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Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery
by Gardner, Martin
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Very good/very good
- ISBN 10
- 0879759550
- ISBN 13
- 9780879759551
- Seller
-
Carrollton, Georgia, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Amherst: Prometheus Books, 1995. Hardcover. Very good/very good. Hardcover. 9 1/4" X 6 1/4". 445pp. Mild rubbing and shelf wear to covers and edges of dust jacket. Black cloth over boards with spine lettered in gilt. Pages clean and unmarked. Binding is tight. An overall solid copy.
ABOUT THIS BOOK:
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. (publisher).
ABOUT THIS BOOK:
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. (publisher).
Synopsis
Martin Gardner, the creator of Scientific American’s "Mathematical Games" column, which he wrote for more than twenty-five years, is the author of almost one hundred books, including The Annotated Ancient Mariner, Martin Gardner’s Favorite Poetic Parodies, From the Wandering Jew to William F. Buckley Jr., and Science: Good, Bad and Bogus. For many years he was also a contributing editor to the Skeptical Inquirer.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Underground Books, ABAA
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 6114
- Title
- Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery
- Author
- Gardner, Martin
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very good
- Jacket Condition
- very good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- ISBN 10
- 0879759550
- ISBN 13
- 9780879759551
- Publisher
- Prometheus Books
- Place of Publication
- Amherst
- Date Published
- 1995
Terms of Sale
Underground Books, ABAA
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Underground Books, ABAA
Biblio member since 2009
Carrollton, Georgia
About Underground Books, ABAA
Underground Books is an online rare and antiquarian bookshop as well as a brick and mortar general bookstore of the same name in downtown Carrollton, Georgia. Sister store Hills & Hamlets Bookshop is located in the nearby planned eco-community of Serenbe.
Co-owners Josh Niesse and Megan Bell met in 2011, just 10 days or so after Josh opened the doors of Underground Books, literally underground, several steps below street level in a 100-year-old basement in our historic downtown. Megan, an English student at the University of West Georgia, walked in, fell down the rabbit hole, and never left! Reader, we married in May of 2014, under the book arch that now resides at the bookshop. We are both proud alumni of the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar (CABS), and Megan additionally of Rare Book School at the University of Virginia and of the ABAA Women's Initiative Mentorship Program.
We have two open bookshops that carry new, used, bargain, rare, and antiquarian books, as well as our online office, impossible without our incredible team of booksellers, including two fellow CABS graduates, Miranda McMillan and Suzanne Carnes.
Like many booksellers with open brick-and-mortar stores, we are passionate generalists, but our specialties are in decorative publisher's cloth bindings; fairy tales, folklore, and mythology; popular science and natural history; the occult; and fine press books.
Co-owners Josh Niesse and Megan Bell met in 2011, just 10 days or so after Josh opened the doors of Underground Books, literally underground, several steps below street level in a 100-year-old basement in our historic downtown. Megan, an English student at the University of West Georgia, walked in, fell down the rabbit hole, and never left! Reader, we married in May of 2014, under the book arch that now resides at the bookshop. We are both proud alumni of the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar (CABS), and Megan additionally of Rare Book School at the University of Virginia and of the ABAA Women's Initiative Mentorship Program.
We have two open bookshops that carry new, used, bargain, rare, and antiquarian books, as well as our online office, impossible without our incredible team of booksellers, including two fellow CABS graduates, Miranda McMillan and Suzanne Carnes.
Like many booksellers with open brick-and-mortar stores, we are passionate generalists, but our specialties are in decorative publisher's cloth bindings; fairy tales, folklore, and mythology; popular science and natural history; the occult; and fine press books.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
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