by one Sir James Headington (physicist and wartime inventor) to the year 28 of... Michael John Moorcock (born December 18, 1939) is a prolific British writer of both science fiction and science fantasy. ...

Adherents

People who "adhere" to the message in The Fifth Epochal Revelation sometimes call themselves "Urantians", "Truth Lovers", "Truth Seekers", "Sons of God", "Daughters of God", or "Faith Believers". And there are yet other names by which they call themselves individually.

Many people find the teachings in The Urantia Book to be compelling because it offers a point of view which easily reconciles man's innumerable problems with discrepancies between creationism, evolution, modern science, philosophy, history, theology and religion. In no other known publication is such an explanation offered in this way. This article is about the Abrahamic belief; creationism can also refer to origin beliefs in general or, centuries earlier, to an alternative to traducianism. ... A phylogenetic tree of all living things, based on rRNA gene data, showing the separation of the three domains, bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes, as described initially by Carl Woese. ... // What is science? There are various understandings of the word science. According to empiricism, scientific theories are objective, empirically testable, and predictive — they predict empirical results that can be checked and possibly contradicted. ... These five broad types of question are called analytical or logical, epistemological, ethical, metaphysical, and aesthetic respectively. ... One of the most famous quotations about history and the value of studying history, by Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, reads: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ... Theology is reasoned discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). It also refers to the study of other religious topics. ...

The authors do not advocate the forming of any institutionalized or formalized or organized religion as the perfect way to lead people to God. Adherents of The Urantia Book have occasionally been construed by some as being involved in a cult, but by definition of the teachings, they do not believe in doing it. In religion and sociology, a cult is a cohesive group of people (often a relatively small and new religious movement) devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture or society considers to be far outside the mainstream. ...

However this is not to be confused with the natural tendency of mankind to be gregarious and to desire to come together in groups to worship, give thanks, to study and to pray or to socialize their religious ideals. They do not condemn the practices of churches, synagogues or mosques instead pointing out both the good and spiritually worthy benefits of such groups and the sad and unsound pitfalls of each.

Believers understand that certain seraphim, sanobim and cherubim have been assigned watchare and cultivation over the churches and that they will assist the people in those churches with their faithful pursuits for God.

However, in practice, the characteristics normally associated with cults are not present in any of the existent groups of true believers of The Urantia Papers. While some peripheral groups have sprung up from time to time, the mainstream readers and believers of The Urantia Revelation do not recognize them as being acceptable and will quickly deny them any leverage.

True adherents have, seek and cultivate their own personal relationship with God. They also seek a better relationship with The Holy Trinity, Jesus-Michael of Nebadon, Mother Spirit of Nebadon (The Holy Spirit) and others. They believe in the living way and do not believe in book worship or dogmatizing the papers of the revelation.

They believe in God as a LOVING Father and the brotherhood of mankind. They believe in having faith. They seek to rely solely upon Jesus himself and to love one another the way Jesus loves them. They also understand they are only human beings who are imperfect. They realize they are seeking a high ideal that is likely unattainable during the one short human life, but that they will eventually attain it!

There is no central charismatic figure, there are no hidden mysteries, there are no rituals or ceremonies, and there is not a teaching that the book's followers are chosen people whereas all others are lost. To have this concept as a part of religion is in opposition to the general religious and philosophical themes that are found in The Urantia Papers.

In fact according to common definitions of "cult," as opposed to "occult" some forms of Christianity have more characteristics of being a cult than any of the Urantia publishing organizations or study groups. There are so many denominations, sects, churches, and forms of Christianity that among them are some which have actually become secular social institutions totally submerged in dogma and creedal pressures including human political activity along with theology that teaches they and they alone are 'the chosen ones'.

The authors of the papers caution against the mind diffusing practices associated with mysticism, creed and dogma setting, oath taking, harmful self introspection, and many other negative useless pursuits rather than encouraging them. ...

Believers in the Fifth Epochal Revelation are to seek the truth, to seek God and to worship only God. They are to pursue spiritual pathways and soul growth - ever following their inner spirit on pathways to truth, goodness and beauty.

Critics have argued that, despite the claims of the Urantia Book readers and publishers not to be an organized religion, it is still a religion or at least religious book because it has a publishing organisation that encourages the formation of study groups. These critics say that claiming not to be a religion does not make one not a religion— that one is a religion if one teaches doctrines religious in nature. They note that it may be useful for a religion to deny itself being a religion in order to overcome opposition. And of course, if "God is in it" then it is religion.

There is a printing of Part IV of The Urantia Book called "Jesus, A New Revelation". Its printing spawned many-faceted controversies not only with the publishers of The Urantia Book over legalities concerning copyright issues, but also by adherents of the book. The argument is that as religious revelation it should be kept intact and inviolate of changes. And both as a revelation and as a literary work all four parts are needed to be understandable in its full scope and available in a single publication. For most, it does not make sense to take the book and publish one part without the others considering their sequentiality.

As a stand alone book, "Jesus, A New Revelation" became controversial because The Urantia Foundation had been fighting legal battles to keep the materials in The Urantia Book under their copyright. It was also a controversy because The Urantia Papers are intended to be presented in their proper sequences - and the authors of the Papers themselves could not be consulted as to whether Part IV should really exist as a separate book. Adherents did not believe it should due to the nature of the flow of the narrative and the critical need for symmetrical presentation with the widest view of the revelation presented first to the reader.

Symbols

A symbol described in The Urantia Book is three concentric blue circles on a white background found on the "banner of Michael." The three blue concentric circles symbolize The Paradise Trinity (Paper 93, section 3 of the book). The Paradise Trinity consists of the three persons of deity, the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit. Image File history File links Urantia_logo. ...

Lucifer had an emblem or symbol of a black disk within a red circle on a white background.

The Urantia Book publisher, The Urantia Foundation, places the concentric circles on the cover of The Urantia Book and claims a United States trademark. The circles are now the service mark of The Urantia Foundation and indicate other organizations affiliated with the Foundation and/or with Michael of Nebadon (Jesus) as inspired individually to do so. Controversies have arisen over time as to the appropriateness of The Urantia Foundation to own a service mark on Michael of Nebadon's symbol.

While there are other editions of The Urantia Book based exclusively on the text of the original 1955 First Edition, they do not utilize three blue concentric circles.

No publication is known at this time to use the symbol of Lucifer.

Urantia Book in popular culture

• German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen's massive opera cycle Licht is based on the book.
• The American band Deadsy has an image based on The Urantia Book, and mentions it in several songs.
• The album Monolith, by the American progressive rock group Kansas, was largely influenced by The Urantia Book, reflecting an interest in the movement by bandmember Kerry Livgren before his conversion to Christianity.

Karlheinz Stockhausen (born August 22, 1928) is a contemporary composer. ... This enormous opera in seven parts was composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen and inspired by The Urantia Book. ... Deadsy Deadsy are an American band, often categorized as part of the Undercore genre of music. ... Monolith is the seventh album by American rock band Kansas, released in 1979 (see 1979 in music). ... Progressive rock (shortened to prog, or prog rock when differentiating from other progressive genres) is an ambitious, eclectic, and often grandiose style of rock music which arose in the late 1960s, reached the peak of its popularity in the early 1970s, and continues as a musical form to this day. ... Kansas is a 1970s American rock and roll band, specializing in progressive rock with a distinctly American flavor. ... Kerry Livgren (born September 18, 1949) is an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known as one of the founding members and primary writers for the 1970s supergroup, Kansas. ... Beliefs Though enormous diversity exists in the beliefs of those who self-identify as Christian, it is possible to venture general statements which describe the beliefs of a large majority . ...

External links

• The Urantia Foundation The Urantia Foundation website - publisher of the book
• A Detailed Description of the Urantia Book The Urantia Foundation's detailed description of the Papers
• The Urantia Book The Urantia Book online - searchable
• Web home of The Urantia Book Fellowship
• The Urantia Book at ReligiousTolerance.org
• Urantia at The Skeptic's Dictionary
• "Some Human Sources of The Urantia Book" - A paper that describes parallels between the Papers and possible human sources of material which may have been used in The Urantia Book.