We believe The Urantia Book can make a significant contribution to the stimulation of spiritual creativity in churches, synagogues, and other religious institutions and their people.
We believe that at the present stage of spiritual development it is wise for ministers, priests, and rabbis to use The Urantia Book as a resource for preaching and teaching rather than referring to the book itself or directing attention to it. Almost every concept in The Urantia Book can be associated with some theologian, philosopher, or scientist in the past or present.
We believe that, although one should not be secretive about interest in The Urantia Book, one should use discretion in recommending it to people. The light of enhanced truth can frighten and blind as well as guide and illuminate.
We believe The Urantia Book’s claim to a revelatory source and status is not germane to its usefulness in the presentation of spiritual truth. Truth has an inherent appeal, regardless of its source, and can be used to enrich one’s preaching, teaching, and living.
We believe the Spirit of God works among us in a differential and evolutionary manner; therefore, we recognize that for whatever reason some clergy may not wish to read and critically evaluate The Urantia Book. This diversity should in no way stand as a barrier to our mutual respect, fellowship, and love.
We believe the leavening process of creativity stimulated by The Urantia Book should be ecumenical in nature.
We believe The Urantia Book will eventually be recognized by the great majority of the world’s religious leaders as one of the most constructive spiritual messages our world has received since Jesus’ ministry on earth.
Read the entire Urantia Book to get its sweeping universe view of reality. Many of us started reading the book at Part IV, The Life and Teachings of Jesus. If you should like to get a quick overall view of the book you might read “The Gift of Revelation,” a twenty-two page summary of the basic facts and truths of The Urantia Book.
Have the Concordex of The Urantia Book available to help in researching topics on which you are preaching or teaching.
Use the Paramony, which is a parallel and harmony of the Bible and The Urantia Book,to locate Urantia Book material on the Biblical text you are using in sermon preparation.
Editorial Committee
Bud Bromley
Judy Smith
Irene Sprunger
Jack Williams
Resource Consultants
Vivian Albert
Marilyn Buchanan
Nancy Long
Jack Rogers
Everett Sloffer
Marvel Zuercher
Paul Zuercher
The Spiritual Fellowship Journal is an ecumenical publication published twice yearly by The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Subscription orders, changes of address, and editorial correspondance should be sent to:
The Spiritual Fellowship Journal
4109 Plaza Dr.,
Fort Wayne, IN 46806
(219-745-4363)
The Gender Problem
Scientific evidence shows that men and women have different brain-mind capacities, while our educational-political contention is that these differences do not exist. The Urantia Book harmonizes these diversities.
On Accepting Evolutionary Reality
History shows that change in religion is very slow. Our clergy-laity network of students of The Urantia Book must work patiently in the hope of stimulating a spiritual renaissance in the church.
Articles: Including Issues and Answer Series
The Urantia Book and Sexist Language The Urantia Book is written in the generic “sexist” language of the 1930’s. Judy Mace points out that this language seriouly threatens the acceptance of the unparalled spiritual quality and nonsexist message of the book. She gives suggestions for correcting our use of language.
God Language
Any name which human beings give to God must, to some degree, be understood metaphorically. Language is rooted in expereience.
The Goddess
The Divine Feminine Principle is rooted in our historical experience and needs to be recovered in contemporary usage.
Why Some Ministers Don’t Read The Urantia Book
There are many “built in” reasons why ministers do not read The Urantia Book-among them, time and fear are prominent. Most will not read it until a sufficient number of their peers are doing so.
Writing Styles of Papers in The Urantia Book
Writing analysis shows, as the book states, that numerous authors were involved in writing The Urantia Book.
Columns and Features
Interface: Defining the Terms of Equality
Interfaith Could Brighten Future of our World
The Parliament for the World’s Religions gives evidence that God’s Spirit is working in all religions to bring a realization of their unity of purpose.
Culture and Values
Gender Differentiation in The Urantia Book
About the Editors
Meredith Sprunger is a United Church of Christ minister, and college teacher, retired. He served pastorates in the Midwest and taught at Elmhurst College and Indiana Institute of Technology. Merlyn Cox is a United Methodist minister serving in the North Indiana Conference.
The rich mine of universe knowledge and spiritual wisdom found in the 2097 pages of The Urantia Book tends to overwhelm the reader with its encyclopedic profusion. A detailed table of contents helps make the book manageable, but one soon realizes that reference tools are needed to find information hidden in its pages.
Clyde Bedell (1898-1985), a widely recognized author and speaker in the field of advertising, over many years compiled an index-concordance of words, concepts, ideas, topics, and themes found in The Urantia Book. He published the first edition of the Concordex in 1971. The third edition came out in 1986 and has over 110,000 references. The Concordex is an indispensable research tool for finding passages and studying topics in The Urantia Book.
The Urantia Book reader also discovers information in many sections of the book which parallels Biblical material. Numerous young friends of the editor did not become interested in the Bible until they read The Urantia Book. The two books are mutually enhancing. Recognizing this close relationship, Dr. Duane L. Faw, Professor of Law emeritus of Pepperdine University School of Law, spent six years compiling a parallel and harmony of The Urantia Book and the Bible. The Paramony was published in 1986 and contains 25,000 cross-references revealing the similarities and differences between the facts and concepts of these two great books. Dr. Faw has been a teacher of adult Bible classes for 40 years and a certified lay speaker in the United Methodist Church for over 25 years. The Paramony is an essential reference tool for studying relationships between The Urantia Book and the Bible. A long time scholarly reader of The Urantia Book describes the Paramony as, “a well-structured volume, indispensable for those engaged in serious hermeneutics, particularly of the gospels.” The Concordex and Paramony can be purchased from The Good Cheer Press, P. O. Box 18764, Boulder, CO 80303.
An exhaustive Urantia Book Concordance was published by the Urantia Foundation in 1993. If you local bookstore does not carry The Urantia Book or The Urantia Book Concordance, they can be orderd from the Urantia Foundation, 533 Diversey Parkway, Chicaago, IL 60614. The Urantia Foundation also publishes French, Spanish, and Finnish editions of The Urantia Book.