What is the difference between the Urantia Book and the Urantia Papers?

Prior to the 1990s, before the internet's worldwide impact on culture and commerce, "Urantia Book" referred to a published compilation of the Urantia Papers, the fifth epochal revelation to our planet (Urantia). As a printed book (first published in 1955 with a hard cover), the Urantia Book contains a Table of Contents, the ForeWord, all 196 Papers, and an Index.

Currently on the Internet, "Urantia Book" may refer to an exact electronic reproduction of a printed edition with its page and paragraph numbering or it may refer to alternate presentations of the Papers. These presentations of displayed or downloadable text may be identified as the "Urantia Book, Urantia Papers, Book of Urantia" or by other names which do not always include the term "Urantia".

Since the English text of the Urantia Book is in the public domain, some of the Papers (or selected paragraphs of the Papers) now appear on web pages as a subset of the total set of 196 Papers. The majority of these web pages identify the Urantia Book (or Urantia Papers) as the source of the material. However, some web pages neither identify the source nor provide links to other sites which maintain the complete set of Papers. Also, paraphrased and/or abridged versions of the Papers have been published as printed books or are available online, some not including the Word "Urantia" in their titles.

Because the individual Papers often refer to other parts of this revelation, the fifth "Urantia Blessing" received by mankind, a home library (or computer) should maintain a complete set of the Papers for reference. Variable text search, point & click indexing from a Table of Contents and an A-Z Index are becoming popular new features of some digital editions of the Urantia Papers.

In Urantia Book study groups where participants use different media to read the Papers, page numbering is losing importance since electronic books, laptop and tablet computers often provide user-selected display options. But the standardized Paper:Section.paragraph numbering of current editions of the Papers facilitates easy synchronization for all study group participants. Also, current editions of the Papers include most text corrections recommended by the joint Fellowship/Foundation Standardized Reference Text committee. However, some of the more recent text changes may not be present in much earlier versions of the printed and online Urantia Papers.

In summary, "Urantia Book" refers to the human compilation of the material received as our planet's fifth epochal revelation: the Urantia Papers. A Urantia Book always includes a Table of Contents and alphabetized Index; some editions also include a Topical Index. A Urantia Book may be a printed book with a hard or soft cover or it may be a digital file which is displayed online or can be downloaded; the Urantia Papers currently appear as a digital file only, displayed online or downloadable.

See also on wiki.answers:

"Who wrote the Urantia book?"

"Who are the celestial authors of the Urantia Papers?"