Glossary Archive

The Doctrine of Atonement is the belief that Christ died on the cross to appease an otherwise unforgiving God so that the sins of mankind would be forgiven. In other words, that Jesus was sacrificed in order to reconcile sinners to God and thereby ensure their salvation. The Urantia Book asserts that this idea is...

Avalon is one our neighboring local universes (i.e. to Nebadon) and has helped in many ways. The first group of Nebadon seraphim were trained by a corps of one thousand seraphim from Avalon. Later, a commission from Avalon helped to create the Caligastia staff of 100 and, after the rebellion, a Brilliant Evening Star from...

Magisterial Sons, also known as Avonals, are Paradise Sons of God (Son-Spirit) who act as the high magistrates of the realms. They work to uplift the mortals of time through both magisterial missions and bestowal missions. They also adjudicate planetary dispensations during transition periods.

The Badonan tribes were descendants of Andon and Fonta (Andonites) who lived in the highlands of what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan (64:3.1 and 79:0.1). (The Urantia Book was written before the partition of India.) They were the ancestors of the Neanderthal 850,000 years ago, and later, to the colored races 500,000 years ago (close...

In the time of Jesus, Batanea was an administrative region bordering the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It went north to the Anti-Lebanon mountain range, and east to the ancient city of Kanatha (modern Qanawat). Until 34 AD, it was ruled by Herod Philip II (Philip the Tetrarch), a son of Herod I....

Bestowal missions are spiritual missions to inhabited planets. They are most often carried out by Magisterial Sons, although Creator Sons do it one time on one planet in their universe. In all bestowals, these Sons appear as new-born mortal individuals ("born of woman"), as Christ Michael did on Urantia. See also The Bestowals of Christ...

Bethany (al-Aizariya) is a village on the eastern slope of Olivet near Jerusalem. It was the home of Simon of Bethany and his children Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, who all became good friends of the young Jesus. Simon's home often served as Jesus' headquarters while he was doing public work in Jerusalem. This is not...

Bethany ford (presently Al-Maghtas in Jordan), or "Bethany beyond the Jordan," was a crossing point on the Jordan River just east of Jericho. It is the place where John the Baptist began his preaching tour. He preached here for four months before traveling up the Jordan. Do not confuse with Bethany village.

Bethsaida was a fishing harbor on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, just south of Capernaum. It was home to five apostles: Philip, Peter, Andrew, and James and John Zebedee, the sons of Zebedee the boatbuilder, who employed Jesus for a time. It later became the active headquarters of Jesus' public works.

The Bright and Morning Star is the local universe chief executive. In Nebadon, this is Gabriel. He is the first-born of the Creator Son and the Mother Spirit, and is the highest spirit personality created by the pair. There is only one in each local universe, and he is fully representative of the Creator Son...