The Urantia Book

{{scriptures}}
'''''The Urantia Book''''' is a collection of allegedly [[Channelling|channelled]] writings mostly compiled from the 1930s, published by the Urantia Foundation in 1955. The texts combine [[Christianity]] and an alleged [[history]] of the work and teachings of [[Jesus]] with a [[cosmology]] of [[extraterrestrial]] [[Spirits|spirit beings]].  The book presents an elaborate [[pseudohistory]] of the [[universe]] (the book actually claims there are many universes, superuniverses, and so on), and that the name of planet Earth in this cosmology is "Urantia".  The portion on the life of Jesus remains fairly close to the [[Bible]] stories of his life and teachings, except that in the ''Urantia Book'' Jesus was the most important spirit being in this universe who came to "Urantia" (Earth) to solidify his superior status, and the ideas of [[original sin]] or any need for Jesus to atone for human sins are rejected. In this, it departs from most [[Christian]] [[theology]]. The life of Jesus, as told in Part IV of ''The Urantia Book'', is presented in great detail with paintings and illustrations at the [[Badger's Law|Truthbook]] website.<ref>[https://truthbook.com Truthbook.com]. "Discover Jesus in the Urantia Book."</ref>

For whatever reason, ''Urantia'' had some popularity among some [[rock music|rock musicians]] in the 1970s, and influenced some of the albums by bands like Kansas and Spirit. Kerry Livgren of Kansas, who later became a [[born again]] [[Evangelical Christian|evangelical]], cites the ''Urantia Book'' as a way station between his previous [[agnosticism]] and his later evangelical Christianity and states that he eventually came to reject the ''Urantia Book'' as a false portrayal of Christ.<ref group=Note>He wrote a whole book on the subject, ''Seeds of Change,'' by Kerry Livgren and Kenneth Boa, Crossway Books, 1983, ISBN 0891072659</ref> In fact, if you've ever taken a sip of what's called "Sleepytime Tea", you've had a taste of the Urantia life; Mo Siegel, a founder of Celestial Seasonings, is the current president of the Urantia Foundation and cites the book as a key part of the tea business.<ref> [https://www.inverse.com/article/10731-cults-conspiracies-and-the-twisted-history-of-sleepytime-tea Cults, Conspiracies, and the Twisted History of Sleepytime Tea]. ''Inverse''. Giller, Megan</ref>

''The Urantia Book'' includes quite a bit of [[science woo]] from the 1930's presented as authoritative fact. Many of these suppositions, which were largely accepted in the 1930s, have since been disproven, which casts doubt on the purported supernatural origin of the ''Urantia Book'' and points to a purely human origin.  Among other things the book endorses [[eugenics]] at one point.  Each writing in the book credits one or more supernatural authors, who have names like "Divine Counseler", "Perfector of Wisdom", "Brilliant Evening Star", and "Universal Censor". The actual authorship has been traced to a [[Seventh-day Adventism|Seventh Day Adventist]] [[Apostasy|splinter-group]] in [[Chicago]], and allegations have also been made that some of the book is [[Plagiarism|plagiarized]] from earlier writings. [[Martin Gardner]] wrote an extensive study of the book, and of its quite human, and plagiarized, origin.<ref>''Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery''. [[Prometheus Books]], 1995, ISBN 1591026229</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[Book of Mormon]]''
* ''[[Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ]]''
* ''[[A Course in Miracles]]''
* ''[[Oahspe]]''

==External links==
* [http://skepdic.com/urantia.html A more extensive analysis of the Urantia Book] in [[The Skeptic's Dictionary]]
* [http://urantiabook.org/ The Urantia book "Fellowship"]
* [https://truthbook.com/ The life of Jesus from The Urantia Book in detail]

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Books]]
[[Category:Hoaxes]]
[[Category:New Age]]
[[Category:Scriptures]]
[[Category:Ufology]]

Categories: Books, Hoaxes, New Age, Scriptures, Ufology