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The Urantia Book: A New Presentation of Part 4?
In the hope of influencing the thinking of mainstream Christians through ideas and concepts to be found in The Urantia Book's "Life of Jesus," experience has, by now, indicated that this effect is only likely to be achieved if that "Life" is presented in a different form.
Previous articles in this issue have discussed aspects of this matter, drawing attention to the antipathy of Christians to revelatory claims of any kind. So what are the possibilities for getting the text of Part 4 read widely if a different presentation is used, and what are the possible gains?
Part 4 could be truthfully presented as "author(s) unknown." Starting from Paper 121 or perhaps 122, only those changes likely to distract readers or to be indicative of a revelatory source would need modification or deletion so as to be generally acceptable to mainstream Christians. The narrative of Jesus' life and teachings would require only sufficient textual alterations to avoid copyright conflicts. Theological issues in the original text would scarcely need touching as virtually all such issues have already been discussed extensively in the Christian literature.
At least initially, it is more important that the influence of the text of the Urantia Papers should be to assist mainstream Christianity to evolve a revised form of religion that would be acceptable to and inspiring for the new generations, rather than have the aim of bringing new readers to the Papers themselves.
Currently, a high proportion of secondary school graduates receive an education that promotes a materialistic, religionless outlook on life and living. But within the next 10 to 20 years, the discoveries of the quantum physicists that conclusively rule out the deterministic, "clockwork universe" will become more widely known, and the fall of determinism will leave room for free will, for belief in God, and for a resurgence of religion.
As it now stands, The Urantia Book is unlikely to contribute significantly to a religious renaissance. A revised and modified "Life of Jesus" could change that outlook, and eventually bring respectability to the study of the Fifth Epochal Revelation in the academic world and among church people.
K.T.G.
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