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Newsletter of the Association for Bahá'í Studies (English-Speaking Europe) Issue 30 - Spring, 2000CE |
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 Recent Publications
Some recent books from Kalimat Press: Without Syllable Or Sound: The Bahá’í Faith and the World's Sacred Scriptures, by Michael Sours $19.95. Take a new look at the sacred books of the world from a Bahá’í perspective! This book reaffirms the unity of all religions. Exploring the Holy Books of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, the author demonstrates how all scripture can usher the reader into the presence of God.
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Tahirih The Pure Millennium Edition by Martha Root $21.95. This is still the only full biography of Tahirih, Qurratu'l-'Ayn, the heroine of the Báb's religion. The heroic life of this Letter of the Living, poetess, and martyr is told by Martha Root--the immortal Bahá’í teacher.
Also included are an essay by Marzieh Gail on Martha and Tahirih, and a new preface by Amin Banani that demonstrates how both are women of our time.
The Great Oneness Under The Sky The Proceedings of the International Symposium on Religious Culture and Ethics, Beijing, China, 1998 In English and Chinese $39.95. Forty-four scholarly papers discuss the ethical teachings of the world's great religions–including two papers on the Bahá’í Faith.
Solitude And Solidarity The Artist and the Bahá’í Community $14.95. This profound and engaging little book explores the relationship between art and spirituality. With humour and thoughtful reflection, the author challenges us to think in new ways about our inner life and community struggles.
Report from the Oxford Conference Conference on Foundational Issues in Bahá’í Studies Merton College, Oxford, 31st March-2nd April 2000
A taskforce of the Oxford Bahá’í Society invited a group of Bahá’ís interested in Bahá’í studies, either as researchers or administrators, to a two-day conference. Approximately sixty Bahá’í scholars from Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America, as well as representatives of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom and of the Auxiliary Board for Protection, attended the conference on Foundational issues in Bahá’í Studies at Merton College, Oxford over the weekend of 31st March to 2nd April 2000. The conference addressed a number of major issues in Bahá’í scholarship, including methods of Bahá’í scholarship and Bahá’í studies, Bahá’í apologetics, the role of the Bahá’í scholar and the relationship of Bahá’í scholars to the institutions and the Bahá’í community in general, and the future of Bahá’í studies. One notable feature of the conference was a guest lecture by Professor John Hick, a Christian and one of the most eminent academics in religious studies. Professor Hick, who opened his remarks by stating that he finds he has much in common with the Bahá’í concept of the relationship between religions and the divine reality, offered some interesting thoughts and reflections on the nature of religious scholarship and made some suggestions for directions in Bahá’í scholarship. He concluded that Bahá’í scholars should not turn their backs on modern academic methods, that they should dialogue with scholars in other faiths and that they should encourage a high level of philosophical discourse within the Bahá’í community. 
Presentations were also made by Dr William Collins, Professor John Hatcher, Dr Graham Hassall, Prof Will C. van den Hoonard, Dr Stephen Lambden, Dr Todd Lawson, Dr Franklin Lewis, Dr Susan Maneck, Dr Moojan Momen, Dr Wendi Momen, Professor Amin Banani Dr Udo Schaefer, Professor Peter Smith, and Dr Robert Stockman. The presentations set off a great deal of lively discussion on a number of important issues including the importance given to scholarship by the Central Figures of the Faith and the Universal House of Justice, the challenges facing Bahá’í scholars in the face of sometimes unhelpful attitudes by parts of the Bahá’í community (often based on ignorance of the Bahá’í teachings and of the work done by scholars), the role of Bahá’í scholars in serving the Cause by providing materials for the propagation and protection of the Faith, for deepening and to help the Bahá’ís understand their faith from a range of perspectives, and the vital work of Bahá’í scholars in helping to underpin and support the external affairs work, in assisting dialogue with other faiths, and in building good relationships with the rest of the academic world. The relationship between Bahá’í scholars and the institutions was seen to be an evolving one, rooted firmly in the Covenant and in the understanding that the scholars, like all believers, must be obedient to the institutions. A number of people commented on the serious commitment by the Universal House of Justice and some National Spiritual Assemblies of human and financial resources to Bahá’í scholarship. Some interesting and exciting prospects were put forward for the development of Bahá’í scholarship at professional and community levels. The new global technologies of knowledge production and dissemination will play a central role in increasing the possibilities for greater collaboration between scholars and in ensuring that Bahá’í scholarly work is widely published and read. It will be ever more important for scholars correlate the Bahá’í teachings to issues of major concern (particularly in service to the work of external affairs); much has been achieved in the past twenty years, but an enormous amount remains to be done. Bahá’í scholarship will change greatly with the increasing involvement of non-Bahá’í scholars and centres of study, such as Professor Sharon at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Bahá’í scholars acknowledge that they must help the wider Bahá’í community understand the importance of scholarship and the work of scholars. Scholarship is not an esoteric activity to be condemned as beginning and ending in words but is, rather, a normal part of the life of any healthy community. Participants expressed the hope that further such conferences could take place in the next two or three years, and the organizers were warmly and deservedly congratulated on having put together such a high quality conference. The presentations and discussions were generally measured and mature. Difficult issues were not avoided, but participants clearly understood that Bahá’í scholarship is evolving as the Faith unfolds and that this important activity takes its place alongside everything else that Bahá’ís do within the Covenant. One of the scholars reminded participants of the appeal by the late Hand of the Cause Hassan Balyuzi to Bahá’í scholars to maintain their links with and to function as full members of the Bahá’í community. Barney Leith
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Report on the 9th Conference of BIPOLIG The theme of this 9th BIPOLIG (the Bahá’í International Politics and Law Special Interest Group of the ABS-ESE) conference was ‘A bridge between times - The Lesser Peace and into the 21st Century’. The conference aimed to link some leading thinking in regard to peace at this time in world history with practical contributions by the Bahá’í Community through external affairs efforts. The conference was held at the UK Bahá’í National Office on Saturday 27 May 2000. There were two keynote speakers, Dr. Charles Lerche, Professor of International Relations, and Mr. Barney Leith, Secretary-General, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the UK. There were also two shorter presentations by graduate students Rod Rostan and Dan Povey. Charles Lerche’s presentation, ‘Bahá’í Approaches to Peace and Conflict Studies’, was a theoretical assessment of contributions that Bahá’í principles could make to Peace and Conflict Studies – a subsection of academic discipline of International Relations. Charles began his presentation by outlining some of the basic ideas behind Peace and Conflict Studies, drawing on the work of Johan Galtung and other leading thinkers in the field. He then examined Bahá’í contributions that both mirrored and innovated on current thinking in this field. Barney Leigh spoke on the Lesser Peace and External Affairs, with special emphasis on the activities of the UK Bahá’í Community. This presentation was both informative and encouraging, as it outlined some of the practical actions that the UK Bahá’í Community had taken over the past four years in response to the Universal House of Justice’s call to action in this arena. It emerged that some recent initiatives in the UK were truly pioneering and historic events for the Bahá’í world. |
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The Associate is the newsletter of the Submissions for Associate should be sent to: Dr Iarfhlaith Watson by e-mail: iwatson@ucd.ie, or by post (preferably on disk) to: 494 Woodpark, Ballinteer, Dublin 16, Ireland
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