URANTIA

A lengthy nineteenth-century channeled message published in The URANTIA Book (1955). It explains that the true name of Earth is Urantia and that we are part of the universe of Nebadon, or the larger universe of Orvonton, whose central committee of Uversa dictated the work. The book presents its own unique view of human origins, including the precursors of Adam and Eve and a claimed more accurate version of the life and teaching of Jesus (said to have been really Michael of Nebadon, one of the myriad sons of the Eternal Son). The miracles are given largely natural explanations.

The book owes its publication to William S. Sadler (1875-1969), former Seventh-Day Adventist minister, who served as a surgeon in Adventist hospitals before leaving the movement. Although skeptical of psychic phenomena, he became involved with the Urantia writings, which proceeded from an unnamed individual who "became a clearing house for the coming and going of alleged extraplanetary personalities." These channeled communications were first studied in the 1920s by a group of individuals named The Forum. The URANTIA Foundation was formed in 1950 in Chicago, Illinois, and published The URANTIA Book five years later. The foundation promotes the study of the book and sponsors study groups of interested people. It is located at 533 Diversey Pkwy., Chicago, IL 60614, and publishes the URANTIAN NEWS … from URANTIA Foundation.

Sources:

Gardner, Martin. "The Great URANTIA Mystery." The Skeptical Inquirer 14, no. 2 (winter 1990).

Myers, Martin W. Unity, Not Uniformity. Chicago: URANTIA Foundation, 1973.

The URANTIA Book. Chicago: URANTIA Foundation, 1955.