Talk:Urantia Book

study group
What is "a typical Urantia Book study group"? --JWSchmidt 22:28, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Urantia Book study groups are a long-standing diverse tradition. See a brief description here. CQ 02:26, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
 * So does a "diverse tradition" have "typical" format? The first page I found in my google search for such study groups seems to stress the need for keeping out people who are not true believers in the book as a revelation. --JWSchmidt 03:28, 3 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Study groups should encompass everyone. I perused the Urantia Book and felt that it mainly promoted Christianity...so...I edited and condensed it into a 502 page book called Urantia United - (subtitle) Tapping Into The Mind Of God - For Religious Equality. The UB is absolutely beautifully written...but it was written in 1930s when phrases like "superior races" and inferior races" were acceptable...and Jesus was promoted and favored as the "Son of God" over God's other children...this leads to religious prejudice.

IMHO, the Urantia Book was written by great intellectuals (normal God-inspired men) in the 1930s when superstitions and prejudice were the norm...other "Holy Books", written before then, fall into the same category...rewriting them does not diminish them, it enhances their viability. It adds truth and removes superstitions...otherwise, intellectuals and then the normal crowd...will eventually consider them food for the inferior and fables of the older generations...they will be placed in the mythology section.

A reader's response at TruthBook.com: "My first sense was that Kurt had plagiarized the Urantia Book, but on a closer examination, I see that Kurt has not altered the words, merely left some concepts out; he has carefully selected a more simplistic message to feed his sheep. For those who have been "damaged" by Christianity, it allows revelation to impact the reader, it speaks to the Thought Adjuster just as adroitly as the original. He has not claimed authorship. He admits editorial license. He acknowledges the original text. Remember, Jesus said, "He who is not against us is for us." And Kurt is definitely not against the revelation. He values it, sees its potential for inaugurating a new dispensation to include all of us, Urantians United". Kkawohl 00:32, 5 January 2007 (UTC)kkawohl

Thought Adjuster
Do you think that Thought Adjuster provides a reasonable description? All this is new to me. --JWSchmidt 00:43, 5 January 2007 (UTC) Thought Adjuster is "our spirit", "our conscience", "inner voice", and "divine spark", among other descriptive phrases. --Kurt

Wingmakers
I have previously seen the Urantia Book mentioned as an apparent source for the Wingmakers mythology. Not being very familiar with either, I have no basis upon which to form an opinion. Do you think that ideas were taken from the Urantia Book and used in the Wingmakers myths? Would you be willing to classify Urantia as New Age? --JWSchmidt 02:16, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Parts of Wingmaker's ideas seem to interact with the Urantia Book writings. I don't wish to speak for their classification but the Urantia United philosophy is along the lines of New Thought "The central teaching of New Thought is that thought evolves and unfolds, and thinking creates one's experience of the world. The movement places great emphasis in positive thinking, affirmations, meditation, and prayer...however, they generally have been influenced by a wide range of ideas". Kkawohl 04:15, 5 January 2007 (UTC)Kkawohl

Urantia United is designed to support teachers who wish to integrate the principles of religious equality for learning into their theology classroom practice. Assessment advisers, school managers, trainee teachers and researchers may also find these materials helpful. Kkawohl 23:05, 2 January 2007 (UTC)kkawohl

Department of Urantia Book Studies
I almost feel bold enough to create a new department, but I'm not familiar enough with the way things work around Wikiversity. Until I get some feedback, I'll just edit this page in the best fashion I can think of, which might be more or less misguided. Xaxafrad 21:11, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Hmmm. It would probably be fine from my point of view, but I would call it simply Topic:Urantia (see Naming conventions). I notice the Urantia Book article gets good exposure at School:Theology under both "Learning resources" and "Wikisource" sections.


 * Generally, "Topic:" pages are for groups of editors (divisions or departments) managing a number of resources in the main namespace . For example, Wikiversity doesn't even have a Topic:Christianity even though at least 17 articles in the main namespace could and should be handled by such a group. We have a Topic:Scientology so... why not? &bull; CQ 16:39, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
 * There is a related organizational discussion at: Topic talk:Biblical Studies. There is Portal:Christianity. --JWSchmidt 17:34, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

After the Hiatus...
Well, it's been 5 years since I've been around these pages, and it seems to have been a period of hibernation. The overall project (Wikiversity) seems to be going strong, so I'll see if we can breath some new life into the UB corner therein. Xaxafrad (talk) 04:08, 20 December 2012 (UTC)