Are "radical" Urantia Book teachings having an impact on the current "popular" theology as taught in most Christian churches?

  Judged from the hymn list scheduled for a three month period at a local Anglican (Episcopalian) Church,  the answer must be in the negative--for just over half make some reference to Jesus dying as a sacrificial offering to God for the forgiveness of our sins. What does The Urantia Book have to say?

   "The barbarous idea of appeasing an angry God, of propitiating an offended Lord, of winning the favor of Deity through sacrifices and penance and even by the shedding of blood, represents a religion wholly puerile and primitive, a philosophy unworthy of an enlightened age of science and truth. Such beliefs are utterly repulsive to the celestial beings and the divine rulers who serve and reign in the universes. It is an affront to God to believe, hold, or teach that innocent blood must be shed in order to win his favor or to divert the fictitious divine wrath." (TUB 4:5.4)

   The teaching that Jesus' death on the cross was as an atonement offering for the sins of the world is as strongly held today as it was when The Urantia Book was first published in 1955. Surely then, this fact is indicative of the complete ineffectiveness of that great revelation. But is it?

   Recently I had reason to dig out from under the dust it had gathered, a book I purchased as a reference work to help me understand the mind-set of first century Jews. I also remembered that its author disagreed with the concept that Jesus had died for the forgiveness of man's sins.

   I read the whole work then, impressed with its conceptual similarities to much of what I read in The Urantia Book, I re-read it, looking for any indication that its author held to concepts that were contradictory to what is contained in the "life of Jesus" component of those Urantia Papers.

   I failed to find any. First published in 1987 and hailed by Huston Smith, a well-known author and commentator as the "The book I have been waiting for," the work is titled, "Jesus, A New Vision,"  its author being Marcus J. Borg. And the fact that there were more than 100 references to modern authors is indicative that Borg is not alone in his opinions.

   For the benefit of all those Urantia Book readers who have been disappointed at the apparent lack of acceptance of our great revelation, the remainder of this issue of Innerface and part of the following issue is given over to a condensation of Borg's work. Borg, incidentally, is an associate professor of religious studies at Oregon State University, is the author of several other religious works, and is well known in scholarly circles for his contributions in scholarly journals.