UrantiaUniversity Institute (UUI) offers an online educational experience that enriches our understanding of The Urantia Book and advances everyday spiritual living practices. We create opportunities for personal spiritual growth, interpersonal relationship-building, and teamwork embracing the Jesusonian values of spirit insight, joyful ministry, and loving service.
UUI empowers each one of us to become positive agents of social change and establish a civilization motivated by morality and guided by spirit insight by utilizing the learning model of thinking, feeling, and doing—realizing and actualizing divine truth through loving service to others.
UrantiaUniversity Institute is an independent, yet collaborative educational organization.
UUI’s programs are inspired by the cosmic ideals and divine concepts and principles set forth in The Urantia Book and our educational approach is based on the Urantian idea-values that religion is experiential, our relationship with God is personal, evolution is progressive, and revelation is dynamic. Rather than dividing ourselves into discreet camps of “teacher-experts” and “student-novices,” UUI propounds the philosophy that we are all “learners'' engaging in the search and the discovery of God-consciousness together. We offer classes that introduce newer readers to The Urantia Book as well as thought-provoking courses for experienced students seeking more intensive study. Complementary to intellectual exploration, our programs provide guidance and support in spiritual living practices, those everyday habits and interactions that foster religion of the spirit and its actualization in loving service to the spiritual family of God. UUI’s programs seek to elevate the knowledge of things and the comprehension of ideas to a practicable and wise framework for living. Among the thrilling revelations of The Urantia Book that our programs translate from concept to reality are:
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UrantiaUniversity Institute (UUI) is a nonprofit educational organization with the mission of disseminating the teachings of The Urantia Book through free online classes and workshops. UUI is not a membership-based organization. Rather it relies solely on public support from the community of Urantia Book readers which it serves.
We greatly appreciate the support of those we serve, particularly during the perilous times of the past year and a half. The far-reaching effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, starting in the first-quarter 2020, swept across the Urantia community and impacted UrantiaUniversity Institute’s programming in creative ways as the nation and the world turned to online video conferencing as a means of communicating, teaching, and conducting business.
Fortunately, UUI had already built a strong educational platform that incorporated live Zoom class meetings starting in 2014. This helped UUI to quickly pivot in response to the disruptions in lifestyles and old ways that people used to gather. Foremost, the UUI Café was initiated as an online meeting place where the Urantia community could gather and talk about the vast societal changes triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic from a personal and spiritual perspective. In addition, UUI released the first set of self-directed study guides of individual Urantia Book papers in the fall 2020.
UrantiaUniversity Institute began 2020 with a cash balance of $34,665 as a result of 2019 year-end fundraising. During 2020 we received an additional $44,824 in revenue from the generous contributions of our public supporters, including UUI students and Trustees as well as many other benefactors in the Urantia community.
Our total operating expenses for 2020 amounted to $43,095, which was $1,729 less than our public contributions in 2020. Taking into account our 2020 expenses and donor contributions plus our favorable cash position at the start of 2020, UUI was able to begin 2021 with a cash balance of $36,394. We greatly appreciate the generous contributions of our UUI supporters garnered in our year-end fundraising campaign.
We extend our deep gratitude to our volunteer instructors, coordinators, and collaborators; our loyal and devoted students; and our many benefactors for helping UrantiaUniversity Institute grow steadily over the years in the scope and in the quality of our free services to the public. Our core mission of spreading the teachings of the Urantia revelation to the world is becoming a reality.
Elisabeth Callahan
UUI Executive Director and Acting Treasurer
Course Highlights |
New Reader CourseDesigned for new readers of The Urantia Book, this 10-week course introduces the main themes and concepts of the book in a simple way and in a friendly online learning environment. Through live online discussion groups, newcomers to the Urantia tradition have the opportunity to explore its vast treasures and ask questions in an open and supportive community of fellow truth-seekers. |
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Grief and Transition Ministry WorkshopThe Grief and Transitions Ministry Workshop was developed to help each one of us deal with the anxiety, grief, and uncertainty caused by the profound social upheavals of the Covid-19 era. This practical, two-part workshop is designed to provide lay instruction with a psychological and spiritual perspective on grieving and facing the challenges of major life transitions. The five-hour workshop was developed by a team of mental health professionals from the Urantia community who perceived the need and value of offering an educational online program to help people deal with the anxiety, grief, and uncertainty caused by the profound social upheavals of the Covid-19 era and related social and political crises. |
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The Progress ProjectHelps students develop a personal, everyday practice of communion with God and establish deep relationships with others through the sharing of inner lives and spiritual goal setting. Students form triads, groups of three that meet outside of class to support and accompany each other on the journey of spiritual progress. |
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Self-Mastery and Circle AttainmentDesigned to refresh and renew the spiritual aspirations of Urantia Book readers who have by faith, entered the kingdom of God and therein set for themselves the achievement of the fullness of mortal life. It is through the conquest of one's psychic circles and the enhancement of Adjuster attunement, that we become of better and more joyful service to our fellows in this world and the next. |
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The Way of Life in the Family of God: A Course in Spiritual FormationOffered five times in 2020, including a special session in Korean, this experiential 10-week “Course in Spiritual Formation” introduces participants to a new and higher way of living. The purpose of this online course is to help us mobilize our faith — allowing the Spirit to more fully transform us — so that we can truly begin to live in spiritual family relationship, with God as our heavenly parent and all human beings as our spiritual sisters and brothers. |
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In 2020, UUI released 20 Self-Directed Study of the individual papers of The Urantia Book, providing an opportunity for new and advanced students of The Urantia Book to begin to master the content of individual papers, explore resources, apply knowledge, and actively engage with the meanings and values of the revelation. These free and interactive online courses can be taken anytime, anywhere, on your desktop or smartphone. The program serves those who are searching for a way to study The Urantia Book in greater depth and with the guidance and support of experienced instructors, but at their own pace and according to their own schedule. In addition to representative papers from Parts I, II, III, and IV, UUI also released A Tour of The Urantia Book, which identifies the major themes of the revelation and explains the Book’s structure in relation to the whole revelation as the design best suited to cultivate spiritual wisdom, progressing from the complex and infinite to the simple and finite. UUI will release self-directed studies for each of The Urantia Book’s 196 papers over the next few years. Meanwhile useful resources and insightful “thought gems” shared by fellow learners are added to existing courses each month. |
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