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The Urantia Book is a spiritual, religious, and philosophical tome that discusses God, the universe, the planet, science, evolution, history, philosophy, religion, and destiny. Sometimes it is referred to as "The Urantia Papers", or "The Fifth Epochal Revelation". The book originated in Chicago, Illinois sometime between 1934 and 1955, but its authorship is a mystery. (See Mysterious origin.)

The Urantia Book seeks to clear up numerous misconceptions regarding God, divinity and deity. It addresses Jesus, the origin of life, the meaning of life, and humankind's place in creation. A total of 2,097 pages, the book consists of a "Foreword" and 196 papers, divided into four parts.

The word "Urantia" originates in The Urantia Book, and is defined as the name of the planet Earth. Someone who is a "Urantian" is simply "a person from earth". Sometimes the word "Urantian" is used to refer to a reader of the book.

The first published The Urantia Book in 1955 in English. Translations into numerous languages are available. In 2001, the Urantia Foundation lost the U.S. copyright to the English version in a court decision. The text of the original English version is now in the public domain. A free, searchable edition of The Urantia Book is available on the Internet .

Overview of The Urantia Book

The Urantia Book consists of the following:

1. Table of Contents
2. 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

The “Foreword” is in outline form. It presents, along with its stated mandate and purpose, new words, new ideas, existent words with specific definitions, and complex philosophical and religious concepts found throughout the entire book. It begins:

"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 appellations.."

In the “Acknowledgement” at the end, it states:

“In formulating the succeeding presentations having to do with the portrayal of the character of the Universal Father and the nature of his Paradise associates, together with an attempted description of the perfect central universe and the encircling seven superuniverses, we are to be guided by the mandate of the superuniverse rulers which directs that we shall, in all our efforts to reveal truth and co-ordinate essential knowledge, give preference to the highest existing human concepts pertaining to the subjects to be presented. We may resort to pure revelation only when the concept of presentation has had no adequate previous expression by the human mind.”

Part I consists of 31 papers regarding "The Central and Superuniverses". Some of these papers are "The Universal Father", "God’s Relation to the Universe", "God’s Relation to the Individual", "The Eternal Son", "The Infinite Spirit", "The Paradise Trinity", "The Eternal Isle of Paradise", "The Universe of Universes", including several narratives involving the personalities of high celestial beings. Through the presentations of these papers, Part I addresses the origin of all life, a unique scheme of creation and man’s relationship in it.

Part II consists of Papers 32 through 56 which are dedicated to an array of subjects pertaining to "The Local Universe". Papers include "The Evolution of the Local Universes", "Administration of the Local Universe", "The Local Universe Mother Spirit", "The Local Universe Sons of God", "Personalities of the Local Universe", "The Seraphic Hosts", "The Ascending Sons of God", "Physical Aspects of the Local Universe", "Energy-Mind and Matter", "The Seven Mansion Worlds", "Planetary Mortal Epochs", "The Lucifer Rebellion", "The Spheres of Light and Life", and "Universal Unity". Part II expands Part I and introduces the reader to a new concept of local universes. It presents narratives on the inhabitants and their purposeful work as it is coordinated with God’s plans in the larger schematics of the universe(s).

Part III consists of Papers 57 through 119 and compiles a broad history of the earth titled, "The History of Urantia". Topics include "The Origin of Urantia", "Life Establishment on Urantia", several narratives on evolution, "The First Human Family", "The Planetary Prince of Urantia", "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 III presents yet even a closer examination and explanation of the origin, history, purpose and destiny of the planet and its inhabitants.

Part IV consists of Papers 120 through 196 and narrates "The Life and Teachings of Jesus." Included are papers on the "Bestowal of Michael on Urantia", "Birth and Infancy of Jesus", "The Early Childhood of Jesus", "The Later Adult Life of Jesus", detailed narratives on Jesus’ trips to Rome, "John the Baptist", "Baptism and the Forty Days", "The Twelve Apostles", which includes detailed profiles of each, and "Beginning the Public Work." Part IV presents details about several preaching tours, miracles, crises, and events that led to the crucifixion, death and resurrection. It continues from there with papers on the "Bestowal of the Spirit of Truth", "After Pentecost", and finally, "The Faith of Jesus". Part IV weaves relative concepts presented in the first three parts through the illustration and example of Jesus' life.

Topical Summaries

Please use this section for summaries of specific topics found in The Urantia Book as regards basic/general subjects such as destiny, philosophy, evolution, etc.

God and the individual

In the book, God is the creator of all things and resides at the center of creation on the eternal "Isle of Paradise." He is an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite and eternal personality, and exists in a Trinity of three persons.

The basic and most fundamental teaching throughout The Urantia Book is that God is the loving "Father" of all living beings - even those existing in eternity, absonite, and finite creations. Coincident with this idea is the familial relationship of all universe citizens as well as the "brotherhood of mankind". Therefore, all living personalities are of "God's family" and no one is chosen over another. "God is no respecter of persons."

God is spirit — a spirit personality. By all universal logic, only personalities can know other personalities and therefore, all personalities can know God. To know him as a loving "Father" is, in spite of all other concepts about him, the highest value-concept humankind can conceive of God.

The numerous themes in The Urantia Book — among them universe, planetary, and human history, as well as cosmology, biology, evolution and philosophy — all present "God as a loving Father" and as the eternal upholder, the foundation and center of all created and as yet to be created reality.

Jesus in The Urantia Book is also referred to as "Michael of Nebadon." He is a divine descendant "Creator Son of God," who created the local universe of "Nebadon" where Urantia resides. Michael of Nebadon incarnated on earth as Jesus of Nazareth to reveal the true nature of God. His life and teachings are said to be the fullest presentation and revelation of the personality, attitude, and nature of the Father humankind has ever witnessed.

Paper 196, the final paper, states:

"To 'follow Jesus' means to personally share his religious faith and to enter into the spirit of the Master's life of unselfish service for man. 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."

To want to know God and become like him is the supreme quest of each person. God mandated "be you perfect, even as I am perfect," so a vast universe scheme of ascension was created and now exists to assist mortal man in attaining the eternal goal. Mortal man is an experiential creature and so he must 'experience' in order to 'become'. The destiny of humankind is to traverse the universes of creation to 'meet God'. Humans go from a beginning existence in finite time-space creation through a long series of 570 translations in an intervening space heretofore unknown to mankind termed "morontia" which prepares him one world at a time for the final translation to eternity-infinity. Once they graduate they will figuratively come 'face to face with God' on the Eternal Isle of Paradise. In the book, the universe is "one vast school" that prepares a surviving mortal for fulfillment of the mandate. After attainment of this status, the book goes on to discuss the potential destinies of these 'glorified mortals of the realms'.

God achieves a personal relationship with all his "children" through a direct gift of his spirit. This is what makes a human being "spiritual". When a child makes his or her first independent moral decision, typically around the age of six, a spirit fragment of God called a Thought Adjuster (TA) comes to indwell them. The fragment is a gift from God to each and every morally conscious person and is a lifelong partner which leads man to his eternal destiny. Every normal minded human being is spiritually endowed in this way.

The Thought Adjuster is also called a "Mystery Monitor," "inner voice," "divine spark," and "pilot light." While using several different terms in the book, the concept is not entirely new. It has been in partial existence in relgion, philosophy and psychology. It is sometimes called "a still small voice" in other schools of thought, but it is not the conscience or subconscience. The TA works in the higher spiritual mind in the realms of the superconscience.

In The Urantia Book, each normal-minded person receives one such fragment, and it serves as a divine partner for the rest of life. It's work with the individual is to lead the individual toward more mature, spiritualized thinking. Through the practice of learning how to consistently choose "God's will" the individual progresses to greater God consciousness and spiritual growth - this is the work of the TA which naturally occurs in the life of a human being. It is the same as learning how to align one's will with God's will though it is a unique explanation of how it works in actuality.

The concept of the Thought Adjuster is in ways comparable to the Hindu atman and the ancient Egyptian ka. From philosophy, the concept is similar to Socrates' "daimonion." 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."

In The Urantia Book, every time a human chooses to follow Adjuster guidance the soul matures a little more. The human soul is considered to be an embryonic spiritual reality that has potentials and can survive mortal death.

The writers explain that personality is something of a mystery and difficult to explain. Personality is described as a gift from God that is unique for each person. It is the part of a person that unifies all the components of selfhood and including will or volition. Innately creative, personality is not subject to antecedent causation. Despite growth

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 not only have toward God but also their inner spirit, their Thought Adjuster. This attitude of open-minded teachability is what facilitates spiritual growth and invariably leads to an inspiration to love and "be of service" to other people. The book is strongly fideistic and 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.

From Paper 101, "The Real Nature of Religion" (line 58):

"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." There is no actual place called "Hell" in the book, instead, through making bad choices a person can experience a figurative hell or literally choose their way to non-existence. If it isn't real or if it isn't true then it does not exist. "There is no sin in Him".

From Paper 5 (line 66):

"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 mortal survivors embark on a journey that literally goes from time and space to eternity and infinity. A person is ultimately destined to fuse with their divine fragment to become one single, unique, indistinguishable, inseparable personality able to traverse enormous space between the finite and the infinite."Fusion" is described as the moment when a human personality has successfully and unalterably won eternal life, typically taking place in the afterlife, but it is also a possibility during earthly life. It is the evolutionary destiny of humankind to reach a far off stage of life, "the final epoch", on the planet; a time when all mortals will fuse and translate to the next worlds rather suffer death first. Urantia, at this time, has very few fusion candidates. It, as a whole, must traverse several more evolutionary stages before it reaches the first stage of "Light and Life" where most mortals are able attain the fusion potential during their 'earthy life'.

Fusion during earthly life causes a fiery "fusion flash" that is of such enormous energy and magnitude that on worlds that have not yet arrived at the evolutionary stage of "Light and Life", but when individual mortals attain the level uniquely, they must be carried up high into the atmosphere for the event to take place. This must be done in order to protect the surroundings from the potentially devastating effects. It then results in a "translation" "from life in the flesh to to the morontia existence" where the material body is obliterated and the person is transformed to their first morontial form. E.g. Elijah being taken to heaven without death in "chariots of fire" is a rare example in recorded history of a Urantia mortal who attained fusion. Once complete, the individual arrives on the appropriate morontial world there to begin their next step in destiny. This is the way, in the book, that mankind will eventually escape the stage of his existence where he must, for now, experience mortal death before progressing to the "hereafter".

Once fused with his or her fragment of God, a person continues as an ascending citizen in the universe, a little lower than the angels, traveling through numerous worlds on a long, adventurous pilgrimage of growth and learning that eventually leads to God in the center of creation, Paradise. Mortals who reach this stage are called "finaliters".

In the papers, the religious concepts of reincarnation are replaced by the progressive ascension scheme. In the book, the universe is "one vast school".

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.

The concept of the "Fatherhood of God" is presented with a corrollary of the "brotherhood of man." Humankind is to learn 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.

See the section, "Comparison to Christianity". Additionally, Paper 196, "The Faith of Jesus" , provides a summary of Jesus and the difference between a "religion about Jesus" and the "religion of Jesus."

Cosmology

The Urantia Book uses the term "universe" to denote a number of different scales of organization. A superuniverse is roughly the size of a galaxy or group of galaxies. A local universe is described as approximately .00001 the size of a superuniverse. The modern dictionary definition of universe — all existing matter and space taken as a whole — is referred to as the "master universe". When the term "universe" is used alone, the type of universe usually can be inferred from the context.

From pages 1-2 in the "Foreword":

"Your world, Urantia, is one of many similar inhabited planets which comprise the local universe of Nebadon. This universe, together with similar creations, makes up the superuniverse of Orvonton, from whose capital, Uversa, our commission hails. Orvonton is one of the seven evolutionary superuniverses of time and space which circle the never-beginning, never-ending creation of divine perfection — the central universe of Havona. At the heart of this eternal and central universe is the stationary Isle of Paradise, the geographic center of infinity and the dwelling place of the eternal God.

The seven evolving superuniverses in association with the central and divine universe, we commonly refer to as the grand universe; these are the now organized and inhabited creations. They are all a part of the master universe, which also embraces the uninhabited but mobilizing universes of outer space."

Philosophies

The theoretic "I Am"

The Urantia Book includes an indepth discussion of the "I Am".

In the Foreword it states:

"In this original transaction the theoretical I AM achieved the realization of personality by becoming the Eternal Father of the Original Son simultaneously with becoming the Eternal Source of the Isle of Paradise. Coexistent with the differentiation of the Son from the Father, and in the presence of Paradise, there appeared the person of the Infinite Spirit and the central universe of Havona. With the appearance of coexistent personal Deity, the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit, the Father escaped, as a personality, from otherwise inevitable diffusion throughout the potential of Total Deity. Thenceforth it is only in Trinity association with his two Deity equals that the Father fills all Deity potential, while increasingly experiential Deity is being actualized on the divinity levels of Supremacy, Ultimacy, and Absoluteness.

The concept of the I AM is a philosophic concession which we make to the time-bound, space-fettered, finite mind of man, to the impossibility of creature comprehension of eternity existences--nonbeginning, nonending realities and relationships. To the time-space creature, all things must have a beginning save only the ONE UNCAUSED--the primeval cause of causes. Therefore do we conceptualize this philosophic value-level as the I AM, at the same time instructing all creatures that the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit are coeternal with the I AM; in other words, that there never was a time when the I AM was not the Father of the Son and, with him, of the Spirit."

History and future of the earth

The earth, Urantia, like every other inhabited sphere in the finite creation is destined to sometime reach a stage of "light and life" that is contributory to the rest of the universe and onward.

The Urantia Book states in Part II, Paper 55:

"There are seven stages in the unfoldment of the era of light and life on an evolutionary world, and in this connection it should be noted that the worlds of the Spirit-fused mortals evolve along lines identical with those of the Adjuster-fusion series. These seven stages of light and life are:

1. The first or planetary stage.

2. The second or system stage.

3. The third or constellation stage.

4. The fourth or local universe stage.

5. The fifth or minor sector stage.

6. The sixth or major sector stage.

7. The seventh or superuniverse stage.

At the conclusion of this narrative these stages of advancing development are described as they relate to the universe organization, but the planetary values of any stage may be attained by any world quite independent of the development of other worlds or of the superplanetary levels of universe administration."

The plan for the entire finite creation is to "become" something more complete and replete than the stage in which it is found now. Every individual, every planet, every solar system, every sector, every local universe, every universe has an attainment potential and ideal to reach.

Comparisons to religious teachings

Comparison to Christianity

Of all current world religions, The Urantia Book's teachings are likely the most consistent with the teachings of Christianity. There are significant differences between The Urantia Book and commonly accepted Christian beliefs. Many believers see it as extending Judeo-Christian religious concepts in the same way the New Testament may be considered an evolutionary expansion of Old Testament ideas.

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 of his life and teachings. 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 was without sin
• He is "the light of the world"
• He revealed God to man as "the way, the truth, and the life"
• 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 Lucifer and Satan
• He was crucified and three days later rose from the dead
• He will return to our world again some day

The Urantia Book shares the following general concepts of God with most Christian faiths:

• God is the creator of all reality
• God is described as a loving personality; "God is love"
• God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite, and eternal
• God is a Trinity
• God has a vast "heavenly host"
• God is truth, beauty, and goodness, 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

Some differences with Christianity include:

• Jesus' crucifixion is not considered an atonement for the sins of humanity. The crucifixion was an outcome of the fears of the religious leaders of the day. His teachings were a threat to their coffers and their positions of authority.
• God is never wrathful or angry, but a personality entirely motivated by fatherly love.
• There was no Fall of Man. God does not allow humans to suffer because of the sins of two remote ancestors.
• When Jesus was 28 and 29, he toured Rome, Greece, and nearby regions in the company of two natives of India, Gonod and Ganid.
• Jesus is described as the human incarnation of "Michael of Nebadon," one of more than 700,000 "Paradise Sons" of God, or "Creator Sons." Jesus is not considered the second person of the Trinity as he is in Christianity. The book refers to the Eternal Son as the second person of the Trinity.
• Jesus is said to have a co-creator consort, the "Mother Spirit" of Nebadon, also known as the "Divine Minister." This spirit is said to be the bestower of mind to all living things and beings in Nebadon and the Holy Spirit from Christian traditions.
• Jesus was born on earth through natural means of conception. The Virgin Birth is said to be the product of human myth developed later.
• In rising from the dead, Jesus was in a "more glorified form," a transitional stage between material and spiritual existence known as the "morontia" life. As with all mortals, his physical body was subject to decomposition, but celestial beings removed his body from the tomb for the immediate dissolution of his remains through a process of "accelerated time."
• At Pentecost his spirit, known as the Spirit of Truth, was bestowed on all humankind, rather than the Holy Spirit
• 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 Jesus may return to the world many times. 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.

Comparison to Buddhism

The Urantia Book considers Buddhism one of the "great international, interracial faiths" and says it "has shown an adaptability to the mores of many peoples that has been equaled only by Christianity."

Gautama Siddhartha is called a real prophet whose doctrines were revolutionary and amazing for their time. He is credited with being one of the seven outstanding teachers in human history, a group that includes Moses, Laozi, and the Apostle Paul.

The teaching that a divine nature — the Buddha-nature — resides in all people, and that through their own endeavors people can attain a realization of this inner divinity, is cited as one of the clearest presentations of the concept of the Thought Adjuster to be found in non-revelatory religion.

The book says Gautama's experience was tragic, however, in that he was an "orphan prophet" whose philosophy failed early on to envision the reality of a spiritual God.

Despite this, the book states: "Buddhism is a living, growing religion today because it succeeds in conserving many of the highest moral values of its adherents. It promotes calmness and self-control, augments serenity and happiness, and does much to prevent sorrow and mourning. Those who believe this philosophy live better lives than many who do not."

Reincarnation

The Urantia Book presents a philosophy that humankind has its beginning on the planet and has a destiny of evolutionary progression that traverses all the universes rather than being reincarnated over and over on the planet. The scheme is not "earth-centric", but rather it is "Central Universe-centric". The similarity is the progressive accumulation of knowledge, experience, and lessons learned.

Comparison to other world religions

Numerous facets of the book are recognizeable in other world religions. There are commonalities with Islam, Taoism, Judaism, Hinduism, 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.

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 .

Consideration as literature

The Urantia Book has been enjoyed as a form of science fiction, historical fiction, or fantasy. The Urantia Book is noted for its high level of internal consistency and an advanced writing style. Even Gardner, in his critical book, writes that it is "highly imaginative" and that the "cosmology outrivals in fantasy the cosmology of any science-fiction work known to me."

Parts I, II, and III are chiefly written in expository language. The papers are informational, matter-of-fact, and instructional. Part IV of the book is written as a biography of Jesus' life, and some feel it is a rich narrative with well-developed characters, high attention to detail, woven sub-plots, and realistic dialogue. Considered as literature, Part IV is favorably compared to other retellings of Jesus' life, such as The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago and Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock. Skeptic Martin Gardner considers Part IV to be an especially "well-written, impressive work," and says, "Either it is accurate in its history, coming directly from higher beings in position to know, or it is a work of fertile imagination by someone who knew the New Testament by heart and who was also steeped in knowledge of the times when Jesus lived." He says he does not know who wrote the narrative of Jesus, but in keeping with his conclusions about the origin of the book, says he suspects Dr. William Sadler was the author.

Mysterious origin

The Urantia Book was first published in 1955 by the Urantia Foundation.

There is a controversial mystery surrounding the , its authors and its material.

In one story there is a person who received the material from spirit beings while asleep. This individual is said to have been "wholly unconcerned" about the entire affair. Somehow each paper of The Urantia Book mysteriously materialized.

Dr. William S Sadler, a surgeon, psychologist, and skeptic of the supernatural and paranormal, was the attending physician of the anonymous "sleeping subject". It was through this strange and unexplained means that the celesital authors worked.

In addition to the doctor and the "sleeping subject" there were two basic groups called the "Contact Commission" and the "Forum." The names of all humans involved in the project were intentionally withheld to prevent any sort of undesirable veneration or reverence for them. Their possible identities are discussed in a matter of recent (p.9), but who these individuals actually were remains uncertain.

The Sadlers and others involved, now all deceased, claimed that the papers of the book were one by one over a 10 year period from 1925 until 1935 with the first three parts being complete in 1934 and the fourth in 1935. The last Forum gathering was in 1942. Documented also are types of reception which Dr. Sadler refuted as the way in which the Papers were received. See 'How We Did Not Get The Urantia Book' and 'Psychic Phenomena: Unusual Activities of the Marginal Consciousness(The Subconscious Mind)' by Dr. Sadler, 1958.

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 , and their entire function was to about the material. Another group formed called . They were the custodians of the manuscripts and mainly responsible for gathering the questions and proofreading.

Apparently the celestial revelators' purpose was to educate Dr Sadler and others about existing misconceptions of God, Divinity, and Deity on this world. They were to become teachers, who would teach more teachers, and assist the planet in further spiritual growth.

A lot of work was apparently done of the Papers.

Although these and other controversial claims of the origin of the text and content of the Papers have never been factually verified, the celestial writers indicate in The Urantia Book that a "Contact Personality," whose identity was anonymous, was used to aid in its reception.

Critical views

The Urantia Book has received limited published or formal critical analysis. Likely the most common points of contention include:

• It claims to be a revelation from godly celestial beings and is written as if directly presented by these same celestial beings.
• Under the assertion the Bible is inspired and is the infallible, absolute, word of God, it denies some Christian doctrines that are held to be true and therefore is not acceptable.
• From a scientific point of view, parts of the science it describes conflict with some modern theories.
• Some of the concepts have been alleged to have been plagiarized.

Criticism of claims as a revelation

In Paper 92, "The Later Evolution of Religion," the authors list the papers as the fifth epochal revelation to humankind, the fourth epochal revelation having been the life of Jesus.

The book has been in print since 1955, but in comparison to better known religious or holy books that also have a recent origin and revelatory claims, such as the Book of Mormon, popularity of The Urantia Book has not grown as fast.

Unlike new religious movements with higher growth rates such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Scientology, and Church of Christ, Scientist, the movement inspired by The Urantia Book has no institutions such as churches, reading rooms, or temples, and has no membership by which a census of the number of followers can be taken. As of 2004, the Urantia Foundation has one office in Chicago and five people on staff.

The claim of revelation in The Urantia Book has been criticized for various reasons. Skeptics such as Martin Gardner point to aspects of its science that appear to be flawed as evidence that it is a product of human efforts rather than a revelation. Those reviewing it from a Christian point of view who are unconvinced note that because the book does not support fundamental tenets of orthodox Christianity, while at the same time presenting an account of Jesus' life with non-Biblical elements, it can not be a divine revelation. Some have considered it to be gnostic for this reason. Other critics have felt that at over 2,000 pages — nearly twice the length of the King James Bible — it is too long, complex, and bureaucratic in its thinking.

Criticism of science

In Paper 101, "The Real Nature of Religion," the authors write:

"We full well know that, while the historic facts and religious truths of this series of revelatory presentations will stand on the records of the ages to come, 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. Let it be made clear that revelations are not necessarily inspired. The cosmology of these revelations is not inspired."

In the view of skeptics like Martin Gardner, the science in The Urantia Book clearly reflects opinions that prevailed at the time the revelation is said to have begun, up until 1955 when the book was published. The claim by the authors that no unknown scientific discoveries could be included is seen as a simple ruse to allow mistakes in the science to be dismissed later. That the book avoids presenting post-1955 scientific knowledge is seen as evidence that it was written by humans and not by celestial beings with superior knowledge.

Science cited as erroneous includes:

• The book describes the formation of the solar system in a way consistent with the planetesimal hypothesis or Chamberlin-Moulton hypothesis. Though popular in the early part of the 20th century, major flaws in the theory were discovered and by 1940 it was discarded by the scientific community.
• The book gives the age of our universe as more than 1,000,000,000,000 years. The big bang theory is not supported. Instead, the universe is said to periodically expand and contract — respire — at 2-billion-year intervals.
• A fundamental particle called an "ultimaton" is proposed by the book that is not known to be described anywhere else. An electron is said to consist of exactly 100 ultimatons. The concept is not supported by modern particle physics.
• Some species are described as arising "suddenly" from single mutations without transitional species. The theory originated with the Dutch botanist Hugo De Vries but was short-lived and is no longer supported.
• The book describes that colored human races originated "suddenly" in one generation and in one family, producing brothers and sisters that variously turned blue, yellow, red, green, orange, and indigo when exposed to sunlight. Their offspring favored the parent color subsequently. A later "violet" race is said to have been produced by Adam and Eve. The superior races were the violet, blue, yellow, and red, and the other three were inferior. The green and orange races were driven to extinction, and the other races mixed over time.
• The book claims that one side of the planet Mercury always faces the sun. Mercury actually rotates slightly and all sides see exposure to the sun.
• The book says that a solar eclipse occurred in 1808 that was predicted by the Native American prophet Tenskwatawa. The eclipse actually occurred on June 16, 1806.
• The book says that sunbeams are "highly heated and agitated electrons." Solar radiation consists of photons, however, not electrons. Gardner finds it odd that the term "photon" is not used in the book. It was coined in 1926.

Perhaps of most controversy, the book on occasion makes what seems to be unsettling statements on racial issues. Supporters state that the criticism has arisen mainly due to people reading passages out of context. Dr. William Sadler had a history of writing eugenicist works, and Gardner believes that Dr. Sadler had a hand in writing or editing the book and this is how such ideas came to be included.

Some adherents of the book are orthodox in their belief that all of the information in The Urantia Book, including its science, is literally true, while many others do not believe that the science is correct, accepting the book's caveats.

Meredith Sprunger, a liberal believer in The Urantia Book who is also a retired minister in the United Church of Christ, writes that research "has revealed that virtually all of the scientific material found in The Urantia Book was the accepted scientific knowledge of the period in which the book was written, was held by some scientists of that time, or was about to be discovered or recognized." He argues against its literal infallibility and that fundamentalism over the book is "just as untenable as Biblical fundamentalism."

Other believers maintain that the book has prophetically anticipated advances in scientific knowledge already, and believe more of its science — if not all of it — will be proven correct in the future. Gardner evaluated many of these claims as of 1995 and found them unconvincing. Some arise because the book is said to have been indited by the revelators in 1934 and 1935, but then was not published until 1955. Scientific discoveries included in the book that were made in the two intervening decades can be perceived as prophetic to believers, while skeptics see no reason to think such facts were not just added prior to publication. For instance, the catalytic role that carbon plays in the sun's nuclear reactions is described in the book, though Hans Bethe's announcement of the discovery was not made until 1938.

The only apparent anticipation of science the book has made, in Gardner's opinion, is that it says the magnetic sense that homing pigeons possess is "not wholly wanting as a conscious possession by mankind." In 1980, a British zoologist, Robin Baker, published evidence that humans have a limited magnetic sense.

Plagiarism allegations

The Urantia Book states in its Foreword that it used "human concepts, assembled from the God-knowing mortals of the past and the present." In recent years, students of the papers have found that the free use of other sources appears to be true, with none of the material allegedly used from other sources cited or referenced 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" that showed nineteen alleged 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 that contain concepts and wording similar to what is found in The Urantia Book. Gardner found that 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.

Block claimed to have discovered over 125 source books and articles written by over 90 authors that he reported were incorporated into the papers. The use of outside source materials was studied by Gardner, and he concluded that the book did use many of the sources noted by Block in his 1992 article.

For instance, Gardner and Block note that 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, much of The Urantia Book material relating to the evolution of mankind appears to have been directly taken from Henry Fairfield Osborn, Man Rises to Parnassus: Critical Epochs in the Prehistory of Man published by Princeton University Press in 1928.

Block and many believers do not see the use of human source materials as plagiarism. Block writes:

"One probable reason that the human sources were left undisguised was to enable students to discern, through comparative analysis, how this coordination of planetary knowledge was actually effected. As mentioned above, the initial analyses have already proved tremendously illuminating in this regard. Another reason was to keep us aware of the book’s anchorage in a specific time and place. While a very large part of the book is of timeless value and perennial applicability, some of its discussions directly address and respond to the world situation of the early 20th century. Thus, every generation will have to determine the relevance and applicability of certain of the book’s teachings to its own situation.

Emerging from all these discoveries is the gratifying realization that the Urantia Book is exactly what its authors claim it to be.."

It should be noted that the wording and phraseology is not a verbatim replication, and no plagiarism has been proven officially. In some instances, the authors of The Urantia Book have made subtle changes to, or expansions of, the possible source materials.

Believers propose that the source texts were invariably improved and this points to their divine origin. However, in some cases the book also propagates material from the original sources that modern science has claimed to be incorrect.

Adherents

Because there is no way to really gauge who "adherents" are because there are no groups to census, this section is a "courtesy mention" stub. Number of books sold can be tracked at The Urantia Foundation. However, it appears that a growing number of people are reading the book and forming study groups, creating and joining internet discussion groups, and hosting or visiting websites about it. The Urantia Book can be read at no cost at the Urantia Foundation website among several others hosting the free online electronic edition. Therefore merely counting book sales would not yield an accurate acounting of either "followers" or "skeptics".

Many people find The Urantia Book to be attractive because it offers a reconciliation for the apparent innumerable discrepancies between modern science and religion. The Urantia Book does not advocate organized religion neither does it oppose it. Adherents of The Urantia Book have been alleged by some critics as being involved in a cult, however in practice characteristics normally associated with cults are not present. There is no central charismatic figure, no hidden mysteries, no rituals or ceremonies, and there is no teaching that the book's followers are chosen people whereas all others are lost. The book disavows mysticism. The book teaches that believers are to be friendly and non-violent. Its readers say The Urantia Book contains many advanced spiritual concepts that are conducive to growth such as not following any book in concretized fashion, but rather to follow the living God.

Symbols

A symbol described in The Urantia Book consists of three concentric blue circles on a white background. The circles are said to have symbolized several trinity associations in the history of humankind. The authors of The Urantia Book indicate its revealed meaning as being "the infinity, eternity, and universality of the Paradise Trinity of divine maintenance and direction."

The original publisher, Urantia Foundation, placed the concentric circles on the cover of The Urantia Book and claimed a United States trademark. The circles are used to indicate other organizations affiliated with the Urantia Foundation. Enduring controversy over the use of the symbol for any business purpose continues.

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.

The Urantia Book in popular culture

• German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen's massive opera cycle Licht is not "based on" the book (as sometimes is said), but does make reference to it in the first and third acts of Donnerstag (Thursday), and in the symbols associated with two of the three main characters, Michael and Lucifer.
• The American band Deadsy is influenced by The Urantia Book, and makes references to 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.

See also

• Glossary of terms in The Urantia Book

References

• Unknown author(s) (1955). The Urantia Book. Urantia Foundation. ISBN 0911560505
• Gardner, Martin (1995). Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0879759550
• Gooch, Brad (2002). Godtalk : Travels in Spiritual America. Knopf. ISBN 0679447091
• House, Dr. H. Wayne (2000). Charts of Cults, Sects, and Religious Movements. Zondervan. ISBN 0310385512

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