Scholarly Studies

In 1844 a charismatic young Persian merchant from Shiraz, known as the Báb, electrified the Shí'ih world by claiming to be the return of the Hidden Twelfth Imam of Islamic prophecy. But contrary to traditional expectations of apocalyptic holy war, the Báb maintained that the spiritual path was not one of force and coercion but love and compassion. The movement he founded was the precursor of the Bahá'í Faith, but the Báb's own voluminous writings have been seldom studied and often misunderstood. Gate of the Heart offers the first in-depth introduction to the writings of the Báb.

“The sun of Bahá has set.” These were the opening words of the telegram announcing the ascension of Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet and Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Who passed from this earthly life in the early hours of May 29, 1892. As the news traveled, throngs of mourners from all walks of life descended upon the fields surrounding the Bahjí compound where He had spent His final years on earth as a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire. Within twenty-four hours His sacred remains had been interred in a modest building that was to be the Point of Adoration, the Qiblih, toward which millions of His followers continue to turn in daily prayer.

In the pages of this book historian Michael V. Day takes the reader through the last years of Bahá’u’lláh’s life—in ‘Akká, Mazra‘ih, and Bahjí—highlighting pivotal moments and texts associated with the establishment of His shrine. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, including eyewitness accounts, the author paints vivid pictures of the daily life of the Manifestation and of those in His orbit; of His final days and illness; of His ascension and funeral, and of the period of mourning that followed. While there are many details that remain beyond our reach as we peer through the lens of history at these momentous events, the accounts pieced together here offer us a great deal to ponder and invite deep, meditative reflection.

As the Bahá’í community becomes an ever more familiar figure on the international landscape, attention has been increasingly attracted to the teachings of its founder, Bahá’u’lláh. In this groundbreaking study, Nader Saiedi addresses key controversies and problems in the current academic literature about Bahá’u’lláh’s writings. Saiedi approaches the subject from sociological, historical, philosophical, spiritual, and theological perspectives and draws on the vast body of previously untranslated original Persian and Arabic texts. Analyzing selected works that represent the three stages of Bahá’u’lláh’s revelation, he argues for the conceptual continuity of Bahá’u’lláh’s teaching throughout His life, from the inception of His mission in Tehran’s Siyah-Chal dungeon to the last books He wrote in exile in Ottoman Palestine.

Logos and Civilization is a timely, original, and probing investigation of the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, whose visionary insights into the spiritual, social, economic, and political dimensions of humanity in the context of globalization have only begun to attract the attention they merit.

This study of Bahá’u’lláh’s Súrih of the Temple is intended to provide the reader with tools to gain insight into the complex symbols and structure that underlie any attempt at interpreting the meaning and purpose of this critical work. To this end, Hatcher unravels the major symbols employed by Bahá’u’lláh, and explains the challenging framework whereby complex matter has been framed by Him into a dialogue between Himself, as He lies imprisoned in the Siyáh-Chál, and the Holy Spirit, personified as the Maid of Heaven.

Religion and Science in the Globalized World explores contemporary trends in religion, science, and globalization from a Bahá’í perspective. It is divided into two parts. The first part is devoted to Bahá’í approaches to various aspects of globalization. It includes the following chapters: “Global Constitutionalism” by Graham Hassall; “Globalization—The Tangible Expression of Humanity’s Journey Towards Unity” by Sovaida Ma’ani Ewing; “Building a Just and Sustainable Global Food System: Some Guiding Principles” by Paul Hanley; “How Can We All Get Along?—A Bahá’í Perspective on Globalization” by Harold Rosen; and “Globalization Requires a Bahá’í Foundation” by Hooshmand Badee.

The book’s second part focuses on different issues within the domains of natural and social sciences. The chapters included are as follows: “A Bahá’í View of Human Rights” by Peter Smith; “Prophetic Revelation and Sociocultural Evolution: Some Scientific Perspectives” by Harry P.Massoth and Marilu Jeno; “Plato, Modern Physics, and Bahá’u’lláh” by Vahid Ranjbar; “Iterative Theology: Progressive Revelation as the String Theory of Religious Studies” by Andres Elvira Espinoza; and “The Issue of Self-Identity in Transhumanism and the Bahá’í Writings” by Mikhail Sergeev. The volume ends with two chronologies of articles and books numerous Bahá’í authors wrote on globalization and science from the second half of the twentieth century up to the present day.

This book highlights one element in the trilogy of unity, justice and peace that arguably sits at the core of Bahá’í beliefs, through an analysis of the relevant texts of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi. By bringing the texts into sharper focus, rather than privileging the sociological or even the historical, it is hoped that the various ideological components of the concept of peace in the Bahá’í religion will be brought to sharper relief under a different light. The study explores the logical, anthropological and ethical extensions of the key theme of peace as it moved from one stage to another in the development of a young religion heavily invested in the world.

Framed as a contribution to intellectual history, the question ultimately addressed is: what kind of peace, human nature and general morality did the key authors envisage when they made some of their weightiest proclamations on peace?

In the West, epistemological studies from a Bahá’í perspective started in 1978 with the publication of Jack McLean’s essay “The Knowledge of God: An Essay on Bahá’í Epistemology.” Since then, Bahá’í thinkers have addressed different aspects of epistemological research. They discussed the independent search for truth, the standards of knowledge, the problems of certainty and relativity, infallibility, and interpretation, as well as mystical experience. All those topics are explored in-depth in corresponding chapters of the book.

This volume includes contributions by Michael Karlberg, Jean-Marc Lepain, Jack McLean, Julio Savi, Mikhail Sergeev, Todd Smith, Peter Terry, and the late William Hatcher.

A far-reaching account of what is meant by the human spirit, and its relevance to the worldwide efforts being made to meet the challenges that define this historical moment. The unique perspectives contained in the Bahá’í writings are explored alongside the rich diversity of other philosophical, epistemic, and moral traditions that have contributed to our understanding of the nature and needs of the human spirit over the ages.

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.