Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book

Q:What date did Contact Commission and/or The Forum commence transcribing the papers for the Urantia Book? Further, what is the correlation between these two groups or are they one and the same?

A: Thank you for your note regarding the Contact Commission and the Forum. Since there is practically no information in The Urantia Book itself regarding these questions, I went to the Urantia Book Historical Society.

I found several pages that will be of interest to you:

Focus on History provides a great list of topics. And in this list, I found Famous Firsts.

In this section, we learn that the organization and acquaintance of the pivotal members of the revelatory team were begun as early as 1906.

In 1922, the Contact Commission was formed to be "custodians of the Urantia manuscript, keeping the carbon copy of the typewritten transcript in a fireproof vault. They were also charged with full responsibility for supervising all the details connected with the publication of the Book, securing the international copyrights, etc."

And in 1928 "The Forum was formally established and the Sunday afternoon group took oaths of silence regarding the papers."

These two groups - The Contact Commission and the Forum - were complementary groups who worked together throughout the delivery of the Papers; however, the Forum contained far more members than the Commission.

Here is a passage describing both groups from a page called: "Sunday Afternoon Tea":

"A team from one family took on the responsibility of keeping the papers secure, transcribing the papers, giving people an opportunity to study them during the week, and getting them prepared for typesetting. This family was called the Contact Commission.

The group that assembled on Sunday afternoons was called The Forum, a term used in the Chautaqua Movement. For fifteen years the Forum members all contributed money to have the book printed. The Forum officially ended in May 1942."

I would suggest that you visit the links that I have provided, and explore this wonderful website which is dedicated to the preservation of the historical records surrounding the fifth epochal revelation to Urantia.

Thanks again for your note. Write back to us anytime.

Labels: Contact Commission, The Forum, The Urantia Book, Urantia Book Historical Society