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. It is a marvellous study of the ways in which ideas can be propagated through society.


From Publishers Weekly
First published in 1955, the Urantia Book, a 2097-page tome hailed by its advocates as the channeled wisdom of celestial beings, posits one infinite God, the great I AM, and billions of lesser gods. It contains pronouncements on evolution, cosmology, physics and quantum mechanics, which Gardner (The New Age: Notes of a Fringe Watcher) finds deeply flawed, and it includes a biography of Jesus that asserts he toured Rome and Greece at ages 28 and 29, becoming an adept of Greek philosophy, mathematics and art. The Urantia cult was founded by two former Seventh-day Adventists?Chicago psychiatrist William Sadler (1875-1969) and his brother-in-law, Wilfred Kellogg (1876-1956), a businessman. In this intriguing expose, Gardner, former Scientific American mathematics columnist, makes a strong case that the Urantia Book is filled with plagiarized passages from other cult books. He also charts bitter schisms among the Urantians and looks at other Adventist splinter groups, notably David Koresh's Branch Davidian cult consumed by flames near Waco, Tex. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
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{Š}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


Midwest Book Review
Martin Gardner, one of the best science writers publishing today, 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 of the traditional Bible. Published in 1955 under the direction of cult leader Dr. William Sadler, The Urantia Book is the largest work ever claimed to have been channeled by superbeings through human contactees. It differs from earlier channeled "bibles" (such as A Course in Miracles) 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. For these reasons, many scientists and scholars are attracted to the Urantian movement. 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". Such secondary revelations are seen as 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 opposing evidence is.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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 "light and life." Such secondary revelations are seen as jeopardizing the authority of The Urantia Book. Among the other topics addressed are the extent to which Seventh-day Adventist beliefs influenced the writing of The Urantia Book, the flaws in Urantian science, and allegations of plagiarism on the part of the authors of The Urantia Book.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

First published in 1955, the Urantia Book, a 2097-page tome hailed by its advocates as the channeled wisdom of celestial beings, posits one infinite God, the great I AM, and billions of lesser gods. It contains pronouncements on evolution, cosmology, physics and quantum mechanics, which Gardner (The New Age: Notes of a Fringe Watcher) finds deeply flawed, and it includes a biography of Jesus that asserts he toured Rome and Greece at ages 28 and 29, becoming an adept of Greek philosophy, mathematics and art. The Urantia cult was founded by two former Seventh-day Adventists-Chicago psychiatrist William Sadler (1875-1969) and his brother-in-law, Wilfred Kellogg (1876-1956), a businessman. In this intriguing expos, Gardner, former Scientific American mathematics columnist, makes a strong case that the Urantia Book is filled with plagiarized passages from other cult books. He also charts bitter schisms among the Urantians and looks at other Adventist splinter groups, notably David Koresh's Branch Davidian cult consumed by flames near Waco, Tex. (Apr.)

BookList - Dennis Winters

"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 siecle 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?

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