A common, and often implicit, feature of all Bahá’í efforts to contribute to an ever-advancing civilization is a conception of history as progressive. The centenary of the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and of the beginning of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í dispensation, provides an opportunity to reflect on how the progress of the Faith itself—which is organically connected to the building of a new world order—can be understood within this conception of history.