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
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 Need for a New Vision of Spiritual Reality
Theologian Walter Brueggemann recognizes the need for “reimagination” in understanding spiritual reality. The best hope of a renaissance in the Christian Faith may rest on the discover of The Urantia Book.
American Search for Spirituality
Phyllis Tickle in Rediscovering the Sacred: Spirituality in America observes the sale of books probing spiritual reality has greatly increased, and so has the perceived distinction between religion and spirituality.
The Historical Jesus
The contemporay academic quest for the historical Jesus is rooted in the rise of modern secularism with the loss of credibility of the Biblical record. This may tell more about 20th century theologians than about the authentic historical Jesus.
The Mystery of Mind
Roger Penrose’s book Shadows of the Mind points up the mystery of mind and the inadequacy of materialistic explanations. The Urantia Book presents a reasonable and holistic view of matter, mind and spirit.
Articles
Toward a Global Theology
There is a growing Inter-Faith movement throughout the world. The Urantia Book presents a spiritual foundation upon which the religions of the world can build a unified approach to goals and ideals without uniformity of ritual and theology.
Paradise: The Recentering of Theology
The symbolism of the “Center” is universal in prescientific cultures. The Urantia Book provides a framework to combine a locus of spiritual reality with modern science and cosmology.
Death, the Final Frontier
Euthanasia is a complex and controversial issue which our society must deal with as we become increasingly sensitive to human suffering and new ethical dilemas.
Columns and Features
The Urantia Book and Spiritual Renewal: My Peak Experiences
Issues and Answers: Values: Learn Them or Lose Them
Book Review: The Humble Approach, EarthCurrents
Psalms Today
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.
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.
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 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 your 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.