URANTIA BOOK

Posted by dejavu at 11:53 AM

The Urantia Book is a spiritual and philosophical book that discusses God, science, religion, history, philosophy, and destiny.[1] Sometimes it is referred to as The Urantia Papers, the Fifth Epochal Revelation, or by the abbreviation of its title. The book originated in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. sometime between 1924 and 1955, but its authorship is considered to be a mystery.

The authors of The Urantia Book state their intent is to "present enlarged concepts and advanced truth" in an "endeavor to expand cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception". Among many other topics, it expands on the origin and meaning of life, describes humankind's place in the universe, discusses the relationship between God and people, and presents a detailed biography of Jesus. The book is 2,097 pages long, and consists of a Foreword and 196 papers, divided into four parts.

The Urantia Book introduces the word Urantia as the name of the planet Earth. "Urantian" is a derivation used to denote anyone or anything that originates on Earth. Colloquially, the word "Urantian" is sometimes used to denote an individual who admires and believes in the book, but this meaning is not found in the book itself.

The Urantia Foundation first published The Urantia Book in 1955 in English. Translations into numerous languages are available with several new translations in process. In 2001, Urantia Foundation lost the U.S. copyright to the English version in a court decision and it went into the public domain,[2] and in 2006, the international copyright on the English text expired.[3] Complete, searchable editions of The Urantia Book are available on the Internet, as well as free audio versions.

Contents [hide]
1 Overview of The Urantia Book
2 Teachings
2.1 Nature of God
2.2 God and the individual
2.3 Cosmology
2.3.1 Organization of the cosmos
2.3.2 Comparison to science
2.4 History and future of the world
3 Comparisons to religious teachings
3.1 Comparison to Christianity
3.2 Comparison to Buddhism
3.3 Comparison to other world religions
4 Consideration as literature
5 Mysterious origin
6 Critical views
6.1 Criticism of claims as a revelation
6.2 Criticism of science
6.3 Plagiarism allegations
7 Adherents
8 Symbols
9 The Urantia Book in popular culture
10 See also
11 References
12 External links