By Steve Dreier, New Jersey, United States
Editor’s Note: Urantia Foundation was the fortunate recipient of a collection of books and materials containing concepts and text similar to those found in The Urantia Book. This is the first contribution to a research library created by Urantia Foundation over the past year. Many thanks to Jen Siegel for creating the physical space; to Steve Dreier, Gard Jameson, and Joanne Strobel for establishing the library; and to our anonymous donor.
Students of The Urantia Book know that the revelators made extensive use of human concepts in constructing the Urantia Revelation.
In the Foreword, an Orvonton Divine Counselor states: “Accordingly, in making these presentations about God and his universe associates, we have selected as the basis of these papers more than one thousand human concepts representing the highest and most advanced planetary knowledge of spiritual values and universe meanings.” 0:12.12 (17.1)
Again, in the acknowledgment to Part IV, a secondary midwayer states: “As far as possible I have derived my information from purely human sources.” 121:8.12 (1343.1)
Urantia Foundation has received a donation of an extensive library of “human source” books and other related material. This collection is housed in a newly constructed library in the basement of 533 W. Diversey Parkway in Chicago. The library is a unique education and research facility for students of The Urantia Book. Visitors to 533 can now examine for themselves the exact nature of the relationship of the “human sources” to the content of The Urantia Book.
The identification of texts related to the content of The Urantia Book is almost entirely a result of the work of Matthew Block. Few other Urantia book students have undertaken a serious study of this topic. The collective understanding of The Urantia Book would benefit significantly if more readers would put in the time and effort to explore these relationships. Some who have done this have found that the careful study of these texts has greatly deepened their understanding and appreciation of The Urantia Book. It is hoped that the addition of this new library will encourage others to look into this most interesting matter.
