The Urantia Book

The Urantia Book ( engl. The Urantia Book) is a 1955 book published in English, in which the term " Urantia " is presented as the real name of planet Earth. The book was written in Chicago, Illinois, USA 1924-1955 and refers to a revelation by superhuman personalities. The anonymous authors of The Urantia Book to admit that it was their intention to present " comprehensive concepts and advanced truth " in an attempt " to extend the cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception ". Among many other topics, they refer to the origin and meaning of life, describe the place of humanity in creation and discuss the relationship between God and man.

Founded in 1950, Urantia Foundation in 1955 published the first Urantia Papers as The Urantia Book. The book was translated into several languages, including Spanish, Finnish, French, Dutch, Lithuanian, Russian and German.

In 2001, the Urantia Foundation was denied the U.S. copyright for the English version in judicial decisions and the Urantia Papers were public domain.

  • 5.1 Primary Sources

Structure of the book

Cosmological ideas

Urantia, the earth, valid according to the Urantia Book as part of a local universe called Nebadon, which consists of 10 million inhabited worlds. Nebadon turn belongs together with other universes for " Super Universe" Orvonton, which is part of the " central universe " Havona. There is " the eternal paradise island " as the abode of God.

Michael is the creator and ruler of Nebadon. In the Urantia book, he is not an archangel, but the 611121st Son of God, which passes in different worlds incarnations ( in the book called " self-giving ") in the form of a creature. In the seventh and last incarnation on Urantia he is to Jesus Christ, to overcome the rebellion of Lucifer final and then to take over " the supreme power and judicial power over the universe ."

Icon

The Urantia logo, which is also depicted on the cover of the book consists of three light blue concentric circles that are supposed to represent " the tangible symbol of the rule of the Trinity over all creation ." At the same time the logo banner Michaels in the fight against the rebellious Lucifer represent, whose symbol is a black dot with surrounding red circle on a white background.

Structure of the Book

The Gnosis related book focuses on God, science, religion, history, philosophy and the fate. Both the English and the German language edition published in 2005 comprises 2,097 pages. The book is divided into four parts plus an introduction and consists of 196 chapters. The four parts are arranged in " narrowing to anthropocentric perspective."

Foreword

  • In the introduction to the concepts and philosophical concepts of the book are presented. This preface was supposedly written by a " Divine Counselor of Orvonton ".

Part I

  • The Central and the super universes.
  • 31 chapters describe the nature of Ultimate Reality and the astronomical and cosmological organization of the universe. The paradise is, together with the Island of Paradise - the material and gravitational center of the universe - described as the source of all energy, matter, life, and the properties of the world. Is also described a universe in the organized hierarchy that has arisen in a relative process of creation, and also how many inhabited planets in all stages of intellectual, biological, intellectual and develop social development.

Part II

  • The local universe.
  • 25 chapters are on our local universe. It speaks of the history of the substance, of the energy and of the constellations of the local universe. The areas of light and life and growth, which reached the man by his faithfulness to God. It describes the self - sacrificing service to our fellow creatures, the plans for the creation and the development and administration of the local universe.

Part III

  • The Story of Urantia.
  • 63 chapters describe the history of the Earth. It describes in detail the history of the geological development, the creation of life, the evolutionary history of humans and the emergence of civilizations, of governments and institutions. The story is told in a way that the underlying religious civilization of human beings gain a new life and that building on the foundations of a wider cultural development can be created.

Part IV

  • The life and teachings of Jesus.
  • This extensive part describes in 77 chapters on 775 pages from the perspective of " twelve Urantia intermediaries " under the supervision of a "revelation conductor " the life of Jesus, which is equated as the Adventists with the Archangel Michael and is regarded as the incarnation Michaels. In this part, in addition to childhood and not handed down in the canonical Gospels, Jesus' ministry between 12 and 30 years is told on an epic scale.

Authorship

According to recent studies of physicians, psychiatrists and lay preacher William S. Sadler (1875-1969) is the main author of The Urantia Book. Sadler, who was close to 1906 of Adventist theology Ellen Gould White's had, later recorded texts of a medium, which were published five years after the founding of the Urantia Foundation.

An indication of a formation around 1934 is found in the book itself at the end of the first part: " [ ... ] we act in compliance with a decree of the Ancients of Days on Uversa, which determines that we this on Urantia, the number 606 Satania to do in Norlatiadek of Nebadon, in 1934. " also, the second part is as specified by the book" in 1934, " have arisen, while the third part supposedly" Urantia time was recorded in 1935 of Urantia time. " In the fourth and final part is missing time information, so that a period could apply until 1950, when the Urantia Foundation was established to ensure a faithful printing. To the Board of Directors of the Foundation at that time were, inter alia, the alleged author William S. Sadler as vice president and William M. Hales as President.

The only certainty is that the final editing of the book was completed at the latest in 1955 with the publication.

Criticism

Criticism from the Catholic side was apart from theological objections to the role of Jesus Christ and the assessment of his death on the cross, inter alia, because of the " hardly be called Christian (s) matching tendency to eugenics " loud, Matthias Pöhlmann and Christian Ruch as " evil spirit " and described as a phenomenon of the first half of the 20th century ," it was not confined to Nazi Germany. "

Reception and adaptations

  • Karlheinz Stockhausen's opera cycle light and his chamber music cycle sound were inspired in large part by the Urantia Book, in which he made ​​light even the Urantia icon in the stage directions for the lighting design and costume adapted in a scene from Thursday.
  • In 1977 released album Heavy Weather jazz - rock group Weather Report can be found in the title Havona a clear allusion to the Urantia Book.
  • The French rock band Magma relied on a myth of Kobaïa, who in turn was influenced by the Urantia Book.
Gnosticism Biblical canon Licht Klang (Stockhausen)
794775
de