The URANTIA Book is an anthology of 196 papers that has no human composer. However, it was published in 1955 by humans who provided feedback to the celestial authors between 1921 and 1942 to earlier drafts. I have no doubt it constitutes the most recent epochal revelation to this planet; it is unique among epochal revelations in that it is the joint creation of spiritual and material beings. Epochal revelations are disclosed to be delivered solely by celestial personalities. The revelators tell us within the pages that their mission is to expand cosmic consciousness by supplementing certain concepts and excerpts from existing highest human wisdom prior to 1942. An appreciable portion of that wisdom and planetary knowledge is contained in published material prior to 1935. And a significant portion was not accepted as conventional wisdom, with a fair amount of scientific discoveries in the intervening fifty years confirming a large number of precocious statements the papers make. The final seventy-four papers support and expand upon Jesus' life and gospel - the fourth epochal revelation to this planet. ^[ref]

In the second paragraph of the Foreword, a superuniverse-positioned Divine Counselor informs the reader that the purpose of the papers is to “expand cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception.” The written text accomplishes this by supplementing certain concepts and excerpts from highest human wisdom prior to 1942; harmonizing the interrelatedness of everything found in science, morality, and spirituality; and thus, offering a gigantic synthetic foundation for a seeking reader-student to integrate a progressive intellectual philosophy that integrates God-consciousness with cosmic-consciousness for assisting the individual with progressive spiritual insights.

Essentially, the papers are written on the shoulders of exceptional human thinkers; the Divine Counselor states that the purpose of the papers is to convey cosmic meanings that can catalyze the capacity to facilitate comprehension and prevent confusion of associated concepts of the things, meanings, and values of universal reality. It is my perspective after nearly fifty years of reading and reflecting on these revelations that the papers can augment spiritual insight within each and every individual who seeks, and to be perfect as, the Infinite Father. I envision the papers – consumed as a whole – as an introduction to the intelligent comprehension of cosmic meanings and universe interrelationships.

A not-so-obvious theme of the papers is the diversity of all personality existence that is unqualifiedly responsible for the unity in the deity of God the Supreme. We humans of course are part of that diversity, as well as all other humans in the Grand Universe. My topical block headed The Supreme Being discusses the trinitarian concept of God’s manifestation as a finite Deity – the Supreme Being - a true cosmic actuality we will become progressively more conscious of.^[ref] It may take some time in the morontia mansion education system however, before that gets to a true understanding level of acceptance. We are revealed in no uncertain terms of the “… interdependence of evolutionary man and evolving Deity.” [110:3.10 (1206.8)] What a statement! If this doesn’t help resolve the question of ‘why are we here?’ then most likely nothing will. The next cosmic question should be ‘how?’. The papers provide ample information for assessing that part of the question.

There is a plethora of written material about the origin and source of the papers. It is certainly not without controversy. More on that issue below.

To set a context for the “sources” conundrum it is worthwhile to reflect that this confused planet has a history of issues regarding epochal revelation. After all, the last revelation – Jesus/Joshua ben Joseph, the fourth revelation on this planet – was crucified and essentially murdered on a cross between two common thieves.

The third revelation – Machiventa Melchizedek – according to the Melchizedek’s narration of Machiventa’s sojourn on Urantia, did indeed meet the intended mission of “… reveal[ing] the truth of the reality of God - the monotheistic doctrine of one God, a universe Deity, a heavenly Creator, a divine Father." [(1016.8) 93:3.6] Nevertheless, a lasting monotheistic belief did not sustain beyond the geography of Palestine just prior to Jesus’ birth. The Melchizedek tells the reader-student in the last paragraph of paper 98:

(1085.1) 98:7.12 …And Machiventa was successful in achieving the purpose of his unusual bestowal; when Michael made ready to appear on Urantia, the God concept was existent in the hearts of men and women, the same God concept that still flames anew in the living spiritual experience of the manifold children of the Universal Father as they live their intriguing temporal lives on the whirling planets of space.

I have great confidence, faith, and trust that this revelation will someday become as widespread and valued as the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth. If we look at Christianity over the two millennia since Jesus’ death, it is satisfying to note that the midwayers in the penultimate paper of the book note that: “…the commonplace disciples of a crucified carpenter set in motion those teachings which conquered the Roman world in three hundred years and then went on to triumph over the barbarians who overthrew Rome. This same Christianity conquered—absorbed and exalted—the whole stream of Hebrew theology and Greek philosophy. And then, when this Christian religion became comatose for more than a thousand years as a result of an overdose of mysteries and paganism, it resurrected itself and virtually reconquered the whole Western world. Christianity contains enough of Jesus’ teachings to immortalize it.” (195:10.18 (2086.4))

As an aside, if one is interested in fleshing out the above paragraph, I point the reader to a series of fifty-nine (59) facilitated webinars that expand upon what happened between the early years after Jesus’ resurrection up to 1500 BCE. These exist in two-hour segments archived on YouTube. The primary theme of the webinars is: “Comparing and contrasting the true teachings of Jesus with the traditional tenets and practices of organized, institutional Christianity.” Panelists respond to open-ended questions by Neal Waldrop based upon his treatise entitled Revelation Revealed.^[ref]

Specifically, webinars #7,10, 46, and 48 discuss the aspect of how the comatose Christian religion resurrected itself and virtually reconquered the whole Western world. Interested individuals can download the full text of Revelation Revealed from the website of the Committee for the Global Endeavor. In addition, one can download a conceptual summary (five pages) that summarizes the document.

One of the more poignant controversies surrounding the origin of the Urantia Papers concerns the twin related aspects of origin and authorship. A Contact Commission published the papers into book form in 1955. Prior to the publishing, a Forum or roughly seventy selected individuals were in existence for roughly twenty years exchanging questions and answers through the Contact commission with the celestial agents who apparently needed human feedback from drafts they were producing. This effort ultimately resulted in the first three parts of the book. Dr. William S. Sadler read these drafts to the group of about seventy forumites who attended weekly sessions at his home in Chicago. He led the Contact Commission facilitated the forum in draft readings over twenty years of give-and-take with the celestials. A consensus from supporters to skeptics is that Dr. Sadler is decidedly the linchpin in the production of the papers.

As of 2021 a number of prominent secondary scholarly works exist, some published, some not, that document the events and individuals associated with the origin, development, and publishing of the papers. These artifacts conclude that the papers are what they say they are – an epochal revelation to this planet of which there are only four preceding it over a span of five hundred thousand years. Some skeptics reason that Dr. Sadler wrote the papers; or channeled and scribed them; or the papers are a conspiracy of scholars from some university that combined to hoodwink a gullible population.

Contemporary authors who have well documented supporting narratives regarding the origin and production of the papers are Larry Mullins (2000), Mark Kulieke (1992), Professor Sarah Lewis (2007), and Ernest Moyer (2000). Professor Lewis is decidedly the most objective (She is not part of the Urantia movement) and she reasons as follows: “Martin Gardner is one of the few people outside the Urantia Foundation who has undertaken research into the movement. …Gardner believes that he has unearthed the identity of the 'sleeping subject'; (he says it was a man called Wilfred Kellogg) …But knowing the identity of the 'sleeping subject' does not at all prove that the Revelation was false” (Lewis & Hammer 2007, Mullins 2000).

Thus, I avoid duplicating the history and events about Dr. Sadler, his wife Lena, and the contact commission from others who have done much more research than I. Although the facts are not disputed (however some facts are speculated), the interpretation and conjectures of those facts are where the differences are greatest.

What I will spend a moment on here is the issue of “sources.” The Orvonton Divine Counselor informs us in the acknowledgement to the Foreword (0:12.10 (16.7), that the revelation mandates of the superuniverse rulers require the revelators “…give preference to the highest existing human concepts pertaining to the subjects to be presented.” He goes on to say in a subsequent paragraph that "…the basis of these papers [contains] more than one thousand human concepts representing the highest and most advanced planetary knowledge of spiritual values and universe meanings.” This is a statement covering the first three parts of the Book. Part IV, The Life and Teaching of Jesus has a similar statement but with a twist.

With respect to Part IV, the midwayer describes in the acknowledgement a more nuanced statement regarding authorship and sources. An entire section [121:8.1-14 (1341.2-1343.3)] 1) explains how the four New Testament gospels contain significant shortcomings, then praises their sufficiency to “change the course of the history of Urantia for almost two thousand years” and 2) acknowledges that the thought gems and superior concepts of Jesus’ teachings are assembled from more than two thousand human beings who lived on earth from the days of Jesus down to the time of the inditing of the revelation. According to the midwayer, one should consider the narratives in Part IV should more correctly as restatements rather than revelations. [121:8.13 (1343.2)].

As a steadfast believer that the Urantia Book, as the Divine Counselor says, is in fact indited (composed/orchestrated/arranged) by personalities that are spiritual in nature or morontia-material like the midwayers, I also conform to the narrative that Dr. Sadler or others from the Contact Commission were not primary authors. They may have provided source material however. It is inarguably irrational as some have attempted to rationalize, that Dr. Sadler wrote the entire book! Some of those others who take a very different position include Sioux Oliva,^[ref] Mathew Block,^[ref] and Martin Gardner^[ref] to name three. I encourage others, if the spirit so moves one, to consider exposing one’s thinking to the logic and opinions of these scholars. Let the Spirit of Truth work its capabilities through your cosmic mind to help present the truth of reality.

As I discussed in an unpublished review of Dr. Oliva’s book that focusing on the origins of the papers can be a distraction to the cosmology of the Book. I said (Debold 2015):

“Dr. Oliva claims that her book is a biography centered on information about Dr. William S. Sadler. Although she does present such information in ways that are objective and scholarly, I believe that Sioux’s stated intellectual purpose (Cosmic Citizen 2015) departs quite substantially from the characteristics and key features that readers expect in a biography. Her book is certainly about Dr. Sadler, but it is also a book about The Urantia Book. On the other hand, except for a summary that appears in chapter eight, her book contains very little of the cosmology and other information that the authors of the papers provide.”

In conclusion, The Urantia Book stands as a testament to the ongoing spiritual evolution of humanity, grounded in the history of epochal revelations that have shaped the divine understanding of our world. Much like Machiventa Melchizedek's success in embedding the God concept in the hearts of men, as quoted, this revelation seeks to reignite that same spiritual flame within individuals today. The controversies and questions surrounding its origin only serve to further highlight the deep impact it continues to have, encouraging seekers to look beyond the material origins and toward the profound cosmic and spiritual truths it presents. As the midwayers noted about Christianity’s ability to survive and thrive over millennia, the teachings within The Urantia Book hold the potential to similarly inspire and guide future generations, expanding both cosmic consciousness and the intimate relationship with the divine.