© 1996 Dr. Ken Glasziou
© 1996 The BrotherHood of Man Library
One purpose of this review has been to demonstrate that the compilation of the Urantia Papers required an enormous input of scholarly research on the part of their authors. Furthermore, the masterful presentation of the Papers indicates a degree of literary skill normally gained only through much toil and long experience. Therefore the hypothesis put forward by Martin Gardner that the Papers were the product of the subconscious mind of Wilfred Kellogg, a person acknowledged by Gardner to have been devoid of writing skills, is inconsistent. Gardner also proposed a high degree of editing by Dr Sadler. The statistical investigation using writing style analysis presented herein provided strong evidence that Dr Sadler was not an author, though a small editorial contribution by him is not excluded. Sadler, of course, consistently denied any editorial involvement.
An alternative possibility is that a group of erudite scholars secretly compiled the Papers in collusion with Dr Sadler and associates. While this cannot be ruled out by direct evidence, there is considerable, contrary circumstantial evidence. For example, there has been a total failure to uncover any believable suggestions about who any of these people might be. Nor have any members of their families ever come forward to suggest participation by such a group. Evidence against the hypothesis is contained within the textual content of the Papers. Such a group of scholars must have had a motive. What could it have been?
That monetary gain was not the motive to write the Papers is demonstrated by the history of their publication and marketing. That fame was not the motive to write them is demonstrated not only by the secrecy surrounding their writing but also by the fact that no name has ever been associated with their production.
It may have been that a group of honest, deeply concerned people who were fearful about the future of mankind wrote the Papers in an attempt to redirect human societies along saner pathways of development. Perhaps the group were all intensely forward-looking and Christian in their beliefs. That would certainly be consistent with the textual content of the Papers. These people may have considered that their portrayal of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, as presented in the Papers, had some chance of becoming the basis of an all-embracing religion.
If the Urantia Papers were the invention of the minds of such a group then a number of anomalies present themselves. All of its members would have known that the subject matter of the text was largely fabrication and that the manner of its presentation was deceitful. Their justification for such an action would have to have been similar to that of other well-intentioned men and women from history—that it is logically possible to pursue an altruistic end via dishonest and deceitful means. Taken to its extreme, as it has been in many instances in the history of mankind, this concept embraces the idea that a desirable end justifies the use of all possible means for its attainment. There is no hint in the content of the Urantia Papers that their real authors would have condoned false, deceitful, dishonest, or unethical means to attain even a desirable goal. In many places in the Papers, statements are to be found suggesting that the justification for any act must be judged by its motivation. But nowhere in the Papers is it ever implied that such motivation can be the sole reason for making that judgment. On the contrary, we find statements such as:
“Moral acts are those human performances which are characterized by the highest intelligence, directed by discrimination in the choice of superior ends as well as in the selection of moral means to attain these ends.” (UB 16:7.10)
And, “Virtue is righteousness—conformity with the cosmos. To name virtues is not to define them, but to live them is to know them. Virtue is not mere knowledge nor yet wisdom but rather the reality of progressive experience in the attainment of ascending levels of cosmic achievement. In the day-by-day life of mortal man, virtue is realized by the consistent choosing of good rather than evil, and such choosing ability is evidence of the possession of a moral nature.” (UB 16:7.6)
Is it possible for people who hold the supremely altruistic views that unfold in the Urantia Papers to, at the same time, be dishonest deceivers? What kind of thoughts might have motivated such a group? Perhaps they were in a hurry to save the world before it destroyed itself. If this were so, why then did they repeatedly expound upon the virtues of slow social development via evolution? And why did they condemn the actions of those involved in the Lucifer rebellion and the Adamic default, both of which claimed the motive of speeding up progress of the human races?
The Urantia Papers repeatedly inform us that ambitions of men must always be subordinated to the unknowable ways and purposes of God. The whole of Part 4 is devoted to the theme that the actions and decisions of Jesus, as he went about his daily tasks, were on a moment by moment basis in compliance with the will of the Father. Nowhere do the Papers inform us that Jesus made plans whereby he took the responsibility for the success of his mission upon himself. Always, so the authors of the Papers tells us, Jesus went to enormous lengths to discover the will of the Father before he committed himself to a course of action. So how do our hypothetical authors justify their own action in taking it upon themselves to modify the course of human progress? Could they really claim to be submitting to the will of God by following a policy of serving up a package of what, in these hypothetical circumstances, would have been falsehood to those they ostensibly desired to save? If so, then again they have demonstrated an extraordinary ability to preach one thing while practicing another. The God they portray in the Urantia Papers would never condone such action. Such behavior is both inconsistent, irrational, and amoral. Whatever else they may be, these Papers are not the product of devious, twisted minds.
What then can we conclude from this survey? Only that we do not have a sensible, rational proposal about human authorship of the Papers. But any conclusion claiming other-than-human authorship is unprovable. As the Papers themselves tell us—your personal decision must be an act of faith. That is the way it is meant to be. For me personally, I find that the spiritual content of the Urantia Papers makes them self-authenticating. Ken Glasziou
The acceptance of a teaching as true is not faith; that is mere belief. Belief has attained the level of faith when it motivates life and shapes the mode of living. (UB 101:8.1)