URANTIA Foundation is pleased to announce the publication of Het Urantia Boek, the Dutch translation of The URANTIA Book. The translation was begun in the early 1970s by Henry Begemann, a Dutch URANTIA Book reader in The Netherlands, who discovered The URANTIA Book in a bookstore in Amsterdam. After his second reading of the book, Henry decided to translate it so that it could be shared with his fellow countrymen.
Henry made several trips to the Foundation in Chicago and, after some time, he and his wife, Bauk, started a study group. In time they fostered several study groups and made contacts with readers throughout Europe. Members of the study groups assisted with the translation by reviewing Henry's work and suggesting changes.
During the twenty-three years that The URANTIA Book was being translated into Dutch, seven readers served on the translation team, including Henry's daughter, Nienke Begemann-Brugman, who joined the team in 1989.
When Henry passed away in January 1990, about three quarters of the book had been translated. The remaining quarter comprised the more difficult parts such as Papers on Universal Unity, Deity and Reality, and God the Supreme. At that time, Nienke became the chief translator, and with the help of the other dedicated and committed team members, managed to finish the translation.
Nienke told the story of the Dutch translation at a gathering of readers in November at the Dewes Mansion in Chicago, where Het Urantia Boek was presented for the first time. In a moving speech that revealed the difficulties, the joys, the loyalty and commitment, and the satisfaction experienced by all involved in the translation effort, Nienke said, " The URANTIA Book is a really wonderful teaching tool, and translations are channels of growth both for readers of those translations and for the teams that produce them. We all know that everything in time and space is relative and the Dutch team is certainly very much aware of the relativity of their interpretation. Nevertheless, the work is finished, at least for the time being, and the Foundation Trustees and members of the Dutch translation team are happy to present Het Urantia Boek to the world."