The Urantia Book

''The Urantia Book'' (sometimes called ''The Urantia Papers'' or ''The Fifth Epochal Revelation'') is a spiritual, philosophical, and religious book that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States sometime between 1924 and 1955.

The text, which claims to have been composed by celestial beings, introduces the word "Urantia" as the name of the planet Earth and states that its intent is to "present enlarged concepts and advanced truth." The book aims to unite religion, science, and philosophy. Its large amount of content on topics of interest to science is unique among documents said to have been received from celestial beings. Among other topics, the book discusses the origin and meaning of life, mankind's place in the universe, the history of the planet, the relationship between God and people, and the life of Jesus.

The Urantia Foundation, a U.S.-based non-profit group, first published ''The Urantia Book'' in 1955. In 2001, a jury found that the English-language book's copyright was no longer valid in the United States after 1983. Therefore, the English text of the book became a public domain work in the United States, and in 2006 the international copyright expired.

How it arrived at the form published in 1955 is unclear and a matter of debate. The book itself claims that its "basis" is found in "more than one thousand human concepts representing the highest and most advanced planetary knowledge". Analysis of ''The Urantia Book'' has found that it plagiarized numerous pre-existing published works by human authors without attribution. Despite this general acknowledgment of derivation from human authors, the book contains no specific references to those sources. It has received both praise and criticism for its religious and science-related content, and is noted for its unusual length and the unusual names and origins of its celestial contributors. Provided by Wikipedia