Urantia book translation history
- Descripción
Descripción
Urantia book translation history
Historic Timeline of Events in the Revelation Community
1981-1995
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| 1981 6,852 books distributed |
March — Proposal floated to change operation of Brotherhood School [See Kenton Stephen’s memo regarding a change in format]March 31 — Correspondence between Julia Fenderson and Marian Rowley regarding some issues related to «The 70» [Display correspondence] (Note: Marian’s letter appears edited because it was folded to conceal some highly personal comments). April — Forum member and author Clyde Bedell publishes a call to action in response to Urantia Foundation’s repressive policies. [See Clyde Bedell’s «Monograph on an Issue of Vital Importance to the Urantia Book»] May 26 — Dick Prince submits report on the Spanish translation situation to the Executive Committee of Urantia Brotherhood. This report is essential reading for anyone involved in issues related to translations. June 28-July 3 — IC81; General Conference of Urantia Brotherhood — Snowmass, Colorado, titled «The Individual’s Relation to the Universal Father.5 Program dominated by presence of Family of God Foundation.3 September — J.J. Johnson submits list of suggested changes for The Urantia Book to Christy September 17 — Meredith Sprunger responds to «Spiritual Counterfeits Project» critique of The Urantia Book. [Display] November — International Fellowship Committee submits plan for international library placement of Urantia books [Display] December — Seventh printing of The Urantia Book; 23,000 copies6 |
| 1982 | February 10 — Dick Prince, returning from a visit with translators and readers in Colombia, submits report to Executive Committee. [See report]
April — Urantia Foundation publishes revised French edition of The Urantia Book6 [See history of the French translation] April 5 — Opening of the Boulder School for study of The Urantia Book. Jim Mills is first guest lecturer with series on «Conceptions of God,» presented April 21 through 23. April 16-18 — Kansas City regional conference; «Journey to Paradise.» Center for Urantia Book Synergy — CUBS — founded in Santa Barbara, California [See «Center for Urantia Book Synergy: Statement of Purpose»] May 2 — Death of Emma Christensen, the last living contact commissioner Editor’s note: The death of Emma Christensen precipitated a power struggle between Martin Myers and Vern Grimsley for influence amongst the readership. Vern used his charismatic appeal to the readership as his primary tool. Martin used his knowledge of the legal system. The end result was a disaster. Vern’s organization was completely destroyed in the process and the credibility of Martin’s Urantia Foundation was seriously damaged — perhaps permanently. Each of these dedicated men was reduced to the status of pariah amongst most of the established readership. At that time, the remaining two of the original four «Christy’s Boys», Richard Keeler and Hoite Caston, took over the effort to control the development of the rapidly emerging readership as well as the attempted salvage of Urantia Foundation. [Picture of the fraternity brothers serenading Christy, 1980] June 14 — Urantia Foundation issues comprehensive guidelines for permissible use of the Urantia Book, including permission to read up to 500 words aloud in public. [See: Urantia Foundation’s «Copyright Permission Guidelines»] Triennial Delegate Assembly [See Resolutions passed by the Triennial Delegate Assembly] Reader claims to have vision of Michael forgiving Lucifer — beginning of channeling phenomena within portion of the readership. John Hales elected to second term as President of Urantia Brotherhood Urantia Foundation issues book distribution policy statement; cites financial need as justification for restricting discounts to readers. [See Urantia Foundation’s book distribution policy notification to the Brotherhood] September 23 — Final Judgement rendered in Houston case [See copy of Final Judgement in Houston case] Family of God Foundation purchases 2.5 million dollar seminary in California; radio broadcasts are now regularly carried in all fifty states of the U.S., the American Forces Network, Radio Jordan, Radio Luxembourg, Radio Cyprus and Radio Sri Lanka. |
| 1983 | Death of Jacques Weiss
January — Vern Grimsley notifies Martin Myers and the Kendalls that he began receiving «messages» on December 16 of 1982. Martin Myers immediately flies to California and returns to Chicago with enthusiastic reports on what is happening in California.29 April 15-17 — Kansas City regional conference; «Sharing The Urantia Book: Opportunities and Obstacles.» [See May 1983 «Statement of Principles» for Urantia Brotherhood by Meredith Sprunger] August — Summer Seminar at Lake Forest College — Theme: «Prayer and Worship» Meredith Sprunger resigns as Chair of Fraternal Relations Committee August 19-21 — Center for Urantia Book Synergy — CUBS — sponsors «The Art of Living» conference in Santa Barbara, California — over 300 participants from 22 states and Canada. Sek Seklemian, a longtime business associate of Clyde Bedell and founding member of CUBS, was extremely upset by Urantia Foundation’s demands that all printed materials to be used in conjunction with the conference as well as all presentations, had to be approved by them in advance. The night after the conference, according to an eyewitness in Sek’s home, Sek said he was so upset that he was going to change his will — he had bequeathed $100,000 to Urantia Foundation. Sek collapsed later that evening and died shortly thereafter without changing his will. Urantia Foundation financial reports of subsequent years lend support to the conclusion that Urantia Foundation used Sek’s bequest to fund their lawsuit against CUBS shortly after his estate was finally settled.3 August — First Doctoral Dissertation about The Urantia Book submitted; Jacques Rheaume’s «An Analysis of a Revealed Text: The Urantia Book» September — Executive Committe Letter outlining organizational job descriptions, comments on mass media promotion of The Urantia Book, report on the Boulder School. [See September 1983 Executive Committee Letter] October 6 — Vern Grimsley announces he has received a «message» from superhuman sources warning that World War III is imminent, converts Family of God Foundation 1.5 million dollar commodity account (managed by Richard Keeler) into gold coins and bullion, stashing it at his California seminary. Foundation and Brotherhood leaders immediately fly to California to hear details directly from Vern. An effort to convince Urantia Foundation and Urantia Brotherhood to move all their records and documents to the Clayton seminary for safekeeping begins. Editor’s note: Up until this time, all of Vern Grimsley’s alleged «messages» had been in direct support of existing Urantia Foundation policies and had represented positions on the controversial advertising issue — «don’t split up the book,» «the time has not yet come to advertise the book.» With his change to an apocalyptic message, his support within the Foundation and the Brotherhood quickly evaporated. It should be noted that during the years of Emma Christensen’s influence on the organizations, it was apparently not uncommon for her to arrive on the scene of a policy dispute claiming «we were told by the Midwayers that…» regarding the matter at hand. This would usually be sufficient to end any further discussion. In at least one instance — the dispute over the French translation with Jacques Weiss in November of 1980 — she claimed to have been given a new «message.» Again, her claim was considered sufficient to determine policy. It is likely that Emma Christensen was merely following the same social management strategy employed by Dr. Sadler in his management of the Forum and the Seventy–the only management strategy with which she had any experiece. Vern’s initial «messages» may have simply been a continuation of this means of attempting to manage the readership. The added twist was that implicit in his having received such «messages» was a superhuman endorsement of him as replacement for Emma Christensen — the person receiving superhuman guidance related to policy development. This was perhaps the most audacious–and dangerous–personal reach for power the movement has yet seen. In spite of the lessons learned in the Grimsley affair–particularly the margin of safety acquired by bringing the wisdom of a large number of experienced readers to bear on the evaluation of critical issues–to this day (1997) Urantia Foundation has continued the strategy of implying superhuman endorsement of their policies in an effort to create unquestioning compliance.
October 27 — Clyde Bedell addresses Boulder Study Group regarding Grimsley war messages [See Clyde’s commentary] December 31 — Thomas Kendall, President of the Board of Trustees, ostracized for having supported Vern Grimsley, is informed that he is being removed as President of the Foundation and that steps are being taken to remove him from the Board of Trustees.
December — Urantia Foundation and Urantia Brotherhood issue joint statement on Publicity and Dissemination of The Urantia Book |
| 1984 | January [See letter from Julia Fenderson to John Hales regarding Grimsley war messages]
January 27 — Vern Grimsley notifies readers in Austin, Texas, that he will stop sending tapes to local radio stations if the readers don’t withdraw their promotional announcements for The Urantia Book which they were running in conjunction with Austin area Family of God Foundation broadcasts. [See correspondence] January 16 [See memo from Meredith Sprunger to Executive Committee regarding Clayton incident] March [See letter from Jim Mills to Eva Van Sant justifying removal of trustee Tom Kendall] May 4-6 — Kansas City regional conference; «Our Unseen Friends.» June 17–Richard Keeler and Hoite Caston publish «Vern Grimsley Message Evaluation» for Urantia Foundation, a 283 page document denouncing Vern Grimsley and his «messages.» July — Eighth printing of The Urantia Book; 25,000 copies6 General Conference of Urantia Brotherhood, Greenlake, Wisconsin — Theme: «Outreach» Jesusonian Foundation established. Publication of «El Caballo de Troya, » Editorial Planeta Publishing Company, Barcelona, Spain — This book is a science-fiction best seller in the Spanish speaking world, rumored to have sold over 3,000,000 copies. It is a story about a time-traveler who finds himself in first century Palestine during the week preceding the crucifixion. Substantial portions of the Urantia Book are used. It appeared on the New York Times International Best Seller list for over two years.3 November 23-25 — A Thanksgiving Conference, «The Fifth Epoch: Planetary Service, ‘The Art and the Adventure'», Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, California Gloriann Harris appointed Trustee of Urantia Foundation |
| 1985 | January 22 — Death of Clyde Bedell [See «Memorial Service for Clyde Bedell»]
March 25 — World War III fails to occur as predicted by Family of God Foundation. Family of God Foundation disintegrates. World-wide syndicated broadcasting enterprise collapses. Vern Grimsley fails in attempt to sue the The Congregation of the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for real estate fraud, loses his seminary property in California.21 Editor’s note: Vern Grimsley was perhaps the most charismatic and articulate individual to appear on the readership scene up to the time of this writing (1997). He was an excellent writer and a highly skilled orator who could move large audiences, and the only one of the original four «Christy’s Boys» to show any significant degree of spiritual leadership potential. His inability to rehabilitate himself after the failure of his war predictions and the subsequent collapse of his broadcasting empire and his «Spiritual Renaissance Institute» appears to be an unfortunate loss to the cause of the revelation. [See «The Galilean» by Vern Grimsley] May 3-5 — Kansas City regional conference; «Self-Mastery.» Summer Seminar at Lake Forest College — Part I of the Urantia Book David Elders elected as President of Urantia Brotherhood School of Meanings and Values established by readers in Southern California. [See «About the School of Meanings and Values»] Executive Committee debates whether or not officers of the Brotherhood should be required to be circumspect in their relationships with secondary organizations such as the Family of God Foundation. Duane Faw publishes the «Paramony», correlating the Bible with The Urantia Book3 [See Duane Faw’s «A Short Story about the Paramony»] Richard Preiss and Dave Missavage establish the Brotherhood of Man Bulletin Board — first computerized collection of publicly available readership documents.13 First Doctoral dissertation based on The Urantia Book submitted; Jim Mills’ «Emerging Finite Aspects in the Concept of God» — Florida State University Founding Trustee William Hales resigns as Trustee of Urantia Foundation, becomes Trustee Emeritus Helena Sprague appointed Trustee of Urantia Foundation |
| 1986 | Boulder School for study of The Urantia Book closes12
Summer Seminar of Urantia Brotherhood at Lake Forest College — Part II of the Urantia Book Jim McNelly submits first proposal for a 1-800-URANTIA phone line — Special Projects Committee3 April 24 — Founding Urantia Foundation Trustee Edith Cook resigns due to health reasons. May 23 — Death of Urantia Foundation Trustee, Arthur Burch June 6-8 — Kansas City regional conference; «Spiritual Aerobics: Exercising Our Emerging Being.» July — Hoite Caston appointed Trustee of Urantia Foundation August — Urantia Foundation submits formal complaint to Rocky Mountain Urantia Society for use of trademarks in Society newsletter, «Planetary Prints» [See Urantia Foundation’s letter] First International Conference in Western Europe — Montvillargenne Castle, France. December — Ninth printing of The Urantia Book; 30,000 copies6 Frank Sgaraglino appointed Trustee of Urantia Foundation |
| 1987 | Based on his interpretation of The Urantia Book, Joe Pope publishes a book on the coming end of the world.
First meeting of study group in Brazil (Bello Horizonte) August 2-7 — IC87; General Conference of Urantia Brotherhood, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, titled «Our Relationship with God: Personal Transformation and its Power to Transform the World.» Urantia Brotherhood proposes test marketing study for The Urantia Book July 28–Urantia Foundation threatens to revoke the Brotherhood’s right to use the concentric circles symbol and the name «Urantia» as well as its freedom to sell books if it carries out a marketing study. Urantia Foundation stresses its desire for a «de-emphasis of book sales.» [See Urantia Foundation’s July 27 response to Brotherhood President’s annual report] Editor’s note: It is instructive to read the above two documents, dated 24 hours apart, in sequence. The second document represented something of a political watershed in that it publicly confirmed what had long been suspected–that Urantia Foundation intended to use their newly acquired rights to the name «Urantia» and the concentric circles symbol (as a result of trademark registrations and the licensing and confirmatory agreements) to manipulate the policy making functions of the supposedly independent Urantia Brotherhood. Center for Urantia Book Synergy (CUBS) in Santa Barbara, California, announces it will make Urantia Books available to readers in the United States and Canada at a subsidized price of $19.50 each to facilitate more widespread distribution. First conference of Urantia Book readers in the Netherlands. Jesusonian Foundation announces the Christian Fellowship Prize in Religious Research — $2500 in scholarship awards available to college students willing to write a paper evaluating Jesus’ concept of the Kingdom of Heaven as described in The Urantia Book and in the Bible. |
| 1988 | March 12 — Chartering of the Heart of America Urantia Society, Kansas City; Charter #19
Editor’s note: Kansas City readers had been holding regional conferences for more than ten years prior to their chartering as a Society. Summer Seminar of Urantia Brotherhood at Lake Forest College — first half of Part III of the Urantia Book.3 First Scientific Symposium of Urantia Brotherhood at Nashville, Tennessee5 David Elders elected to second term as President of Urantia Brotherhood April 29 — Urantia Foundation sues Center for Urantia Book Synergy for using the word «Urantia» as part of their name. Note: Case was eventually settled out of court with CUBS retaining the right to use the name «Urantia.» Area Coordinator program established for outreach to readers. This was something of a replacement for the old Urantia Brotherhood Field Representative program. October — Urantia Foundation denies the revealed nature of The Urantia Book in copyright case. [See Letter to General Council regarding denial of the revelatory nature of The Urantia Book] Joe Pope announces himself to be «the new John the Baptist» — starts the «Elijah Ministry,» visiting study groups on the west coast of the U.S. and in Canada. |
| 1989 | Urantia Foundation refuses to allow public access to their financial records.3
February–Urantia Brotherhood President submits confidential memo to Trustees of Urantia Foundation expressing concern about the manner in which Martin Myers is manipulating Urantia organizations. [See Memo from Urantia Brotherhood of February 1, 1989] Editor’s note: An ad hoc committee of Urantia Foundation trustees apparently found merit in the complaints and drew up a plan for reorganization of leadership policies. This plan was approved by the Trustees prior to Martin’s re-election as President. Martin’s overwhelmingly negative reaction to this plan was a contributing factor to the subsequent resignation of three Trustees. Martin Myers resigns from his job as Vice President of a Chicago bank to work full time for Urantia Foundation.24 May 19-21 — Heart of America Urantia Society regional conference; «Spiritual Springtime.» June — Urantia Society in Finland installed.24 July — Three trustees resign from Urantia Foundation.6 Editor’s note: Urantia Foundation has never made these Trustee’s letters of resignation public. However, the former Trustees released statements detailing the reasons for their resignations following the Foundation’s 1990 publication of the «Special Report.» Rumors abound that Urantia Foundation is on the verge of bankruptcy and that the perpetual printing fund as well as the Spanish translation fund have been raided to cover legal expenses. Richard Keeler elected Trustee of Urantia Foundation. Urantia Foundation rumored to be saved from financial disaster by a single contribution estimated at close to two million dollars. July 21 — Urantia Brotherhood submits letter to Urantia Foundation requesting the resignation of Martin Myers. [See Urantia Brotherhood letter of July 21, 1989] [See Urantia Foundation’s letter of response, August 24, 1989] Urantia Brotherhood holds its Summer Seminar at Lake Forest Academy to study the second half of Part III of the Urantia Book.3 September — Urantia Foundation office staff resigns.24 [Resignation letter of S. F.] [Resignation letter of M. P.] September 16 — Urantia Brotherhood General Council holds special session to evaluate the deteriorating situation with Urantia Foundation. [See resolutions passed at the September 16 special meeting of Urantia Brotherhood General Council] [See report to members of Urantia Brotherhood regarding the special Council meeting] October 17 — Urantia Brotherhood informs Urantia Foundation Trustees it will no longer solicit funds for Urantia Foundation due to the Foundation’s refusal to allow the Brotherhood Finance Committee to review Foundation financial records. October 30 — (Hallowe’en) Urantia Foundation disenfranchises Urantia Brotherhood Corporation as sales and distribution agent for The Urantia Book, de-licenses Urantia Brotherhood and forbids the use of the name «Urantia,» «Urantian,» or the concentric circles symbol; terminates Urantia Brotherhood’s lease of office space at 533 Diversey Parkway. [See separate index of correspondence related to the separation of the Urantia organizations] Urantia Brotherhood moves into new offices at 529 W. Wrightwood Ave. in Chicago — changes its name to «Fifth Epochal Fellowship» and becomes known as «The Fellowship for readers of The Urantia Book.»3 [See President David Elder’s Announcement to the Readership] [See «End of an Era» — article containing overview and commentary from USCC newsletter] First study groups meet in Mexico.3 Finnish Urantia Society issues statement in support of Urantia Foundation.3 November – Trustee Emeritus William Hales resigns from Urantia Foundation December — Death of Julia Fenderson, key figure in the organization and evolution of the readership in Southern California.3 |
| 1990 | «Síntesis Del Libro De Urantia» published in Barcelona, Spain by the I Am Brotherhood. (Complete with blue concentric circles on the cover — no «R».) ISBN 48-7720-230-3
Banner of Michael (the concentric circles symbol described in the Urantia Book sans Urantia Foundation’s «R») raised at the General Conference of the Fellowship at Snowmass, Colorado, used by the readers as a religious symbol as it had been since the first Triennial Delegate Assembly in 1964. [See picture of the banner of the first Triennial Delegate Assembly] January 3 — Death of Henry Begemann, translator of the Dutch edition of the text and long-time organizer and leader of European readership. [See: Goodbye Message from French Readers] April 1 — Representatives of Urantia Foundation meet with Society representatives in New York regarding the de-licensing of Urantia Brotherhood. The Brotherhood representatives put forth the suggestion that an attempt be made to put the disagreement before a conciliating commission. The Foundation responds that conciliation is only relevant to disputes between equals. According to the Foundation, since the Brotherhood is a wholly subservient creation of the Foundation, the concept of conciliation is irrelevant to the dispute. A Foundation representative maintains that the Foundation is in effect a Sovereign Power in this dispute and that it would be inappropriate for the trustees to subject the direction of their enterprise to the whims of an external conciliating commission.22 April — Urantia Foundation publishes a massive «Special Report» detailing its disenfranchisement of Urantia Brotherhood, mailing copies to some 6,000 persons.3 [See Urantia Foundation’s «Special Report»] Editor’s note: The fact that this report contained obvious distortions of truth and was mailed to Urantia Foundation’s entire mailing list of 6,000 readers further aggravated the situation.
May 4-6 — Heart of America Society regional conference; «Adventures in Spiritual Living.» June — Fellowship’s 1990 International Conference, Aspen Colorado [See President David Elder’s Welcome Address] November — Tenth printing of The Urantia Book; 25,000 copies6 Urantia Foundation «delists» The Urantia Book with all major book distributors; book sales begin to plunge. Editor’s note: In the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s, with movement leadership embroiled in controversial legal disputes related to copyright and trademark issues, a variety of small secondary groups developed in North America and Canada as readers made attempts to form communities independent of internal political conflicts. In a series of events remarkably reminiscent of the Montanists of the second century, numerous individuals claimed to be getting personal «messages» or channeling additional papers from the revelators of the Urantia Book. In spite of The Urantia Book’s bright forecast of human and planetary destiny, the prophecies and «messages» of many of these individuals, such as Joe Pope with his «Elijah Ministry» in Canada and Tony Delevin who proclaimed himself «Gabriel of Sedona» in Arizona, took on decidedly apocalyptic overtones. [See «An Evening with Gabriel of Sedona»] Channelers in different parts of the country claimed to be in touch with various celestial personalities mentioned in The Urantia Book. Established Study Groups and Societies re-evaluated their objectives and roles in the larger organizations, many of them re-focusing on local activities. Metaphysical confusion, self-styled prophets and charlatans in the fringes, along with general disenchantment with the «official» organizations in the mainstream seemed to characterize much of the readership.14 (Note: The original text of the Urantia Book was not «channeled» — see «How the Urantia Book Came Into Existence» by Bill Sadler or «A History of the Urantia Movement» by Dr. William S. Sadler. Each of these writers was a member of the «contact commission» and had extensive personal experience with the phenomenon involved.) First meeting of study group in Chile (Santiago) |
| 1991 6,000 books distributed |
Urantia Foundation initiates legal action against Kristen Maaherra for creating and giving away an electronic index to The Urantia Book.3 [See «An Overview of the Maaherra Case» published in 1993]
Urantia Foundation increasingly refusing to sell books to individuals who are not supportive of Foundation policies or who are suspected of reselling books at subsidized prices in order to make it more affordable. Records indicate that this practice went back at least as far as 1971.
See this timeline’s entry for 1971 for correspondence related to bookstore refusals Spring — First publication of The Spiritual Fellowship Journal First study groups meet in Lithuania — Lithuanian translation started Summer Seminar of the Fellowship at Lake Forest Academy — first half of Part IV of the Urantia Book; Meeting of the Triennial Delegate Assembly Submission of Society Representation Proposal [See a history of the Society representation issue] May — [See private letter from Meredith Sprunger evaluating the current state of the Urantia Movement] Steve Dreier elected President of the Fellowship Scientific Symposium II of the Fellowship — Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Third International Meeting of Readers in France, sponsored by C.E.R.D.H., the Center of Study and Reflection on Human Destiny. C.E.R.D.H. begins typesetting of the J. Weiss revised French translation of The Urantia Book. November — James Mills appointed Trustee Emeritus of Urantia Foundation November 2-3 — Heart of America Society regional conference; «Birth Day of the Spirit.» November — Trustees of Urantia Foundation appoint advisory committee to help create a new social organization to replace Urantia Brotherhood. Advisors: Tonia Baney, Seppo Kanerva, Thomas Burns, Herbert Klemme, Catherine Jones, James Mills, Philip Rolnick. |
| 1992 | Martin Myers dismissed as Trustee of Urantia Foundation3
Editor’s note: The process whereby a Trustee is removed from office is rather long and drawn out. By all accounts, this was a grueling ordeal for the Trustees, two of whom were long-time personal friends of Martin’s. Martin subsequently sued Urantia Foundation for reinstatement. Martin Myers was replaced by Philip Rolnick who was put in charge of the Foundation’s legal affairs. Philip appears to have continued Martin’s policy of exploiting all available legal options to control the use of the name «Urantia» and the concentric circles symbol. He resigned shortly after the Foundation’s aborted attempt to bring suit against the Fellowship in 1996. Michael Million starts «Urantial» on server at the University of Arkansas — first readership discussion group on the emerging Internet15 February — Los Angeles meeting of the Teaching Mission [See «Welcome to Change» by Bob Slagle, and overview of the Teaching Mission] [See transcript of a public talk on the Teaching Mission by Bob Devine, 1996] Summer Seminar of the Fellowship at Lake Forest Academy — second half of Part IV of the Urantia Book The Fellowship becomes a participating member of the North American Interfaith Network. September — Neal Waldrop resigns as Trustee of Urantia Foundation; replaced by Tom Burns September — Seppo Kanerva submits outline for a new social organization, supposedly to replace the Urantia Brotherhood. [See reproduction of Seppo’s outline] October 2-4 — Heart of America Society regional conference; «Rising Sons, Rising Spirits.» |
| 1993 | Urantia Foundation publishes «El Libro De Urantia» — Spanish language edition of The Urantia Book; 5,000 copies6 [Picture of El Libro De Urantia translation team]
Editor’s note: There appear to have been substantial political conflicts which interfered with the orderly production of this translation. The translation team worked with Euramerica, Inc., a professional translation house. Papers were checked by Spanish readers when they were complete. When the book itself was complete, proofed and ready to go, Urantia Foundation trustees shipped the manuscript off to one of their representatives in Finland with instructions to proof the formatting. This individual had a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish and proceeded to add hyphenation to words in odd places, change the gender of words — hundreds of «corrections» were reportedly made. The text was then shipped off to the printer with no further checking or proofing. The result was «El Libro de Urantia» of which one scholar has stated, «I consider the current Spanish translation quite faulty syntactically and semantically/lexically. I really doubt that any Spanish scholar –not knowing English– could do any serious research on such a text.» June — Publication of Finnish edition of The Urantia Book; 3,000 copies6 June — Eleventh printing of the English language edition of The Urantia Book; 25,000 copies6 The Fellowship participates in the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago IC93; International Conference of the Fellowship at Ste-Hyacinthe, Quebec October 8-10 — Heart of America Society regional conference; «Community: Common-Unity.» November — Having lost the greatest majority of the experienced readership along with their base of financial support in their 1989 disaffiliation with Urantia Brotherhood, Urantia Foundation forms «International Urantia Association,» a new organization for readers designed to give Foundation Trustees a much greater degree of social control than the original Urantia Brotherhood constitution (which was drafted by Forum members–primarily written by Bill Sadler–and approved by the revelators.) [See Martin Myer’s critique of the IUA Charter and Bylaws] Finnish Urantia Society immediately announces its affiliation with IUA, becomes first national association. |
| 1994 | Matthew Block publishes first paper on Urantia Book source authors. [See «A Bibliographic Essay on Some Human Sources for Materials Used in The Urantia Book» by Matthew Block]
Reader Chris Hansen independently publishes Part IV of The Urantia Book under the title, «God’s Bible, An Epochal Revelation Sponsored by God’s Angels — Part IV, Papers 120-196, The Life and Teachings of Jesus»3 Melchizedek fails to appear at Holiday Inn in Napierville, Illinois as predicted by reader group.3 Summer Seminar of the Fellowship — Theme: «The Supreme» Steve Dreier elected to second term as President of the Fellowship Scientific Symposium III of the Fellowship — Oklahoma City July — First study conference of IUA in Nashville, Tennessee, USA August 21 — Heart of America Society regional celebration; «In Celebration of JESUS.» August 21 — Large group of readers led by Berkeley Elliott celebrates the 2,000 anniversary of Jesus’ birth in Jerusalem. Michael’s banner with the concentric circles symbol described in the Urantia Book flown from the top of the Mount of Olives at dawn. Women in the group hold sunrise service in hotel garden on the Mount of Olives in remembrance of the women who served with Jesus. [See «Pilgrimage 2000: Recalling the Life He Lived Among Us,» a diary of this journey] November — Urantia Foundation announces opening of office in France. |
| 1995 | Chris Hansen publishes the entire text of The Urantia Book — 5,000 copies — in two volumes.
February 10 — Urantia Foundation’s claim to a copyright in The Urantia Book ruled invalid in Summary Judgment by United States Senior District Judge in Arizona — copyright placed in public domain. Urantia Foundation files appeal.16 [See the summary of this case as published in the Federal Supplement Law Book. 33k] May — Twelfth printing of The Urantia Book6 May — Urantia Foundation publishes soft-cover edition of The Urantia Book plus deluxe hard-cover editions for fund-raising purposes.6 May 18 — Mark Turrin establishes first readership presence on the World Wide Web17 http://www.ubook.org/ June 25 — Death of William Hales, founding member and first President of Urantia Foundation6 Summer Seminar of the Fellowship — Fairleigh Dickinson College, Teaneck, New Jersey — Theme: «Communion»3 July — Second Printing of El Libro de Urantia by Urantia Foundation6 August — Second IUA study conference in Nashville, Tennessee, USA Popular writer Martin Gardner publishes «Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery» in an apparent attempt to discredit The Urantia Book. In reviewing his book, the Library Journal, in its April 15, 1995 issue, said of Gardner’s book, «Given the lack of scholarly distance from the subject, the patronizing tone, and the gross editorializing, it would be difficult to recommend this book to any library.»18 Death of Berkeley Elliott, founding organizer of Urantia activities in Oklahoma and leader of first organized reader tour to Israel. Urantia Foundation initiates lawsuit against Eric Schaveland for using «urantia» as part of a URL for his website. Urantia Foundation hires public relations specialist to manage office and interface with readers. November — Georges Dupont appointed Trustee of Urantia Foundation to replace resigning Hoite Caston. Hoite Caston to continue in the background as an advisor.6 |
