ORIGIN AND HISTORY

OF THE URANTIA PAPERS


 

ORIGIN

 


urantiabook.org/archive/mjs_archive/mjs_origin_of_ub.htm

The Origin of The Urantia Book.

from The Meredith J. Sprunger Archive. April 1979. Revised December 1997.

Years of experience reveal that the first thing people wish to know about The Urantia Book is who wrote it. What are the circumstances of its origin? It does little good to tell them the book should be judged by its content, not by claims of authorship. Because of the conditioning of our culture, we are naturally inclined to depend on sources and authority when evaluating publications. Religious literature, in particular, is appraised in this way.

 


 

www.urantiabook.org/archive/sfj/historicity.htm

Meredith Sprunger's Notes on the Origin of The Urantia Book

The Historicity of The Urantia Book (From an article in The Spiritual Fellowship Journal, Fall 1994)

A Personal Account of Finding The Urantia Book (Circa 1960)

 


 

www.world-destiny.org/brief.htm

The Origin of the Urantia Papers

A Brief Account

Ernest P. Moyer

This paper looks at the difference between the so-called "Sleeping Prophet" Edgar Cayce, and the Sleeping Subject described by Will iam Sadler in the Appendix to his book, "The Mind at Mischief". The latter is suspected of being involved in the creation of the Urantia Papers. The author describes the sequence of events which led Sadler to investigate the behavior of the Sleeping Subject, and how that relationship developed into the Urantia Papers.

,


 

www.urantiabook.org/archive/history/carolyns_revelation_plan.htm

The Plan for The Urantia Book Revelation

Carolyn B. Kendall. April 1996.

The author states: There was a master plan for The Urantia Book, and I believe it is still in operation. Its features were specific. They guided the content, the quality, the publishing, and the protection of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. It decreed the establishment and the function of Urantia Foundation and Urantia Brotherhood.  

 


 

This list of quotations from the Urantia Papers tells of the mandate followed by the revelators in compiling and authoring the Urantia Papers. 

The language handicap of revelation: Page 1, par. 2

The Foreword by an Orvonton Commission: Page 1, par. 4

Supplementation of planetary knowledge: Page 17, par. 1

Priority given to existing human concepts: Page 16, par. 8; Page 1343, par 1

Restrictions placed upon revelation of truth: Page 1109, par. 4

Spiritual wisdom versus genetic knowledge: Page 215, par. 2-9

The Midwayer's connection with the Urantia Papers: Page 865, par. 6, 7

The human subject transmitting the Urantia Papers: Pages 865, par. 2; 1208, par. 7; 1209, par. 1

How the Urantia Papers were put in English: Page 1258, par. 1

Concerning the inspiration of revelations: Page 1008, par. 3

The Divine Counselor knows whereof he speaks: Page 32, par. 2

 


 HISTORY 

 


urantiabook.org/archive/history/h_timlin_index.htm

Historic Timeline of Events in the Urantia Community
Index to historic documents according to date
Compiled from varied sources by
David Kantor

1875-1900   1901-1925   1926-1950   1951-1965   1966-1980   1981-1995   1996-Present

  The author says: I would like to offer the view that what this history shows is a dynamic, growing, vital readership which has boldly experimented with multiple approaches to introducing The Urantia Book to a distracted world.

This document is the work of the author and should not be mistaken for an "official" history. Neither should any views expressed herein be mistaken for those of any organization or individual other than the author.

 


 

http://www.michaelsplan.org/L2/Support%20Docs.html

This is a unique listing of documents referring to the history of the Urantia Papers. This site is sponsored by individual students of The Urantia Book, to make Michael's Plan better known throughout the Urantia community. This site is not affiliated with any organization.

 


 

urantiabook.org/archive/history/histumov.htm

A History of the Urantia Movement
Dr.
William S. Sadler

Several members of this group who participated in the preliminary "contacts" which led up to the appearance of the Urantia Papers, had had considerable experience in the investigation of psychic phenomena. This group early arrived at the conclusion that the phenomena connected with the personality, who was later associated with the Urantia Papers, was in no way similar to any other well-known type of psychic performance - such as hypnosis, automatic writing, clairvoyance, trances, spirit mediumship, telepathy, or double personality.

The topics covered in this article:

Contact Activities Preceding The Urantia Papers

How The Urantia Papers Started

How The Forum Started

Introduction Of The Forum To the "Contacts"

The Forum Begins To Ask Questions

The Forum Becomes a Closed Group

How We Got The Urantia Papers

How We Did Not Get The Urantia Book

Psychic Phenomena: Unusual Activities Of The Marginal Consciousness

Reason For Silence Respecting Details Of The Origin Of The Urantia Book

The First Urantia Papers

Receiving The Completed Papers

The Delay In Receiving The Jesus Papers

Functioning Of The Contact Commissioners

The Seventy

The Publication Mandate  

 


 

urantiabook.org/mullins_book_promo.htm

A History of the Urantia Papers

by Larry Mullins with Dr Meredith Sprunger

In addition to providing new details and insights into the known stories about the origin of the Papers, the Mullins/Sprunger book also chronicles the development of the text through its various printings since 1955. The authors also examine in detail the apocryphal stories which have been used in the creation of proprietary entitlement attitudes toward control of the Urantia Papers.

    Go to the heading BOOKS, AUDIO VERSIONS AND MAPS for the complete text on line.


 

urantiabook.org/mullinshistory/index.html

A collection of reference documents corresponding to endnotes in the print media edition of

A History of the Urantia Papers

by Larry Mullins with Dr Meredith Sprunger.
Compiled by
David Kantor .

  


 

urantiabook.org/index_history.htm

History Archive of The Urantia Book Fellowship

This is a most comprehensive listing of published material. In the oral tradition of The Urantia Book readership there are many legends and stories about how the book came to be published, virtually none of which can be documented beyond personal stories. Various published accounts of these stories are listed here.

  


 

urantiabook.org/archive/history/wssjr1.htm

How The Urantia Book Came into Existence

William S. Sadler, Jr.  (February 18, 1962).

The following is transcribed from a tape recording made in the home of Berkeley Elliott on February 18, 1962 in Oklahoma City in the U.S.A. On this occasion, William S. Sadler, Jr., one of the "contact commissioners", was talking with the study group there assembled. What follows are comments which he made on this occasion concerning the origin of The Urantia Book

  


 

www.truthbook.com/urantia_book_commentary/labels/error.cfm

Gardner, Moyer, and Mullins: Three Histories of the Urantia Book

Matthew Rapaport

Comments on three publications: URANTIA: The Great Cult Mystery by Martin Gardner in 1995, Ernest Moyer’s THE BIRTH OF A DIVINE REVELATION: The Origin of the Urantia Papers, and A History of the Urantia Papers by Larry Mullins, both published in 2000.

 


 

www.ubhistory.org/

The Urantia Book Historical Society

The purpose of this organization is to collect primary and secondary source materials and oral histories. The library went on-line to the public in July 2007. The Society continues to scan and add donated documents to the library. It also keeps up with current publications and organizational records of Urantia Book organizations.  

 


 

www.urantiabook.org/archive/history/bkulieke_history.htm

A History Of The Urantia Movement
The Urantia Book Fellowship Publications Committee 1980.

This is a copy of a never published history put together by members of the Publications Committee. It was originally conceived as a slide-tape presentation but was never developed beyond a prototype.

  


 

www.squarecircles.com/

Go to the heading entitled Square Circles Books

 

The Sherman Diaries Volume One - Dawning Revelations 1898-1942
Compiled and Edited by
Saskia Praamsma with Matthew Block. 

 

The first volume of diaries and letters covers the years leading up to Harold and Martha Sherman's move to Chicago to join the Forum that received the Urantia Papers.

The Sherman Diaries Volume Two - Revelation and Rebellion 1942
Compiled and Edited by
Saskia Praamsma and Matthew Block. 

 

The second volume records the Shermans’ first flush of enthusiasm for the revelation and the events that culminated in the first major conflict among Urantia believers.

The Sherman Diaries Volume Three - Aftermath of Rebellion 1943

Compiled and Edited by Saskia Praamsma and Matthew Block. 

During this year, the Shermans continue to attend the weekly Forum meetings almost without fail and to record their recollections soon afterward. Also included are approximately 50 pages of parallels by Matthew Block between a "midwayer" message received at the annual picnic and Emory Reves' 1942 book, A Democratic Manifesto.

 

The Sherman Diaries Volume Four – The Turning Point (1944-45)

Compiled and Edited by Saskia Praamsma and Matthew Block.

During this period the Forum hears the papers that became Part III of The Urantia Book, and the Shermans record their impressions of each paper as well as their discussions with Forum friends on these and other subjects.  

 

The Sherman Diaries Volume Five - Moving On 1946-1955

Compiled and edited by Saskia Raevouri and Matthew Block.

This volume documents the years 1946 to 1955, spanning Harold and Martha Sherman’s last year and a half as Forumites and the period leading up to the long-awaited publication of The Urantia Book.

 

Volume Six (1948-1987) will also be published.  


The following sites give commentaries on The Sherman Diaries.

 

www.urantiabook.org/archive/history/meredith_sherman.htm

A Response to What Appears to be a Commentary on the Urantia Movement

in a Book Entitled "How to Know What to Believe", pages 58-96.
By Meredith J. Sprunger, President URANTIA Brotherhood
September, 1976.

 

 

www.urantiabook.org/archive/history/clyde_sherman_long.htm

A Response to a Thinly Disguised Attack on The Urantia Book

Abridged from a talk made under the auspices of the First Urantia Society of Oklahoma
Sunday, September 5, 1976.

by Clyde Bedell.

 

www.squarecircles.com/books/SquareCirclesBooks/mullins.pdf

A Report on The Sherman Diaries

by Larry Mullins.

This is an editorial which appeared in The Spiritual Fellowship Journal, Volume 13 Number 2, published in the Fall-Winter of 2003 – 2004.

 

urantiabook.org/archive/history/sherman_rebellion.htm

What was the "Sherman Rebellion"?
A collection of related writings and correspondence

Special thanks to Ken Raveill for access to his archive of Sherman materials,
to C. Barrie Bedell for access to Clyde's materials,
and to Matthew Block for access to his personal archive.

 


 

 

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