© 1993 Urantia Foundation
¶ Urantia Foundation Welcomes New Trustee - Philip A. Rolnick
The Foundation welcomes a new Trustee, Philip A. Rolnick Ph.D., who was elected to the Board on April 17, 1993. Phil is a professor of theology and ethics and has been a student of The URANTIA Book since 1969. He has hosted many study groups over the years and has served in several elected postions in readership organizations. Phil and his wife Jane, who is also a longtime student of The URANTIA Book, have two children. Phil brings an international perspective to the Board, having studied in France and lived in Australia where his daughter was born.
Phil was elected to fill a vacancy on the Board created by the departure of Martin W. Myers, who served the Foundation in various capacities since 1971. The Trustees acknowledge Martin’s long dedication to The URANTIA Book and wish him well in the future.
The Trustees are pleased to have someone of Phil’s experience join them in continuing the work of the URANTIA Foundation.
¶ Translations, Concordance, and Eleventh Printing of The Urantia Book Available In Early June
In early June, the Spanish and Finnish translations, a Finnish index, an English concordance, and the 11th printing of The URANTIA Book in English will be delivered to the URANTIA Foundation. This constitutes the largest printing ever of The URANTIA Book.
3,000 copies of the first printing of the Finnish translation, 5,000 copies of the first printing of the Spanish translation, 25,000 copies of the eleventh printing of the English version of The URANTIA Book, 3,000 copies of the first printing of a Finnish index, and 3,000 copies of an exhaustive English concordance: the arithmetic tells the story. We are about to receive and begin the dissemination of 39,000 books.
The Spanish translation, El libro de URANTIA, will be available for a suggested retail price of US $55. El libro de URANTIA, like the English version, will be sold through bookstores.
The Finnish translation, URANTIA-kirja (pronounced keer-yah, accent on the first syllable) may be purchased from bookstores for a suggested retail price of US $90 and the Finnish Index may be purchased for US $80.
The difference in suggested retail price between the Finnish and Spanish translations is due to the fact that the Spanish printing was a larger run and therefore less expensive. In addition, the entire cost of translating and printing El libro de URANTIA was met by the contributions of many readers. In 1984 there was a fund-raising drive and $290,000 was raised for the “Spanish Translation Fund.” No such fund was established for the Finnish translation and index, although the Finnish readers independently raised money to assist with the translation costs of URANTIA-kirja. Even so, some of the translation costs and all of the editing, formatting, and printing costs of the Finnish translation and index are coming out of the Foundation’s general funds. These “unfunded” costs amount to US $270,000.
Because of the coordinated efforts of the translation teams, scores of contributors, and the URANTIA Foundation, The URANTIA Book will now be more accessible in more parts of the world than ever before.
¶ The Urantia Book Concordance news
The URANTIA Book Concordance enables the easy location of virtually any of the 1,120,913 words used in the text of The URANTIA Book. Not only does the Concordance alphabetically list every word in the text of The URANTIA Book, showing the number of times each word is used, but it also lists almost every word in its immediate context, giving the page and paragraph number for each occurrence.
The URANTIA Book Concordance may be purchased for US $65 from bookstores or, where no bookstore is accessible, from the URANTIA Foundation.
¶ URANTIA Brotherhood Association
Important revisions to URANTIA Brotherhood Association are being made. Through newsletters, meetings, and focus groups in Australia, Finland, Hawaii, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville and New York, advice from readers has been solicited and received. Analysis of a broad range of viewpoints is nearing completion, and a finalized organizational structure will be presented in an upcoming newsletter.
The Foundation wishes to thank the many individuals who have given their time and energy to this project. An additional thanks is due to everyone for their patience.
¶ Urantia Foundation Opens Office In Finland - Seppo Niskanen, Seppo Kanerva
Through the coordinated efforts of Finnish readers and the URANTIA Foundation, we are pleased to announce the establishment of an office in Finland. This office will serve readers in Finland, Sweden, and Estonia.
The Finnish office will be managed by Seppo Niskanen and Seppo Kanerva. The address of the Finnish office is:
URANTIA Foundation
Mannerheimintie 41b A 31
00250 Helsinki
Finland
Last year, through the coordinated efforts of Australian readers and the URANTIA Foundation, a Foundation office was opened in Australia. Trevor and Kathleen Swadling are the managers of the office, the address of which is:
URANTIA Foundation
7 Walsh Street
North Narrabeen
Sydney NSW 2101
Australia
As more and more translations are completed, the Foundation’s hope is that more offices will be opened. We see the Foundation’s role as being that of a facilitator and coordinator, for “[t]hat state is best which coordinates most while governing least”. UB 71:3.9
¶ Update On Translations
With the experience gained from translations already completed, we are now moving forward on several new translations. No one should think, however, that translations can be done overnight. The process of assembling a translation team, doing a translation, and then editing, polishing, formatting, and printing takes about seven to ten years. (For example, the current Finnish translation has been in process for over nine years.)
Russian - By maintaining a pace of approximately one Paper per week, the Russian translation team has translated the Foreword, Part I and Part II. The team will have soon translated the first half of the book.
Dutch - The Dutch translation team reports that they have completed the translation. Copy-editing has begun as the process continues.
Since there have been no fund-raising campaigns for these new translations, all expenses must be borne by the URANTIA Foundation and its affiliates. The Trustees would welcome any contributions for these and future translations.
Other Languages - We are always searching for qualified individuals to translate The URANTIA Book into other languages. Some of our criteria and guidelines for translators are:
- That they be equally proficient in English and their native language.
- That they be a part of a team comprised of a chief translator and one, two, or three assistants.
- That they translate from the English version of The URANTIA Book.
- That they shall have read The URANTIA Book several times-six or more would be ideal.
- That they be aware that a quality translation can take a decade or more to complete.
¶ Urantia-kirja Index
The Finnish Index will be just like the English Concordance, except that it will not show the words in their context. The URANTIA Book has about 1,100,000 words, while URANTIA-kirja has about 840,000 words. This difference is due to the many compound words in the Finnish language. For example, the phrase “in the twenty-eighth” is written in Finnish by the one word “kahden nessakymmenennessakahdeksannessa,” which is one of the longest words in URANTIA-kirja.
“We are fully cognizant of the difficulties of our assignment; we recognize the impossibility of fully translating the language of the concepts of divinity and eternity into the symbols of the language of the finite concepts of the mortal mind. But we know that there dwells within the human mind a fragment of God, and that there sojourns with the human soul the Spirit of Truth; and we further know that these spirit forces conspire to enable material man to grasp the reality of spiritual values and to comprehend the philosophy of universe meanings.” UB 0:12.13
¶ Reader Comments About The Urantia Book
“I have been reading The URANTIA Book and simultaneously translating it orally into Spanish for other interested friends. The book is of most highest interest to us.” ~ Bolivar, VENEZUELA
“This is the most wonderful, useful and wanted gift I’ve ever received. I am very sure it will be used for the greater glory of God, my spiritual progress and individuals I’ll meet in the future. My fatherland has suffered under communists’ oppression for 4S years … They were hard times … After 4S years of atheism many people’s soul has grown dark. So we’re in great need to have God’s grace and much help. That’s why I’m very grateful to you for sending me The URANTIA Book.” ~ Budapest, HUNGARY
“I have never seen a book quite like it and it has already greatly changed my opinion about a great many things but my outlook on life has been affected the most.” ~ Dannemora, New York, USA
“I pray for the success of the URANTIA Book throughout the whole world, and I’m just about half way through with reading the entire URANTIA Book for the second time.” ~ Provo, Utah, USA
“I have received two URANTIA Books from you, thank you. These interesting books will be passed on to my local library. Our local libraries have no such kind of books. Your books will be a step to new understanding [of] the world and the universe.” ~ Moscow, RUSSIA
“I can’t tell you how much value has been added to my life as a result of reading the URANTIA Papers. It’s been a joy and a challenge.” Escondido, California, USA “I just want to thank you for all this interesting source of spirituality.” Sao Paulo, BRAZIL
“I am in a state of awe at the information contained therein. In my 44 years of present life on the planet, 1 have never read such mindboggling and mind opening information, all in one text. I’ve become familiar with various incidents, names, words, and stories thru studying over the years, but I’ve been left in confusion, until coming upon this study. This work is a ”Master Key“ that unlocked the door of my understanding.” Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, USA
“Many tears fell on the book while reading the emotional parts.” ~ Heusden, NETHERLANDS