History

The early histories of all the Baha’i communities of southern Iran are narrated here for the first time. Drawing on original sources including manuscript histories, letters, family records and material previously published only in Persian, Dr Moojan Momen provides a panoramic yet detailed account of the largest and the smallest Baha’i communities during the period 1851 to 1921.

Born of the need to address the plight of men of African descent in the United States, and the unique afflictions imposed upon them, the Black Men's Gathering was founded in 1987 as an individual initiative. From its humble origins in a Greensboro hotel room where the original twelve participants met, the Gathering would grow and evolve over the course of a quarter-century to embrace hundreds in an atmosphere of love, fellowship, and devotion to the Cause of God. Anchor of Faith gives us a glimpse of the vibrant spirit of the Gathering; details its history, evolution, and influence; and brings to light the countless avenues of service pursued by its participants both at home and across the globe.

Perhaps there is no more fitting occasion to revisit this beloved book by one of the great Bahá’í authors than the centenary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing. Within the pages of The Sheltering Branch Marzieh Gail offers a tribute to the life and teachings of the Master, highlighting His words and actions, and giving the reader a fleeting glimpse of the days in which He lived. Gail presents passages from the writings and talks of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and draws on the memoirs of her mother, Florence Breed Khan, who spent time in His presence as a pilgrim, to craft this lovingly rendered portrait.

Who is Shoghi Effendi? What is the Formative Age and what is the Administrative Order of the Bahá’í Faith? In a highly readable way, this book aims to answer these questions.

It is the last of the four books by Hitjo Garst about the first 120 years of the Bahá’í Faith and is about Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Faith. His life is inextricably linked to the first forty years of the Formative Age and the building of the Administrative Order, which began in 1921. The Formative Age of the Faith was preceded by the Heroic Age, which began in 1844, in Iran, with the proclamation of the Báb, the Herald of Bahá’u’lláh. After Bahá’u’lláh’s Ascension, the unity of His Faith was preserved through ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, just as now and into the future, unity will be preserved through the Administrative Order.

Doris McKay became a Bahá’í in 1925 through the teaching efforts of Howard and Mabel Ives. This book tells the story of Doris and her husband Willard’s life as early American Bahá’ís, of their friendships with people such as the Ives, Grace and Harlan Ober, Louis Gregory, May Maxwell, Martha Root, Dorothy Baker, and others. It tells the story of the McKay’s work in the racial amity field and their eventual pioneering move to eastern Canada in the 1940s.

Doris tells her story with clear-sightedness, zest, and love. This book provides an intimate glimpse into the spiritual life of a dedicated Bahá’í teacher and the development of the Bahá’í Faith in America.

This book examines the intersection of African American history with that of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States. Since the turn of the twentieth century, Bahá’ís in America have actively worked to establish interracial harmony within its own ranks and to contribute to social justice in the wider community, becoming in the process one of the country’s most diverse religious bodies. Spanning from the start of the twentieth century to the early twenty-first, the essays in this volume examine aspects of the phenomenon of this religion confronting America’s original sin of racism and the significant roles African Americans came to play in the development of the Bahá’í Faith’s culture, identity, administrative structures, and aspirations.

Includes essays by Loni Bramson, Christopher Buck, Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis, Louis Venters, Mike McMullen, and June Manning Thomas

On November 28, 1921, the head of the Bahá’í Faith, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, passed away. There were six Western believers in Haifa on the night of the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Mr. John Bosch and Mrs. Louise Stapfer Bosch from Geyserville, California; Dr. Florian Krug and Mrs. Grace Krug from New York, and Fraulein Johanna Hauff from Stuttgart. All of them were there as pilgrims. The only other Western believer present in Haifa was Mr. Curtis Kelsey from New York, who was in Haifa to install electrical power plants to light the shrines of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. This book tells the story of these believers, how they became Bahá’ís, the circumstances that led them to Haifa, and how their experience at the time of the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá shaped their path of service to the Cause of God. The intent is to give the reader the feeling of being in the holy land, one hundred years ago, when the moon of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá set over Haifa.