This work represents the latest publication, in English, of papers presented at the 2001 Irfan Colloquia and Seminars for the purpose of presenting studies grounded on the writings of the Baha'i Faith. Although these fourteen papers are scholarly in nature, they are written for presentation, and are therefore highly accessible and engaging. The main them of the 2001 Colloquia was Mysticism and the Baha'i Faith. Almost half of the papers published in this volume deal with various aspects and dimensions of that theme.
Papers include:
- A Journey through the Seven Valleys by Ghasem Bayat
- The beginning that has no beginning: Baha'i Cosmology by Vahid Brown
- Knowledge, Certitude and the Mystical Heart: The Hidden Essence of God's Word by LeRoy Jones
- The Bab's Epistle on the Spiritual Journey towards God by Todd Lawson
- From Adam to Baha'u'llah: The Idea of a Chain of Prophecy by Zaid Lundberg
- The Wronged One: Shi'i Narrative Structure in Baha'u'llah's Tablet of Visitation for Mulla Husayn by William McCants
- The Mystical Dimensions of the Baha'i Administrative Order by Kavian Milani
- Mysticism and the Baha'i Community by Moojan Momen
- The Lawh-i-Manikji Sahib: introduction and provisional translation by Ramin Neshati
- The Seven Valleys and the Scientific Method by Robert Sarracino
- Theological Responses to Modernity in the Nineteenth-century Middle East by Oliver Scharbrodt
- Mysticism in African Traditional Religion and in the Baha'i Faith: Classification of Concepts and Practices by Enoch Tanyi
- An Exposition on the Fire Tablet by Baha'u'llah by James Thomas
- The Influence of Babi Teachings on Ling Ming Tang and Nineteenth Century China by Jianping Wang