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)
Spiritual Decadence and Rebirth
During the last half century philosophers of history have been pointing to the decline of Western Civilization. It appears that our planet is being prepared for a major transition in our understanding of Reality.
The Quest for Immortality
Contemporary theologians are pointing out difficulties in our traditional concepts of immortaility. The Urantia Book presents a view of life after death which is coherent and inspiring.
Semantics of the Lord’s Supper
The blood atonement implications of the Eucharist liturgy presents a picture of God that is not harmonious with Jesus’ teachings regarding the Heavenly Father. It’s time to revise our liturgy.
The Atonement Doctrine
In a letter to a friend, Preston Thomas points out the difference beween Jesus’ teachings regarding salvation and Pauline doctrine.
Articles
Poor in Spirit
Despite the amazing achievements of this century, it is a truism that the modern individual is plagued by loneliness, anxiety, and the gnawing feeling that life is meaningless. We have lost our spiritual roots and are in desperate need of an enlarged view of spiritual reality.
How Christian is The Urantia Book?
Most of the teachings of The Urantia Book reinforce and enhance the insights and truths of Christian theology. The authors seek to point out the most controversial aspects of this new paradigm in order to sharpen it’s distinction from traditional views and to stimulate critical thinking.
On Values
Values — truth, beauty, and goodness — are “bytes” of Divinity. As we identify with and seek to live these values, we become more real.
Columns and Features
The Urantia Book and Spiritual Renewal:
Encountering The Urantia Book
Sermon Series (part 1): Taking Responsibility for Our Lives
Interface: Serving God Within the Church
Book Review: Science, Anthropology, and Archaeology in The Urantia Book; The Philosohical Scientists
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 New York Society of Students of The Urantia Book is fostering translations of The Urantia Book into Russian and Korean. The Society plans to have the first draft of the Russian translation completed by the end of 1998, and the first draft of the Korean translation of the Life and Teachings of Jesus by the fall of 1996. Information about the Russian translation may be obtained from Leela Dogim, 201-886-2243; and a report concerning the Korean translation can be gotten from Barry Clark, 201-438-3359. General information about the translation project can be obtained from Eileen Laurence, 914-273-8922.
Jesus portrayed the profound surety of the Godknowing mortal when he said: “To a God-knowing kingdom believer, what does it matter if all things earthly crash?” Temporal securities are vulnerable, but spiritual sureties are impregnable. When the flood tides to human adversity, selfishness, cruelty, hate, malice, and jealousy beat about the mortal soul, you may rest in the assurance that there is one inner bastion, the citadel of the spirit, which is absolutely unassailable; at least this is true of every human being who has dedicated the keeping of his soul to the indwelling spirit of the eternal God. UB 100:2.7
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.