One of America's most acclaimed science writers has compiled the first complete history of a 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 is the largest work ever said to have been channelled by super beings through human contactees. It differs from earlier channelled "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. He outlines how hundreds of Urantians now believe that they, too, are receiving their own messages from the celestials who are preparing Urantia (the cult's name for Earth) for a new revelation intended to usher in a utopia of "light and life," thus jeopardizing the authority of the Urantia Book. Gardner also addresses the extent to which Seventh-Day Adventist beliefs have penetrated the Urantia movement. He analyzes the flaws in Urantian science and discusses allegations of plagiarism on the part of the authors of The Urantia Book.
Gardner's skill and insight will reveal how modern cults arise and the extent to which believers develop a mind-set that becomes impossible to alter regardless of how strong the evidence is against those beliefs.
Martin Gardner (Hendersonville, NC), a founding Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), was the author of the "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American for many years. Among his many books are The Flight of Peter Fromm, The Healing Revelation's of Mary Baker Eddy, Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus, The New Age: Notes of a Fringe Watcher, and On the Wild Side.
445 Pages Publication date 21st September, 1995
ISBN 0-87975-955-0
The Urantia Cult
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