The British Study Edition of the Urantia Papers

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INFORMATIONAL, First printing; Baptism became a religious ceremonial in Babylon, and the Creeks practised the annual ritual bath. The Urantia Book passage does appear to parallel the first paragraph of Chapter IV in Hopkins, Origin and Evolution of Religion, (Yale 1923), and the typographical difference between “Greeks” and “Creeks” is only one letter — an easy error — however, the flow of references is slightly different, making “Creeks” seem out of context in The Urantia Book. Further, and more importantly, it is inappropriate to modify the text of The Urantia Book based on an assumed link to another text. If the revelators had stated that they were quoting Hopkins, or if there were no Greeks who practised the annual ritual bath (which is not true — such a rite was practised by the adherents of the Eleusinian mysteries, one of the largest cults of the Greek world in the times prior to Jesus’ bestowal), then it could be reasonably asserted that a typographical mistake had been made. In the absence of such an error or such a direct assertion by the author of the paper, renders such a change beyond the scope of the editor’s range of action. The authors of The Urantia Book often adapted pre-existing texts to their own purposes — modifying them as they deemed appropriate.

Notes to Paper № 86

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Badonan, In 1955 text: Badanon. Badonan is the correct spelling; Badanon was, no doubt, the result of an inadvertent key transposition.

Notes to Paper № 87

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someone, In 1955 text: some one. The two-word form is appropriate when referring to some one member of a particular group, as “Some one of you will go with me ...” The compound form is used when the group of which the ‘one’ is a member is not specified. Fowler (1926) clarifies the differentiation by stating that ‘someone’ should be used when ‘somebody’ could be substituted for it; ‘some one’ should be used in all other cases.

Notes to Paper № 89

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corn, In 1955 text: coin. Early Egyptians developed a system of exchange of gold and silver rings, but true coinage was not introduced until the period of Persian domination (525-415 B.C.), during which the gold daric and silver siglos of Darius I (reigned from 521-485 B.C.) would have been used for some transactions. Coins were not actually minted in Egypt until ca.404-343 B.C. during the brief period of independence between the 1^st Persian period and the reconquest by Artaxerxes III (342-336 B.C.), when silver imitation Athenian Owls were minted. Coins were regularly minted in Egypt during the Ptolemaic (283-30 B.C.) and subsequent Roman periods. The Harris Papyrus I http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus_Harris_I commemorates the reign of Rameses III, and was commissioned by his son Rameses IV at the former’s death in 1172 B.C. The list of gifts to the Gods in the Urantia Book at 89:4.9, excerpted from this papyrus, thus predates the earliest significant presence of coins in Egypt by 650-750 years. Therefore, the reference in The Urantia Book is a simple typo made when quoting a known source; but regardless of quantities, the 1955 text cannot be correct — it is erroneous on its face. This is the key difference between this item and the Greek/Creek item in 85:4.1. This precise list, including the “coin” typo, is found in William Graham Sumner/Albert G. Keller http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Graham_Sumner, The Science of Society, Yale, 1927.

Notes to Paper № 90

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Tenskwatawa, who predicted the eclipse of the sun in 1806, In 1955 text: Teuskwatawa, who predicted the eclipse of the sun in 1808 ... Tenskwatawa is the standard transliteration for the Shawnee prophet’s name; the spelling in the first edition may have been caused by a mistaken keystroke or may have been the result of an error in reading the original manuscript. (Regarding the latter possibility, see the note for 195:3.10.) — 1808 — Since nothing in the text is dependent on the 1808 date, nor linked to it in any way, and since the change from the incorrect to the correct date — 1806 — is just one digit/keystroke, this is no more significant a change from a technical standpoint than the correction of a spelling mistake — except that so many people have spent so much time making so much over this obvious mistake in The Urantia Book.

Notes to Paper № 92

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Level of values, In 1955 text: Level values. “Level values” has no discernible meaning in this context.

Notes to Paper № 94

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far-distant, In 1955 text: far distant. This was the only instance of the un-hyphenated