Baha'u'llah

Support document for a talk about the Tablet of Maqsud, revealed by Bahá'u'lláh.
The Tablet of Maqsúd can be seen as a good presentation of the principles and teachings of the Bahá’í Faith. Its structure is suitable for a first contact with the Bahá'í Writings.

Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations. By J. Gordon Melton, Editor, with James A. Beverley, Christopher Buck, and Constance A. Jones. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-59884-205-0. eISBN: 978-1-59884-206-7 Pub. date: September 13, 2011. [See below for entries.]

From the "Introduction" (p. xxi):

A review of the Baha’i Faith is particularly edifying. It is the newest of the major world religions and underwent some significant repression during its founding years. Through the twentieth century, it went through a lengthy process of establishing a new Baha’i calendar and designating holy days, including commemorations of the birth and death of the faith’s early founder/leaders. In a century, the Baha’is accomplished what it sometimes took other religions multiple centuries to complete. Meanwhile, a few of the twentieth-century new religions have moved to create an annual cycle of celebration within their first generation of existence.

Articles on Baha’i Holy Days in: Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations:

1. “‘Abdu’l-Baha, Ascension of (November 28).” (Vol. 1, pp. 1–4.)  
2. “Ayyam-i-Ha (Baha’i Intercalary Days) (February 25–March 1).” (Vol. 1, pp. 60–63.)  
3. “Bab, Festival of the Birth of the (October 20).” (Christopher Buck and J. Gordon Melton.)  (Vol. 1, pp. 65–67.) 
4. “Bab, Festival of the Declaration of the (May 23).” (Vol. 1, pp. 67–73.)  
5. “Bab, Martyrdom of the (July 9).”  (Vol. 1, pp. 73–76.)  
6. “Baha’i Calendar and Rhythms of Worship.” (Christopher Buck and J. Gordon Melton.)  (Vol. 1, pp. 79–86.) 
7. “Baha’i Fast (March 2–20).”  (Vol. 1, pp. 94–96.)  
8. “Baha’u’llah, Ascension of (May 29).” (Vol. 1, pp. 96–99.)  
9. “Baha’u’llah, Festival of the Birth of (November 12).” (Christopher Buck and J. Gordon Melton.)  (Vol. 1, pp. 99–102.) 
10. “Covenant, Day of the (November 26).” (Vol. 1, pp. 225–228.)  
11. “Naw-Rúz, Festival of (March 21).” (Vol. 2, pp. 225–228.)  
12. “Nineteen-Day Feast (Baha’i).”  (Vol. 2, pp. 641–645.)
13. “Race Unity Day.”  (Vol. 2, pp. 727–731.)   
14. “Ridvan, Festival of (April 20–May 2).”  (Vol. 2, pp. 744–747.)  
15. “World Religion Day (January).”  (Vol. 2, pp. 936–939.)  

God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America
by Christopher Buck
Kingston, NY: Educator's International Press, 2015

Contents
Introduction, by J. Gordon Melton
Chapter 1: America: Nation and Notion
Chapter 2: Native American Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 3: Protestant Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 4: The Christian Right’s Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 5: Catholic Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 6: Jewish Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 7: Mormon Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 8: Christian Identity Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 9: Black Muslim Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 10: Contemporary Muslim Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 11: Buddhist Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 12: Baha’i Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 13: Conclusion: How Minority Faiths Redefined America’s World Role

Two sample chapters (by publisher's permission):
1.  Native American Myths and Visions of America (Chapter 2)
2.  Black Muslim Myths and Visions of America (Chapter 9)

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/God-Apple-Pie-Religious-Visions/dp/1891928155/

Introduction by J. Gordon Melton,
Distinguished Professor of American Religious History, Baylor University

Far from being an interesting additional topic for the religious dilettante, the discussion around the theological reality that is America, periodically bursts forth as an important item on the nation's agenda, from the place of prayer services in the White House, to the issuance of an annual government report on religious persecution, to the rise of contemporary terrorism. As one traces radical Islam, for example, one arrives at the writings of one Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian who spent some of his younger years in America, and came away with his own vision of a country mired in sin and decadence. He would posit America as the image of everything he hoped to escape in promoting the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Now, in all honesty, I must admit that over the years as I encountered all of the intriguing, even fascinating, ideas about America in the great cosmic scheme of things, I never got around to systematically gathering the different visions and trying to make sense of them in any detailed fashion. Thus, I have been more than happy to receive, and now with this modest introduction, pass along to my scholarly colleagues and the reading public the work of Christopher Buck.

During his years of observation and research, Buck has surveyed the spectrum of visions of America that have energized and motivated the America's religious community, and has selected from among them a sample that both (1) represents the spectrum of opinion about America and its importance, and (2) highlights the more important visions of America that have shaped and are continuing to shape the way we understand this country we call home. His work calls us to become self-conscious about the assumptions we use in our day-to-day movements that massage the ways we approach our neighbors, our colleagues at work, and the politicians for whom we vote.

Buck begins with the visions of America present at the founding of the nation, aspects of which still strongly permeate the culture today, and have found a new home among conservative Protestants in their innovative idea of Christian America. Amid the Protestant context, we often forget the role of the Roman Catholic Church, which became the largest religious body in America in the 1840s and is now three times larger than its nearest competitor. At the end of the nineteenth century, a controversy on Americanism would erupt around Catholic visions of their place in a changing world that would drive it from participation in the nation's public square for a half-century, and molded its reentrance after World War II.

And then there are all the other-than-Christian religions, from Ahmadiyya Muslims to Zoroastrians, all of which possess their its own vision of America that shapes their appropriation of life in the United States and guides their development as their place in the nation was challenged, then accepted, and most recently affirmed and even celebrated by the nation as a whole. We have watched as Buddhists have carved out a place as cultural peacemakers, Muslims have struggled with separation of religion and government, and Baha'is have tried to understand the communication of their founder, Baha'u'llah, with the presidents of the Americas collectively, and with 'Abdu'l-Baha's statements about the destiny of America in particular. All of this occurs in the ebb and flow of religious life. One day we envision the possible unity of America's religions only to be thrown up against the many harsh divisions, which motivates us once more to seek realms of agreement, which again highlights the array of issues that can drive wedges between those who accept the label "American" as part of their self-identity.

In conclusion, I can, as a scholar, reflect on the contribution that this book, Religious Myths and Visions of America: God and Apple Pie, is making to our understanding of the American mosaic and how various segments of the religious community have found their way to being American. As an informed citizen I welcome its information that allows me to empathize with and make informed decisions relative to those with whom I might align (or oppose) as I sally forth in the public square. And on a personal level, I welcome the author's invitation for me to meet anew the residents of my neighborhood, those who shop in the same stores I do, send their children to the same schools my grandchildren attend, and diligently work toward their own appropriation of the American dream.

J. Gordon Melton
Distinguished Professor of American Religious History
Baylor University

January 2015 — This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The Identity of the  Ṣābi'ūn: An Historical Quest
by Christopher Buck.

The Muslim World 74.3/4 (July/Oct. 1984): 172–186.

[Published online 3 April 2007, Wiley Online Library.]
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.1984.tb03453.x.
Electronic Database (full text available): ATLA Religion Database; Wiley.

ABSTRACT

One of the mysterious and unsolved Qur'anic problems surrounds the identity of the Sabians, al-Ṣābi'ūn. As Jane McAuliffe has shown in her study published in an earlier volume of this journal, Muslim exegetes reflect uncertainty on this point from the very start. Over time the term so diversified in meaning that it became even more difficult to determine to whom it referred. Yet one would assume that in the Qur'ān al-Ṣābi'ūn denotes a specific historical community. Placed alongside Jews, Christians, and "the Believers" (Muslims) in Q. 2:62, one is tempted to regard the Sabians as a fourth monotheistic community. This association is all the more inviting when once again, in Q. 5:69, the same four religions are distinguished following an address to the "possessors of scripture" several verses earlier. This sense of parallelism would appear in Q. 22:17 to extend to the Majūs—who are called into question by the obtrusion into the context of "those who associate" (gods with God). Whatever the solution, these groups constitute a significant internal witness to the religious demography, so to speak, within the Qur'anic universe.

To make sense of the demographic puzzle in which the Sabians figure as the least familiar piece, a fresh methodological "angle" is suggested by the inconclusive data obtained from the study of Muslim commentators. Their indecisive witness is itself a problem which may need to be explained in other ways than simply as resulting from educated speculation. Complementary to McAuliffe's illustrative exegetical survey, the present study employs, therefore, an historical methodology which enables us to place history alongside tradition. A comparison will be drawn between the prominent religious communities Islam encountered during its first two centuries of expansion and the groups identified as Ṣābi'ūn by Arabic and Persian authorities, primarily of the tenth century. Moreover, data gleaned from pre-Islamic sources will offer an independent witness, especially crucial for determining who the Qur'anic Sabians originally were.

The hypothesis we want to test in this article is that the tenth-century identifications of the Ṣābi'ūn which will be considered here reflect the first wave of Muslim expansion after the Prophet's death, especially the encounter with the groups listed by Waardenburg under numbers 5–9. In the case of the Sabians, an interpretation which accounts for diverse identifications would show the validity of data which otherwise would simply be dismissed as contradictory and therefore wrong.

It was natural in the course of time for Muslim authors to extend the application of the term Sabian to cover not only communities from a far distant past, but also contemporary communities with which they themselves came in contact, including some in Africa. Clearly, the term Sabian had by now proved to be the most meaningful and attractive nomenclature for comprehending foreign religiosities within what could still be considered a Qur'anic worldview.

Our study has shown that the issue of the apparent confusion among Muslim exegetes over the identity of the Sabians is resolved once the historical circumstances are grasped. Exactly because it was imprecise, the word Ṣābi'ūn functioned as a term of great legal importance by contributing to an attitude of toleration towards minority religions under Muslim rule. The term evolved from a once-specific designation to a classification which, adapted to ever new historical contexts, expanded its meaning to embrace peoples of otherwise uncertain standing, giving them a place of security within a Qur'anically sanctioned framework.

As far as the original Qur'anic Ṣābi'ūn are concerned, special attention was paid to the Cologne Mani Codex (CMC) which confirms the assertion found in the Fihrist that Sabians were Elchasaites, an identification which may also be implied in Hippolytus. On the basis of evidence to date, it seems justifiable to reaffirm Chwolsohn's conclusion that the Qur'anic Sabians were persons known for their emphasis on ritual purifications, predominantly Mandaeans and Elchasaites.

This article discusses the organizational hierarchy of the Bābīs during the period of Ṣubḥ-i-Azal's (d. 1912) concealment from the public and his residency in Baghdad between the years 1852 to 1863. It pursues an analytic historiographical and textual critical approach by mainly utilizing primary and secondary sources in Arabic, Persian and English belonging to both the Bayānīs (i.e. Azalīs) and the Bahāʾīs alike. First by offering some brief context, it will explain this organizational hierarchy of the Bābīs during the Middle Bābī period (1850-66), highlighting the role and function of the witnesses of the Bayān (shuhadāʾ-i-bayān). More importantly, it will introduce a hitherto unknown work (and primary source) of Ṣubḥ-i-Azal's from that era, namely the kitāb al-waṣīya (the Book of the Testament), wherein seven to eight prominent Bābīs of that period were appointed to the rank. The two presently known MSS of this work will be discussed, as well as extensively quoted in translation, with the individuals named in it identified. The sectarian narratives (with their conflicting authority claims) dividing the Bayānīs (i.e. Azalīs) and Bahāʾīs over the history of the period will be critically evaluated while also briefly revisiting the 'episode of Dayyān'. It will conclude by proposing the untenability of the terms 'Azalī' and 'Azalī Bābism'. This study supplements Denis MacEoin's two articles on the subject published during the 1980s.

Christopher Buck, “Chapter 13: Baha’i Faith.” The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Religion and Social Justice. Edited by Michael D. Palmer and Stanley M. Burgess. Malden, MA / Oxford, UK; Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Pp. 210–223. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781444355390.ch13.

ABSTRACT

The Bahá’í religion had established ethical and social principles for the ennobling of individuals and the ordering of societies well before “social justice” emerged as a dominant value in modern democracies. Indeed, the Bahá’í Faith claims to be a religion “endowed with a system of law, precept, and institutions capable of bringing into existence a global commonwealth ordered by principles of social justice” (Bahá’í World Centre, 1993: 107). In the Bahá’í hierarchy of moral values, social justice ranks as a central and guiding principle. The distinctively pragmatic Bahá’í approach is to promote social justice through coordinated initiatives of “social action.”

Bahá’ís generally prefer to speak of “social action” rather than “social justice” because they view the former as proactive and the latter as reactive. Social action, as they speak of it, anticipates social issues and addresses them prospectively; social justice aims at remediating injustices that have already occurred. Seen in this light, engaging in social action could be expected to reduce the need to redress social injustices. If “social justice” is conceived broadly (i.e., not simply as remedial or corrective), then “social action” is the name that Bahá’ís use to articulate a proactive model for achieving social justice. This proactive orientation to social justice involves acting on the basis of a vision and core values to reorder society by means of a multifaceted, systematic, and progressive plan of social engagement: multifaceted in that it involves undertaking different kinds of initiatives and projects simultaneously around the world; systematic in that it involves coordinating complementary initiatives and programs; and progressive in that it extends successful local and regional initiatives to communities around the globe.

The centrality of justice in Bahá’í thought is evident in the declarations of the religion’s early leaders. Its founder, Bahá’u’lláh (1817–1892), elevated justice by linking it in several ways to God and by citing its practical utility: “The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice . . . turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee.” “By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor.” “Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes” (Bahá’u’lláh, 1978: 37). ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (1844–1921), Bahá’u’lláh’s son and appointed successor, who led the religion from 1892–1921, also accorded justice a special status: “Justice . . . is a universal quality”; and “justice must be sacred, and the rights of all the people must be considered” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1969: 159).

But social justice is not an end in itself. In the Bahá’í hierarchy of values, social justice directs thought and action to a higher principle and to a grand vision of a future world commonwealth. “The purpose of justice,” Bahá’u’lláh declared, “is the appearance of unity among men” (Bahá’u’lláh, 1978: 67). In other words, social justice is a means to a higher end, unity, which Bahá’ís view as an organizing principle for their entire system of community norms and practices, which will, in turn, transform society on a global scale. They describe this unity not as rigid uniformity or slavish conformity but as “unity in diversity” – a social culture in which diversity can flourish.

This paper is a theological study of evil and the treatment of evil, approaching the subject through an exploration of the 2012 documentary The Act of Killing, directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, and the scriptures of the Bahá’í Faith. Throughout the paper I draw on the already vast quantity of text written in response to the film, including numerous interviews, articles and essays. I also draw on the texts of various key thinkers, such as Paulo Freire, Paul Ricoeur and Stanley Cavell, among others. I begin the paper by looking at the part evil plays in a Bahá’í theological, or spiritual, anthropology, referring also to the theory of evil exposed in Pseudo-Dionysius’ The Divine Names and drawing on the many illuminating comments on evil made by Oppenheimer himself. From this section I move on to a study of the ways in which the human is dehumanised by acts of evil, most of all the perpetrator, who dehumanises himself by the mere intention of harming another. I particularly focus on the ways in which the characters in the film demonstrate a disordered sense of value. In the next section I examine the way in which the very approach of the film, which centres on the perpetrators re-enacting their crimes, leads to them recognising their alienation from their own humanity, from their own selves, reflected in the fantasy of their narratives of justification. I then explore how, as the audience, we must in turn see ourselves reflected in the characters on the screen if we are to overcome, both in ourselves and in others, the dehumanisation, and its perpetuation, that we might suffer in even our most seemingly inconsequential acts of evil. Finally, I conclude with a section on forgiveness, in which I suggest an approach to forgiveness that, using the “mirroring” effect of the film, neither merely forgets nor clings to blame, instead seeking a merciful love that is itself the most just punishment.

Scholar Meets Prophet:
Edward Granville Browne and Baha’u’llah (Acre, 1890)

Christopher Buck
Independent Scholar, Pittsburgh

Youli Ioannesyan
Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg

Baha’i Studies Review, Vol. 20 (2014, published 2018): 21–38.

(The original publication (print or PDF) may be ordered online from Intellect.)

ABSTRACT
Rediscovery of contemporaneous handwritten notes by Cambridge orientalist, Edward Granville Browne,1 of his historic meetings with Baha’u’llah, prophet-founder of the Baha’i Faith in Akka (St Jean d’Acre), Palestine, during his stay there – which lasted from his arrival on Sunday, 13 April 1890, to Browne’s departure on Sunday, 20 April 1890 – significantly adds to our knowledge of those spiritual and momentous events. Given the fact that Baha’u’llah was to become widely regarded as the founder of a new world religion, Browne’s published account of his 16 April 1890 audience with Baha’u’llah takes on added significance as a rare first-hand description by a distinguished contemporary from the West. Although well-known to those acquainted with Baha’i history, relatively little is known regarding the sequence of events. This article will draw from Cambridge manuscripts to add some new details, and will draw a fuller picture of what transpired by use of Browne’s correspondence with Russian academics, along with known Baha’i sources judiciously compared with Azali sources. Together, a composite account of that historic encounter between scholar and prophet, Browne and Baha’u’llah, will be offered.

Christopher Buck, “Illuminator vs. Redeemer: A ’Trajectory’ of Ebionite Christology from Prophet Messianism to Baha’i Theophanology.” Abstracts: American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting 1983 (Dallas). Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1983, p. 86.  

_________________________
• CITED BY HANS KUNG:

“Present-day scholars like Christopher Buck also have come to the same conclusion: ‘In the course of time the Ebionites together with the Sabaean Baptists seem to have become established in Arabia. This fertilization invites the hypothesis that the Qur’an reflects Ebionite prophetology’.” –  Hans Küng, Christianity: Essence, History, and Future (New York : Continuum, 1995), p. 106 and 819, n. 177:

“Present-day scholars too have concluded: ‘In the course of time the Ebionites together with the Sabaean Baptists seem to have become established in Arabia. This fertilization invites the hypothesis that the Qur’an reflects Ebionite prophetology’.” – Hans Küng, Islam: Past, Present, and Future. Translated by John Bowden (Oxford: Oneworld, 2007), p. 42 and p. 672, n. 58: “C. Buck, report to American Academy of Religion, Abstracts AAR/SBL 1983.”

_________________________
ABSTRACT (published in 1983)

The rediscovery of Ebionite Christianity is one of the achievements of recent scholarship. Since World War II, specialists in Christian origins have sought to recover what might be thought of as “lost” forms of Christianity. Of all forms of Jewish Christianity, Ebionism is the most distinct and well known. The researches of Bavarian scholar Schoeps drew the notice of fellow scholars to verifiably Ebionite elements preserved in the Pseudo–Clementine Homilies (“H”) and Recognitions (“R”), until then deemed romances devoid of much historical worth. The late Cardinal Danielou treated Jewish Christianity phenomenologically, defining its various forms collectively as a culture (“a culture of apocalypses”). Made possible by the convergence of manuscript discoveries, Danielou succeeded in presenting Jewish Christianity as the predominant though not exclusive influence in the early Church for a full century after Christ. Jewish Christians were primarily living in Palestine, Transjordan, and Syria, but were doubtless in Rome, Asia Minor, and northern Africa as well. Jewish Christianity, like a lost civilization, appears once to have had a formative (though later ostracized) presence in the early Christian world.

The two Jewish revolts reversed the situation, such that the ethno- (“pagan”) Christians emerged as the prevailing “orthodoxy.” Judged in relation to “triumphant Pauline Christianity,” the early major forms of Jewish Christianity were “completely misunderstood by Western heresiologues” which condemned Millenarism, Encratism, and Ebionism as impoverished doctrine. All of this surprising data so revolutionized concepts of Christian origins that Quispel of Utrecht was led to declare that “the Jewish Christians or Ebionites were the legitimate heirs of primitive Christianity, whereas the New Testament to a large extent reflects the views of Gentile Christianity as defended by St. Paul and his fellows. This is the present state of scholarship.”

What, then, can be said about “the present state of scholarship” which Quispel asserted favoring the primacy of the Ebionites as preservers of the “original” traditions? We can safely say that there was more to Christianity than met the orthodox or heterodox eye. Post-World War II research has, indeed, revolutionized our views of Christian origins. Several important forms of Christianity took root and effloresced in a variety of cultural soils. That history favored one form over the other is not a proof of primacy. Perhaps we can think of a plurality of “apostolic successions” rather than in terms of one only. The fullest picture of early Christianity is perhaps the most impressive: a mosaic, not a monochrome. Historical enquiry can remove the whitewash of orthodoxy, such that orthodoxy itself becomes more human, more alive as the drama with all its actors is replayed before our historical eyes. Perhaps the appreciation and not the suppression of diversity within Christianity will evoke the richest sense of heritage, the broadest sense of commonality, and the greatest impulse against judgementalism ⎯ the fomenter of religious prejudice. The recovery of Ebionite Christianity is part of a long and painstaking process: the total restoration of our Christian past ⎯ a process which might be thought of as the “salvation” of salvation-history.

______________________
NOTES

This is the author's research paper for his first graduate course, "Problems in Ebionism," a directed study at Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University), under William K.B. Stoever (now Professor Emeritus), chair of Liberal Studies. The paper was awarded an A on its completion in June 1982. Dr. Stoever is named on the last page of the paper. The paper itself was word-processed by Carol Lenhard.

The “Abstract” (supra) was published in 1983. Although the paper itself is unpublished, it may be considered to be the equivalent of a peer-reviewed paper insofar as the paper was critically reviewed by Dr. Stoever. Of interest is the striking phenomenological resonance between the Ebionite Christian doctrine of the "True Prophet" with the Bahá’í doctrine of the “Manifestation of God.”

Excerpt from an early Jewish-Christian work, The Homilies of Clement:

Salvation of Jews and Christians
"For on this account Jesus is concealed from the Jews, who have taken Moses as their teacher, and Moses is hidden from those who have believed in Jesus. For, there being one teaching by both, God accepts him who has believed either of these" (H 8:6). "For even the Hebrews who believe Moses, and do not observe the things spoken by him, are not saved, unless they observe the things that are spoken to them... Neither is there salvation in believing in teachers and calling them lords" (H 8:5).

"Neither, therefore, are the Hebrews condemned by account of their ignorance of Jesus, by reason of Him who has concealed Him, if, doing the things commanded by Moses they do not hate Him (Jesus) whom they do know. Neither are those from among the Gentiles condemned, who do not know Moses, provided that these also, doing the things spoken by Jesus, do not hate Him (Moses) whom they do not know" (H 8: 7) .

"And some will not be profited by calling the teachers lords, but not doing the works of servants... Moreover, if anyone has been thought worthy to recognize both as preaching one doctrine, that man has been counted rich in God, understanding the old things as new in time, and the new things as old" (H 8:7).

BAHA’U’LLAH AS ZOROASTRIAN SAVIOUR (1998)

Christopher Buck, “Baha’u’llah as Zoroastrian Saviour.” Baha’i Studies Review 8 (1998): 14–33. 

https://www.academia.edu/4332699/_Baha_u_llah_as_Zoroastrian_Saviour_1998_

ABSTRACT

This paper explores theoretical tensions between modern scholarship and modern messiahship. Messiahs, typically, advance truth claims and adduce proof texts. Prophecies foretell; messiahs fulfill. But what if the proof texts are other than what they purport to be? What if a prophecy turns out not to be genuine? How might this affect the truth claim? An ideal case-study is that of Bahā’u’llāh, whose claim to multiple messiahship is unusual in the history of religions, paralleled only by the second-century world-prophet, Mānī (d. 276).

Bahā’u’llāh’s truth-claims were anchored in several apocalyptic traditions, interpreted as convergent. Bahā’u’llāh’s claim to be Shāh Bahrām Varjāvand, the Zoroastrian messiah, is a case in point. A theoretical problem arises once it is shown that Zoroastrian apocalypses that foretell the advent of Shāh Bahrām are primarily medieval texts, lamenting the Byzantine, Arab and Turkish invasions of Iran. These texts are hardly prophecies, but are cast in the form of prophecies, through use of a literary device known as “vaticinium ex eventu” (prophecy after the event). 

These prophecies are a type of inverse history, where recent history (the calamity of conquest) is recounted, followed by a scenario expressed in the future perfect tense (prophecies), which more or less narrates what should have been, in the name of what shall be. It will be shown that Bahā’u’llāh’s appeal to the Shāh Bahrām tradition circumvents this problem by radically reinterpreting the Zoroastrian prophecies themselves, thereby reinventing the figure of Shāh Bahrām.

Moojan Momen, Review of:

Christopher Buck, Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Baha’u’llah’s Kitab-i Iqan. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1995.

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series) 7.2 (July 1997): 290–291.

EXCERPTS
“Christopher Buck’s book represents the first book-length attempt in the English language to analyse one of the major works of Bahā’u’llāh. …

One main theme that Buck explores in this book is the question of whether the text of the Īqān contains hints by Bahā’u’llāh of his future claim. Some have expressed doubt as to whether any such hints exist but Buck demonstrates, conclusively I think, that there are many covert and even overt indications of what he calls ‘Bahā’u’llāh’s messianic secret’. …

Buck has created a good starting point for what one would anticipate will be a new genre: critical analyses of the writings of Bahā’u’llāh.”

The chief aim of this paper is to outline the concept of sustainable development which is integrated into the doctrine of a relatively novel world religion known as the Bahá’í Faith. The study focuses on the description of causes behind the crisis and potential solutions as they are seen by the Baha’is, by means of analysis of their Sacred Writings and more profound insights into the doctrine, in particular where it concerns ecology and social-economic development.
The paper examines how contemporary ecological crisis and imbalanced social development are approached in the light of the Bahá’í Faith. Deriving their principal tenets from the paradigm of unity and at the same time disjunction from nature, the Baha’is suggest interesting solution to a range of problems, emphasizing spiritually anchored instruments that they employ. Humility with respect to the environment is an important element in the Baha’i doctrine, which is justified on religious grounds.
Furthermore, the author underscores the responsibility of members of the community of the faithful for the entirety of social development, as well as outlines the achievements and proposals – objectives already attained and intended – relating to the mitigation of negative outcomes of the crisis and, ultimately, their utter elimination.
Finally, the author enumerates specific forms of collaboration between members of the Faith and organizations as well as governments, undertaken in order to further sustainable development on a global and local scale.

Carnegie Mellon University

God & Apple Pie:
Religious Myths and Visions of America
Christopher Buck, PhD

November 17, 2017, 7:00 PM
Scaife Hall, Room 208

A Spirituality Development Month event

Sponsored by:
•  CMU Spirituality & Interfaith Initiatives
    (Division of Student Affairs)
•  CMU Council of Religious Advisors
•  Baha’i Community of Pittsburgh

The purpose of this study is to present an as yet little studied system of adult education, the Ruhí Institute, and to ascertain its potential as a generator of positive change as compared to  transformative learning theory and popular education.
As a researcher of adult education on the one hand and a Ruhí Institute student on the other, I found what seemed to be some elements of transformative learning theory and popular education theory in the Ruhí educational system. As a Ruhí study circle participant myself, my research role was as a participant-as-observer.  While challenging, I have attempted to avoid bias by conducting this research with a reflexive intent.
This study is qualitative and interpretivist in design and references the epistemology of social constructivism in its examination of the themes of personal transformation, study circles and popular education. After an introduction of the Ruhí Institute, a theoretical framework of key theories of transformative learning and popular education will be provided and literature will be reviewed. The core is a series of interviews with Ruhí Students.  The analysis of these interviews reveals that indeed many traits of transformative learning theory are manifested in the practice and personal experience of the participants.  Additionally, some aspects similar to popular education study circles are observed in the andragogy of the Ruhí system and its goals for the individual and society. Finally, it reveals in what ways participants feel that transformation has occurred in themselves and with those they have studied with. The majority of the participants had transformational experiences during Ruhí study.  Generally, participants feel a positive effect on their lives and the majority feel that participation in the Ruhí process has enabled them to transform their social context in a positive way.

My purpose in writing this paper is to share some thoughts which emerged during and after the creation of the video Odette and I Are Dreaming. They concern not only the work itself, but also some of the ideas that have influenced its conception and creation. When viewed together, it is apparent that these ideas have formed the basis of a conceptual framework within which I have situated my practice over the past three decades. Reference is made throughout this paper to works of various eras, which were created within diverse fields of enquiry, ranging from the human and natural sciences, to poetry, theology and philosophy. The most frequently referenced body of work is that of Bahá'u'lláh (1817-92), Whose writings, encompassing a vast range of topics, have had the foremost influence on my work as a visual artist and researcher since I first encountered them in 1989. Whilst reading, It is hoped that the reader will keep in mind a particular conceptual convergence of three elements: the work of art, the dream, and the city. The images included within the text are stills taken from a re-edited version of the original video, which was originally titled A Poet's Lips.

The  late Jonathan Z. Smith, widely acclaimed as the foremost scholar of the comparative study of religions, passed away on December 30, 2017. He was brilliant, original, formidable — a towering genius in the academic study of religion. See obituary:
https://divinity.uchicago.edu/jonathan-z-smith-1938-2017

Professor Smith's appraisal of my dissertation, Paradise & Paradigm: Key Symbols in "Persian" Christianity and the Baha'i Faith, was submitted a week before my oral defense on Friday, June 21, 1996. (See “PhD Orals,” University of Toronto, The Bulletin 49.20 (June 3, 1996), p. 6.)

“Confidential: May be shown to the candidate only after the final doctoral examination.”

FROM: Jason Smith Books
PHONE NO.: 312 294 0147
Jun. 13 1996 10:54 AM

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
The College
1116 East 59th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637

Appraisal, Mr. Christopher George Buck,

PARADISE AND PARADIGM:
KEY SYMBOLS IN ‘PERSIAN’ CHRISTIANITY
AND THE BAHA’I FAITH.

Centre for the Study of Religion.
School of Graduate Studies.
University of Toronto.

Mr. Buck’s thesis is a superior piece of work, one of the most sophisticated exercises on comparison that I have read, and, therefore, a work of historic importance with respect to the study of ‘patristic’ Christianity, a field that is notably ‘primitive’ with respect to comparative issues. Of the nearly one hundred dissertations I have served as director or reader for, in the fields of history of religions and early Christianities, this is, without question, one of the two or three best.

Mr. Buck’s lengthy methodological introduction (pp. 1–27) is a remarkable theoretical essay. He shows a capacity to work with a variety of contemporary figures and issues in the general study of religion and to extract from serious conversation with them a complex, comprehensive, critical and constructive proposal that is both persuasive and original. This proposal is systematically carried through the body of the thesis, providing both the organizational principles for the data and the procedures which govern his comparisons.

I am much impressed by his concluding chapter (295–308) which undertakes a self-critical evaluation of the models and methods he employed. (This last is all too often omitted in dissertations in the human sciences.) Obviously, I have some questions. As Mr. Buck notes, his model is eclectic, drawing from a variety of figures, so that figures of quite disparate orientations are made to support one another. With respect to his particular area of comparison, the proposal would have been enhanced by a specific and detailed contrast with the analogous projects of Robert Murray and Geo Widengren.

I am most appreciative of Mr. Buck’s thick historical narrative in which the symbolic investigations are situated. (More work could be done on the theoretical relations of the one to the other, but what he has done is well in advance of the vast majority of works in the field). Again, at times, we differ in historical judgement (e.g. it is increasingly less likely that [the] Gospel of Thomas can be claimed as a Syrian document) but these do not affect the overall thesis.

The extraction of the central symbolic logic of both the Syriac and Baha’i materials is utterly convincing and reveals, among other virtues, a thorough command of both the primary and secondary literature. This, then, contributes to a comparison across differences of the logics which richly illuminates both the specific symbols and the cultural matrix in which they are found.

This is one of those rare theses in which the parts are so intricately and necessarily interrelated that one hopes for the rapid publication of the entire work rather than the separate publication of one or two chapters.

Without hesitation, I strongly recommend that the thesis be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Jonathan Z. Smith

Jonathan Z. Smith, Robert O. Anderson
Distinguished Service Professor of the Humanities
University of Chicago