Enriching your Understanding of The Urantia Book:
A Jesus-Centered Approach to Study
David Kantor July 2005

Dedicated to those new leaders, spiritual men and women who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings; those new teachers of Jesus' religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men; those spirit-born souls who will quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world. [195:9.4 (2082,9)]

Contents:

Introduction
What to Expect in this Document
Why is it Important to Study The Urantia Book?
What is the Purpose of Studying The Urantia Book?
Comments from The Urantia Book About its Purpose
What is The Urantia Book? Understanding the Context in Which it Appears
The Context of Traditional Systematic Theology
The Context of the Current Planetary Dispensation
Arranging Topics in The Urantia Book for Easier Understanding
The Three Primary Categories

Introduction

The Urantia Book is a formidable text to many would-be readers; much of it's conceptual content remains obscure even to readers who have spent considerable time with the text. This document is not an introduction to the book for new readers. Rather is it an introduction to deeper study for readers already familiar with The Urantia Book. At least one beginning-to-end reading of the book will help the reader to take advantage of the following material.

In the Foreword to his "A Study of the Master Universe", Bill Sadler, Jr. comments that The Urantia Book is written not like a textbook, but rather like a symphony. He says,

"Wonderful themes of concept and movements of unfolding truth appear and reappear as the long story unfolds. Some of the Papers in the book are not so easy to understand; the movements of the harmonics of truth are more complex; the melody is not so easy to grasp. Many of the Papers which seem to be complex, obscure, and "far away," are filled with exquisite movements of concept in the portraiture of living truth. And if the truth in the complex beauty of these passages can be grasped, then we might acquire a new horizon-line against which to evaluate the things of this life and this world -- and then we could perceive these things with the greater insight of a new perspective, the most far-ranging perspective that our minds can grasp."

Elsewhere he notes that, because of this symphony-like construction of the text,

". . . in order to seek to achieve an intellectual grasp of the teachings of the book, we are faced with the problem of dissecting it and then of reconstructing its facts in more or less of the conventional order of a textbook."

It is relatively easy to dissect the text -- we do this constantly as we read, now embracing a particular paragraph and then discarding one which we find difficult of comprehension. We find ourselves with a collection of disjointed segments of text, partial understandings, faint glimmerings of insight -- and we long for the fullness of insight which we intuit might be possible if only we could realize a fuller grasp of the text.

Our problems emerge when we attempt to reconstruct the facts we've gleaned from the text. Such a reconstruction requires a methodology or a set of reference points relative to which we can arrange the components of the text for purposes of deriving meaning.

All cosmologies or religious world views contain such reference points. Theologian Paul Tillich points out that for the Jews, the primary referent is the exodus from Egypt and the treaty with God on Mt. Sinai. For the Persians, the appearance of Zarathustra; for the Moslems, Mohammed's flight from Mecca to Medina; and for Christians, the referent is the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Our task is to identify a primary referent for The Urantia Book, establish its utility, and then show how we can productively relate the various segments of the text to this central referent.

We can liken this problem to that of having a collection of metal disks, all the same size, each containing a different pattern of holes in its surface. Our problem is to line up these disks in such a way that a maximum amount of light may be transmitted through the stack of disks. This will occur when the number of holes which are aligned with each other reaches a maximum.

Likewise, while it may be possible to identify a number of referents relative to which the text of The Urantia Book might be understood, we can test their viability by the quality and ease of understanding which ensues with the use of any one in particular.

A primary referent will also help us to grasp the nature of the whole as contrasted with the improved understanding of a limited conceptual insight.

In the course of our present study we will attempt to identify such a referent for The Urantia Book, establish it's primacy, and show how the content of the book may be more easily understood when viewed in this context.

None of this should be used to discourage a beginning-to-end reading of the complete text. We don't want only to listen to short fragments of a symphony; we listen to a symphony from beginning to end. But if we are really intrigued by the music, we may want to play back certain sections and listen to them more closely. We may make a comparison with other symphonies we have heard. If we are students of music we may want to more closely study the changes in rhythm, the interplay of the various movements, the way in which the theme is expressed in a variety of harmonic contexts. All of this requires an orientation to inquiry and study which is distinctly separate from the aesthetic experience of listening to the symphony itself.

Our reading of The Urantia Book is no different. A beginning-to-end reading is essential for an appreciation of the whole. Additionally, the text appears to be constructed in manner which stimulates our intellectual processes. The struggle to understand the difficult passages stimulates the associative processes of the intellect. A difficult sequence is often followed by a paragraph which facilitates the grasp of new insights -- insights which would not be available without the previous struggle to understand. There is reason to believe that this process of struggle itself provides a dynamic intellectual environment in which both the Adjuster and the Spirit of Truth can work. These spiritual agencies can do nothing with information stored in dead protoplasm. They require active associative processes as an environment in which they can work. The Adjuster adjusts. Truth is living.

A systematic study, such as will be advocated here, provides a conceptual foundation for more meaningful beginning-to-end reading. In addition, the ability to describe concepts from the book
relative to a variety of viewpoints anchored in understandings derived from other sources is essential for talking about the teachings with others. If we can talk about concepts from The Urantia Book only in the context of other concepts from the book, we will find our effectiveness severely limited. Remember also that the evangelical imperative of the book, as well as of Jesus, is the proclamation of the kingdom, not the spread of the book. How well do you understand the nature of the kingdom? The better your understanding of this fundamental reality, the more effective you will be in helping to prepare the way for a spiritual renaissance.

Remember that, "Religion lives and prospers, then, not by sight and feeling, but rather by faith and insight. It consists not in the discovery of new facts or in the finding of a unique experience, but rather in the discovery of new and spiritual meanings in facts already well known to mankind." 101:1.3 (1105,1)]

Faith, insight, discovery -- these are processes which require the engagement of personality, not static qualities of mind.

Both are beginning-to-end readings and systematic study are important and have their places in our religious lives. The objective is not to simply acquire facts, but to stimulate and reinforce processes within our minds which themselves can be the loci of spiritual assistance and ministry.

A growing understanding of the overall revelation provides a frame of reference within which all of our thinking may be ordered, enhancing the spiritual serviceability of our normal associative thought processes. With The Urantia Book we are being provided with a means of ordering our thinking which facilitates the work of the Adjuster and the Spirit of Truth.

What to Expect in this Document

We will begin by asking about the significance of study in the spiritual life -- What is the purpose of studying? We will then look at the theological and philosophical context in which the text of the book has been constructed as well as the nature of the present planetary dispensation in which it appears. We will conclude by looking at how the contents of the book may be placed into one of three categories, creating a comprehensive basis for detailed study. It is this concluding material which forms the heart of this document but the majority of the document is taken up with building a supportive position for the utility of the approach to study being advocated.

Why is it Important to
Study The Urantia Book?

Knowledge is not necessary for salvation. Neither is it necessary for an experience of the presence and love of God in one's inner life.

From the perspective of The Urantia Book, knowledge provides ideas which can be associated together for the derivation of meanings. Meanings are essential for a discovery of values. Remember that "The human mind does not create real values; human experience does not yield universe insight. Concerning insight, the recognition of moral values and the discernment of spiritual meanings, all that the human mind can do is to discover, recognize, interpret, and choose." [196:3.10 (2095,9)] As we personalize the values we discover by integrating them into our interpersonal relationships, we set the stage for new experiences which lead to a recognition of additional new meanings. The process continues and constitutes the mechanism of real growth.

The purpose of acquiring knowledge, then, is to enrich the resource base upon which our grasp of eanings and values depends. The acquisition of knowledge does not equate to growth, but knowledge is an essential component of growth.

It is similar to the way we sustain our material bodies. Food does not equate to growth, but it is essential for the metabolic processes which themselves produce growth. Likewise, knowledge is essential for the processes which yield growth -- the association of meanings and values.

[100:1.3 (1094,5)] "Real educational growth is indicated by enhancement of ideals, increased appreciation of values, new meanings of values, and augmented loyalty to supreme values."

[71:7.5 (806,5)] "Education is the business of living; it must continue throughout a lifetime so that mankind may gradually experience the ascending levels of mortal wisdom, which are:

1. The knowledge of things.

2. The realization of meanings.

3. The appreciation of values.

4. The nobility of work--duty.

5. The motivation of goals--morality.

6. The love of service--character.

7. Cosmic insight--spiritual discernment.

And then, by means of these achievements, many will ascend to the mortal ultimate of mind attainment, God-consciousness."

In this view, knowledge is the foundational element in the development of our ability to more fully experience God-consciousness.

The book provides insight into the cosmic context in which our lives are constructed. Understanding how processes of social evolution in our world work enables us to work more effectively to guide those processes toward the destiny envisioned by our creators. Understanding the context in which we live and struggle helps us make decisions and have attitudes toward life which are more cosmically productive and less the result of ignorance and illusion. Our growth as cosmic citizens progresses as we increasingly understand the cosmic context, the nature of the culture and civilization in which we actually live, and as we begin to make decisions and take actions which relate to this larger cultural heritage and social identity in the universe.

What is the Purpose of Studying
The Urantia Book?

As personalities, we live in an environment of meanings and values. The Urantia Book illuminates and enhances the meanings which we've created with our mortal minds in a way which facilitates the discovery of spiritual values, enabling us to make more cosmically meaningful choices in our daily lives.

Knowledge is essential for meaningful service; not just a collection of facts but a well-ordered intellect in which there is a spiritually serviceable frame of reference, a system of reference points relative to which experience is evaluated, and an active process of deriving meanings and choosing values.

There are strong anti-intellectual trends in the contemporary world and within The Urantia Book readership as well. There is well-documented disillusionment with science and knowledge as means by which the quality of life in our world might be enhanced. The book notes that,

[132:1.3 (1457,2)] "Unless the moral insight and the spiritual attainment of mankind are proportionately augmented, the unlimited advancement of a purely materialistic culture may eventually become a menace to civilization. A purely materialistic science harbors within itself the potential seed of the destruction of all scientific striving, for this very attitude presages the ultimate collapse of a civilization which has abandoned its sense of moral values and has repudiated its spiritual goal of attainment."

But the authors of the book admonish us that,

"Religion can be kept free from unholy secular alliances only by a critically corrective philosophy and the prevention of fanaticism by the compensations of the scientific mental attitude." [99:3.9 (1089,1)]

It is not the role of knowledge to provide certainty. Certainty belongs in the domain of fanaticism and illusion. Uncertainty is an intellectual attitude essential for growth. The book makes a point of noting that,

". . . uncertainty with security is the essence of the Paradise adventure." [111:7.1 (1223,3)]

It is the process of thinking that has value; knowledge provides resources for this process but is not an end in itself.

Through the acquisition of knowledge and experience we construct a virtual model of reality within our minds. We make decisions and choices, not relative to universe reality, but relative to the virtual model we've constructed from our partial understandings, limited knowledge, and psychological illusions.

How closely does the model we've constructed represent reality? The book notes that these virtual models, while they are necessary for thought, they are without exception erroneous to a greater or lesser degree. They are only scaffolding in a continuous process of growth. (See the discussion about "universe frames" in section 1 of Paper 115)

We should be constantly improving the accuracy and relevance of our internal models of reality. This is similar to the process of gradually bringing an image into focus in an optical device such as a camera or a telescope.

While knowledge is not necessary for personal salvation, it is critical to the degree of success we can expect to have in our work in the world, our work with the Supreme. You can't talk to people about the kingdom if you don't understand it; the more you understand about the nature of the kingdom, the easier and more relevant will be your conversations with others about these matters.

The intellectual aspects of religious experience are somewhat like a lens through which we can apprehend something of the nature of God and the universe context in which we are living. The book says that, "The divine nature may be perceived only with the eyes of the mind." [101:1.3 (1104,6)]

Comments from The Urantia Book About its
Purpose and the Value of Studying

Here are some quotes from The Urantia Book about the importance of study and continuous intellectual expansion.

"In such a far-flung universe of universes there is always great danger of succumbing to the error of the circumscribed viewpoint, to the evil inherent in a segmented conception of reality and divinity." [19:1.4 (215,1)]

We must transcend the limitations of a circumscribed viewpoint - we can't assume that observations on a local level or initial impressions are characteristic of the whole.

"When the development of the intellectual nature proceeds faster than that of the spiritual, such a situation renders communication with the Thought Adjuster both difficult and dangerous. Likewise, overspiritual development tends to produce a fanatical and perverted interpretation of the spirit leadings of the divine indweller." [110:6.4 (1209,4)]

Balanced intellectual and spiritual growth is essential for good mental and spiritual health.

"To the experiential universes even divine values are increased as actualities by enlarged comprehension of reality meanings." [115:2.2 (1261,2)]

Expansion of meanings is essential for the recognition of higher values.

"The incomplete and finite concept of the Infinite which is held by the temporal and limited creature mind is, in and of itself, potential evil. But the augmenting error of unjustified deficiency in reasonable spiritual rectification of these originally inherent intellectual disharmonies and spiritual insufficiencies, is equivalent to the realization of actual evil." [130:4.14 (1435,6)]

Continuous study is essential for the correction of partial understandings and the recognition of spiritual insufficiencies.

"All static, dead, concepts are potentially evil. The finite shadow of relative and living truth is continually moving. Static concepts invariably retard science, politics, society, and religion. Static concepts may represent a certain knowledge, but they are deficient in wisdom and devoid of truth." [130:4.15 (1436,1)]

Knowledge must be in a state of dynamic development in order to prevent our minds from becoming rigid structures of static concepts.

Here are some additional comments from the text relevant to our discussion:

"The progressive comprehension of reality is the equivalent of approaching God." [196:3.3 (2094,2)]

"Man's terrestrial orientation, his cosmic insight, and his spiritual direct ionization are all enhanced by a better comprehension of universe realities and their techniques of interassociation, integration, and unification." [106:0.2 (1162,1)]

"The divine spirit makes contact with mortal man, not by feelings or emotions, but in the realm of the highest and most spiritualized thinking. It is your thoughts, not your feelings, that lead you Godward. The divine nature may be perceived only with the eyes of the mind.

"All such inner and spiritual communion is termed spiritual insight. Such religious experiences result from the impress made upon the mind of man by the combined operations of the Adjuster and the Spirit of Truth as they function amid and upon the ideas, ideals, insights, and spirit strivings of the evolving sons of God." [101:1.3 (1104,6)]

Look closely at this quote: ". . . as they function amid and upon the ideas, ideals, insights, and spirit strivings of the evolving sons of God." - ideas, ideals, insights, and spirit strivings are the resources upon which our spiritual benefactors depend. We each control the quality and quantity of these resources which we make available to the Adjuster and the Spirit of Truth in our own inner lives.

"Growing religious experience means incessant activity in spiritual growth, intellectual expansion, factual enlargement, and social service. There is no real religion apart from a highly active personality." [102:2.7 (1120,4)]

Read material that challenges your intellect; get involved in service that challenges your personality -- growth and insight come from the process of struggle and problem solving.

What is The Urantia Book?
Understanding the context in which the book
has been presented.

It is useful to attempt an understanding of the context in which The Urantia Book has been presented to our world. We will consider two aspects of this context -- the struggles and achievements of traditional systematic theology, and the nature of the present planetary dispensation.

Although always a gift to the planet as a whole, every epochal revelation is made relative to a particular cultural context within which it is intended to take root and then, using that particular cultural context as a vehicle, spread to the rest of the planet.

The Planetary Prince

The cultural context for the first epochal revelation was the need for assistance in the establishment of cultural civilization itself. The Prince's staff pursued a plan of establishing a planetary cultural center and then attracting the best minds of the surrounding tribes and, after training them, sending them back to their people as emissaries of social uplift. In this first effort, the cultural context itself had to be established and this was accomplished by the corporeal staff of the Prince. This initial cultural context was derived from the highest available genetic expressions of the Andonite life plasm combined with the experiential attainments of mortal ascenders of origin on one hundred different evolutionary planets. The genetic material was taken by the two supervising Life Carriers from one hundred carefully selected individuals who represented the best strains of the Andon and Fonta stock. (It is interesting to note that the matured Andonite genetic inheritance was used rather than the more recently appearing but undeveloped and unstabilized Sangik mutation.) The first epochal revelation was established upon the most well-developed genetic potentials for expressing cultural and spiritual values then available on the planet.

The Adamic Regime

The second epochal revelation was rooted in the cultural context fostered by Van and Amadon among the Nodites and Amadonites living in the vicinity of Lake Van in the Caspian Sea region. It was the only context of significant development available at the time. All other inhabitants of the planet were living under conditions likely to have prevailed had there never been a first epochal revelation. The second epochal revelation was established upon the most well-developed expression of cultural and spiritual values then available on the planet.

Machiventa Melchizedek

The third epochal revelation was developed upon some of the cultural traditions of the early Sethite priests of the second Eden, most notably their educational system.

Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus appeared within the context of Jewish culture. At the time of his bestowal the Jews were the most influential group of the Semitic peoples and they happened to occupy a critical geographic region in terms of how the world of that time was organized for trade and political rule. The book says that, ". . . the dispersion of the Jews, with their more than two hundred synagogues and well-organized religious communities scattered hither and yon throughout the Roman world, provided the cultural centers in which the new gospel of the kingdom of heaven found initial reception, and from which it subsequently spread to the uttermost parts of the world." [121:2.4 (1333,6)]

The book also notes the monotheism of the Jews as a critical factor with its ". . . promise of the nurture and sending forth to the world of a new and enlarged concept of that one God of all nations and Father of all mortals." [121:2.6 (1333,8)]

Political conditions were not insignificant. "The friendly relations of Herod with the Roman rulers made the world safe for Jewish travel and thus opened the way for increased Jewish penetration even of distant portions of the Roman Empire and of foreign treaty nations with the new gospel of the kingdom of heaven." [121.2.10 (1334,4)]

Perhaps most significant was the visit of Gabriel following Michael's decision to incarnate on Urantia. " . . . as a result of his study of human groups and his survey of the spiritual, intellectual, racial, and geographic features of the world and its peoples, he decided that the Hebrews possessed those relative advantages which warranted their selection as the bestowal race." [122:0.2 (1344,2)]

In addition to this planetary context selected for the bestowal it is worthwhile to note that Jesus did not start his work from an original position; he built upon the context established by John the Baptist.

What we see in these first four epochal revelations is an effort to introduce the revelation into the most well-developed and serviceable context available. Each of these revelations was intended for the inhabitants of the entire planet but each required a particular cultural context for its initial implantation, from which it was intended to spread to the rest of the world.

And what was the purpose of each of these revelations? The epochal revelations represent a sequence of efforts, carried out over a series of dispensations, to orient and engage mortals of material origin in the processes related to the fundamental project of the present universe age -- the emergence of the kingdom of heaven as the cultural foundation for the further evolution of the developing civilization in the grand universe.

These revelations appear to be oriented toward the social and spiritual integration of personality so that the associative co-creational potentials of personality might be liberated and applied to tasks related to the appearance of the kingdom of heaven, the maximization of the personalization of spiritual values during the present universe age of the emergence of experiential deity.

At the time of the Planetary Prince, Hap and the college of revealed religion presented the early races with the seven commandments of "The Father's Way" -- the law of Dalamatia for almost three hundred thousand years. (Even the earlier Andonites were taught the golden rule by their spiritual leaders.)

In the Garden of Eden, the entire purpose of the school system was socialization and included instruction in the golden rule, "the standard of social intercourse." [74:7.3 (835,5)] The laws of the Garden included "The civil codes of the golden rule" and "The seven commands of supreme moral rule."

Machiventa Melchizedek focused on keeping alive the monotheistic concept of one God, ". . . a universe Deity, a heavenly Creator, a divine Father." In the Salem schools, Melchizedek promulgated a system of seven commandments, patterned along the lines of the ancient Dalamatian supreme law and very much resembling the seven commands taught in the first and second Gardens. These commands all related to basic factors of human socialization and, combined with his monotheistic teachings, could be seen as a basis from which further revelation would be able to directly address the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man as a central teaching.

Jesus of Nazareth provided the initial teachings about the kingdom of heaven to the peoples of modern times.

This brings us to the fifth epochal revelation and The Urantia Book. Does The Urantia Book continue this effort to orient mortal personality to the realities of the Kingdom? Does it utilize a particular cultural context as the basis for its presentations?

Of course it does -- it is a part of the continuing sequence of Urantian epochal revelations. The book expands and develops Jesus' teachings about the kingdom in its development of the idea of the evolution of the Supreme -- as well as the related material about experiential Deity. It utilizes the concepts and theological insights evolved primarily within the Christian theological tradition and preserved within the more liberal denominations of the Christian church -- "the cocoon in which the kingdom of Jesus' concept now slumbers" [170:5.21 (1866,4)] -- as a platform from which to attempt a fuller revelation of the nature of the kingdom of heaven.

The Urantia Book in the Context of
Traditional Systematic Theology

Linguistically, The Urantia Book is constructed from words of the English language. Conceptually, it is constructed from concepts derived from various writings in theology, history, and the natural sciences. Structurally, it has a specific form used in Urantian theological writings.

What do we mean by form? We are referring to contexts within which creative work is expressed. In music there are many different forms. For example, the sonata form in which the musical composition is expressed in four distinct movements.

There are many forms used in writing poetry. For example, a quatrain in which the poetry is written in stanzas of four lines each.

Likewise, the structure of The Urantia Book can be seen to fit into a classic structure used in theological writing known as a systematic theology.

There are four primary elements in a classic systematic theology. They are theology, anthropology, Christology, and eschatology. Let's understand these a little better before we proceed.

Theology is the study of God, his nature and his relationship to humanity. Here is where we find doctrines of the trinity, God's purposes, and cosmology.

Anthropology is the study of humanity, its origin and nature. Here we may find a philosophy of history, writings about God's action in human history, doctrines of original sin, and discussions about the nature of evil and suffering in the world.

Why a study of history in association with a study of theology? We understand the events of our daily lives relative to particular events in the past which we deem to have special significance. It was noted earlier in this paper that for the Jews, the center of history is the exodus from Egypt; for the Persians, the appearance of Zarathustra; for the Moslems, Mohammed's flight from Mecca to Medina; and so forth.

The Urantia Book makes the life of Jesus the event relative to which the meaning of all subsequent history may best be understood. The apostle Paul appropriately referred to Jesus as "the author and finisher of our faith."

For readers of The Urantia Book the earlier epochal revelations form secondary referents from which we derive additional meaning about our present situation.

Christology is the study of Jesus, his nature and his work in the world. Here we find doctrines of atonement and salvation as well as discussions about the work of the Holy Spirit.

Eschatology is the study of "the end times," the "second coming," the nature of the kingdom of heaven, the final judgment, and life after death.

The Christology normally forms the centerpiece of a systematic theology with the other three divisions providing theological context and philosophic support for the view of Jesus being presented by the author.

The content of The Urantia Book easily fits the classic form of a systematic theology. At its core is its Christology with the rest of the text providing background information relative to the story of Jesus of Nazareth as Michael of Nebadon.

Systematic theology is a major academic discipline which has evolved over a 2,000 year time span in an effort to understand who Jesus is. We can gain significant insight into what the authors of The Urantia Book have given us if we consider some of the issues involved in this 2,000 year quest for understanding.

We should begin by considering the contribution made by two seminal thinkers -- Philo and Origen, both of Alexandria.

The Urantia Book mentions Philo of Alexandria as the greatest religious teacher between Moses and Jesus. He lived from 20 BC to 50 AD. In terms of synthesizing the best ethical and religious teachings of any particular period, the book lists Philo as one of the seven greatest religious teachers ever to live. His major work involved the integration of the Hebrew scriptures and (Platonic) Greek philosophy including the integration of some important Stoic and Pythagorean elements.

From his study of the Hebrew scriptures Philo had developed an appreciation for God's involvement in the human situation. He viewed God the Father as the Supreme Being (as the "primal" being, not The Urantia Book sense of the Supreme) and the Logos, as his chief messenger. The Logos was the interface between Creator and creature, an ambassador and suppliant. Wisdom flowed from the divine Logos. Philo held that the immortal part of the soul was created from the divine breath of the Father through the Logos. Philo developed this view of the Logos from an earlier but less developed Greek concept.

Appreciate the significance of this -- this development of the idea of the Logos was perhaps the most important single concept to emerge in the early Christian theological effort. John read Philo's writing about the Logos and immediately grasped it as a description of who (or what) Jesus was.

Consider this beautiful writing from the first chapter of John's gospel.

"In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God and the Logos was God. All things were made by him. Without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and this life was the light of men. This was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. And the Logos was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

In addition to providing the Logos concept, Philo led the way for Paul more fully to restore the concept of the Paradise Trinity, which had long been dormant in Jewish theology.

You may recall that when Jesus was in Alexandria with Gonod and Ganid, Gonod had some business dealings with a man who was the brother of Philo. The book notes that Jesus and Ganid talked much about Philo's teachings and expected to attend some of his lectures, but throughout their stay in Alexandria Philo was home sick in bed. Imagine some of the implications of a conversation between Philo and Jesus!

Early efforts to understand the nature of the Paradise Trinity were furthered by Origen of Alexandria, who lived after the times of Philo and Paul, from about 185 AD to about 254 AD. He was the first systematic theologian and philosopher of the Christian Church. He added to the trinitarian ideas of Philo and Paul, insights derived from Plato's ideas of a divine hierarchical triad. Origen also introduced history as an essential element in any metaphysical or cosmological speculation.

Philo and Origen laid the foundations for exploring the fundamental questions arising from Jesus' life. Who was Jesus? What is the nature of the trinity? What role does God play in human life and in human history? And for 2,000 years the best religious minds on our planet have grappled with these same questions.

All of this confusion and questioning results from Jesus' sudden death. Normally a Divine Son puts in place the conceptual foundations for the following dispensation prior to leaving the planet of his bestowal. Circumstances prevented Jesus from being able to do this to any significant degree. Much would have to await the work of the Spirit of Truth. The heavens opened for a moment but not long enough for us to understand what we were seeing.

In order to appreciate this situation it is helpful to review some of the contending ideas about who Jesus was. Early believers were deeply divided over these issues.

Jesus was simply a great teacher. (Ebionites)
He was divine without a human nature. (Docetists)

He was an intermediate being, neither absolutely divine nor truly human. (Gnostics)

He was not a divine being; was created here on earth. (Arians)

He was not human; he had the divine logos operating through him instead of having a human soul. (Apollinarians)

The human nature had been obliterated by union with the divine resulting in a single divine nature. (Monophysites)

The two natures operated independently in him simultaneously without unity of the two. (Nestorians)

Here are some of the important figures in the Christological debate and the views they put forth:

Ignatius of Antioch (35-107): Argued for the divinity of Christ and incarnation

Justin Martyr (100-165): Christ was the Logos

Origen (185-254): A human soul was united with the Logos.

Arius (c. 250-336): Jesus was not of the Father; was created here on earth

Athanasius (296-373): Christ was divine

Theodore of Mopsuestia (4th Century): The Logos assumed a specific human being and not just "human nature" in general.

Gregory of Nyssa (335-394): Two distinct natures; Mary as Theotokos

Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444): A "hypostatic union" - humanity and divinity of Jesus seen as two distinct but inseparable natures

Eutyches (middle of 5th century): There were two natures before the incarnation, one afterwards. Jesus' deity and humanity were fused into something different - a third substance.

Nestorians (d. 451): Unity of wills, not unity of essence; a conjunction of two natures, not a union of two complete natures.

Menno Simons (c. 1496-1561): Jesus had heavenly flesh that was not from Mary. This was the Melchiorite "doctrine of incarnation."

It is interesting to note that The Urantia Book addresses much of this controversy in three paragraphs at the end of Paper 120.

"But make no mistake; Christ Michael, while truly a dual-origin being, was not a double personality. He was not God in association with man but, rather, God incarnate in man. And he was always just that combined being. The only progressive factor in such a nonunderstandable relationship was the progressive self-conscious realization and recognition (by the human mind) of this fact of being God and man.

"Christ Michael did not progressively become God. God did not, at some vital moment in the earth life of Jesus, become man. Jesus was God and man--always and even forevermore. And this God and this man were, and now are, one, even as the Paradise Trinity of three beings is in reality one Deity.

"Never lose sight of the fact that the supreme spiritual purpose of the Michael bestowal was to enhance the revelation of God." (1331,2-4)

The controversy about Jesus continued on up to present times -- even in the public sector as is illustrated with the debate and controversy set off by the recent Mel Gibson film, "The Passion of the Christ." Here are some more contemporary views:

Albrecht Ritschl (1822-89): Distinguished the Jesus of history from the Christ of faith.

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965): Jesus was an apocalyptic political leader.

Karl Barth (1886-1968): Reasserted Jesus' deity, the importance of the virgin birth and the substitutionary atonement.

Karl Rahner (1904-1984): Introduced "Transcendental Christology" which interprets the event and person of Christ relative to the essential structure of human personality; the whole process of evolving self-consciousness in the cosmos has to do with communication between personalities.

Paul Tillich (1886-1965): Jesus is a symbol which illuminates the mystery of being; Jesus symbolized a universal human possibility which can be achieved without a specific reference to Jesus.

It is important to appreciate that these issues were not simply academic. Understanding Jesus seemed to be necessary for understanding who we are: Are there two natures in us or one? How do they operate? Are we to deny and repress one while focusing and fostering the other? Are we to somehow unify them into one nature?

For nearly 2,000 years, Jesus of Nazareth has remained the most controversial figure of human history. Bloody wars have been fought over these issues; devoted believers have been tortured and executed; endless councils have been called to try and resolve the controversies. And today, in theological circles as well as in the pews of churches in communities of sincere religionists around the world, countless numbers of people still ask the same questions - who was Jesus of Nazareth and what are the implications for my personal life, for humanity?

The Urantia Book illuminates the primary theological issues arising out of Jesus' life and the catastrophic termination of his bestowal. The Urantia Book responds to questions generated by 2,000 years of theological inquiry and struggle.

New Theological Perspectives Just Prior to the
Appearance of The Urantia Book

As theology continued to develop in the post-modern context of the 20th century, the general trend in Christology was toward increasing metaphysical abstraction. It may be helpful to note the difference between systematic theology and metaphysics. Both attempt to provide an integrated view of reality. Metaphysics starts with the patterns observed in material reality and attempts to project the nature of spiritual reality on this basis. Systematic theology places the life of Jesus as the fundamental reality relative to which the rest of reality is to be understood. But both of them fail due to lack of insight into the relationship between matter, mind, and spirit. The viewpoint of The Urantia Book helps to correct this problem by affirming a Jesus-centric view of reality while at the same time showing its relationship to the physics and energies of material reality.

I would like to mention two more important thinkers whose work I believe presages The Urantia Book.

Alfred North Whitehead lived from 1861 to 1947. For Whitehead, the fundamental unit of reality is a process of becoming. He held that, "Nature is a structure of evolving processes. Reality is the process." He attempted to develop a metaphysical unification of time, space, matter, events, and teleology. He developed process philosophy and understood the transfer from potentials to actuals as the basic creative process in the cosmos. Whitehead wrote that we are all involved in "a creative advance into novelty." He said that, "Cosmology is the story of the dynamic effort of the World passing into everlasting unity, and of the static majesty of God's vision, accomplishing its purpose of completion by absorption of the World's multiplicity of effort." Note Whitehead's understanding of the co-existence of both existential and experiential Deity. Some of his immediate followers developed these concepts more fully into a theology in which processes were the central elements.

Elsewhere he writes of God, "God's role is not the combat of productive or destructive forces; it lies in the patient operation of the over-powering rationality of his conceptual harmonization. He does not create the world, he saves it: or, more accurately, he is the poet of the world, with tender patience leading it by his vision of truth, beauty, and goodness."

Whitehead's philosophy of process resonates as the conceptual background for The Urantia Book development of the idea of evolutionary and experiential Deity. One of the biggest challenges confronting Christian theology today is the creation of a coherent Process Christology which integrates with the existential Trinity. This cannot be done without additional information about the nature of existential and experiential Deity in the cosmos - and The Urantia Book supplies this information. Note revelation providing support when human effort has reached a seemingly insurmountable obstacle and resources have been exhausted.

Borden Parker Bowne lived from 1847 to 1910 and is considered to be the seminal thinker in a philosophic perspective known as Personalism. Bowne's personalism could be reduced to several primary assertions.

1. The human personality must be taken as the starting point of philosophy.

2. The fundamental structure of the human personality is a combination of matter and spirit.

3. The personality is conceived not as an atomistic individual, but as a being whose nature implies community.

4. Personality is the fundamental reality in the universe.

The Urantia Book could easily be classified as a personalist document. In its view of the cosmos, all reality comes into existence as a repercussion of free will choices made by personalities acting relative to each other -- what the book refers to as the associative and co-creational aspects of personality. This is true of personality ranging from the Paradise Trinity down to the relationships which we sustain with each other. It is from the choices made within the context of these relationships that tomorrow's world comes into existence. Understanding this is an important step toward understanding how the kingdom of heaven emerges into actuality from the potentials hidden within the Absolutes.

Additionally, the book is written as a personal communication; as we read we feel as if we are being spoken to. The revelators address us personally - first, as truth seekers, and secondly, as potential propagators of the religion of Jesus. This is the same mode of discourse in which Jesus addressed his followers and his audiences.

Noted personalists of the 20th century include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Pope John Paul XXII. Dr. King did his doctoral dissertation on Henry Weiman (1884-1975), thought to be one of the important source authors of The Urantia Book. Much of the content of The Urantia Book resonates with the work of both Whitehead and Bowne.

This is a good point to review what The Urantia Book tells us is accomplished by revelation. The book says that revelations transiently clarify knowledge by:

1. The reduction of confusion by the authoritative elimination of error.

2. The co-ordination of known or about-to-be-known facts and observations.

3. The restoration of important bits of lost knowledge concerning epochal transactions in the distant past.

4. The supplying of information which will fill in vital missing gaps in otherwise earned knowledge.

5. Presenting cosmic data in such a manner as to illuminate the spiritual teachings contained in the accompanying revelation. [101:4.5 (1109,6)]

Having hopefully gained some understanding of the struggles and achievements of systematic theology as a context relative to which The Urantia Book appears, we will now turn to a consideration of the nature of the present planetary dispensation and the additional context which it provides for the revelation.

The Urantia Book and the
Current Planetary Dispensation

There have been four dispensations on our planet:

The era of the Life Carriers - The Life Carriers
Dispensation of the Planetary Prince - The Planetary Prince
Adamic dispensation - The Adamic Regime
Dispensation of the Spirit of Truth - The Spirit of Truth

What is a dispensation? The first section of Paper 115 contains a discussion of "universe frames" -- contexts, paradigms, or frames of reference within which we do our thinking about reality. A dispensation could be considered a "metaframe" - a frame of reference created and used by universe administrators. Consider the following three functions of a dispensation:

1. A tool for celestial management of mortal orientation to the ascension career. Dispensations provide a meaning/value context for successive planetary epochs. At the beginning of each dispensation Divine Sons put in place potentials for development during the following dispensation.

2. A tool for managing planetary support services. Planetary administration and services of spiritual ministry are structured to work within the context of the goals and objectives of a particular dispensation -- the actualization of the potentials contained within the scope of the particular revelation dominating the dispensation.

The final dynamics of the cosmos have to do with the transformation of potentials into actuals. Emerging reality in the present universe age is stimulated by the Architects of the Master Universe to optimize and maximize the actualization of spiritual values hidden within the infinite reservoirs of the Absolutes.

Only a finite range of values will be personalized from these infinite reserves and the intelligent overcontrol of creation works to optimize these foundations upon which the dynamics of the next universe age will operate. The spiritual values discovered in the present universe age can be carried into the future only if they become qualities of a personality.

From the Architects of the Master Universe, through the agency of God the Sevenfold, sets of potentials are passed to the evolutionary worlds for actualization and personalization during particular dispensations.

3. A tool for managing administrative affairs on the Mansion Worlds. Rehabilitation programs, social mechanisms, educational programs, planetary and local system administration procedures - all need to be planned, created and put in place in readiness for new groups of pilgrims arriving from the evolutionary planets.

It is possible that the dispensation also provides a mechanism for synchronizing the ascent of groups of survivors from various planets in the system so that there is some control over the arrival of groups in the Constellation educational regime. We do not have enough information to speculate productively on how far into the universe ascension program the mechanism of the dispensation is used but it should be noted that even our induction into the Corps of the Finality takes place as a group process.

The present dispensation on Urantia is the dispensation of the Spirit of Truth -- what The Urantia Book refers to as the "Christian dispensation". [195:8.13 (2082,5)] What are the implications of this in terms of understanding the role of The Urantia Book in the present planetary dispensation?

Consider some quotes about the functioning of the Spirit of Truth:

"The Spirit of Truth is almost wholly limited in function and power by man's personal reception of that which constitutes the sum and substance of the mission of the bestowal Son." [34:5.5 (379,5)]

"The Spirit of Truth is designed to live in man and, for each new generation, to restate the Jesus message so that every new group of mortals to appear upon the face of the earth shall have a new and up-to-date version of the gospel." [194:2.1 (2060,6)]

"The Spirit of Truth was bestowed for the purpose of qualifying believers more effectively to preach the gospel of the kingdom . . . " [194:3.5 (2063,3)]

"The Spirit of Truth came to help the believer to witness to the realities of Jesus' teachings and his life as he lived it in the flesh, and as he now again lives it anew and afresh in the individual believer of each passing generation of the spirit-filled sons of God." [194:2.6 (2061,4)]

This is the nature of the Spirit of Truth which dominates the present planetary dispensation. Just as "Prayer elevates man because it is a technique of progressing by the utilization of the ascending spiritual currents of the universe," so does our effectiveness in working toward a planetary spiritual renaissance increase as we learn to work with the spiritual currents and developmental trends being managed by our spiritual benefactors at the actualizing surface of the Supreme. Every choice of will, every attitude of mind, every action we take either reinforces or retards the progress of the underlying spiritual processes of the present dispensation.

There are other spiritual agencies working relative to the objectives of the current dispensation in addition to the Spirit of Truth:

The Board of Planetary Directors: "This board of planetary directors is especially concerned with the supervision of those activities on this world which result from the fact that Michael here experienced his terminal bestowal." [114:2.2 (1251,5)]

The Thought Adjusters: "These Mystery Monitors are continually assisting in the establishment of the spiritual dominion of Michael throughout the universe of Nebadon . . ." [108:4.3 (1190,3)]

The Seraphim: Work through the social, ethical, and moral environment; they unify and co-ordinate the work of the Adjuster and the Spirit of Truth.
[113:4.1, 113:3.3 (1245,1), (1244,4)]

The primary spiritual agencies in our environment are focused on reinforcing and illuminating the meanings and values of Jesus' bestowal. The Urantia Book is a catalyst designed to support and reinforce the efforts of these primary spiritual agencies working in our world. The Urantia Book is a feature of the present dispensation of the Spirit of Truth.

Understanding The Urantia Book as addressing the long struggle of systematic theology to clarify the nature of Jesus and the meaning of his life as it affects ours, and understanding the present dispensation as being under the direction of Michael's personal spirit, we can begin to think about how topics in The Urantia Book might be organized for more meaningful study.

The "Kingdom of Heaven" emerges as a repercussion of the potentials developed in the process of evolving experiential Deity; the religion of Jesus is about the creative participation of personality in this process.

Universe reality comes into existence as a repercussion of relationships between personalities and when the potentials contained in these new realities reach divine levels of integration, they are personalized as Deity. The scope of the book in terms of the domain of cosmic reality which it discusses consists of an overview of experiential Deity with a primary emphasis on God the Supreme. It is an introduction to the Kingdom of Heaven as this kingdom is developing in the present universe age and on Urantia during the present dispensation of the Spirit of Truth.

Arranging Topics in The Urantia Book for
Easier Understanding of the Teachings

Given all that we have reviewed above it becomes relatively easy to view The Urantia Book in a manner which makes an organized study of the text much easier. Let's look at two final quotes which will support the approach we will take.

"The nature of God can best be understood by the revelation of the Father which Michael of Nebadon unfolded in his manifold teachings and in his superb mortal life in the flesh." [2:0.1 (33,1)]

"If the incarnated life of Michael is taken as the background of the revelation of God to man, we may attempt to put in human word symbols certain ideas and ideals concerning the divine nature which may possibly contribute to a further illumination and unification of the human concept of the nature and the character of the personality of the Universal Father." [2:0.2 (33,2)]

According to the revelators, the life of Jesus is the central feature in The Urantia Book, relative to which the rest of the book's theological exposition is to be understood.

It is interesting to note that every paper in Parts 1 and 2 contain references to Jesus or Michael with the exception of Paper 44 on the celestial artisans. In addition, Part IV contains references to every significant topic covered in the first three parts of the text.

So, in addition to what we've already discussed about The Urantia Book being a Christologically-centered systematic theology; in addition to what we understand about the present dispensation of the Spirit of Truth, we know that the revelators are relying on our understanding of the religious life of Jesus as a foundation from which they can attempt to present an enlarged revelation about the nature of deity.

Implicit in this understanding of the conceptual foundation used by the revelators in their construction of the text is the key to organizing its contents for simpler and more meaningful study.

We can start by giving the book a subtitle: The Scope and Dynamics of the Kingdom of Heaven in the Present Universe Age - An Introduction to Cosmic Citizenship.

The Urantia Book presents a comprehensive overview of the Kingdom of Heaven, its internal architectural processes in its present state of development, its origins in the unfathomable depths of the Absolutes, its destiny in the embrace of the Universal Father, and the nature of the spiritual agencies and processes of Paradise origin by which this evolution is being managed.

Each epochal revelation on Urantia has expanded the foundations upon which humanity might discover and participate in the establishment of the kingdom. Let's review these one more time:

Hap's Moral Law -- "The Father's Way."

The civil codes of the golden rule promulgated in the Garden schools.

The seven commandments of Melchizedek.

Jesus' teaching about the kingdom.

The Urantia Book disclosure about the nature of the Supreme and experiential deity.

These constitute a sequence of expanding revelations related to spiritualized personality integration, the development of cosmic citizenship, and the recognition of the nature of the kingdom of heaven.

Everything in The Urantia Book may be placed into one of three categories derived from this understanding. These categories are:

1. The Kingdom of Heaven
2. The Religion of Jesus
3. Who is Jesus?

Let's look at these categories in greater detail.

Category 1. The Kingdom of Heaven - A study of the means by which the Kingdom emerges from potentials contained within the Absolutes and stabilizes as an enduring universe phenomena as a result of the creative activities of God the Sevenfold, including a description of the cosmological sequence of achievement milestones marking its actualization.

The Kingdom consists of potential realities which are actualized as the religion of Jesus is lived. These potentials are derived from the infinite reservoir of the absolutes. Orchestrated by processes ordained by the Architects of the Master Universe, they emerge into actuality through mechanisms related to the evolution of experiential deity. But the values which are the building blocks of these realities have to be chosen by a personality and integrated into personal patterns of interaction in order to become a permanent feature of actualized reality.

The first step in understanding this approach to organizing the theological content of the text is to appreciate that The Urantia Book discussion of the Supreme Being is an expansion and theological development of Jesus' gospel of the Kingdom. It is helpful, in an attempt to understand the nature of the Supreme, to substitute the word "Supreme" for the phrase "kingdom of heaven" in Jesus' parables. Doing this we end up with parables which read,

"The Supreme is like a man who sowed good seed in his field..."

"The Supreme is like a merchant seeking goodly pearls..."

"The Supreme is like a sweep net which was cast into the sea..."

But the revelators note that,

"The Supreme Being cannot be fully appreciated without taking into consideration source, function, and destiny: relationship to the originating Trinity, the universe of activity, and the Trinity Ultimate of immediate destiny." [115:7.7 (1267,1)]

This quote describes the full scope of the revelation and its conceptual boundaries. In other words, subsequent to the teachings of Jesus, the next step in revelation about the nature of the kingdom is a revelation of the Supreme. But a revelation of the Supreme requires a revelation of these other levels of experiential deity - and this is what we have in The Urantia Book; a fleshing out of the theological and cosmological implications of Jesus' gospel of the kingdom.

In this category we study the following topics (listed in sequence of study):

Personal Spiritual Experience (Important note: This does not refer to subjective experience -- it refers to experience with other personalities, experience and insight acquired in a context of interpersonal relationships.)

The Indwelling Adjuster

Meanings and Values

The Spirit of Truth

Ministering Spirits

Ascension Scheme

Actualization of the Supreme

Actuals and Potentials

Eventuation of the Ultimate

First Experiential Trinity

Quest for God the Absolute

Second Experiential Trinity

The Trinity of Trinities

Category 2: The Religion of Jesus -- The religion of Jesus is all about how to participate creatively and productively in the actualization of experiential deity and the appearance of the kingdom.

In this category we study the following topics (listed in sequence of study):

Personality in the Universe

The Universal Father

Worship and Service

The Father's Will

The Great Commandment

The Evangelical Imperative

Cosmic Citizenship

The Quest for Perfection

Service in Eternity

Category 3: Who is Jesus?- Context and background information for understanding the life and nature of Michael of Nebadon and his bestowal upon our world as Jesus of Nazareth..

In this category we study the following topics (listed in sequence of study):

Jesus of Nazareth

Epochal Revelation and Planetary Dispensations

Michael of Nebadon

The Local Universe

The Sevenfold Bestowal Career

The Universe of Universes

Existential and Experiential Deity

God the Sevenfold

The Paradise Trinity

The Isle of Paradise

The Seven Absolutes of Infinity

The Sevenfold Nature of the I AM

The Universal Father

This schema provides a sequence of study in each of the three categories which gradually increases in conceptual complexity. The study provides a natural review process as each new step expands what was studied in the previous steps.

In addition, the material in Category 2 -- The Religion of Jesus -- may be presented in the context of many different religious perspectives and while it is presented here relative to Urantia Book studies, there is a great deal of room for flexibility in the evangelical presentation of this material.

The chart on the next page shows these three categories and their sequences of topics for study. The topics are arranged in order of increasing complexity in each category.

The outline of this schema concludes this presentation. It's further development is currently in process and involves creating a map through the text of The Urantia Book which links the topics outlined above into a coherent sequence of studies. Completion of this work is still several years in the future. The present outline is provided to stimulate thought and feedback which might enhance the utility of the final work.

I would like to close by sharing the last verse in John's gospel, John 21:25;

"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."

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