The Urantia Book (UB) was first published in 1955 in Chicago. The lengthy UB at first comes across as an interdisciplinary and futuristic compendium of philosophical and religious ideas and purported new facts about both the cosmos and our home world, “Urantia”—said to be the universe name of our planet. This uncommon text describes itself as an “epochal revelation” suitable for the modern era and beyond. It is also felt by many to be a new bible for our time, in that it purportedly offers revelatory corrections to ancient Bible narratives as well as Paul‘s teachings, while also affirming many traditional Christian doctrines such as the Incarnation and the resurrection. In addition, the UB features a lucid and confident writing style infused with intellectual coherence and consistency across numerous fields of study. Over the decades, a corps of writers, authors, teachers, and ministers have arisen around this challenging and controversial text, and this development has more recently led to the appearance of a small cadre of deeply committed scholars and researchers.

The Offerings of the Academy

The steadily increasing number of advanced researchers focused on the Urantia text led to the founding in 2022 of the Urantia Book Academy (UBA), featuring a unique vision and mission that now includes the International Journal of Urantia Book Studies. This new online publication was first announced at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in November 2024 in San Diego, an annual event attended by thousands of scholars. Known by the acronym iJUBS, the journal‘s inaugural edition is due out in mid-2025, and scholars and researchers everywhere are encouraged to contact us to submit papers before April 1. At a special AAR reception, the UBA also launched Reason and Revelation (Origin Press Academic, 2024)—the first anthology of scholarly essays on the UB. One of us also participated on a panel hosted by the New Religious Movements Unit—only the second time since 1985 that a paper on the Urantia revelation has been officially presented. Our presence at the AAR in 2022 and 2024 was generously funded by the Urantia Book Fellowship and a private donor At this link, learn about our 2024 AAR booth, special reception for scholars, and our vision for the future.

Seamless Coverage of a Vast Range of Topics

Also known as the Urantia revelation, more than a million copies of this mysterious 2,097-page book have been distributed worldwide in over 20 languages. Consisting of four parts, the UB addresses a vast range of topics that include theology, cosmology, angelology, philosophy, religion, and history—often utilizing human sources as a template upon which to provide new “revelatory” ideas and interpretations. Its teachings aim to unify science and religion, blending an advanced Trinitarian theology and a modified Chalcedonian Christology with a sophisticated modern cosmology inclusive of post-Einsteinian physics. The UB also covers physical and biological evolution, a radical new story of human origins, a vastly expanded angelology, a modernized account of “the fall of the angels,” a startling restatement of the story of Adam and Eve, a rich theory of religion, an advanced concept of divine indwelling, an integrative approach to spirituality, a replete depiction of an eternal life after death, a description of humanoid life on billions of inhabited planets, a post-Kantian philosophy and theology, a description of evolutionary theism reminiscent of Whitehead, and esoteric planetary history, among other topics.

A New Narration of the Life and Teachings of Jesus

Part IV of the Urantia Papers is entitled “The Life and Teachings of Jesus.” At 775 pages, this new narrative purportedly corrects the errors of the New Testament while adding far more detail, in the process providing a coherent restatement of the Gospel accounts based on human, biblical, and angelic sources. This expansive story often covers events day by day and sometimes hour by hour—including the “lost years” of Jesus’s childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. It also contains an extensive account of his private and public ministries, his miracles, and his wide proclamation of the Gospel in the form of personal instruction, parables, sermons, and interactions with the Apostles and close disciples. It is largely Chalcedonian in Christology, including a strong affirmation of the resurrection and the events of Pentecost. Ultimately, readers of Part IV are able to uplift and renew their understanding of Jesus, thanks to a seamless narrative that builds both upon the sacred foundation of the biblical record along with the revelatory addition of numerous previously unknown episodes. Readers also discover an elevated portrayal of a Jesus as a divine incarnation who teaches a Gospel of loving service, self-respect, soul evolution, artistic living, love for one’s enemies, self-mastery, and sublime worship of the God on Paradise in the context of the UB’s advocacy for planetary and cosmic citizenship.

Purported Origins of the Text

originated between 1924 and 1945 through the efforts of a “contact commission” of six people (four of whom are pictured above). This unique group was founded and led by a prominent physician and author named Dr. William Sadler. Sadler later co-founded the Urantia Foundation, which became the original publisher of the completed manuscript claimed by the contact commissioners to be authored by higher angels through a largely mysterious process. As a young man, Sadler worked for several Seventh Day Adventist organizations and attended medical school, graduating in 1906, and also studying briefly in 1910 in Vienna with Sigmund Freud. Sadler practiced medicine in Chicago with his wife, who was also a physician. (Their son, Bill Sadler, became a contact commissioner along with Emma Christensen, their adopted daughter—both of whom are pictured above on the right and left of the shot). Dr. Sadler taught at the McCormick Theological Seminary and eventually wrote over 40 books on a variety of medical and spiritual topics advocating a holistic approach to health. Since the publication of the UB in 1955, several worldwide fellowship organizations have arisen aside from the Urantia Foundation, including the Urantia Fellowship and the Urantia Association International.

The original manuscript originated in the 1920s and 1930s through a “contact commission” of six people (pictured above) led by a prominent psychiatrist named Dr. William Sadler, who had studied in Vienna with Freud in 1910. According to the and other publishers, over one million copies have been quietly distributed in more than 20 languages, and a large following has slowly grown worldwide. The UF is the receiver of the original manuscript that it claims is authored by higher angels (also known as celestials or “the revelators”), and several worldwide fellowship organizations have arisen since the 1980s.