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Urantia : The Great Cult M /A
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One point of view, with a couple of others thrown in for good measure.
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Urantia : The Great Cult Mystery
by Martin Gardner
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Hardcover - (April 1995) 445 pages
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Urantia : The Great Cult Mystery
by Martin Gardner
Try express shopping with
1-ClickSM and Gift Click Our Price: $19.57
You Save: $8.38 (30%)
Usually ships in 2-3 days
Hardcover - (April 1995) 445 pages
Table of Contents
1. The Urantia Book
2. Dr. William Sadler
3. Dr. John Kellogg
4. Ellen White's Plagiarisms
5. The Living Temple
6. Wilfred Custer Kellogg
7. The Revelation Begins
8. Harold Sherman and Harry Loose
9. OAHSPE
10. Science in The Urantia Book, Part I
11. Science in The Urantia Book, Part II
12. Adventist Influence on The Urantia Book
13. Sadler and Sister White
14. Did Sadler Contribute to the Papers? Part I
15. Did Sadler Contribute to the Papers? Part II
16. Plagiarisms in The Urantia Book
17. Bitter Schisms
18. Joe Pope and the New Teachers
19. The Great Rebellion
App. A. Books by William Sadler, Sr.
App. B. Books by Harold Sherman
App. C. Sherman's Letter to Sadler
App. D. The Story of Joseph of Arimathaea
App. E. Unusual Words and Phrases that Sadler and The Urantia Book Have
in Common
App. F. Acknowledgments
Name Index
Reviews
Amazon.com
The media has temporarily turned its large but constantly blinking eye
away from cult-of-the-day reportage after the Waco conflagration, but
such organizations continue to collect adherents. Martin Gardner, best
known as mathematical-games-meister for Scientific American, turns his
refreshingly unblinking gaze on the origin and continuing growth of the
Urantian cult, whose members believe they are receiving corrigenda to
the Bible from celestial beings. A marvellous study of the ways in which
the zaniest ideas can be propagated through society.
From Booklist , April 1, 1995
The Urantia Book is at the center of one of the more interesting
esoteric American sects in a century full to bursting with them. As
such, it was bound to attract premier debunker Gardner's attention.
Gardner begins by regrettably briefly recapitulating the book itself and
summarizing the history of the Urantians' connections with Sister Ellen
White and the Seventh-Day Adventists and other fin de sie{
}cle
religionists, and he closes with a panorama of the present state of the
Urantia movement and its reforms and schisms. But Gardner uses the core
of his text to establish, by textual analysis and other tools, Dr.
William Sadler as The Urantia Book's main, if not sole, author. Whether
he succeeds in this endeavor each reader will decide individually; his
case is certainly remarkably compelling. There are a few flaws, for the
sheer weight of facts unearthed by his research sometimes overpowers the
thread of his argument. And sometimes Gardner allows himself to wax
sarcastic at an especially egregious example of inanity. But then, who
wouldn't? Dennis Winters
Copyright© 1995, American Library Association. All rights reserved
Martin Gardner, one of America's most acclaimed science writers, has
here compiled the first complete history of a growing, modern religious
cult. Gardner traces the cult's beginnings back to its "bible," The
Urantia Book, a book supposedly revealed solely by celestial beings to
correct the flaws in the traditional Bible. Published in 1955 under the
direction of cult leader Dr. William Sadler, The Urantia Book (Urantia
is the cult's name for the earth) is the largest work ever said to have
been channeled by unseen higher beings through human contacts. It
differs from earlier channeled "bibles" in that it contains a vast
amount of modern science as well as a detailed biography of Jesus
Christ, complete with facts not found in the Gospels. As a result, many
scientists and scholars are dedicated Urantians. In addition to
discussing the beliefs of the Urantia cult, Gardner reveals two major
developments that threaten to splinter the movement. The first is a
sectarian rift that has split the movement into two major competing
factions. The second is the growing belief of hundreds of Urantians that
they, too, are receiving their own messages from the celestials, who
they claim are preparing Urantia for a new revelation intended to usher
in a utopia of
