Moojan Momen, Review of Baha’i Faith: The Basics (February 2022)

2021

Jack McLean, “Baha’i Faith: The Basics by Christopher Buck: Review (2020).” Published online (January 15, 2021). Excerpts: One outstanding feature of this book for either Bahá’ís or non-Bahá’ís is its contemporary relevance. Even well-informed readers could not possibly be fully aware of the overview presented by Buck of all the multifarious activities taking place in the Bahá’í world community. … Buck’s treatment of the material is throughout well-researched, and rich in the detail that an alert reader expects. In sum, despite its unpretentious title, this book is more than the Basics of the Bahá’í Faith. It not only covers well the religion’s early history, three central holy figures, spiritual and social teachings and organization, but also it presents a complete contemporary picture of the remarkably diverse economic, social, and spiritual activities that are being planned and executed by the Bahá’í community in all countries of the world.

Religion, 2013

The present review examines five books, one by a non-Baha'i, three by a Baha'i academic, and one by a Baha'i non-academic. The non-Baha'i volume, which is very short, is by a Danish sociologist of religion, Margit Warburg. It forms a solid explanatory text informed by a lengthy experience of the Baha'is both in Denmark and abroad. This review discusses, inter alia, three volumes by a Baha'i sociologist, Peter Smith. While the three titles are very different books, taken together they form an intelligent presentation of the religion from the perspective of a thoughtful insider. Finally, the article looks at a completely different sort of book, an intelligent portrayal of Baha'ism from its spiritual and moral perspectives by Moojan Momen. This last brings readers closest to typical fare for believers and new converts. KEY WORDS Baha'i; Baha'ism; Baha'i faith; Babism; religious minority; new religious movement; world religion; Baha' Allah; Baha'u'llah; Bab; 'Abd al-Baha'; 'Abdu'l-Baha; Shoghi Effendi; Iran; sociology of religion Five introductions to the Baha'i faith

Bahá’í Faith: The Basics, 2021

Released by publisher online: eBook Preview PDF (front matter, Chapter 1, and References), https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780429023088 Baha’i Faith: The Basics By: Christopher Buck Edition: 1st Edition First Published: 2021 eBook Published: 27 November 2020 Pub. location: London Imprint: Routledge DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429023088 Pages: 262 pages eBook: ISBN9780429023088 Subjects: Humanities Bahá’í Faith: The Basics provides a thorough and accessible introduction to a fascinating, independent world religion. Examining its historical development, current “community-building” efforts and the social contributions of the Bahá’í Faith in the world today, this introduction covers: • Beliefs: Bahá’í spiritual teachings. • Principles: Bahá’í social teachings. • History: Bahá’u’lláh and his covenant. • Scripture: Bahá’í sacred texts and inspired guidance. • Institutions: The Bahá’í Administrative Order. • Building community: What Bahá’ís do. • Social action: Bahá’í social and economic development projects. • Public discourse: The Bahá’í International Community. • Vision: Foundations for a future golden age. With features including a glossary of terms, and references to the Bahá’í writings throughout, this is the ideal text for students and interested readers wanting to familiarize themselves with the Bahá’í Faith. Reviews "This excellent, beautifully organized introduction provides an accurate and unusually rich entré into a relatively new and still somehow frequently misunderstood religion. The author, Christopher Buck, is a leading scholar of the Baha'i religion. His book is richly enhanced with quotations from official translations of the Baha'i sacred writings, insights into the formation of distinctive Baha'i institutions and rare glimpses of key moments in Baha'i intellectual history from an introduction to the influential African-American Baha'i philosopher, Alain Locke (d. 1954) known as 'the father of the Harlem Renaissance', to a discussion of the more recent development of the Ruhi Institute process. This introduction goes beyond existing textbooks in both scope and detail. It will be warmly welcomed by researchers and students of the Baha'i Faith." Todd Lawson, University of Toronto, Canada Christopher Buck is an independent scholar and former professor at Michigan State University, USA; Quincy University, USA; Millikin University, USA; and Carleton University, Canada.

Baha’i Studies Review, 1997

Christopher Buck, Reviews of Peter Smith, A Short History of the Baha’i Faith; and Moojan Momen, A Short Introduction to the Baha’i Faith. Baha’i Studies Review 7 (1997): 95–99. ABSTRACT Book Review – Introductory books on the Bahá’í Faith A Short History of the Bahá’í Faith Author: Peter Smith Publisher: Oneworld, Oxford, 1996, 168 pages A Short Introduction to the Bahá’í Faith Author: Moojan Momen Publisher: Oneworld, Oxford, 1997, 150 pages Reviewer: Christopher Buck If the academic study of religion could be thought of as a graph, the x-axis might represent the history of religions, while the y-axis would represent the phenomenology of religion. The former is diachronic (historical), the latter synchronic (systemic, structural). This is one way of appreciating how usefully the two volumes by Peter Smith and Moojan Momen complement each other. . . . After treating the Shí’í and Shaykhí background of the Bábí movement, Smith distinguishes the paradigm-shift that took place in the latter part of the Báb’s ministry: “Although still employing Shí’í and particularly Shaykhi terminology and concepts, these later writings indicate that, as well as superseding Islamic law, the Báb was also now presenting a new religious framework distinct from that of Islam. There was a clear contrast with his earlier writings, which were written within an Islamic paradigm” (37). What, then, represents the paradigm-shift from Bábism to the Bahá’í Faith? Smith writes: “The Bahá’í concept of the future millennium has also become linked with a specific programme of social reform and transformation. This does not have any real precedent in the Bábí movement” (156). One distinctive dynamic evident in the Bahá’í paradigm has not received sufficient attention: that Bahá’u’lláh made peace, equality and unity sacred. In incorporating theretofore secular concerns, from disarmament to gender equality, Bahá’u’lláh generated a process that may be characterized as “sacralizing the secular.” Turning now to A Short Introduction to the Bahá’í Faith, . . . [w]ithout anachronism, retrojection, or romanticization, Momen’s approach is the inverse of Smith’s and this is another aspect of their complementarity. Steering clear of any historicism or similar reductionism, the author also distances Bahá’í teachings from any alleged eclecticism or syncretism. Allowing that “all religions, including the Bahá’í Faith, will, to some extent, contain echoes of each other,” Momen states his intent: “I hope to show that the Bahá’í Faith also has its own teachings that are new and innovative” (3). Does the author deliver on this promise? Momen’s elaboration of Bahá’í teachings is systematic, clear, and, in all major respects, comprehensive. The author finally does identify the distinctiveness of the Bahá’í paradigm towards the end of the book: “The key difference between the Bahá’í Faith and the main established religions of the world is the fact that its vision was created within the last hundred years, and so has an immediacy and relevance that visions that had their origins a thousand years ago or more lack. . . . The Bahá’í Faith presents a unique integrated vision of the present state of the world and its future direction. This vision embraces politics, economics, environmental considerations, social issues, social administration, community development, ethical issues and spirituality” (139). To the credit of these two academics, the drawbridge of the ivory tower has been lowered across the moat of disciplinary obfuscation above the murky and forbidding currents of academic discourse, over which the scholar must walk in order to speak to an audience for whom matters of the head are also matters of the heart.

THE "BAHA'I FAITH": A "WORLD RELIGION"? — OR A "NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT"? A Case of Changing Classifications The Publication: Christopher Buck, “Baha’i: History, Beliefs, Practices” and “Baha’i: Theological Exchanges, Current Issues.” Handbook of Religion: A Christian Engagement with Traditions, Teachings, and Practices. Edited by Terry C. Muck, Harold A. Netland, and Gerald R. McDermott. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2014. Pp. 714–719; 720–724. The Controversy: As originally planned, the Baha'i Faith was supposed to be featured as the last of the "world religions" in “Part 2: World Religions,” as chapters 26 through 29. I was asked by the lead editor, Terry C. Muck, to contribute these four chapters, which I did. The working relationship between editor and author was collegial and productive. Shortly before this multi-author volume went to press, however, there was in-house opposition (i.e. in the "Baker Academic" publishing house, a Christian press) to including the Baha'i Faith as a "world religion." The excuse given was that the Baha'i Faith did not fit the following definition of a "world religion": "Today we commonly call the religions that emerged from the Axial Age world religions. World religions have three distinguishing characteristics. They are old, large, and cross-cultural.” (p. 44) So the chapters on the Baha’i Faith (which the editors insisted on referring to as simply "Baha'i") were reduced from four essays to two, and were shortened in length as well. Instead of appearing in the “World Religions” section as first intended, the two published essays were placed as the final two essays in “Part 4: New Religious Movements.” The two chapters uploaded here were created to correspond as faithfully as possible to the published version, by reproducing text, format, and pagination. This is seen as preferable to posting scans of the two essays themselves, as the author does not have an eBook version of this multi-author volume. Research Interests: Religion, New Religious Movements, Comparative Religion, History, Sociology, and 14 more https://www.academia.edu/36192935/_Baha_i_History_Beliefs_Practices_and_Baha_i_Theological_Exchanges_Current_Issues_2014

História: Questões & Debates, vol. 43, p. 13-32, 2005

It is now well accepted by social scientists that human beings create reality socially and communally. The culture or world-view that is created is particularly stable in that it is taken for granted and is usually not therefore questioned. This paper looks at the attempts being made by the Bahá’í community throughout the world to change this socially created reality. In particular, this paper looks at the hierarchically organized social structure that has been the norm for human beings ever since we started to live in cities. The Bahá’í teachings criticize this norm, hold it to be responsible for the competitiveness and aggression that currently afflicts the world with such ills as warfare (through national competitiveness), environmental degradation (through business competitiveness) and the social elite’s domination over and aggression towards women, the lower social classes and ethnic minorities. The Bahá’í teachings speak of the need to see the world in a different way: as one country with all human beings as the citizens of that country and equally valuable components of it. But it is above all in the structure and functioning of the Bahá’í community that this change of reality is slowly being put into effect. Power and authority are taken away from individuals in the Bahá’í community structure. Authority is vested in institutions that are elected without electioneering or nomination of candidates. Decisions are taken on the basis of a participative consultation process. Power is decentralized as much as is practical and ultimately resides in the individual Bahá’í, since the institutions have no power to coerce the cooperation of Bahá’ís in their plans. The aim of the current plans that are being effected in the Bahá’í community is to increase human resources within the community by motivating every individual Bahá’í to take a full part in the processes of consultative study of the scriptures, devotional meetings and children’s classes, thus changing the individual Bahá’ís from the passivity of being a member of a congregation to active participation in the community. It is only through such mobilization of the individual that power can effectively be devolved down to that level.

NOTE: 2017 is 200 th anniversary of the birth of Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i Faith, the newest revealed world religion in the tradition of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Zoroastrian religions. It offers new perspectives on religion and its relevance to our interconnected world. The first three chapters of the book " Unity of Faith and Reason in Action: A journey of Discovery " are placed on ACADEMIA for exploration by the readers. Chapter One: Towards an Integrative Understanding of Religion Chapter Two: The nature and Purpose of Religion (already placed on ACADEMIA)

Learning Practice in the Bahá'í Faith