© 2004 Merlyn Cox
© 2004 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
Over the course of several years, Meredith Sprunger sent letters to mainline clergy seeking to introduce them to The Urantia Book. I was one who responded, having received and accepted an invitation for a loan copy of the book. I was astonished by the wisdom and the ring of truth of what I was reading, and it quickly became the center and focus of my spiritual life. I wanted to share it with everyone I could, although I was not naive about the prospects. I even wondered if I would find anyone else in my lifetime who would be open to “discovering” it.
One day Meredith and I were discussing other ways of introducing The Urantia Book to others in the mainline churches and he said he had been thinking of publishing a journal to interface with mainline clergy. My immediate response was, “We can do that.” It was not long before we were at work preparing the first issue of the Journal, thanks to the new technology of desktop publishing.
We published the Journal from 1991 through the spring of 2001, when Meredith and Irene moved to a retirement village and he felt he could no longer continue as editor. Still in full time ministry, I didn’t believe I could do the task justice. Fortunately, Larry Mullins took over the work of the Journal and has kept it going in fine style for the past three years. His own commitments have since become heavier, and he also decided he could no longer serve as editor and publisher. In the meantime, I retired early in order to have more time to work on behalf of the Fifth Epochal Revelation in whatever manner I could, and I agreed to take over this position. Meredith indicated he would serve in the position of associate editor. So, in effect, we are back to the original team, working in much the same way, with simply a switch in titles.
We have also sought to rethink our purpose: Has it changed? How do we now see our role in the larger Urantia Community and the world?
We had already shifted the primary focus from interfacing with clergy to encouraging the establishment of new religious institutions. It had become clear that very few clergy were interested in, or ready for, anything that purported to be a new revelation, regardless of the high level of its content and the self-authenticating nature of its message. We had not written off mainline clergy or churches, but we broadened the focus, recognizing the growing desire of many to be a part of a Urantia fellowship that shared in more than an academic discussion of the book.
Our newly revised stated purpose is: “…to support the larger Urantia community, especially as it seeks to interface with the cultures and religious institutions of our world. It also seeks to address issues of special concern in the establishment of new religious institutions with roots in the Fifth Epochal Revelation."
A central ongoing concern is to assist the Urantia community to understand and interpret the Fifth Epochal Revelation, even while we seek to encourage new ventures in religious communities.
One of the primary tasks of the early Christian church was to interpret this new religion to the world around them, a Greco-Roman world that viewed this new cult as weak and unworthy of a great civilization. It was routinely attacked by leading writers and thinkers of the day. Thus, one of the most important categories of early Christian writings, especially in the second and third centuries, was known as “apologetics.” The goal of apologetics was to interpret the new faith to the skeptical and hostile world. Justin Martyr wrote his first and second “Apologies” around 150-160 A.D. They dealt with the relation of Christians to the state, widespread misunderstandings of the Christian religion, and why this religion was, in fact, superior to the pagan religions of the time.
I think we live in similar circumstance, where the claims of a new revelation will be greeted with a mixture of indifference, suspicion, and outright hostility. It will be met with assumptions about esoteric cults and new age movements. Before investigating it, few people would ever imagine its spiritual depth, or its harmony with the deepest insights and affirmations of the Christian faith, as well as the best and noblest insights of the world’s great religions.
We need passionate and articulate “apologists” to share the Fifth Epochal Revelation with the world. We hope the Journal will assist those involved in this task.
However, we are also still keenly interested in encouraging and supporting the efforts of those who wish to create new communities, fellowships that address a broader range of social and spiritual needs, including worship and the opportunity for service and outreach. We don’t envision a “mother church” that seeks to maintain order through control and conformity, but rather an organization that helps to bind us in spiritual unity through common goals, providing an umbrella of support and connectedness, even while it encourages diversity. We realize that such efforts will have to evolve over long periods of time.
We invite you to participate in the dialogue. The Urantia community is a remarkably diverse group of people, with a wealth of different viewpoints and insights. We need them. It is a part of the self-correcting nature of a community based on the Fifth Epochal Revelation.
I’m amazed, even awed, by the amount of talent represented in the Urantia community. We see the Journal as one of the avenues for this talent to be expressed on behalf of all. We recently sent out over a hundred invitations to submit articles in the Journal. We have, as of now, some forty positive responses. We look forward to seeing what this wealth of creative talent will produce. While we are not a public bulletin board service for every idea, we do wish to represent a forum for a wide range of insights and concerns related to our stated purpose.
Please join us!
In this issue:
Correction: