Videos by Christopher Buck
• “Never Again”: Kevin Gover’s Historic Apology for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (September 8, 2... more • “Never Again”: Kevin Gover’s Historic Apology for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (September 8, 2000): Video of historic speech, “Never Again,” by Kevin Gover, Head of Bureau of Indian Affairs (“BIA”), on the occasion of the BIA’s 175th anniversary (September 8, 2000). Obtained by special request (by Christopher Buck) from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Telecommunications Service Office (Requisition DI-4-00479, 12-16-2003). “Analog to digital conversion” (from VHS) by Harkirat Chawla (one of my former students), Michigan State University. (Credits appear at end of video.)
• For an academic journal article on this historic, official apology, see: Christopher Buck, “‘Never Again’: Kevin Gover’s Apology for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.” Wicazo Sa Review: A Journal of Native American Studies 21.1 (2006): 97–126, https://www.academia.edu/20339709/_Never_Again_Kevin_Gover_s_Apology_for_the_Bureau_of_Indian_Affairs_.
• View video online: https://vimeo.com/404428918 (posted on Vimeo 3 views
On Sunday, October 17, 2021 (10:00–10:45 a.m. EST)—as part of the online program of the 2021 Parl... more On Sunday, October 17, 2021 (10:00–10:45 a.m. EST)—as part of the online program of the 2021 Parliament of the World’s Religions—the Patricia Locke Foundation presented a pre-recorded video entitled, “Encouraging Grassroots Indigenous Land & Spiritual Acknowledgements” (44:12), featuring six Indigenous Baha’is and two non-Indigenous “allies,” in order of their appearances: (1) Ceylan İşgör-Locke, Ph.D. (Turkish/Türkiye, non-Indigenous “ally”); (2) Nanabah Khan Foguth (Diné Tribe, Navajo Nation, Northern Arizona); (3) Marylou Miller (Tlingit, of the lineage of Chief George Kyan of Ketchikan, Alaska, Eagle Moiety, Brown Bear clan from Tongass Village); (4) Kevin Locke (Tȟokéya Inážiŋ – “The First to Arise” – Lakota (Hunkpapa band) and Anishinaabe); (5) Christopher Buck, Ph.D. (non-Indigenous “ally”); (6) Yuxgitsiy (“Raven”) George Holly, Jr. (Deg Xit’an); (7) Lee Brown, Ph.D. (Cherokee, Wolf Clan); and (8) Jordan Bighorn (Lakota, Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux). 56 views
Event: Alain Locke Interment, Congressional Cemetery, Washington DC, September 13, 2014. Hosted b... more Event: Alain Locke Interment, Congressional Cemetery, Washington DC, September 13, 2014. Hosted by the American Association of Rhodes Scholars. This event was primarily organized by George Keys, Esquire (eighth African American Rhodes Scholar). Featured in this short clip is author, Christopher Buck, placing soil over Alain Locke’s urn at the Congressional Cemetery interment, September 13, 2014. (Video by Takur Buck.)
See "Laying a Great Man to Rest—the Final Interment of Alain Locke" | Christopher Buck | Oct 7, 2014, https://bahaiteachings.org/laying-a-great-man-to-rest-final-interment-of-alain-locke/. Also: Sing the Ballad of Alain Locke—Burying the Black Plato | Christopher Buck | Oct 10, 2014, https://bahaiteachings.org/sing-the-ballad-of-alain-locke-burying-the-black-plato/. See also the academic articles I've published on Alain Locke, posted here: https://psu-us.academia.edu/ChristopherBuck/African-American-Studies. 7 views
“Bahá’í Contributions to Interfaith Relations.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 54.2 (2019): 260–27... more “Bahá’í Contributions to Interfaith Relations.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 54.2 (2019): 260–277. PRECIS: The Bahá’í Faith “claims not to destroy or belittle previous Revelations, but to connect, unify, and fulfill them,” according to Shoghi Effendi (Bahá’í “Guardian,” 1921–57). Seena Fazel proposed “three bridges that can link the Bahá’í community to other religions in dialogue”: “ethical,” “intellectual,” and “mystical-spiritual.” The Universal House of Justice (elected international Bahá’í council) addressed its public “Letter to the World’s Religious Leaders” (April, 2002) to promote consensus “that God is one and that ... religion is likewise one.” Shoghi Effendi’s declaration that the Bahá’í Faith “proclaims all established religions to be divine in origin, identical in their aims, complementary in their functions, continuous in their purpose, indispensable in their value to mankind” potentially can promote ideal interfaith relations through reciprocal recognition and respect. 182 views
Books by Christopher Buck
Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America’s World Role, 2009
Buck, Christopher. Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America’... more Buck, Christopher. Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America’s World Role. Santa Barbara, CA/Westport, CT: ABC-CLIO/Praeger, 2009 (now Bloomsbury Publishing). Hardbound edition. ISBN: 978-0-313-35959-0. e-ISBN: 978-0-313-35960-6. 325 pp. (Release date: April 30, 2009.)
Description
At the heart of American studies is the idea of America itself. Here, Buck looks at the religious significance of America by examining those religions that have attached some kind of spiritual meaning to America. The author explores how American Protestantism—and nine minority faiths—have projected America into the mainstream of world history by defining—and by redefining—America’s world role. Surveying the religious myths and visions of America of ten religions, Buck shows how minority faiths have redefined America’s sense of national purpose. This book invites serious reflection on what it means to be an American, particularly from a religious perspective.
Religious myths of America are thought-orienting narratives that serve as vehicles of spiritual and social truths about the United States itself. Religious visions of America are action-oriented agendas that articulate the goals to which America should aspire and the role it should play in the community of nations. Buck examines the distinctive perspectives held by ten religious traditions that inform and expand on the notion of America, and its place in the world. He covers Native American, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Christian Identity, Black Muslim, Islamic, Buddhist, and Baha’i beliefs and invites serious reflection on what it means to be an American, particularly from a religious perspective.
Libraries Worldwide: Total (print & eBook editions): 1,050 Libraries (in 3 editions). [WorldCat, June 17, 2023.] “Held by Big Ten Academic Alliance.” See http://www.amazon.com/Religious-Myths-Visions-America-Redefined/dp/0313359598. (Open Access: “Access free” on Internet Archive.)
Reviews
• Journal of American History 98.1 (June 2011): 279–280. Review by Richard Kyle (Tabor College):
“Religious Myths and Visions of America has many strengths. The author has defended his thesis with solid research. He has also made an original contribution to American studies.”
• Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 15.3 (February 2012): 139–141. Review by Irén E. Annus (University of Szeged, Hungary): “This volume may be of interest to readers involved not only in Religious Studies, but also in Political Science, History, Intellectual History, American Studies, and Cultural Studies. … In the course of the detailed and well-documented analysis of individual religions, Buck reveals a highly elaborate and in-depth picture of the various beliefs, which is indeed impressive. … He argues that the original myth and vision of America as a nation was captured by the Protestant notion of manifest destiny. This has been challenged by the other faiths … that have transformed the idea of manifest destiny into America’s common destiny. … The book is overall a fresh and stimulating cultural reading of some of America’s religions and the complex ways in which their followers make sense of and act in the world.” [Electronic Database (full text available): ATLA Religion Database; JSTOR.]
• Multicultural Review 18.4 (Winter 2009): 66. Review by Vladimir F. Wertsman (New York Public Library):
“This interesting, thoroughly researched scholarly study examines how ten minor religions interpreted America’s reality (“nation and notion”) and generated numerous religious myths and visions of America. … [t]his volume is certainly a welcome addition to the topic of racial, cultural, and ethnic studies. … Recommended for comparative ethnic and religion collections.”
Bahá’í Faith: The Basics, 2021
Released by publisher online:
eBook Preview PDF (front matter, Chapter 1, and References),
http... more 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.
Bahá’í Faith: The Basics, 2021
PowerPoint on new book, Bahá’í Faith: The Basics (Routledge, 2021), for invited Zoom presentation... more PowerPoint on new book, Bahá’í Faith: The Basics (Routledge, 2021), for invited Zoom presentation, Sunday, June 27, 2021, on “Baha’i Explorations” program hosted by the Baha’is of Clearwater, FL, https://clearwaterbahais.org/blog/bahai-explorations.html. (Zoom video to be posted online soon.)
SLIDE #37:
Dynamic Bahá’í Principles
— Expressed as Actions —
1. Search for truth.
2. See humankind as one.
3. See religion as one.
4. Religions should unify.
5. Religion respects science.
6. Women and men are equal.
7. Abolish every prejudice.
8. Promote world peace.
9. Provide education for all.
10. Economic problems require spiritual solutions.
11. The Universal House of Justice is unique.
12. The special Bahá’í “Covenant” protects Bahá’í unity.
13. Adopt a universal auxiliary language.
14. Work is worship.
15. The Bahá’í Faith offers other “new principles.”
Source: Buck, Bahá’í Faith: The Basics (2021), Chap. 3.
PowerPoint for live Zoom book launch of *Bahá’í Faith: The Basics* (Routledge, 2020), hosted by t... more PowerPoint for live Zoom book launch of *Bahá’í Faith: The Basics* (Routledge, 2020), hosted by the Desert Rose Bahá’í Institute, on February 26, 2021 at 8:00 PM EST. See: https://drbi.org/event/book-launch-dr-christopher-buck-bahai-faith-the-basics-turning-faith-into-action/.
Endorsement by Todd Lawson, Professor Emeritus of Islamic Thought, University of Toronto, Canada:
“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 Bahá’í religion. His book is richly enhanced with quotations from official translations of the Bahá’í sacred writings, insights into the formation of distinctive Bahá’í institutions and rare glimpses of key moments in Bahá’í intellectual history from an introduction to the influential African American Bahá’í 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 Bahá’í Faith.”
Book review by Jack McLean, Independent Scholar, Ottawa, Canada:
“One outstanding feature of this book … 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 presents a complete contemporary picture of the remarkably diverse economic, social, and spiritual activities …by the Bahá’í community in all countries of the world.”
See full review here: http://jack-mclean.com/reviews/review-of-bahai-faith-basics/
WINDS OF CHANGE
The Challenge of Modernity in the Middle East and North Africa
Edited by Cyrus R... more WINDS OF CHANGE
The Challenge of Modernity in the Middle East and North Africa
Edited by Cyrus Rohani and Behrooz Sabet,
ADVANCE INFORMATION
978-0-86356-388-1
Release date: November 7, 2019
(Advance publication: July 2019)
Politics/Sociology/Middle East/Islam
PB Royal 352 pp £25
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface by Cyrus Rohani, Behrooz Sabet
Foreword by Christopher Buck (pp. iii–viii)
1. Toward a discursive framework of change, Behrooz Sabet and
Cyrus Rohani
2. Culture for openness and coexistence: How can we create it?
Abdul Hamid Al-Ansari
3. Guiding principles of leadership for the 21st Century: An essay on leadership, Cyrus Rohani
4. Confronting Violence through Policies of Dialogue: Towards
establishing a ‘citizenship that incorporates religious diversity’ in
post-ISIS Era, Saad Salloum
5. Nonviolence and the challenges in the Middle East, Ramin
Jahanbegloo
6. Religion of peace: Islamic principles of good governance,
Christopher Buck (pp. 87–111)
7. Traditionalist and reformist discourses pertaining to Islamic
revival, Armin Eschraghi
8. Defining Islamic social principles: a preamble, Christopher Buck (pp. 125–133)
9. Human rights in the Middle East, Nazila Ghanea
10. Reason in Islam: Taking back their own, Ian Kluge
11. “Be just”: Quranic ethics as benchmarks for Islamic law,
Christopher Buck (pp. 168–181)
12. Education in the Middle East, Behrooz Sabet
13. Globalization and the Middle East: Reflections on a conceptual
reorientation, Shahrzad Sabet
14. Environment and sustainability in the Middle East, Arthur Lyon
Dahl
15. Connecting electronically to the public
About the Contributors
Behrooz Sabet holds a doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo. For more than twenty years, Dr Sabet has been intellectually engaged in research and writing on the intersection of religion, science and culture in the Middle East. He has been a university professor, academic dean and consultant on aspects of education and culture in the Middle East, and has translated and written extensively on religious, ethical, educational, philosophical and social themes. Dr Sabet is a renowned scholar of religion, contemporary political thought and movements in Iran, and the conceptual and historical origins of modernity and its impact on Islam and Middle Eastern societies
Cyrus Rohani is an advisor on social and economic development, and a management and education consultant. He studied at the American University of Beirut and later received an MBA from Sacred Heart University, Connecticut, USA. He worked with Shell-Qatar and then with Qatar Petroleum (oil and gas).
https://saqibooks.com/?post_type=product&p=10902
ARABIC EDITION
(Slightly different organization and content.)
Winds of Change in the Middle East and North Africa: Crisis, Catharsis, and Renewal, ed. Behrooz Sabet and Gamal H. M. Hassan. Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan (رياح التغيير: في الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا). Beirut: Dar al-Saqi, 2018. Pp. 17–24. (Release date: November 1, 2018.) ISBN: 9786140320994.
Contributions by the present writer:
Christopher Buck, “Introduction.” Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan. Pp. 17–24.
Idem, “Chapter 5: Religion of Peace: Islamic Principles of Good Governance.” Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan. Pp. 133–166.
Idem, “Chapter 6: Defining Islamic Social Principles: A Preamble.” Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan. Pp. 167–180.
Idem, “Chapter 7: ‘Be Just’: Quranic Ethics as Benchmarks for Islamic Law.” Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan. Pp. 181–198.
THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH AND AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY: Creating Racial and Religious Diversity, 2019
THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH AND AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY:
Creating Racial and Religious Diversity
PREVI... more THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH AND AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY:
Creating Racial and Religious Diversity
PREVIEW
This downloadable PDF features Google Books’s “Preview” of pp. 1–41 (as well as front matter and back matter).
Edited by Loni Bramson. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books, 2019. (Release date: December 3, 2018.) Cloth ISBN: 978-1-4985-7002-2. Paper ISBN: 978-1-4985-7004-6 (delayed). Elec. ISBN: 978-1-4985-7003-9.
1. The Bahá’í “Pupil of the Eye” Metaphor: Promoting Ideal Race Relations in Jim Crow America. [Pp. 1–41.]
• by Christopher Buck
3. Alain Locke on Race, Religion, and the Bahá’í Faith. [Pp. 91–116.]
• by Christopher Buck [Pp. 91–116.]
ORDER INFORMATION:
Lexington Books
Book Details
Pages: 296 • Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4985-7002-2 • Hardback • December 2018 • $95.00 • (£65.00):
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498570022
978-1-4985-7004-6 • Paperback • September 2021 • $39.99 • (£31.00):
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498570046
978-1-4985-7003-9 • eBook • December 2018 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
https://rowman.com/ISBN/97814985-70039
___________________
THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH AND AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY:
Creating Racial and Religious Diversity
Released December 3, 2018
Edited by Loni Bramson;
Introduction by Loni Bramson;
Contributions by:
• Christopher Buck
• Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis
• Louis Venters
• Mike McMullen
• June Manning Thomas
• Loni Bramson
This book examines the intersection of African American history with that of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States. Since the turn of the twentieth century, Bahá’ís in America have actively worked to establish interracial harmony within its own ranks and to contribute to social justice in the wider community, becoming in the process one of the country’s most diverse religious bodies. Spanning from the start of the twentieth century to the early twenty-first, the essays in this volume examine aspects of the phenomenon of this religion confronting America’s original sin of racism and the significant roles African Americans came to play in the development of the Bahá’í Faith’s culture, identity, administrative structures, and aspirations.
Book Details
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction. [Pp. ix–xxv.]
• by Loni Bramson
1. The Bahá’í “Pupil of the Eye” Metaphor: Promoting Ideal Race Relations in Jim Crow America. [Pp. 1–41.]
• by Christopher Buck
2. “The Most Vital and Challenging Issue”: The Bahá’í Faith’s Efforts to Improve Race Relations, 1922 to 1936. [Pp. 43–89.]
• by Loni Bramson
3. Alain Locke on Race, Religion, and the Bahá’í Faith. [Pp. 91–116.]
• by Christopher Buck [Pp. 91–116.]
4. The Most Challenging Issue Revisited: African American Bahá’í Women and the Advancement of Race and Gender Equality, 1899–1943. [Pp. 117–141.]
• by Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis
5. Hand in Hand: Race, Identity, and Community Development among South Carolina’s Bahá’ís, 1973–1979. [Pp. 143–177.]
• by Louis Venters
6. Race Unity Efforts among American Bahá’ís: Institutionalized Tools and Empirical Evidence. [Pp. 179–224.]
• by Mike McMullen
7. Race, Place, and Clusters: Current Vision and Possible Strategies. [Pp. 225–253.]
• by June Manning Thomas
Conclusion. [Pp. 255–258.]
• by Multiple Authors of the Chapters in This Book
About the Contributors
Lexington Books
Pages: 296 • Trim: 6 1/4 x 9
978-1-4985-7002-2 • Hardback • December 2018 • $95.00 • (£65.00)
978-1-4985-7003-9 • eBook • December 2018 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
Subjects: Religion / Baha'i, Religion / General, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies
About the Contributors
CHRISTOPHER BUCK, PhD (University of Toronto), JD (Cooley Law School), is an independent scholar, Pittsburgh attorney, and online faculty member at the Wilmette Institute. He previously taught at Michigan State University, Central Michigan University, Quincy University, Millikin University, and Carleton University. Dr. Buck publishes broadly in Bahá’í studies, American studies, African American studies, Native American studies, Islamic studies, religious studies, Syriac Studies, and legal studies (constitutional law). His books include: Baha’i Faith: A Quick Reference; God and Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America; Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy; Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Bahá’í Faith; Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i Íqán; Religious Celebrations (co-author); and Generation Y Speaks Out: A Policy Guide (coeditor).
LONI BRAMSON’s doctorate is in Contemporary History and History of Religion from the Université Catholique de Louvain. She has taught at universities in Africa, Europe, and the United States. Currently she is an associate professor at the American Public University System. She teaches courses in modern United States and European history, history of religion, women’s history, African American history, and American Indian history. Her publications include chapters in books, articles, and encyclopedia entries on the Bahá’í Faith, and a human rights monograph. She is an editor for the Journal of International Women’s Studies.
GWENDOLYN ETTER-LEWIS is Professor of English, black world studies, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She earned her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Etter-Lewis teaches a variety of interdisciplinary courses. Most recently she taught a course on black British writers at the Miami University John E. Dolibois European Center in Luxembourg, which included a five-day study tour in London. In 2007, she founded a college readiness program (Project REACH, now known as Dream Keepers) for underrepresented high school students in the greater Cincinnati area. The program was awarded an internal grant ($150,000) in 2015 and has become a university practicum offered each semester. Dr. Etter-Lewis’ interest in women of color and education has taken her to various countries for research: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Lesotho, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya. She is the author of several books and articles including:
• Lights of the Spirit: Historical Portraits of Black Bahá’is in North America. Coedited with Richard Thomas. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 2006.
• Unrelated Kin: Race and Gender in Women’s Personal Narratives. Coedited with Michele Foster. New York: Routledge, 1996.
• My Soul Is My Own: Oral Narratives of African American Women in the Professions. New York: Routledge, 1993.
LOUIS VENTERS, PhD, teaches African and African diaspora history, southern history, and public history at Francis Marion University and is a consultant in the fields of historic preservation and cultural resource management. He is the author or coauthor of several site studies, public history reports, and exhibits, and is a member of the board of directors of Preservation South Carolina and of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission. He is currently working on a sequel to his book, No Jim Crow Church: The Origins of South Carolina’s Bahá’í Community. He blogs on issues related to race, religion, history, and culture at www.louisventers.com.
MIKE MCMULLEN is a professor of Sociology and Cross Cultural Studies at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Houston, Texas. He received his doctorate from Emory University. His first book The Bahá'í: The Religious Construction of a Global Identity. His areas of interest include Bahá’í studies, the sociology of religion, the Middle East, organizational development and change, and conflict resolution and mediation. Recently, he lived for a year in Cairo, Egypt, as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching at the American University in Cairo. He continues to research the American Bahá'í community, and recently published a book entitled The Bahá’ís of America: The Growth and Change of a Religious Movement. He is currently working on a book on the history of conflict resolution in the United States.
JUNE MANNING THOMAS is Mary Frances Berry Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan and specializes in issues related to social equity in city planning and development. Some of her books include Redevelopment and Race: Planning a Finer City in Postwar Detroit (1997, 2013); Planning Progress: Lessons from Shoghi Effendi (1999); and the coedited Mapping Detroit: Evolving Land Use Patterns and Connections (2015). She currently serves on the Regional Baha’i Council of the Midwestern States. Her full biography can be accessed at http://taubmancollege.umi ch.edu/urbanplanning/faculty/directory/june-manning-thomas.
BAHA'I CALENDAR
Sample Article posted by "Facts on File"
Excerpt from 2016 "Facts on File" ebook... more BAHA'I CALENDAR
Sample Article posted by "Facts on File"
Excerpt from 2016 "Facts on File" ebook for high school students:
Baha'i Faith: A Quick Reference
Christopher Buck
Copyright 2016 Facts On File. All rights reserved.
BAHA'I CALENDAR
The Baha’i calendar, like all calendrical systems, charts physical time; yet the Baha’i calendar also inspires spiritual progress by associating time with reminders of human nobility. The new year begins on the vernal equinox (which is astronomically determined and falls on March 19, 20, or 21 on the Gregorian calendar); it consists of 19 months, each month of which is comprised of 19 days. The calendar, called the "Wondrous (Badi) Calendar," invests time with spiritual significance by naming weekdays, days of the month, months, years, and cycles of years after godly perfections that can be translated into goodly virtues. In this way the Baha’i calendar transforms time into opportune moments for reflection on matters of the spirit.
For example, Sunday, March 21, 2010, on the Gregorian calendar may be expressed as follows on the Baha’i calendar: the weekday of Beauty (Jamal, i.e., Sunday), the (first) day Splendor (Baha’) in the (first) month of Splendor (Bahá’) in the year (15th) of Affection (Vidad), in the cycle (19 years) of Unity (Vahid) of the first Grand Cycle (361 years) of All Things (Arabic, Kullu Shay’; Persian, Kull-i Shay’).
In the Baha’i calendar, the names represent far more than simple designations of units of time. They connect to the timeless progress of the soul. The calendar was originally created by the Bab, Baha’u’llah's predecessor and herald, who compared the souls of human beings to mirrors. These mirrors, once burnished and polished by spiritual efforts, are potentially reflections of all divine names and attributes of God that are capable of expression in human existence. To the extent that a person is a bearer of one of the names (i.e., qualities or powers) of God, that individual is empowered to express that quality in human action. (Buck and Melton have called this process "theophoric metamorphosis.") Through the progressive spiritualization of all persons—and, indeed, of all things—the Bab wished to transform all of reality into “mirrors” reflecting the perfections represented by these divine names.
In this unique calendric system, each and every unit of time gives pause for spiritual reflection. This is part of the Bab's comprehensive system of precepts and practices, all calculated to keep the believer in a constant spiritual frame of mind. Each of these dynamic names of God highlights a distinctive quality of sterling character and human nobility; they may not only be invoked, but they may be evoked. At every moment, a person, noting the present time, takes time to reflect on a godly perfection that can be translated into a goodly virtue expressed in thought and deed. By doing so, the mirror of the human heart, or soul, may reflect a ray of the spiritual sun.
The Baha’i Nineteen-Day Feast—when the local Baha’i community meets for worship, consultation, and fellowship—takes place at the beginning of each of the 19 Baha’i months. The Feast begins with devotions, is followed by consultation on community affairs, and ends with food and fellowship. The devotional portion has a spiritualizing effect; passages from the Baha’i Writings and prayers are read. Consultation takes place in a forum similar to a town hall meeting, but conducted with civility and respect. The purpose of consultation is to reach consensus. Consensus is not always possible, but a recommendation may be conveyed to the Local Spiritual Assembly (LSA) by way of a majority vote; even individual suggestions may be passed on to the LSA for consideration. Ideally, the LSA's decisions on prior Feast recommendations should be reported back to the community at a later Feast, both as a courtesy and as evidence of the importance the LSA places upon the consultative process. Finally, the community shares food with the goal of refreshing and further uniting the local community.
Further Information
Christopher Buck and J. Gordon Melton, "Baha’i Calendar and Rhythms of Worship," in Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations, ed. J. Gordon Melton (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2011), Vol. I, pp. 79–86.
Christopher Buck, "Nineteen-Day Feast (Baha’i)," in Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations, ed. J. Gordon Melton (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2011), Vol. 2, pp. 641–645.
Gerald Keil, Time and the Bahá’í Era: A Study of the Badí‘ Calendar (Oxford: George Ronald, 2008).
Edward M. Reingold, and Nachum Dershowitz, "The Bahá’í Calendar," in Calendrical Calculations: The Millennium Edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 223–231.
Nader Saiedi, Gate of the Heart: Understanding the Writings of the Báb (Ottawa, Ont.: Association for Baha’i Studies and Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008).
Entry Author: Buck, Christopher.
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Excerpt from:
Baha'i Faith: A Quick Reference
Christopher Buck
Copyright 2016 Facts On File. All rights reserved.
Summary
One of the world's youngest and fastest-growing religions, the Baha'i Faith's adherents believe there is one infinite God who sent divine messengers—including the founders of all the major world religions—to teach people about God and to help move humanity toward greater truths. Baha'i Faith: A Quick Reference covers all the basic information about the religion in an accessible A–Z format. This useful guide comes complete with full-color photographs, a timeline, and further readings for each entry to aid research.
About the Author(s)
Christopher Buck, Ph.D., is the author of God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America. An independent scholar, attorney, and former university professor, Dr. Buck has published numerous articles, essays, and books in religious studies, Baha'i studies, Islamic studies, African-American studies, and Native American studies.
Table of Contents
Cover
Copyright
Introduction
Entries
‘Abdu’l-Baha
Bab, The
Baha'i Administrative Order
Baha’i calendar
Baha'i community life
Baha'i eschatology
Baha'i ethics
Baha’i houses of worship
Baha'i laws
Baha'i prayer
Baha'i principles of unity
Baha'i Writings
Baha'u'llah
Table of Contents
Cover
Copyright
Introduction
Entries
‘Abdu’l-Baha
Bab, The
Baha'i Administrative Order
Baha’i calendar
Baha'i community life
Baha'i eschatology
Baha'i ethics
Baha’i houses of worship
Baha'i laws
Baha'i prayer
Baha'i principles of unity
Baha'i Writings
Baha'u'llah
Book of Certitude
Declaration of the Bab, Festival of the
God in Baha'i Faith
Hidden Words, The
Naw-Ruz
persecution of Baha’is in contemporary Iran
Ridvan, Festival of
Shoghi Effendi
Shrine of Baha'u'llah
Shrine of the Bab
Twin Birthdays, Festival of the
Universal House of Justice
Support Materials
Timeline
About the Author
God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America, 2015
Christopher Buck, God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America. (Introduction by J. Go... more Christopher Buck, God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America. (Introduction by J. Gordon Melton, Distinguished Professor of American Religious History, Institute for Studies in Religion, Baylor University.) Kingston, NY: Educator’s International Press, 2015. (Hardbound release date: March 27, 2015; Paperback release date: November 10, 2015.) ISBNs: Hard-bound: 9781891928154 | Paperback: 9781891928451.
Note: The publisher, Educators International Press, went out of business in 2019. All rights reverted back to the author, Christopher Buck. Since there is little prospect that this title will ever be republished, I am now releasing this book, in full, to the interested public.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
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
References
About the Author”
Based on a Michigan State University course, “Religious Myths of America” (IAH-211C) for “Integrated Arts and Humanities” (IAH). This course was designed and taught by Christopher Buck, Ph.D., during the 2003–2004 academic year.
Course syllabus:
http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/syllabi/b/buck/Buck-20040309.pdf
Reviews
• “Interview with Christopher Buck, author of God & Apple Pie.” By Troy Mikanovich, Assistant Editor, and Christopher Buck. Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion. (Published online: September 14, 2018.)
• Reading Religion (“A Publication of the American Academy of Religion). Review of God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America by Emily Goshey (PhD candidate, religious studies, Princeton University): “This overview of religions in America and their relationship with America as both “nation and notion” covers tremendous ground. … God and Apple Pie is a veritable encyclopedia of both primary and secondary sources, but with the benefit of a more digestible presentation and a coherent narrative framework. Although the numerous, lengthy block quotes require some extra work from the reader, the overall effect is to empower the reader to see for themselves exactly how people within a given tradition mythologize and theologize America. That is to say, Buck shows as well as tells. … God and Apple Pie offers a valuable contribution to readers looking to understand why religion matters in America and how different American religious groups have seen their relationship with their country. Any reader, no matter how well versed in religious traditions, would learn a great deal by perusing its pages.” (Published online: August 14, 2017.)
• Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 20.4 (May 2017): pp. 130–131. Review by Donald A. Westbrook (UCLA): “Thus, the volume has clear import for both theological studies and religious studies, and is unique in that it attempts to summarize, systematize, and synthesize the visionary and mythical examples it deftly surveys. … On the whole, this revised and expanded volume is impressive for the breadth and depth it accomplishes and will be of value to researchers, teachers, and especially general readers.” DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2017.20.4.130
• Religion: (Published online: October 26, 2016.) Review by Daniel Liechty PhD, DMin, ACSW (Professor of Social Work, Illinois State University): “Fascinating … The chapter on Mormonism … is itself alone worth the price of the book. Other chapters, on Black Muslim and contemporary Islamic views, as well as Buddhist and Bahá’í visions of America … are, to my knowledge, the very best sources available for summarization of this material. … The reading itself is quite accessible. It could easily function not only as an undergraduate textbook, but also as the main reading for any adult education class or discussion group.” DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2016.1244636.
"Reading Religion" published by the American Academy of Religion, 2018
INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR OF GOD & APPLE PIE (9-17-2018)
"Reading Religion" published by the America... more INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR OF GOD & APPLE PIE (9-17-2018)
"Reading Religion" published by the American Academy of Religion
_______________________________________________
Because of the diversity of religious beliefs that are present in the United States, the prospect of a singular religious vision for America and its role on the world stage is difficult to pin down. In God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America, Christopher Buck eschews any simple generalizations and instead chooses to survey eleven distinct religious traditions and the way that they frame the US in their canon and practices. Rather than landing on comfortable, generalized platitudes, Buck’s work offers a glimpse into the different and often conflicting ways that the subject, shadow, and promise of America factors into these different religious traditions. On July 8, 2018, I met with Dr. Buck on Skype to learn more about his work. – Troy Mikanovich, Assistant Editor
TM: Why don’t you start by telling me a little bit about God & Apple Pie? What are you arguing in the book and how did you get there?
CB: God & Apple Pie is based on a course that I designed and taught at Michigan State University in 2003–2004. At the time there wasn’t an argument or a thesis. After I moved to Pennsylvania and I was studying for the bar exam, a senior editor from Praeger sent me an email out of the blue saying, “We saw your syllabus; how would you like to put together a book proposal?” So I had to develop an argument. The two operative hypotheses I have, which are both quite general and I think fairly common-sense are first, “religions remythologize America,” and further, that “religions re-envision America.”
The book is a survey of eleven different religions, selected from among religions that have religious views of America either officially or popularly. In its original publication, the book was titled Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America’s World Role. One of the themes in the book is America’s world role, however that’s defined—or “redefined”—by one of these religious traditions.
TM: In the United States, now as much as ever, some people are interested in having a debate between those who have a particularistic vision of American religion and those who have a pluralistic or inclusive vision of American religion. Was the process of revisiting the first publication of your work in 2009 informed at all by the current religious—or partisan—landscape?
CB: I would say that instead of this debate having informed the writing of God & Apple Pie, the current debate makes it more relevant.
TM: In what ways?
CB: I want to studiously avoid partisan politics, which I see as quite divisive. But on principle, there’s this idea of America’s world role—think of the slogan, “America First”—or, alternatively, “World First”—or some combination of these two catchphrases. President Woodrow Wilson, who was the only US president to have a PhD—a PhD in political science—is often credited by historians for being the first US president to openly define or propose America’s world role. Not that presidents didn’t have an idea of America’s place in world affairs before, but President Woodrow Wilson was arguably the first to articulate this vision of America’s world role so clearly and definitively. But that’s in the secular world. In the religious world, we have this idea of American exceptionalism going all the way back to the origins of America, and the “city upon a hill” idea that Ronald Reagan quoted in three speeches.
TM: He even added “shining”; it was now the “shining city upon a hill.”
CB: Yes—so, is that still the vision of America? And if so, what about America as an exemplar nation, whether religiously or socially? What can America contribute to the world? God & Apple Pie traces the evolution of an increasingly international awareness in the context of America’s world role.
Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations, 2011
Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual... more 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.)
Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America’s World Role, 2009
Christopher Buck, Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America’s... more Christopher Buck, Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America’s World Role. Santa Barbara, CA/Westport, CT: ABC-CLIO/Praeger, 2009. Hardback edition. ISBN: 978-0-313-35959-0. eISBN: 978-0-313-35960-6. (Release date: April 30, 2009.)
Libraries Worldwide: Total (print & ebook editions): 1,209. [WorldCat, September 14, 2018.] See http://www.amazon.com/Religious-Myths-Visions-America-Redefined/dp/0313359598.
Reviews
• Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 15.3 (February 2012): 139–141. Review by Irén E. Annus (University of Szeged, Hungary): “This volume may be of interest to readers involved not only in Religious Studies, but also in Political Science, History, Intellectual History, American Studies, and Cultural Studies. . . . In the course of the detailed and well-documented analysis of individual religions, Buck reveals a highly elaborate and in-depth picture of the various beliefs, which is indeed impressive. . . He argues that the original myth and vision of America as a nation was captured by the Protestant notion of manifest destiny. This has been challenged by the other faiths . . . that have transformed the idea of manifest destiny into America’s common destiny. . . The book is overall a fresh and stimulating cultural reading of some of America’s religions and the complex ways in which their followers make sense of and act in the world.” [Electronic Database (full text available): ATLA Religion Database; JSTOR.]
• Journal of American History 98.1 (June 2011): 279–280. Review by Richard Kyle (Tabor College):
“Religious Myths and Visions of America has many strengths. The author has defended his thesis with solid research. He has also made an original contribution to American studies.”
• Multicultural Review 18.4 (Winter 2009): 66. Review by Vladimir F. Wertsman (New York Public Library):
“This interesting, thoroughly researched scholarly study examines how ten minor religions interpreted America’s reality (“nation and notion”) and generated numerous religious myths and visions of America. … [t]his volume is certainly a welcome addition to the topic of racial, cultural, and ethnic studies. … Recommended for comparative ethnic and religion collections.”
Christopher Buck, Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 2005. Pub date: ... more Christopher Buck, Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 2005. Pub date: July 3, 2005. ISBN-13: 978-1890688387. ISBN-10: 189068838X. L
In print. (Order from Kalimat Press: http://www.kalimat.com/Locke.html.)
REVIEWS
• Derik Smith. World Order 38.3 (2006/2007): 42–48. (Published in 2008.): ”Christopher Buck’s recent book, Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy, is a welcome addition to the literature on early twentieth-century American and African American culture. But, perhaps more important, Buck’s study is a significant contribution to scholarship on the history of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States. … Any future study of Locke must necessarily make its way through Christopher Buck’s Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy. The scholar forcefully proves his thesis that, in Locke’s thinking, philosophy and religious belief operated as synergistic terms. He has shown that the Bahá’í Faith was integral to Locke’s life and ideology. … Yet, after reading Buck’s work, it is difficult to imagine Locke the philosopher rapt in prayer. Of course, this is not a shortcoming of the book. Rather it is an indication that, while he may have wanted to portray a more pious figure, Buck maintains the vow he made in his introduction to Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy “to constrain any grandiose claims on Locke as a Bahá’í.”
• M. Anthony Fitchue. Journal of African American History 92.1 (Winter 2007): 131–133: “But the jewels in this book are unmistakable. … Clearly, Buck has given voice to the men and women who not only put the Baha’i faith first in their lives, but also left key documents, personal letters, notes, and memoranda related to the life of philosopher Alain LeRoy Locke for future researchers to ponder and use for years to come.”
• William P. Collins. Insights (Library of Congress Professional Association Newsletter) 38.1–3 (Jan–Oct 2006): 10–12: “Both of these books [Lights of the Spirit and Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy] go a long way toward correcting the historians’ failure to note the important role played by the Bahá’í Faith and prominent African-American Bahá’ís in the struggle for racial equality in the United States.”
Paradise & Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Baha’i Faith, May 13, 1999
Christopher Buck, Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Baha’i Faith... more Christopher Buck, Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Baha’i Faith. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999. ISBN-10: 0791440613. ISBN-13: 978-0791440612. (Release date: May 13, 1999.)
NOTE
This is the first formal (academic) comparison of the Baha’i Faith and Christianity, notwithstanding a wealth of apologetic literature on this topic.
OPENING PARAGRAPH
Religions enshrine symbols, the stained-glass windows of faith. Sacred symbols present an explorable treasury of religious thought—an information-rich, condensed language of spirituality. Symbols are the prisms of ideals and of other religious concerns. Symbols are susceptible of analysis and are proper objects of study. As symbols encode ideas, they require interpretation to be both understood and meaningfully compared. “We can see that an essential ingredient of the modern study of religion,” writes Ninian Smart, “is symbolic analysis, which tries to throw light on the various themes which can be discovered cross-culturally through the exploration of various worldviews” (1985, 33). Symbolic analysis involves not only the exploration of religious worldviews intrinsically, but comparatively as well. – Paradise & Paradigm, p. 1.
CONCLUSION
Symbols ensoul ideas. In the Abrahamic faiths generally, the most important symbol complex is eschatological imagery, the positive focus of which is Paradise. Visions of the empyreal realm have, historically, had an extraordinary power to inspire. Paradise is iconoplastic. The beatific panorama, the symbolic landscape, the ideals and imagery that inform Paradise in the religious imagination are grounded in root metaphors and are animated by key scenarios reflecting a theology of activity, in a dynamic interplay of belief and behavior, myth and ritual, within the religious grasp of totality.
Paradise allegorizes ideals. These ideals are projected onto heaven. There, in the wish-images of the communal dream, ideals are reified and beatified. In a Bergeresque process of paradisical world building, Heaven functions as the impressionistic blueprint of the ideal faith-community. Paradise imagery is then dislocated from the speculative and refocused on Earth. When once the heart is transformed and society reformed, Paradise is realized. In the intersection of eschatology and ethics, in the interplay of ideas and imagery, and as a function of an organizing principle, an overarching paradigm, Paradise becomes utopia. – Paradise & Paradigm, p. 329.
REVIEWS
• Kathleen McVey. International Journal of Middle East Studies 35.3 (Aug. 2003): 494–496.
Will C. van den Hoonaard. Studies in Religion. Sciences Religieuses 31.3–4 (2002): 501–502.
• Brannon Wheeler. Religious Studies Review 28.3 (July 2002): 293:
“Buck’s theoretically innovative analysis of ‘paradigmatic differences’ in East Syrian (or Nestorian) Christianity and the early Baha’i faith is a fascinating and intellectually challenging book. … In all, a forceful and clearly argued book which should be read by scholars interested in questions of religious symbolism and the comparative method.”
• Andrew Rippin. University of Toronto Quarterly 71.1 (Winter 2001/2002): 170–172.
• William Collins. Baha’i Studies Review 10 (2001/2002): 157–160.
• Edward G. Farrugia, S.J. Orientalia Christiana Periodica 66.2 (2000): 480–483.
• John Renard. Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 34.2 (2000): 212–213.
• Daniel Grolin. H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences (July 2000).
Harold Coward. (Unpublished) (2000).
POST-PUBLICATION SCHOLARSHIP
Paola Orsatti, “Syro-Persian Formulas In Poetic Form In Baptism Liturgy,” Persian Origins – Early Judaeo-Persian and the Emergence of New Persian. Collected Papers of the Symposium, Göttingen 1999. Edited by Ludwig Paul (Iranica Vol. 6, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003), pp. 147–176.
LIBRARIES WORLDWIDE
Total (print & ebook editions): 1,886. [WorldCat, July 11, 2019.] Also available as a Nook Book.
Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Baha’u’llah’s Kitab-i Iqan. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1995
Updated version posted on June 1, 2024.
Posted with permission of author and publisher, Kalimá... more Updated version posted on June 1, 2024.
Posted with permission of author and publisher, Kalimát Press. Thesis topic originally recommended by Todd Lawson. Scanned by Duane Troxel. Proofread by Jonah Winters and Lynn Jaluvka, with additional proofing by Bobbi Lyons. Formatted for the web by Jonah Winters. Corrections by Shahrokh Monjazeb. Critically read, from cover-to-cover, with recommendations, including several emendations, by Sohrab Kourosh. Please support this online re-printing by ordering a copy of the book.
See also the following published, academic reviews of Symbol & Secret:
• Moojan Momen, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series) 7.2 (July 1997): 290–91. “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.”
• Frank Lewis, Baha’i Studies Review 6 (1996): 76–91 [16-page extended review]. “Buck’s analysis of Bahaullah’s [sic: Baha’u’llah’s] appeal to Koran 33:44 promising attainment to the divine Presence on the Day of Resurrection (itself allegorically interpreted by Bahaullah as the advent day of a new prophet), as a counter-argument to the nearby verse (33:40) about the ‘Seal of the Prophets’ is simply brilliant.” … “Symbol and Secret is a ground-breaking study, setting a standard for and describing the agenda of the exegesis of Bahai texts for some time to come.”
• John Hatcher, Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Bulletin 30.1 (July 1996): 70–71. “Buck offers insightful analysis of Bahā’u’llāh’s exegetical technique.”
• Jonah Winters, Iranian Studies 32.1 (Winter 1999): 141–145. “Buck has undertaken a project that is to be commended on many fronts. This study is daring in that it is the first extended analysis of the Islamic context and content of Baha’ullah’s thought and writings. The rigor with which Buck has treated his topics is a model for anyone engaging in textual scholarship: his research is broad, his attention to detail thorough, and his coverage of the topics exhaustive. Finally, many of his conclusions, the light he throws on the Íqán and its content, and in places even his methods are frankly brilliant.” DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00210869908701948.
• Jonah Winters, Journal of Bahá’í Studies 9.3 (September 1999): 69–75. “Christopher Buck’s Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i Íqán (Studies in the Bábí and Bahá’í Religions, volume 7) can be seen as a work of genius: it is ground-breaking—daring, innovative, and even brilliant. … As Symbol and Secret is the first work written in English to examine Bahá’í scripture and hermeneutics in any analytical depth, Buck’s work can without exaggeration be declared seminal.
[…] First, this study is daring in that it is the first extended analysis of the Islamic context and content of Bahá’u’lláh’s thought and writings. Buck’s tangential self-defense on pages 260–261 indicates that he, too, is well aware of the daringness of the topic and of his academic approach to it. Second, the rigour with which Buck has treated his topics is a model for anyone engaging in textual scholarship: his research is broad, his attention to detail thorough, and his coverage of the topics exhaustive. Finally, many of his conclusions, the light he throws on the Íqán and its content, and in places even his methods are frankly brilliant.” DOI: https://doi.org/10.31581/jbs-9.3(1999).
Generation Y Speaks Out: A Policy Guide. Edited by Christopher Buck, David Stowe & Shanetta Marti... more Generation Y Speaks Out: A Policy Guide. Edited by Christopher Buck, David Stowe & Shanetta Martin. Lansing: Michigan Nonprofit Association & Michigan’s Children, 2002.
From the "Introduction":
Michigan State University’s Service Learning Writing Project has become a combination of both service and learning throughout the 2000–2001 academic year, in association with two non-profit advocacy organizations: Michigan Nonprofit Association and Michigan’s Children. Students in Dr. David Stowe’s and Dr. Christopher Buck’s sections of “Writing: Public Life in America” (ATL 135) were given the opportunity to write issue briefs, covering concerns of their generation, Generation Y.
Generation Y Speaks Out: A Policy Guide is the result of hard work and dedication, and is researched and written entirely by MSU students. The following compilation of issue briefs began as an unknown. The final outcome was a mystery to all partners, yet a vision was in mind.
What exactly is an issue brief? What components does it contain? What is the final format? All of these are questions that were asked over and over to make this project’s vision a reality. An issue brief is exactly what its name describes - a brief summary of a current issue relevant to society.
In this particular case, it is an issue that is of concern to Generation Y. Generation Y is the 18–24 age group into which participating students of this project fall. While the views of this generation have been criticized as either being radical, or not having any views at all, the results may be surprising. These results are the end product of numerous focus groups, surveys, and research of the opinions of students and friends of students at Michigan State University.
Book Chapters by Christopher Buck
Menschenrechte in der Islamischen Republik Iran: Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2021
“The ‘Baha’i Question’ in Iran: Influence of International Law on ‘Islamic Law’,” by Christopher ... more “The ‘Baha’i Question’ in Iran: Influence of International Law on ‘Islamic Law’,” by Christopher Buck.
In: Menschenrechte in der Islamischen Republik Iran (Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran), ed. Anja Pistor-Hatam (Würzburg, Germany: Ergon-Verlag, 2021). Pp. 161–188. (Published on May 5, 2021.)
Description (German, with English translation):
Beschreibung
Die Islamische Republik Iran ist an den gewohnheitsrechtlichen Inhalt der Allgemeinen Erklärung der Menschenrechte gebunden. In der Verfassung Irans gelten Gleichheitsrechte jedoch nur für Musliminnen und Muslime. Auch wird der Schutz durch das Gesetz in der Verfassung den Bürgerinnen und Bürgern der Islamischen Republik ausschließlich im Rahmen der zwölferschiitischen Auslegung des islamischen Rechts gewährt. Demzufolge gibt es unterschiedliche Rechte für unterschiedliche Menschen, je nach Geschlechts- und Religionszugehörigkeit. Wie man in Iran auf dieser Grundlage die universellen Menschenrechten diskutiert und wie man mit diesen umgeht, ist Gegenstand der Beiträge dieses Sammelbandes.
Description
The Islamic Republic of Iran is bound by the customary content of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In Iran's constitution, however, equality rights apply only to Muslims. Also, protection under the law in the constitution is granted to citizens of the Islamic Republic only within the framework of the Twelver Shiite interpretation of Islamic law. Accordingly, there are different rights for different people depending on their gender and religious affiliation. How universal human rights are discussed and dealt with in Iran on this basis is the subject of the contributions to this anthology. Content:
Anja Pistor-Hatam: Einleitung/Introduction /
Kerstin von der Decken: Völkerrechtliche Bindungen des Iran an die Menschenrechte: UN-Menschenrechts-verträge, universelles Völkergewohnheitsrecht und OIC-Menschenrechtsdokumente /
Arash Sarkohi: Islamischer Menschenrechtsdiskurs in Iran - Chance oder Widerspruch /
Constance Arminjon Hachem: Human Rights in Twelver Shiite Islam: Iranian Clerics' Debate on Two Legal Traditions /
Ladan Rahbari: Violence Against Women in Contemporary Iran: Between State, Society and Domestic Sphere /
Arash Guitoo: Sexuelle Minderheiten in der Islamischen Republik Iran /
Christopher Buck: The "Baha'i Question" in Iran: Influence of International Law on "Islamic Law" /
Anja Pistor-Hatam: "Human Dignity/karâmat": On the Question of a Possible Consensus in the Human Rights Debate through the Example of the Islamic Republic of Iran /
Anja Pistor-Hatam: Freedom of Religion in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the "Right to Have Rights" /
Mohsen Kadivar: Plädoyer für die Abschaffung der Bestrafung von Apostasie im Islam
About the Editor:
Anja Prof. Dr. Pistor-Hatam
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Seminar für Orientalistik
Dr Anja Pistor-Hatam is professor of Islamic Studies at Kiel University. After studying Islamic Studies and History at Freiburg University, where she earned her doctorate in 1992, she habilitated at Heidelberg University in 1999. Prof. Pistor-Hatam has held various positions at Kiel University (Dean of the Department of Philosophy, Speaker of the university's senate and Vice-President for Student Affairs, Internationalization, and Diversity). She is a member of the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg and of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Scientific Advisory Board for the Institute of Iranian Studies.
https://www.nomos-shop.de/ergon/titel/menschenrechte-in-der-islamischen-republik-iran-id-87893/
Uploads
Videos by Christopher Buck
• For an academic journal article on this historic, official apology, see: Christopher Buck, “‘Never Again’: Kevin Gover’s Apology for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.” Wicazo Sa Review: A Journal of Native American Studies 21.1 (2006): 97–126, https://www.academia.edu/20339709/_Never_Again_Kevin_Gover_s_Apology_for_the_Bureau_of_Indian_Affairs_.
• View video online: https://vimeo.com/404428918 (posted on Vimeo
See "Laying a Great Man to Rest—the Final Interment of Alain Locke" | Christopher Buck | Oct 7, 2014, https://bahaiteachings.org/laying-a-great-man-to-rest-final-interment-of-alain-locke/. Also: Sing the Ballad of Alain Locke—Burying the Black Plato | Christopher Buck | Oct 10, 2014, https://bahaiteachings.org/sing-the-ballad-of-alain-locke-burying-the-black-plato/. See also the academic articles I've published on Alain Locke, posted here: https://psu-us.academia.edu/ChristopherBuck/African-American-Studies.
Books by Christopher Buck
Description
At the heart of American studies is the idea of America itself. Here, Buck looks at the religious significance of America by examining those religions that have attached some kind of spiritual meaning to America. The author explores how American Protestantism—and nine minority faiths—have projected America into the mainstream of world history by defining—and by redefining—America’s world role. Surveying the religious myths and visions of America of ten religions, Buck shows how minority faiths have redefined America’s sense of national purpose. This book invites serious reflection on what it means to be an American, particularly from a religious perspective.
Religious myths of America are thought-orienting narratives that serve as vehicles of spiritual and social truths about the United States itself. Religious visions of America are action-oriented agendas that articulate the goals to which America should aspire and the role it should play in the community of nations. Buck examines the distinctive perspectives held by ten religious traditions that inform and expand on the notion of America, and its place in the world. He covers Native American, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Christian Identity, Black Muslim, Islamic, Buddhist, and Baha’i beliefs and invites serious reflection on what it means to be an American, particularly from a religious perspective.
Libraries Worldwide: Total (print & eBook editions): 1,050 Libraries (in 3 editions). [WorldCat, June 17, 2023.] “Held by Big Ten Academic Alliance.” See http://www.amazon.com/Religious-Myths-Visions-America-Redefined/dp/0313359598. (Open Access: “Access free” on Internet Archive.)
Reviews
• Journal of American History 98.1 (June 2011): 279–280. Review by Richard Kyle (Tabor College):
“Religious Myths and Visions of America has many strengths. The author has defended his thesis with solid research. He has also made an original contribution to American studies.”
• Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 15.3 (February 2012): 139–141. Review by Irén E. Annus (University of Szeged, Hungary): “This volume may be of interest to readers involved not only in Religious Studies, but also in Political Science, History, Intellectual History, American Studies, and Cultural Studies. … In the course of the detailed and well-documented analysis of individual religions, Buck reveals a highly elaborate and in-depth picture of the various beliefs, which is indeed impressive. … He argues that the original myth and vision of America as a nation was captured by the Protestant notion of manifest destiny. This has been challenged by the other faiths … that have transformed the idea of manifest destiny into America’s common destiny. … The book is overall a fresh and stimulating cultural reading of some of America’s religions and the complex ways in which their followers make sense of and act in the world.” [Electronic Database (full text available): ATLA Religion Database; JSTOR.]
• Multicultural Review 18.4 (Winter 2009): 66. Review by Vladimir F. Wertsman (New York Public Library):
“This interesting, thoroughly researched scholarly study examines how ten minor religions interpreted America’s reality (“nation and notion”) and generated numerous religious myths and visions of America. … [t]his volume is certainly a welcome addition to the topic of racial, cultural, and ethnic studies. … Recommended for comparative ethnic and religion collections.”
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.
SLIDE #37:
Dynamic Bahá’í Principles
— Expressed as Actions —
1. Search for truth.
2. See humankind as one.
3. See religion as one.
4. Religions should unify.
5. Religion respects science.
6. Women and men are equal.
7. Abolish every prejudice.
8. Promote world peace.
9. Provide education for all.
10. Economic problems require spiritual solutions.
11. The Universal House of Justice is unique.
12. The special Bahá’í “Covenant” protects Bahá’í unity.
13. Adopt a universal auxiliary language.
14. Work is worship.
15. The Bahá’í Faith offers other “new principles.”
Source: Buck, Bahá’í Faith: The Basics (2021), Chap. 3.
Endorsement by Todd Lawson, Professor Emeritus of Islamic Thought, University of Toronto, Canada:
“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 Bahá’í religion. His book is richly enhanced with quotations from official translations of the Bahá’í sacred writings, insights into the formation of distinctive Bahá’í institutions and rare glimpses of key moments in Bahá’í intellectual history from an introduction to the influential African American Bahá’í 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 Bahá’í Faith.”
Book review by Jack McLean, Independent Scholar, Ottawa, Canada:
“One outstanding feature of this book … 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 presents a complete contemporary picture of the remarkably diverse economic, social, and spiritual activities …by the Bahá’í community in all countries of the world.”
See full review here: http://jack-mclean.com/reviews/review-of-bahai-faith-basics/
The Challenge of Modernity in the Middle East and North Africa
Edited by Cyrus Rohani and Behrooz Sabet,
ADVANCE INFORMATION
978-0-86356-388-1
Release date: November 7, 2019
(Advance publication: July 2019)
Politics/Sociology/Middle East/Islam
PB Royal 352 pp £25
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface by Cyrus Rohani, Behrooz Sabet
Foreword by Christopher Buck (pp. iii–viii)
1. Toward a discursive framework of change, Behrooz Sabet and
Cyrus Rohani
2. Culture for openness and coexistence: How can we create it?
Abdul Hamid Al-Ansari
3. Guiding principles of leadership for the 21st Century: An essay on leadership, Cyrus Rohani
4. Confronting Violence through Policies of Dialogue: Towards
establishing a ‘citizenship that incorporates religious diversity’ in
post-ISIS Era, Saad Salloum
5. Nonviolence and the challenges in the Middle East, Ramin
Jahanbegloo
6. Religion of peace: Islamic principles of good governance,
Christopher Buck (pp. 87–111)
7. Traditionalist and reformist discourses pertaining to Islamic
revival, Armin Eschraghi
8. Defining Islamic social principles: a preamble, Christopher Buck (pp. 125–133)
9. Human rights in the Middle East, Nazila Ghanea
10. Reason in Islam: Taking back their own, Ian Kluge
11. “Be just”: Quranic ethics as benchmarks for Islamic law,
Christopher Buck (pp. 168–181)
12. Education in the Middle East, Behrooz Sabet
13. Globalization and the Middle East: Reflections on a conceptual
reorientation, Shahrzad Sabet
14. Environment and sustainability in the Middle East, Arthur Lyon
Dahl
15. Connecting electronically to the public
About the Contributors
Behrooz Sabet holds a doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo. For more than twenty years, Dr Sabet has been intellectually engaged in research and writing on the intersection of religion, science and culture in the Middle East. He has been a university professor, academic dean and consultant on aspects of education and culture in the Middle East, and has translated and written extensively on religious, ethical, educational, philosophical and social themes. Dr Sabet is a renowned scholar of religion, contemporary political thought and movements in Iran, and the conceptual and historical origins of modernity and its impact on Islam and Middle Eastern societies
Cyrus Rohani is an advisor on social and economic development, and a management and education consultant. He studied at the American University of Beirut and later received an MBA from Sacred Heart University, Connecticut, USA. He worked with Shell-Qatar and then with Qatar Petroleum (oil and gas).
https://saqibooks.com/?post_type=product&p=10902
ARABIC EDITION
(Slightly different organization and content.)
Winds of Change in the Middle East and North Africa: Crisis, Catharsis, and Renewal, ed. Behrooz Sabet and Gamal H. M. Hassan. Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan (رياح التغيير: في الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا). Beirut: Dar al-Saqi, 2018. Pp. 17–24. (Release date: November 1, 2018.) ISBN: 9786140320994.
Contributions by the present writer:
Christopher Buck, “Introduction.” Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan. Pp. 17–24.
Idem, “Chapter 5: Religion of Peace: Islamic Principles of Good Governance.” Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan. Pp. 133–166.
Idem, “Chapter 6: Defining Islamic Social Principles: A Preamble.” Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan. Pp. 167–180.
Idem, “Chapter 7: ‘Be Just’: Quranic Ethics as Benchmarks for Islamic Law.” Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan. Pp. 181–198.
Creating Racial and Religious Diversity
PREVIEW
This downloadable PDF features Google Books’s “Preview” of pp. 1–41 (as well as front matter and back matter).
Edited by Loni Bramson. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books, 2019. (Release date: December 3, 2018.) Cloth ISBN: 978-1-4985-7002-2. Paper ISBN: 978-1-4985-7004-6 (delayed). Elec. ISBN: 978-1-4985-7003-9.
1. The Bahá’í “Pupil of the Eye” Metaphor: Promoting Ideal Race Relations in Jim Crow America. [Pp. 1–41.]
• by Christopher Buck
3. Alain Locke on Race, Religion, and the Bahá’í Faith. [Pp. 91–116.]
• by Christopher Buck [Pp. 91–116.]
ORDER INFORMATION:
Lexington Books
Book Details
Pages: 296 • Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4985-7002-2 • Hardback • December 2018 • $95.00 • (£65.00):
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498570022
978-1-4985-7004-6 • Paperback • September 2021 • $39.99 • (£31.00):
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498570046
978-1-4985-7003-9 • eBook • December 2018 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
https://rowman.com/ISBN/97814985-70039
___________________
THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH AND AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY:
Creating Racial and Religious Diversity
Released December 3, 2018
Edited by Loni Bramson;
Introduction by Loni Bramson;
Contributions by:
• Christopher Buck
• Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis
• Louis Venters
• Mike McMullen
• June Manning Thomas
• Loni Bramson
This book examines the intersection of African American history with that of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States. Since the turn of the twentieth century, Bahá’ís in America have actively worked to establish interracial harmony within its own ranks and to contribute to social justice in the wider community, becoming in the process one of the country’s most diverse religious bodies. Spanning from the start of the twentieth century to the early twenty-first, the essays in this volume examine aspects of the phenomenon of this religion confronting America’s original sin of racism and the significant roles African Americans came to play in the development of the Bahá’í Faith’s culture, identity, administrative structures, and aspirations.
Book Details
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction. [Pp. ix–xxv.]
• by Loni Bramson
1. The Bahá’í “Pupil of the Eye” Metaphor: Promoting Ideal Race Relations in Jim Crow America. [Pp. 1–41.]
• by Christopher Buck
2. “The Most Vital and Challenging Issue”: The Bahá’í Faith’s Efforts to Improve Race Relations, 1922 to 1936. [Pp. 43–89.]
• by Loni Bramson
3. Alain Locke on Race, Religion, and the Bahá’í Faith. [Pp. 91–116.]
• by Christopher Buck [Pp. 91–116.]
4. The Most Challenging Issue Revisited: African American Bahá’í Women and the Advancement of Race and Gender Equality, 1899–1943. [Pp. 117–141.]
• by Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis
5. Hand in Hand: Race, Identity, and Community Development among South Carolina’s Bahá’ís, 1973–1979. [Pp. 143–177.]
• by Louis Venters
6. Race Unity Efforts among American Bahá’ís: Institutionalized Tools and Empirical Evidence. [Pp. 179–224.]
• by Mike McMullen
7. Race, Place, and Clusters: Current Vision and Possible Strategies. [Pp. 225–253.]
• by June Manning Thomas
Conclusion. [Pp. 255–258.]
• by Multiple Authors of the Chapters in This Book
About the Contributors
Lexington Books
Pages: 296 • Trim: 6 1/4 x 9
978-1-4985-7002-2 • Hardback • December 2018 • $95.00 • (£65.00)
978-1-4985-7003-9 • eBook • December 2018 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
Subjects: Religion / Baha'i, Religion / General, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies
About the Contributors
CHRISTOPHER BUCK, PhD (University of Toronto), JD (Cooley Law School), is an independent scholar, Pittsburgh attorney, and online faculty member at the Wilmette Institute. He previously taught at Michigan State University, Central Michigan University, Quincy University, Millikin University, and Carleton University. Dr. Buck publishes broadly in Bahá’í studies, American studies, African American studies, Native American studies, Islamic studies, religious studies, Syriac Studies, and legal studies (constitutional law). His books include: Baha’i Faith: A Quick Reference; God and Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America; Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy; Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Bahá’í Faith; Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i Íqán; Religious Celebrations (co-author); and Generation Y Speaks Out: A Policy Guide (coeditor).
LONI BRAMSON’s doctorate is in Contemporary History and History of Religion from the Université Catholique de Louvain. She has taught at universities in Africa, Europe, and the United States. Currently she is an associate professor at the American Public University System. She teaches courses in modern United States and European history, history of religion, women’s history, African American history, and American Indian history. Her publications include chapters in books, articles, and encyclopedia entries on the Bahá’í Faith, and a human rights monograph. She is an editor for the Journal of International Women’s Studies.
GWENDOLYN ETTER-LEWIS is Professor of English, black world studies, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She earned her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Etter-Lewis teaches a variety of interdisciplinary courses. Most recently she taught a course on black British writers at the Miami University John E. Dolibois European Center in Luxembourg, which included a five-day study tour in London. In 2007, she founded a college readiness program (Project REACH, now known as Dream Keepers) for underrepresented high school students in the greater Cincinnati area. The program was awarded an internal grant ($150,000) in 2015 and has become a university practicum offered each semester. Dr. Etter-Lewis’ interest in women of color and education has taken her to various countries for research: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Lesotho, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya. She is the author of several books and articles including:
• Lights of the Spirit: Historical Portraits of Black Bahá’is in North America. Coedited with Richard Thomas. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 2006.
• Unrelated Kin: Race and Gender in Women’s Personal Narratives. Coedited with Michele Foster. New York: Routledge, 1996.
• My Soul Is My Own: Oral Narratives of African American Women in the Professions. New York: Routledge, 1993.
LOUIS VENTERS, PhD, teaches African and African diaspora history, southern history, and public history at Francis Marion University and is a consultant in the fields of historic preservation and cultural resource management. He is the author or coauthor of several site studies, public history reports, and exhibits, and is a member of the board of directors of Preservation South Carolina and of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission. He is currently working on a sequel to his book, No Jim Crow Church: The Origins of South Carolina’s Bahá’í Community. He blogs on issues related to race, religion, history, and culture at www.louisventers.com.
MIKE MCMULLEN is a professor of Sociology and Cross Cultural Studies at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Houston, Texas. He received his doctorate from Emory University. His first book The Bahá'í: The Religious Construction of a Global Identity. His areas of interest include Bahá’í studies, the sociology of religion, the Middle East, organizational development and change, and conflict resolution and mediation. Recently, he lived for a year in Cairo, Egypt, as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching at the American University in Cairo. He continues to research the American Bahá'í community, and recently published a book entitled The Bahá’ís of America: The Growth and Change of a Religious Movement. He is currently working on a book on the history of conflict resolution in the United States.
JUNE MANNING THOMAS is Mary Frances Berry Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan and specializes in issues related to social equity in city planning and development. Some of her books include Redevelopment and Race: Planning a Finer City in Postwar Detroit (1997, 2013); Planning Progress: Lessons from Shoghi Effendi (1999); and the coedited Mapping Detroit: Evolving Land Use Patterns and Connections (2015). She currently serves on the Regional Baha’i Council of the Midwestern States. Her full biography can be accessed at http://taubmancollege.umi ch.edu/urbanplanning/faculty/directory/june-manning-thomas.
Sample Article posted by "Facts on File"
Excerpt from 2016 "Facts on File" ebook for high school students:
Baha'i Faith: A Quick Reference
Christopher Buck
Copyright 2016 Facts On File. All rights reserved.
BAHA'I CALENDAR
The Baha’i calendar, like all calendrical systems, charts physical time; yet the Baha’i calendar also inspires spiritual progress by associating time with reminders of human nobility. The new year begins on the vernal equinox (which is astronomically determined and falls on March 19, 20, or 21 on the Gregorian calendar); it consists of 19 months, each month of which is comprised of 19 days. The calendar, called the "Wondrous (Badi) Calendar," invests time with spiritual significance by naming weekdays, days of the month, months, years, and cycles of years after godly perfections that can be translated into goodly virtues. In this way the Baha’i calendar transforms time into opportune moments for reflection on matters of the spirit.
For example, Sunday, March 21, 2010, on the Gregorian calendar may be expressed as follows on the Baha’i calendar: the weekday of Beauty (Jamal, i.e., Sunday), the (first) day Splendor (Baha’) in the (first) month of Splendor (Bahá’) in the year (15th) of Affection (Vidad), in the cycle (19 years) of Unity (Vahid) of the first Grand Cycle (361 years) of All Things (Arabic, Kullu Shay’; Persian, Kull-i Shay’).
In the Baha’i calendar, the names represent far more than simple designations of units of time. They connect to the timeless progress of the soul. The calendar was originally created by the Bab, Baha’u’llah's predecessor and herald, who compared the souls of human beings to mirrors. These mirrors, once burnished and polished by spiritual efforts, are potentially reflections of all divine names and attributes of God that are capable of expression in human existence. To the extent that a person is a bearer of one of the names (i.e., qualities or powers) of God, that individual is empowered to express that quality in human action. (Buck and Melton have called this process "theophoric metamorphosis.") Through the progressive spiritualization of all persons—and, indeed, of all things—the Bab wished to transform all of reality into “mirrors” reflecting the perfections represented by these divine names.
In this unique calendric system, each and every unit of time gives pause for spiritual reflection. This is part of the Bab's comprehensive system of precepts and practices, all calculated to keep the believer in a constant spiritual frame of mind. Each of these dynamic names of God highlights a distinctive quality of sterling character and human nobility; they may not only be invoked, but they may be evoked. At every moment, a person, noting the present time, takes time to reflect on a godly perfection that can be translated into a goodly virtue expressed in thought and deed. By doing so, the mirror of the human heart, or soul, may reflect a ray of the spiritual sun.
The Baha’i Nineteen-Day Feast—when the local Baha’i community meets for worship, consultation, and fellowship—takes place at the beginning of each of the 19 Baha’i months. The Feast begins with devotions, is followed by consultation on community affairs, and ends with food and fellowship. The devotional portion has a spiritualizing effect; passages from the Baha’i Writings and prayers are read. Consultation takes place in a forum similar to a town hall meeting, but conducted with civility and respect. The purpose of consultation is to reach consensus. Consensus is not always possible, but a recommendation may be conveyed to the Local Spiritual Assembly (LSA) by way of a majority vote; even individual suggestions may be passed on to the LSA for consideration. Ideally, the LSA's decisions on prior Feast recommendations should be reported back to the community at a later Feast, both as a courtesy and as evidence of the importance the LSA places upon the consultative process. Finally, the community shares food with the goal of refreshing and further uniting the local community.
Further Information
Christopher Buck and J. Gordon Melton, "Baha’i Calendar and Rhythms of Worship," in Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations, ed. J. Gordon Melton (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2011), Vol. I, pp. 79–86.
Christopher Buck, "Nineteen-Day Feast (Baha’i)," in Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations, ed. J. Gordon Melton (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2011), Vol. 2, pp. 641–645.
Gerald Keil, Time and the Bahá’í Era: A Study of the Badí‘ Calendar (Oxford: George Ronald, 2008).
Edward M. Reingold, and Nachum Dershowitz, "The Bahá’í Calendar," in Calendrical Calculations: The Millennium Edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 223–231.
Nader Saiedi, Gate of the Heart: Understanding the Writings of the Báb (Ottawa, Ont.: Association for Baha’i Studies and Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008).
Entry Author: Buck, Christopher.
________________________________
Excerpt from:
Baha'i Faith: A Quick Reference
Christopher Buck
Copyright 2016 Facts On File. All rights reserved.
Summary
One of the world's youngest and fastest-growing religions, the Baha'i Faith's adherents believe there is one infinite God who sent divine messengers—including the founders of all the major world religions—to teach people about God and to help move humanity toward greater truths. Baha'i Faith: A Quick Reference covers all the basic information about the religion in an accessible A–Z format. This useful guide comes complete with full-color photographs, a timeline, and further readings for each entry to aid research.
About the Author(s)
Christopher Buck, Ph.D., is the author of God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America. An independent scholar, attorney, and former university professor, Dr. Buck has published numerous articles, essays, and books in religious studies, Baha'i studies, Islamic studies, African-American studies, and Native American studies.
Table of Contents
Cover
Copyright
Introduction
Entries
‘Abdu’l-Baha
Bab, The
Baha'i Administrative Order
Baha’i calendar
Baha'i community life
Baha'i eschatology
Baha'i ethics
Baha’i houses of worship
Baha'i laws
Baha'i prayer
Baha'i principles of unity
Baha'i Writings
Baha'u'llah
Table of Contents
Cover
Copyright
Introduction
Entries
‘Abdu’l-Baha
Bab, The
Baha'i Administrative Order
Baha’i calendar
Baha'i community life
Baha'i eschatology
Baha'i ethics
Baha’i houses of worship
Baha'i laws
Baha'i prayer
Baha'i principles of unity
Baha'i Writings
Baha'u'llah
Book of Certitude
Declaration of the Bab, Festival of the
God in Baha'i Faith
Hidden Words, The
Naw-Ruz
persecution of Baha’is in contemporary Iran
Ridvan, Festival of
Shoghi Effendi
Shrine of Baha'u'llah
Shrine of the Bab
Twin Birthdays, Festival of the
Universal House of Justice
Support Materials
Timeline
About the Author
Note: The publisher, Educators International Press, went out of business in 2019. All rights reverted back to the author, Christopher Buck. Since there is little prospect that this title will ever be republished, I am now releasing this book, in full, to the interested public.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
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
References
About the Author”
Based on a Michigan State University course, “Religious Myths of America” (IAH-211C) for “Integrated Arts and Humanities” (IAH). This course was designed and taught by Christopher Buck, Ph.D., during the 2003–2004 academic year.
Course syllabus:
http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/syllabi/b/buck/Buck-20040309.pdf
Reviews
• “Interview with Christopher Buck, author of God & Apple Pie.” By Troy Mikanovich, Assistant Editor, and Christopher Buck. Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion. (Published online: September 14, 2018.)
• Reading Religion (“A Publication of the American Academy of Religion). Review of God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America by Emily Goshey (PhD candidate, religious studies, Princeton University): “This overview of religions in America and their relationship with America as both “nation and notion” covers tremendous ground. … God and Apple Pie is a veritable encyclopedia of both primary and secondary sources, but with the benefit of a more digestible presentation and a coherent narrative framework. Although the numerous, lengthy block quotes require some extra work from the reader, the overall effect is to empower the reader to see for themselves exactly how people within a given tradition mythologize and theologize America. That is to say, Buck shows as well as tells. … God and Apple Pie offers a valuable contribution to readers looking to understand why religion matters in America and how different American religious groups have seen their relationship with their country. Any reader, no matter how well versed in religious traditions, would learn a great deal by perusing its pages.” (Published online: August 14, 2017.)
• Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 20.4 (May 2017): pp. 130–131. Review by Donald A. Westbrook (UCLA): “Thus, the volume has clear import for both theological studies and religious studies, and is unique in that it attempts to summarize, systematize, and synthesize the visionary and mythical examples it deftly surveys. … On the whole, this revised and expanded volume is impressive for the breadth and depth it accomplishes and will be of value to researchers, teachers, and especially general readers.” DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2017.20.4.130
• Religion: (Published online: October 26, 2016.) Review by Daniel Liechty PhD, DMin, ACSW (Professor of Social Work, Illinois State University): “Fascinating … The chapter on Mormonism … is itself alone worth the price of the book. Other chapters, on Black Muslim and contemporary Islamic views, as well as Buddhist and Bahá’í visions of America … are, to my knowledge, the very best sources available for summarization of this material. … The reading itself is quite accessible. It could easily function not only as an undergraduate textbook, but also as the main reading for any adult education class or discussion group.” DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2016.1244636.
"Reading Religion" published by the American Academy of Religion
_______________________________________________
Because of the diversity of religious beliefs that are present in the United States, the prospect of a singular religious vision for America and its role on the world stage is difficult to pin down. In God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America, Christopher Buck eschews any simple generalizations and instead chooses to survey eleven distinct religious traditions and the way that they frame the US in their canon and practices. Rather than landing on comfortable, generalized platitudes, Buck’s work offers a glimpse into the different and often conflicting ways that the subject, shadow, and promise of America factors into these different religious traditions. On July 8, 2018, I met with Dr. Buck on Skype to learn more about his work. – Troy Mikanovich, Assistant Editor
TM: Why don’t you start by telling me a little bit about God & Apple Pie? What are you arguing in the book and how did you get there?
CB: God & Apple Pie is based on a course that I designed and taught at Michigan State University in 2003–2004. At the time there wasn’t an argument or a thesis. After I moved to Pennsylvania and I was studying for the bar exam, a senior editor from Praeger sent me an email out of the blue saying, “We saw your syllabus; how would you like to put together a book proposal?” So I had to develop an argument. The two operative hypotheses I have, which are both quite general and I think fairly common-sense are first, “religions remythologize America,” and further, that “religions re-envision America.”
The book is a survey of eleven different religions, selected from among religions that have religious views of America either officially or popularly. In its original publication, the book was titled Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America’s World Role. One of the themes in the book is America’s world role, however that’s defined—or “redefined”—by one of these religious traditions.
TM: In the United States, now as much as ever, some people are interested in having a debate between those who have a particularistic vision of American religion and those who have a pluralistic or inclusive vision of American religion. Was the process of revisiting the first publication of your work in 2009 informed at all by the current religious—or partisan—landscape?
CB: I would say that instead of this debate having informed the writing of God & Apple Pie, the current debate makes it more relevant.
TM: In what ways?
CB: I want to studiously avoid partisan politics, which I see as quite divisive. But on principle, there’s this idea of America’s world role—think of the slogan, “America First”—or, alternatively, “World First”—or some combination of these two catchphrases. President Woodrow Wilson, who was the only US president to have a PhD—a PhD in political science—is often credited by historians for being the first US president to openly define or propose America’s world role. Not that presidents didn’t have an idea of America’s place in world affairs before, but President Woodrow Wilson was arguably the first to articulate this vision of America’s world role so clearly and definitively. But that’s in the secular world. In the religious world, we have this idea of American exceptionalism going all the way back to the origins of America, and the “city upon a hill” idea that Ronald Reagan quoted in three speeches.
TM: He even added “shining”; it was now the “shining city upon a hill.”
CB: Yes—so, is that still the vision of America? And if so, what about America as an exemplar nation, whether religiously or socially? What can America contribute to the world? God & Apple Pie traces the evolution of an increasingly international awareness in the context of America’s world role.
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.)
Libraries Worldwide: Total (print & ebook editions): 1,209. [WorldCat, September 14, 2018.] See http://www.amazon.com/Religious-Myths-Visions-America-Redefined/dp/0313359598.
Reviews
• Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 15.3 (February 2012): 139–141. Review by Irén E. Annus (University of Szeged, Hungary): “This volume may be of interest to readers involved not only in Religious Studies, but also in Political Science, History, Intellectual History, American Studies, and Cultural Studies. . . . In the course of the detailed and well-documented analysis of individual religions, Buck reveals a highly elaborate and in-depth picture of the various beliefs, which is indeed impressive. . . He argues that the original myth and vision of America as a nation was captured by the Protestant notion of manifest destiny. This has been challenged by the other faiths . . . that have transformed the idea of manifest destiny into America’s common destiny. . . The book is overall a fresh and stimulating cultural reading of some of America’s religions and the complex ways in which their followers make sense of and act in the world.” [Electronic Database (full text available): ATLA Religion Database; JSTOR.]
• Journal of American History 98.1 (June 2011): 279–280. Review by Richard Kyle (Tabor College):
“Religious Myths and Visions of America has many strengths. The author has defended his thesis with solid research. He has also made an original contribution to American studies.”
• Multicultural Review 18.4 (Winter 2009): 66. Review by Vladimir F. Wertsman (New York Public Library):
“This interesting, thoroughly researched scholarly study examines how ten minor religions interpreted America’s reality (“nation and notion”) and generated numerous religious myths and visions of America. … [t]his volume is certainly a welcome addition to the topic of racial, cultural, and ethnic studies. … Recommended for comparative ethnic and religion collections.”
In print. (Order from Kalimat Press: http://www.kalimat.com/Locke.html.)
REVIEWS
• Derik Smith. World Order 38.3 (2006/2007): 42–48. (Published in 2008.): ”Christopher Buck’s recent book, Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy, is a welcome addition to the literature on early twentieth-century American and African American culture. But, perhaps more important, Buck’s study is a significant contribution to scholarship on the history of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States. … Any future study of Locke must necessarily make its way through Christopher Buck’s Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy. The scholar forcefully proves his thesis that, in Locke’s thinking, philosophy and religious belief operated as synergistic terms. He has shown that the Bahá’í Faith was integral to Locke’s life and ideology. … Yet, after reading Buck’s work, it is difficult to imagine Locke the philosopher rapt in prayer. Of course, this is not a shortcoming of the book. Rather it is an indication that, while he may have wanted to portray a more pious figure, Buck maintains the vow he made in his introduction to Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy “to constrain any grandiose claims on Locke as a Bahá’í.”
• M. Anthony Fitchue. Journal of African American History 92.1 (Winter 2007): 131–133: “But the jewels in this book are unmistakable. … Clearly, Buck has given voice to the men and women who not only put the Baha’i faith first in their lives, but also left key documents, personal letters, notes, and memoranda related to the life of philosopher Alain LeRoy Locke for future researchers to ponder and use for years to come.”
• William P. Collins. Insights (Library of Congress Professional Association Newsletter) 38.1–3 (Jan–Oct 2006): 10–12: “Both of these books [Lights of the Spirit and Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy] go a long way toward correcting the historians’ failure to note the important role played by the Bahá’í Faith and prominent African-American Bahá’ís in the struggle for racial equality in the United States.”
NOTE
This is the first formal (academic) comparison of the Baha’i Faith and Christianity, notwithstanding a wealth of apologetic literature on this topic.
OPENING PARAGRAPH
Religions enshrine symbols, the stained-glass windows of faith. Sacred symbols present an explorable treasury of religious thought—an information-rich, condensed language of spirituality. Symbols are the prisms of ideals and of other religious concerns. Symbols are susceptible of analysis and are proper objects of study. As symbols encode ideas, they require interpretation to be both understood and meaningfully compared. “We can see that an essential ingredient of the modern study of religion,” writes Ninian Smart, “is symbolic analysis, which tries to throw light on the various themes which can be discovered cross-culturally through the exploration of various worldviews” (1985, 33). Symbolic analysis involves not only the exploration of religious worldviews intrinsically, but comparatively as well. – Paradise & Paradigm, p. 1.
CONCLUSION
Symbols ensoul ideas. In the Abrahamic faiths generally, the most important symbol complex is eschatological imagery, the positive focus of which is Paradise. Visions of the empyreal realm have, historically, had an extraordinary power to inspire. Paradise is iconoplastic. The beatific panorama, the symbolic landscape, the ideals and imagery that inform Paradise in the religious imagination are grounded in root metaphors and are animated by key scenarios reflecting a theology of activity, in a dynamic interplay of belief and behavior, myth and ritual, within the religious grasp of totality.
Paradise allegorizes ideals. These ideals are projected onto heaven. There, in the wish-images of the communal dream, ideals are reified and beatified. In a Bergeresque process of paradisical world building, Heaven functions as the impressionistic blueprint of the ideal faith-community. Paradise imagery is then dislocated from the speculative and refocused on Earth. When once the heart is transformed and society reformed, Paradise is realized. In the intersection of eschatology and ethics, in the interplay of ideas and imagery, and as a function of an organizing principle, an overarching paradigm, Paradise becomes utopia. – Paradise & Paradigm, p. 329.
REVIEWS
• Kathleen McVey. International Journal of Middle East Studies 35.3 (Aug. 2003): 494–496.
Will C. van den Hoonaard. Studies in Religion. Sciences Religieuses 31.3–4 (2002): 501–502.
• Brannon Wheeler. Religious Studies Review 28.3 (July 2002): 293:
“Buck’s theoretically innovative analysis of ‘paradigmatic differences’ in East Syrian (or Nestorian) Christianity and the early Baha’i faith is a fascinating and intellectually challenging book. … In all, a forceful and clearly argued book which should be read by scholars interested in questions of religious symbolism and the comparative method.”
• Andrew Rippin. University of Toronto Quarterly 71.1 (Winter 2001/2002): 170–172.
• William Collins. Baha’i Studies Review 10 (2001/2002): 157–160.
• Edward G. Farrugia, S.J. Orientalia Christiana Periodica 66.2 (2000): 480–483.
• John Renard. Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 34.2 (2000): 212–213.
• Daniel Grolin. H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences (July 2000).
Harold Coward. (Unpublished) (2000).
POST-PUBLICATION SCHOLARSHIP
Paola Orsatti, “Syro-Persian Formulas In Poetic Form In Baptism Liturgy,” Persian Origins – Early Judaeo-Persian and the Emergence of New Persian. Collected Papers of the Symposium, Göttingen 1999. Edited by Ludwig Paul (Iranica Vol. 6, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003), pp. 147–176.
LIBRARIES WORLDWIDE
Total (print & ebook editions): 1,886. [WorldCat, July 11, 2019.] Also available as a Nook Book.
Posted with permission of author and publisher, Kalimát Press. Thesis topic originally recommended by Todd Lawson. Scanned by Duane Troxel. Proofread by Jonah Winters and Lynn Jaluvka, with additional proofing by Bobbi Lyons. Formatted for the web by Jonah Winters. Corrections by Shahrokh Monjazeb. Critically read, from cover-to-cover, with recommendations, including several emendations, by Sohrab Kourosh. Please support this online re-printing by ordering a copy of the book.
See also the following published, academic reviews of Symbol & Secret:
• Moojan Momen, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series) 7.2 (July 1997): 290–91. “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.”
• Frank Lewis, Baha’i Studies Review 6 (1996): 76–91 [16-page extended review]. “Buck’s analysis of Bahaullah’s [sic: Baha’u’llah’s] appeal to Koran 33:44 promising attainment to the divine Presence on the Day of Resurrection (itself allegorically interpreted by Bahaullah as the advent day of a new prophet), as a counter-argument to the nearby verse (33:40) about the ‘Seal of the Prophets’ is simply brilliant.” … “Symbol and Secret is a ground-breaking study, setting a standard for and describing the agenda of the exegesis of Bahai texts for some time to come.”
• John Hatcher, Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Bulletin 30.1 (July 1996): 70–71. “Buck offers insightful analysis of Bahā’u’llāh’s exegetical technique.”
• Jonah Winters, Iranian Studies 32.1 (Winter 1999): 141–145. “Buck has undertaken a project that is to be commended on many fronts. This study is daring in that it is the first extended analysis of the Islamic context and content of Baha’ullah’s thought and writings. The rigor with which Buck has treated his topics is a model for anyone engaging in textual scholarship: his research is broad, his attention to detail thorough, and his coverage of the topics exhaustive. Finally, many of his conclusions, the light he throws on the Íqán and its content, and in places even his methods are frankly brilliant.” DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00210869908701948.
• Jonah Winters, Journal of Bahá’í Studies 9.3 (September 1999): 69–75. “Christopher Buck’s Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i Íqán (Studies in the Bábí and Bahá’í Religions, volume 7) can be seen as a work of genius: it is ground-breaking—daring, innovative, and even brilliant. … As Symbol and Secret is the first work written in English to examine Bahá’í scripture and hermeneutics in any analytical depth, Buck’s work can without exaggeration be declared seminal.
[…] First, this study is daring in that it is the first extended analysis of the Islamic context and content of Bahá’u’lláh’s thought and writings. Buck’s tangential self-defense on pages 260–261 indicates that he, too, is well aware of the daringness of the topic and of his academic approach to it. Second, the rigour with which Buck has treated his topics is a model for anyone engaging in textual scholarship: his research is broad, his attention to detail thorough, and his coverage of the topics exhaustive. Finally, many of his conclusions, the light he throws on the Íqán and its content, and in places even his methods are frankly brilliant.” DOI: https://doi.org/10.31581/jbs-9.3(1999).
From the "Introduction":
Michigan State University’s Service Learning Writing Project has become a combination of both service and learning throughout the 2000–2001 academic year, in association with two non-profit advocacy organizations: Michigan Nonprofit Association and Michigan’s Children. Students in Dr. David Stowe’s and Dr. Christopher Buck’s sections of “Writing: Public Life in America” (ATL 135) were given the opportunity to write issue briefs, covering concerns of their generation, Generation Y.
Generation Y Speaks Out: A Policy Guide is the result of hard work and dedication, and is researched and written entirely by MSU students. The following compilation of issue briefs began as an unknown. The final outcome was a mystery to all partners, yet a vision was in mind.
What exactly is an issue brief? What components does it contain? What is the final format? All of these are questions that were asked over and over to make this project’s vision a reality. An issue brief is exactly what its name describes - a brief summary of a current issue relevant to society.
In this particular case, it is an issue that is of concern to Generation Y. Generation Y is the 18–24 age group into which participating students of this project fall. While the views of this generation have been criticized as either being radical, or not having any views at all, the results may be surprising. These results are the end product of numerous focus groups, surveys, and research of the opinions of students and friends of students at Michigan State University.
Book Chapters by Christopher Buck
In: Menschenrechte in der Islamischen Republik Iran (Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran), ed. Anja Pistor-Hatam (Würzburg, Germany: Ergon-Verlag, 2021). Pp. 161–188. (Published on May 5, 2021.)
Description (German, with English translation):
Beschreibung
Die Islamische Republik Iran ist an den gewohnheitsrechtlichen Inhalt der Allgemeinen Erklärung der Menschenrechte gebunden. In der Verfassung Irans gelten Gleichheitsrechte jedoch nur für Musliminnen und Muslime. Auch wird der Schutz durch das Gesetz in der Verfassung den Bürgerinnen und Bürgern der Islamischen Republik ausschließlich im Rahmen der zwölferschiitischen Auslegung des islamischen Rechts gewährt. Demzufolge gibt es unterschiedliche Rechte für unterschiedliche Menschen, je nach Geschlechts- und Religionszugehörigkeit. Wie man in Iran auf dieser Grundlage die universellen Menschenrechten diskutiert und wie man mit diesen umgeht, ist Gegenstand der Beiträge dieses Sammelbandes.
Description
The Islamic Republic of Iran is bound by the customary content of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In Iran's constitution, however, equality rights apply only to Muslims. Also, protection under the law in the constitution is granted to citizens of the Islamic Republic only within the framework of the Twelver Shiite interpretation of Islamic law. Accordingly, there are different rights for different people depending on their gender and religious affiliation. How universal human rights are discussed and dealt with in Iran on this basis is the subject of the contributions to this anthology. Content:
Anja Pistor-Hatam: Einleitung/Introduction /
Kerstin von der Decken: Völkerrechtliche Bindungen des Iran an die Menschenrechte: UN-Menschenrechts-verträge, universelles Völkergewohnheitsrecht und OIC-Menschenrechtsdokumente /
Arash Sarkohi: Islamischer Menschenrechtsdiskurs in Iran - Chance oder Widerspruch /
Constance Arminjon Hachem: Human Rights in Twelver Shiite Islam: Iranian Clerics' Debate on Two Legal Traditions /
Ladan Rahbari: Violence Against Women in Contemporary Iran: Between State, Society and Domestic Sphere /
Arash Guitoo: Sexuelle Minderheiten in der Islamischen Republik Iran /
Christopher Buck: The "Baha'i Question" in Iran: Influence of International Law on "Islamic Law" /
Anja Pistor-Hatam: "Human Dignity/karâmat": On the Question of a Possible Consensus in the Human Rights Debate through the Example of the Islamic Republic of Iran /
Anja Pistor-Hatam: Freedom of Religion in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the "Right to Have Rights" /
Mohsen Kadivar: Plädoyer für die Abschaffung der Bestrafung von Apostasie im Islam
About the Editor:
Anja Prof. Dr. Pistor-Hatam
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Seminar für Orientalistik
Dr Anja Pistor-Hatam is professor of Islamic Studies at Kiel University. After studying Islamic Studies and History at Freiburg University, where she earned her doctorate in 1992, she habilitated at Heidelberg University in 1999. Prof. Pistor-Hatam has held various positions at Kiel University (Dean of the Department of Philosophy, Speaker of the university's senate and Vice-President for Student Affairs, Internationalization, and Diversity). She is a member of the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg and of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Scientific Advisory Board for the Institute of Iranian Studies.
https://www.nomos-shop.de/ergon/titel/menschenrechte-in-der-islamischen-republik-iran-id-87893/
• For an academic journal article on this historic, official apology, see: Christopher Buck, “‘Never Again’: Kevin Gover’s Apology for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.” Wicazo Sa Review: A Journal of Native American Studies 21.1 (2006): 97–126, https://www.academia.edu/20339709/_Never_Again_Kevin_Gover_s_Apology_for_the_Bureau_of_Indian_Affairs_.
• View video online: https://vimeo.com/404428918 (posted on Vimeo
See "Laying a Great Man to Rest—the Final Interment of Alain Locke" | Christopher Buck | Oct 7, 2014, https://bahaiteachings.org/laying-a-great-man-to-rest-final-interment-of-alain-locke/. Also: Sing the Ballad of Alain Locke—Burying the Black Plato | Christopher Buck | Oct 10, 2014, https://bahaiteachings.org/sing-the-ballad-of-alain-locke-burying-the-black-plato/. See also the academic articles I've published on Alain Locke, posted here: https://psu-us.academia.edu/ChristopherBuck/African-American-Studies.
Description
At the heart of American studies is the idea of America itself. Here, Buck looks at the religious significance of America by examining those religions that have attached some kind of spiritual meaning to America. The author explores how American Protestantism—and nine minority faiths—have projected America into the mainstream of world history by defining—and by redefining—America’s world role. Surveying the religious myths and visions of America of ten religions, Buck shows how minority faiths have redefined America’s sense of national purpose. This book invites serious reflection on what it means to be an American, particularly from a religious perspective.
Religious myths of America are thought-orienting narratives that serve as vehicles of spiritual and social truths about the United States itself. Religious visions of America are action-oriented agendas that articulate the goals to which America should aspire and the role it should play in the community of nations. Buck examines the distinctive perspectives held by ten religious traditions that inform and expand on the notion of America, and its place in the world. He covers Native American, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Christian Identity, Black Muslim, Islamic, Buddhist, and Baha’i beliefs and invites serious reflection on what it means to be an American, particularly from a religious perspective.
Libraries Worldwide: Total (print & eBook editions): 1,050 Libraries (in 3 editions). [WorldCat, June 17, 2023.] “Held by Big Ten Academic Alliance.” See http://www.amazon.com/Religious-Myths-Visions-America-Redefined/dp/0313359598. (Open Access: “Access free” on Internet Archive.)
Reviews
• Journal of American History 98.1 (June 2011): 279–280. Review by Richard Kyle (Tabor College):
“Religious Myths and Visions of America has many strengths. The author has defended his thesis with solid research. He has also made an original contribution to American studies.”
• Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 15.3 (February 2012): 139–141. Review by Irén E. Annus (University of Szeged, Hungary): “This volume may be of interest to readers involved not only in Religious Studies, but also in Political Science, History, Intellectual History, American Studies, and Cultural Studies. … In the course of the detailed and well-documented analysis of individual religions, Buck reveals a highly elaborate and in-depth picture of the various beliefs, which is indeed impressive. … He argues that the original myth and vision of America as a nation was captured by the Protestant notion of manifest destiny. This has been challenged by the other faiths … that have transformed the idea of manifest destiny into America’s common destiny. … The book is overall a fresh and stimulating cultural reading of some of America’s religions and the complex ways in which their followers make sense of and act in the world.” [Electronic Database (full text available): ATLA Religion Database; JSTOR.]
• Multicultural Review 18.4 (Winter 2009): 66. Review by Vladimir F. Wertsman (New York Public Library):
“This interesting, thoroughly researched scholarly study examines how ten minor religions interpreted America’s reality (“nation and notion”) and generated numerous religious myths and visions of America. … [t]his volume is certainly a welcome addition to the topic of racial, cultural, and ethnic studies. … Recommended for comparative ethnic and religion collections.”
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.
SLIDE #37:
Dynamic Bahá’í Principles
— Expressed as Actions —
1. Search for truth.
2. See humankind as one.
3. See religion as one.
4. Religions should unify.
5. Religion respects science.
6. Women and men are equal.
7. Abolish every prejudice.
8. Promote world peace.
9. Provide education for all.
10. Economic problems require spiritual solutions.
11. The Universal House of Justice is unique.
12. The special Bahá’í “Covenant” protects Bahá’í unity.
13. Adopt a universal auxiliary language.
14. Work is worship.
15. The Bahá’í Faith offers other “new principles.”
Source: Buck, Bahá’í Faith: The Basics (2021), Chap. 3.
Endorsement by Todd Lawson, Professor Emeritus of Islamic Thought, University of Toronto, Canada:
“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 Bahá’í religion. His book is richly enhanced with quotations from official translations of the Bahá’í sacred writings, insights into the formation of distinctive Bahá’í institutions and rare glimpses of key moments in Bahá’í intellectual history from an introduction to the influential African American Bahá’í 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 Bahá’í Faith.”
Book review by Jack McLean, Independent Scholar, Ottawa, Canada:
“One outstanding feature of this book … 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 presents a complete contemporary picture of the remarkably diverse economic, social, and spiritual activities …by the Bahá’í community in all countries of the world.”
See full review here: http://jack-mclean.com/reviews/review-of-bahai-faith-basics/
The Challenge of Modernity in the Middle East and North Africa
Edited by Cyrus Rohani and Behrooz Sabet,
ADVANCE INFORMATION
978-0-86356-388-1
Release date: November 7, 2019
(Advance publication: July 2019)
Politics/Sociology/Middle East/Islam
PB Royal 352 pp £25
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface by Cyrus Rohani, Behrooz Sabet
Foreword by Christopher Buck (pp. iii–viii)
1. Toward a discursive framework of change, Behrooz Sabet and
Cyrus Rohani
2. Culture for openness and coexistence: How can we create it?
Abdul Hamid Al-Ansari
3. Guiding principles of leadership for the 21st Century: An essay on leadership, Cyrus Rohani
4. Confronting Violence through Policies of Dialogue: Towards
establishing a ‘citizenship that incorporates religious diversity’ in
post-ISIS Era, Saad Salloum
5. Nonviolence and the challenges in the Middle East, Ramin
Jahanbegloo
6. Religion of peace: Islamic principles of good governance,
Christopher Buck (pp. 87–111)
7. Traditionalist and reformist discourses pertaining to Islamic
revival, Armin Eschraghi
8. Defining Islamic social principles: a preamble, Christopher Buck (pp. 125–133)
9. Human rights in the Middle East, Nazila Ghanea
10. Reason in Islam: Taking back their own, Ian Kluge
11. “Be just”: Quranic ethics as benchmarks for Islamic law,
Christopher Buck (pp. 168–181)
12. Education in the Middle East, Behrooz Sabet
13. Globalization and the Middle East: Reflections on a conceptual
reorientation, Shahrzad Sabet
14. Environment and sustainability in the Middle East, Arthur Lyon
Dahl
15. Connecting electronically to the public
About the Contributors
Behrooz Sabet holds a doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo. For more than twenty years, Dr Sabet has been intellectually engaged in research and writing on the intersection of religion, science and culture in the Middle East. He has been a university professor, academic dean and consultant on aspects of education and culture in the Middle East, and has translated and written extensively on religious, ethical, educational, philosophical and social themes. Dr Sabet is a renowned scholar of religion, contemporary political thought and movements in Iran, and the conceptual and historical origins of modernity and its impact on Islam and Middle Eastern societies
Cyrus Rohani is an advisor on social and economic development, and a management and education consultant. He studied at the American University of Beirut and later received an MBA from Sacred Heart University, Connecticut, USA. He worked with Shell-Qatar and then with Qatar Petroleum (oil and gas).
https://saqibooks.com/?post_type=product&p=10902
ARABIC EDITION
(Slightly different organization and content.)
Winds of Change in the Middle East and North Africa: Crisis, Catharsis, and Renewal, ed. Behrooz Sabet and Gamal H. M. Hassan. Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan (رياح التغيير: في الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا). Beirut: Dar al-Saqi, 2018. Pp. 17–24. (Release date: November 1, 2018.) ISBN: 9786140320994.
Contributions by the present writer:
Christopher Buck, “Introduction.” Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan. Pp. 17–24.
Idem, “Chapter 5: Religion of Peace: Islamic Principles of Good Governance.” Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan. Pp. 133–166.
Idem, “Chapter 6: Defining Islamic Social Principles: A Preamble.” Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan. Pp. 167–180.
Idem, “Chapter 7: ‘Be Just’: Quranic Ethics as Benchmarks for Islamic Law.” Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan. Pp. 181–198.
Creating Racial and Religious Diversity
PREVIEW
This downloadable PDF features Google Books’s “Preview” of pp. 1–41 (as well as front matter and back matter).
Edited by Loni Bramson. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books, 2019. (Release date: December 3, 2018.) Cloth ISBN: 978-1-4985-7002-2. Paper ISBN: 978-1-4985-7004-6 (delayed). Elec. ISBN: 978-1-4985-7003-9.
1. The Bahá’í “Pupil of the Eye” Metaphor: Promoting Ideal Race Relations in Jim Crow America. [Pp. 1–41.]
• by Christopher Buck
3. Alain Locke on Race, Religion, and the Bahá’í Faith. [Pp. 91–116.]
• by Christopher Buck [Pp. 91–116.]
ORDER INFORMATION:
Lexington Books
Book Details
Pages: 296 • Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4985-7002-2 • Hardback • December 2018 • $95.00 • (£65.00):
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498570022
978-1-4985-7004-6 • Paperback • September 2021 • $39.99 • (£31.00):
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498570046
978-1-4985-7003-9 • eBook • December 2018 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
https://rowman.com/ISBN/97814985-70039
___________________
THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH AND AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY:
Creating Racial and Religious Diversity
Released December 3, 2018
Edited by Loni Bramson;
Introduction by Loni Bramson;
Contributions by:
• Christopher Buck
• Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis
• Louis Venters
• Mike McMullen
• June Manning Thomas
• Loni Bramson
This book examines the intersection of African American history with that of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States. Since the turn of the twentieth century, Bahá’ís in America have actively worked to establish interracial harmony within its own ranks and to contribute to social justice in the wider community, becoming in the process one of the country’s most diverse religious bodies. Spanning from the start of the twentieth century to the early twenty-first, the essays in this volume examine aspects of the phenomenon of this religion confronting America’s original sin of racism and the significant roles African Americans came to play in the development of the Bahá’í Faith’s culture, identity, administrative structures, and aspirations.
Book Details
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction. [Pp. ix–xxv.]
• by Loni Bramson
1. The Bahá’í “Pupil of the Eye” Metaphor: Promoting Ideal Race Relations in Jim Crow America. [Pp. 1–41.]
• by Christopher Buck
2. “The Most Vital and Challenging Issue”: The Bahá’í Faith’s Efforts to Improve Race Relations, 1922 to 1936. [Pp. 43–89.]
• by Loni Bramson
3. Alain Locke on Race, Religion, and the Bahá’í Faith. [Pp. 91–116.]
• by Christopher Buck [Pp. 91–116.]
4. The Most Challenging Issue Revisited: African American Bahá’í Women and the Advancement of Race and Gender Equality, 1899–1943. [Pp. 117–141.]
• by Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis
5. Hand in Hand: Race, Identity, and Community Development among South Carolina’s Bahá’ís, 1973–1979. [Pp. 143–177.]
• by Louis Venters
6. Race Unity Efforts among American Bahá’ís: Institutionalized Tools and Empirical Evidence. [Pp. 179–224.]
• by Mike McMullen
7. Race, Place, and Clusters: Current Vision and Possible Strategies. [Pp. 225–253.]
• by June Manning Thomas
Conclusion. [Pp. 255–258.]
• by Multiple Authors of the Chapters in This Book
About the Contributors
Lexington Books
Pages: 296 • Trim: 6 1/4 x 9
978-1-4985-7002-2 • Hardback • December 2018 • $95.00 • (£65.00)
978-1-4985-7003-9 • eBook • December 2018 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
Subjects: Religion / Baha'i, Religion / General, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies
About the Contributors
CHRISTOPHER BUCK, PhD (University of Toronto), JD (Cooley Law School), is an independent scholar, Pittsburgh attorney, and online faculty member at the Wilmette Institute. He previously taught at Michigan State University, Central Michigan University, Quincy University, Millikin University, and Carleton University. Dr. Buck publishes broadly in Bahá’í studies, American studies, African American studies, Native American studies, Islamic studies, religious studies, Syriac Studies, and legal studies (constitutional law). His books include: Baha’i Faith: A Quick Reference; God and Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America; Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy; Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Bahá’í Faith; Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i Íqán; Religious Celebrations (co-author); and Generation Y Speaks Out: A Policy Guide (coeditor).
LONI BRAMSON’s doctorate is in Contemporary History and History of Religion from the Université Catholique de Louvain. She has taught at universities in Africa, Europe, and the United States. Currently she is an associate professor at the American Public University System. She teaches courses in modern United States and European history, history of religion, women’s history, African American history, and American Indian history. Her publications include chapters in books, articles, and encyclopedia entries on the Bahá’í Faith, and a human rights monograph. She is an editor for the Journal of International Women’s Studies.
GWENDOLYN ETTER-LEWIS is Professor of English, black world studies, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She earned her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Etter-Lewis teaches a variety of interdisciplinary courses. Most recently she taught a course on black British writers at the Miami University John E. Dolibois European Center in Luxembourg, which included a five-day study tour in London. In 2007, she founded a college readiness program (Project REACH, now known as Dream Keepers) for underrepresented high school students in the greater Cincinnati area. The program was awarded an internal grant ($150,000) in 2015 and has become a university practicum offered each semester. Dr. Etter-Lewis’ interest in women of color and education has taken her to various countries for research: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Lesotho, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya. She is the author of several books and articles including:
• Lights of the Spirit: Historical Portraits of Black Bahá’is in North America. Coedited with Richard Thomas. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 2006.
• Unrelated Kin: Race and Gender in Women’s Personal Narratives. Coedited with Michele Foster. New York: Routledge, 1996.
• My Soul Is My Own: Oral Narratives of African American Women in the Professions. New York: Routledge, 1993.
LOUIS VENTERS, PhD, teaches African and African diaspora history, southern history, and public history at Francis Marion University and is a consultant in the fields of historic preservation and cultural resource management. He is the author or coauthor of several site studies, public history reports, and exhibits, and is a member of the board of directors of Preservation South Carolina and of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission. He is currently working on a sequel to his book, No Jim Crow Church: The Origins of South Carolina’s Bahá’í Community. He blogs on issues related to race, religion, history, and culture at www.louisventers.com.
MIKE MCMULLEN is a professor of Sociology and Cross Cultural Studies at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Houston, Texas. He received his doctorate from Emory University. His first book The Bahá'í: The Religious Construction of a Global Identity. His areas of interest include Bahá’í studies, the sociology of religion, the Middle East, organizational development and change, and conflict resolution and mediation. Recently, he lived for a year in Cairo, Egypt, as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching at the American University in Cairo. He continues to research the American Bahá'í community, and recently published a book entitled The Bahá’ís of America: The Growth and Change of a Religious Movement. He is currently working on a book on the history of conflict resolution in the United States.
JUNE MANNING THOMAS is Mary Frances Berry Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan and specializes in issues related to social equity in city planning and development. Some of her books include Redevelopment and Race: Planning a Finer City in Postwar Detroit (1997, 2013); Planning Progress: Lessons from Shoghi Effendi (1999); and the coedited Mapping Detroit: Evolving Land Use Patterns and Connections (2015). She currently serves on the Regional Baha’i Council of the Midwestern States. Her full biography can be accessed at http://taubmancollege.umi ch.edu/urbanplanning/faculty/directory/june-manning-thomas.
Sample Article posted by "Facts on File"
Excerpt from 2016 "Facts on File" ebook for high school students:
Baha'i Faith: A Quick Reference
Christopher Buck
Copyright 2016 Facts On File. All rights reserved.
BAHA'I CALENDAR
The Baha’i calendar, like all calendrical systems, charts physical time; yet the Baha’i calendar also inspires spiritual progress by associating time with reminders of human nobility. The new year begins on the vernal equinox (which is astronomically determined and falls on March 19, 20, or 21 on the Gregorian calendar); it consists of 19 months, each month of which is comprised of 19 days. The calendar, called the "Wondrous (Badi) Calendar," invests time with spiritual significance by naming weekdays, days of the month, months, years, and cycles of years after godly perfections that can be translated into goodly virtues. In this way the Baha’i calendar transforms time into opportune moments for reflection on matters of the spirit.
For example, Sunday, March 21, 2010, on the Gregorian calendar may be expressed as follows on the Baha’i calendar: the weekday of Beauty (Jamal, i.e., Sunday), the (first) day Splendor (Baha’) in the (first) month of Splendor (Bahá’) in the year (15th) of Affection (Vidad), in the cycle (19 years) of Unity (Vahid) of the first Grand Cycle (361 years) of All Things (Arabic, Kullu Shay’; Persian, Kull-i Shay’).
In the Baha’i calendar, the names represent far more than simple designations of units of time. They connect to the timeless progress of the soul. The calendar was originally created by the Bab, Baha’u’llah's predecessor and herald, who compared the souls of human beings to mirrors. These mirrors, once burnished and polished by spiritual efforts, are potentially reflections of all divine names and attributes of God that are capable of expression in human existence. To the extent that a person is a bearer of one of the names (i.e., qualities or powers) of God, that individual is empowered to express that quality in human action. (Buck and Melton have called this process "theophoric metamorphosis.") Through the progressive spiritualization of all persons—and, indeed, of all things—the Bab wished to transform all of reality into “mirrors” reflecting the perfections represented by these divine names.
In this unique calendric system, each and every unit of time gives pause for spiritual reflection. This is part of the Bab's comprehensive system of precepts and practices, all calculated to keep the believer in a constant spiritual frame of mind. Each of these dynamic names of God highlights a distinctive quality of sterling character and human nobility; they may not only be invoked, but they may be evoked. At every moment, a person, noting the present time, takes time to reflect on a godly perfection that can be translated into a goodly virtue expressed in thought and deed. By doing so, the mirror of the human heart, or soul, may reflect a ray of the spiritual sun.
The Baha’i Nineteen-Day Feast—when the local Baha’i community meets for worship, consultation, and fellowship—takes place at the beginning of each of the 19 Baha’i months. The Feast begins with devotions, is followed by consultation on community affairs, and ends with food and fellowship. The devotional portion has a spiritualizing effect; passages from the Baha’i Writings and prayers are read. Consultation takes place in a forum similar to a town hall meeting, but conducted with civility and respect. The purpose of consultation is to reach consensus. Consensus is not always possible, but a recommendation may be conveyed to the Local Spiritual Assembly (LSA) by way of a majority vote; even individual suggestions may be passed on to the LSA for consideration. Ideally, the LSA's decisions on prior Feast recommendations should be reported back to the community at a later Feast, both as a courtesy and as evidence of the importance the LSA places upon the consultative process. Finally, the community shares food with the goal of refreshing and further uniting the local community.
Further Information
Christopher Buck and J. Gordon Melton, "Baha’i Calendar and Rhythms of Worship," in Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations, ed. J. Gordon Melton (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2011), Vol. I, pp. 79–86.
Christopher Buck, "Nineteen-Day Feast (Baha’i)," in Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations, ed. J. Gordon Melton (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2011), Vol. 2, pp. 641–645.
Gerald Keil, Time and the Bahá’í Era: A Study of the Badí‘ Calendar (Oxford: George Ronald, 2008).
Edward M. Reingold, and Nachum Dershowitz, "The Bahá’í Calendar," in Calendrical Calculations: The Millennium Edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 223–231.
Nader Saiedi, Gate of the Heart: Understanding the Writings of the Báb (Ottawa, Ont.: Association for Baha’i Studies and Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008).
Entry Author: Buck, Christopher.
________________________________
Excerpt from:
Baha'i Faith: A Quick Reference
Christopher Buck
Copyright 2016 Facts On File. All rights reserved.
Summary
One of the world's youngest and fastest-growing religions, the Baha'i Faith's adherents believe there is one infinite God who sent divine messengers—including the founders of all the major world religions—to teach people about God and to help move humanity toward greater truths. Baha'i Faith: A Quick Reference covers all the basic information about the religion in an accessible A–Z format. This useful guide comes complete with full-color photographs, a timeline, and further readings for each entry to aid research.
About the Author(s)
Christopher Buck, Ph.D., is the author of God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America. An independent scholar, attorney, and former university professor, Dr. Buck has published numerous articles, essays, and books in religious studies, Baha'i studies, Islamic studies, African-American studies, and Native American studies.
Table of Contents
Cover
Copyright
Introduction
Entries
‘Abdu’l-Baha
Bab, The
Baha'i Administrative Order
Baha’i calendar
Baha'i community life
Baha'i eschatology
Baha'i ethics
Baha’i houses of worship
Baha'i laws
Baha'i prayer
Baha'i principles of unity
Baha'i Writings
Baha'u'llah
Table of Contents
Cover
Copyright
Introduction
Entries
‘Abdu’l-Baha
Bab, The
Baha'i Administrative Order
Baha’i calendar
Baha'i community life
Baha'i eschatology
Baha'i ethics
Baha’i houses of worship
Baha'i laws
Baha'i prayer
Baha'i principles of unity
Baha'i Writings
Baha'u'llah
Book of Certitude
Declaration of the Bab, Festival of the
God in Baha'i Faith
Hidden Words, The
Naw-Ruz
persecution of Baha’is in contemporary Iran
Ridvan, Festival of
Shoghi Effendi
Shrine of Baha'u'llah
Shrine of the Bab
Twin Birthdays, Festival of the
Universal House of Justice
Support Materials
Timeline
About the Author
Note: The publisher, Educators International Press, went out of business in 2019. All rights reverted back to the author, Christopher Buck. Since there is little prospect that this title will ever be republished, I am now releasing this book, in full, to the interested public.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
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
References
About the Author”
Based on a Michigan State University course, “Religious Myths of America” (IAH-211C) for “Integrated Arts and Humanities” (IAH). This course was designed and taught by Christopher Buck, Ph.D., during the 2003–2004 academic year.
Course syllabus:
http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/syllabi/b/buck/Buck-20040309.pdf
Reviews
• “Interview with Christopher Buck, author of God & Apple Pie.” By Troy Mikanovich, Assistant Editor, and Christopher Buck. Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion. (Published online: September 14, 2018.)
• Reading Religion (“A Publication of the American Academy of Religion). Review of God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America by Emily Goshey (PhD candidate, religious studies, Princeton University): “This overview of religions in America and their relationship with America as both “nation and notion” covers tremendous ground. … God and Apple Pie is a veritable encyclopedia of both primary and secondary sources, but with the benefit of a more digestible presentation and a coherent narrative framework. Although the numerous, lengthy block quotes require some extra work from the reader, the overall effect is to empower the reader to see for themselves exactly how people within a given tradition mythologize and theologize America. That is to say, Buck shows as well as tells. … God and Apple Pie offers a valuable contribution to readers looking to understand why religion matters in America and how different American religious groups have seen their relationship with their country. Any reader, no matter how well versed in religious traditions, would learn a great deal by perusing its pages.” (Published online: August 14, 2017.)
• Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 20.4 (May 2017): pp. 130–131. Review by Donald A. Westbrook (UCLA): “Thus, the volume has clear import for both theological studies and religious studies, and is unique in that it attempts to summarize, systematize, and synthesize the visionary and mythical examples it deftly surveys. … On the whole, this revised and expanded volume is impressive for the breadth and depth it accomplishes and will be of value to researchers, teachers, and especially general readers.” DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2017.20.4.130
• Religion: (Published online: October 26, 2016.) Review by Daniel Liechty PhD, DMin, ACSW (Professor of Social Work, Illinois State University): “Fascinating … The chapter on Mormonism … is itself alone worth the price of the book. Other chapters, on Black Muslim and contemporary Islamic views, as well as Buddhist and Bahá’í visions of America … are, to my knowledge, the very best sources available for summarization of this material. … The reading itself is quite accessible. It could easily function not only as an undergraduate textbook, but also as the main reading for any adult education class or discussion group.” DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2016.1244636.
"Reading Religion" published by the American Academy of Religion
_______________________________________________
Because of the diversity of religious beliefs that are present in the United States, the prospect of a singular religious vision for America and its role on the world stage is difficult to pin down. In God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America, Christopher Buck eschews any simple generalizations and instead chooses to survey eleven distinct religious traditions and the way that they frame the US in their canon and practices. Rather than landing on comfortable, generalized platitudes, Buck’s work offers a glimpse into the different and often conflicting ways that the subject, shadow, and promise of America factors into these different religious traditions. On July 8, 2018, I met with Dr. Buck on Skype to learn more about his work. – Troy Mikanovich, Assistant Editor
TM: Why don’t you start by telling me a little bit about God & Apple Pie? What are you arguing in the book and how did you get there?
CB: God & Apple Pie is based on a course that I designed and taught at Michigan State University in 2003–2004. At the time there wasn’t an argument or a thesis. After I moved to Pennsylvania and I was studying for the bar exam, a senior editor from Praeger sent me an email out of the blue saying, “We saw your syllabus; how would you like to put together a book proposal?” So I had to develop an argument. The two operative hypotheses I have, which are both quite general and I think fairly common-sense are first, “religions remythologize America,” and further, that “religions re-envision America.”
The book is a survey of eleven different religions, selected from among religions that have religious views of America either officially or popularly. In its original publication, the book was titled Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America’s World Role. One of the themes in the book is America’s world role, however that’s defined—or “redefined”—by one of these religious traditions.
TM: In the United States, now as much as ever, some people are interested in having a debate between those who have a particularistic vision of American religion and those who have a pluralistic or inclusive vision of American religion. Was the process of revisiting the first publication of your work in 2009 informed at all by the current religious—or partisan—landscape?
CB: I would say that instead of this debate having informed the writing of God & Apple Pie, the current debate makes it more relevant.
TM: In what ways?
CB: I want to studiously avoid partisan politics, which I see as quite divisive. But on principle, there’s this idea of America’s world role—think of the slogan, “America First”—or, alternatively, “World First”—or some combination of these two catchphrases. President Woodrow Wilson, who was the only US president to have a PhD—a PhD in political science—is often credited by historians for being the first US president to openly define or propose America’s world role. Not that presidents didn’t have an idea of America’s place in world affairs before, but President Woodrow Wilson was arguably the first to articulate this vision of America’s world role so clearly and definitively. But that’s in the secular world. In the religious world, we have this idea of American exceptionalism going all the way back to the origins of America, and the “city upon a hill” idea that Ronald Reagan quoted in three speeches.
TM: He even added “shining”; it was now the “shining city upon a hill.”
CB: Yes—so, is that still the vision of America? And if so, what about America as an exemplar nation, whether religiously or socially? What can America contribute to the world? God & Apple Pie traces the evolution of an increasingly international awareness in the context of America’s world role.
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.)
Libraries Worldwide: Total (print & ebook editions): 1,209. [WorldCat, September 14, 2018.] See http://www.amazon.com/Religious-Myths-Visions-America-Redefined/dp/0313359598.
Reviews
• Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 15.3 (February 2012): 139–141. Review by Irén E. Annus (University of Szeged, Hungary): “This volume may be of interest to readers involved not only in Religious Studies, but also in Political Science, History, Intellectual History, American Studies, and Cultural Studies. . . . In the course of the detailed and well-documented analysis of individual religions, Buck reveals a highly elaborate and in-depth picture of the various beliefs, which is indeed impressive. . . He argues that the original myth and vision of America as a nation was captured by the Protestant notion of manifest destiny. This has been challenged by the other faiths . . . that have transformed the idea of manifest destiny into America’s common destiny. . . The book is overall a fresh and stimulating cultural reading of some of America’s religions and the complex ways in which their followers make sense of and act in the world.” [Electronic Database (full text available): ATLA Religion Database; JSTOR.]
• Journal of American History 98.1 (June 2011): 279–280. Review by Richard Kyle (Tabor College):
“Religious Myths and Visions of America has many strengths. The author has defended his thesis with solid research. He has also made an original contribution to American studies.”
• Multicultural Review 18.4 (Winter 2009): 66. Review by Vladimir F. Wertsman (New York Public Library):
“This interesting, thoroughly researched scholarly study examines how ten minor religions interpreted America’s reality (“nation and notion”) and generated numerous religious myths and visions of America. … [t]his volume is certainly a welcome addition to the topic of racial, cultural, and ethnic studies. … Recommended for comparative ethnic and religion collections.”
In print. (Order from Kalimat Press: http://www.kalimat.com/Locke.html.)
REVIEWS
• Derik Smith. World Order 38.3 (2006/2007): 42–48. (Published in 2008.): ”Christopher Buck’s recent book, Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy, is a welcome addition to the literature on early twentieth-century American and African American culture. But, perhaps more important, Buck’s study is a significant contribution to scholarship on the history of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States. … Any future study of Locke must necessarily make its way through Christopher Buck’s Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy. The scholar forcefully proves his thesis that, in Locke’s thinking, philosophy and religious belief operated as synergistic terms. He has shown that the Bahá’í Faith was integral to Locke’s life and ideology. … Yet, after reading Buck’s work, it is difficult to imagine Locke the philosopher rapt in prayer. Of course, this is not a shortcoming of the book. Rather it is an indication that, while he may have wanted to portray a more pious figure, Buck maintains the vow he made in his introduction to Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy “to constrain any grandiose claims on Locke as a Bahá’í.”
• M. Anthony Fitchue. Journal of African American History 92.1 (Winter 2007): 131–133: “But the jewels in this book are unmistakable. … Clearly, Buck has given voice to the men and women who not only put the Baha’i faith first in their lives, but also left key documents, personal letters, notes, and memoranda related to the life of philosopher Alain LeRoy Locke for future researchers to ponder and use for years to come.”
• William P. Collins. Insights (Library of Congress Professional Association Newsletter) 38.1–3 (Jan–Oct 2006): 10–12: “Both of these books [Lights of the Spirit and Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy] go a long way toward correcting the historians’ failure to note the important role played by the Bahá’í Faith and prominent African-American Bahá’ís in the struggle for racial equality in the United States.”
NOTE
This is the first formal (academic) comparison of the Baha’i Faith and Christianity, notwithstanding a wealth of apologetic literature on this topic.
OPENING PARAGRAPH
Religions enshrine symbols, the stained-glass windows of faith. Sacred symbols present an explorable treasury of religious thought—an information-rich, condensed language of spirituality. Symbols are the prisms of ideals and of other religious concerns. Symbols are susceptible of analysis and are proper objects of study. As symbols encode ideas, they require interpretation to be both understood and meaningfully compared. “We can see that an essential ingredient of the modern study of religion,” writes Ninian Smart, “is symbolic analysis, which tries to throw light on the various themes which can be discovered cross-culturally through the exploration of various worldviews” (1985, 33). Symbolic analysis involves not only the exploration of religious worldviews intrinsically, but comparatively as well. – Paradise & Paradigm, p. 1.
CONCLUSION
Symbols ensoul ideas. In the Abrahamic faiths generally, the most important symbol complex is eschatological imagery, the positive focus of which is Paradise. Visions of the empyreal realm have, historically, had an extraordinary power to inspire. Paradise is iconoplastic. The beatific panorama, the symbolic landscape, the ideals and imagery that inform Paradise in the religious imagination are grounded in root metaphors and are animated by key scenarios reflecting a theology of activity, in a dynamic interplay of belief and behavior, myth and ritual, within the religious grasp of totality.
Paradise allegorizes ideals. These ideals are projected onto heaven. There, in the wish-images of the communal dream, ideals are reified and beatified. In a Bergeresque process of paradisical world building, Heaven functions as the impressionistic blueprint of the ideal faith-community. Paradise imagery is then dislocated from the speculative and refocused on Earth. When once the heart is transformed and society reformed, Paradise is realized. In the intersection of eschatology and ethics, in the interplay of ideas and imagery, and as a function of an organizing principle, an overarching paradigm, Paradise becomes utopia. – Paradise & Paradigm, p. 329.
REVIEWS
• Kathleen McVey. International Journal of Middle East Studies 35.3 (Aug. 2003): 494–496.
Will C. van den Hoonaard. Studies in Religion. Sciences Religieuses 31.3–4 (2002): 501–502.
• Brannon Wheeler. Religious Studies Review 28.3 (July 2002): 293:
“Buck’s theoretically innovative analysis of ‘paradigmatic differences’ in East Syrian (or Nestorian) Christianity and the early Baha’i faith is a fascinating and intellectually challenging book. … In all, a forceful and clearly argued book which should be read by scholars interested in questions of religious symbolism and the comparative method.”
• Andrew Rippin. University of Toronto Quarterly 71.1 (Winter 2001/2002): 170–172.
• William Collins. Baha’i Studies Review 10 (2001/2002): 157–160.
• Edward G. Farrugia, S.J. Orientalia Christiana Periodica 66.2 (2000): 480–483.
• John Renard. Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 34.2 (2000): 212–213.
• Daniel Grolin. H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences (July 2000).
Harold Coward. (Unpublished) (2000).
POST-PUBLICATION SCHOLARSHIP
Paola Orsatti, “Syro-Persian Formulas In Poetic Form In Baptism Liturgy,” Persian Origins – Early Judaeo-Persian and the Emergence of New Persian. Collected Papers of the Symposium, Göttingen 1999. Edited by Ludwig Paul (Iranica Vol. 6, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003), pp. 147–176.
LIBRARIES WORLDWIDE
Total (print & ebook editions): 1,886. [WorldCat, July 11, 2019.] Also available as a Nook Book.
Posted with permission of author and publisher, Kalimát Press. Thesis topic originally recommended by Todd Lawson. Scanned by Duane Troxel. Proofread by Jonah Winters and Lynn Jaluvka, with additional proofing by Bobbi Lyons. Formatted for the web by Jonah Winters. Corrections by Shahrokh Monjazeb. Critically read, from cover-to-cover, with recommendations, including several emendations, by Sohrab Kourosh. Please support this online re-printing by ordering a copy of the book.
See also the following published, academic reviews of Symbol & Secret:
• Moojan Momen, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series) 7.2 (July 1997): 290–91. “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.”
• Frank Lewis, Baha’i Studies Review 6 (1996): 76–91 [16-page extended review]. “Buck’s analysis of Bahaullah’s [sic: Baha’u’llah’s] appeal to Koran 33:44 promising attainment to the divine Presence on the Day of Resurrection (itself allegorically interpreted by Bahaullah as the advent day of a new prophet), as a counter-argument to the nearby verse (33:40) about the ‘Seal of the Prophets’ is simply brilliant.” … “Symbol and Secret is a ground-breaking study, setting a standard for and describing the agenda of the exegesis of Bahai texts for some time to come.”
• John Hatcher, Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Bulletin 30.1 (July 1996): 70–71. “Buck offers insightful analysis of Bahā’u’llāh’s exegetical technique.”
• Jonah Winters, Iranian Studies 32.1 (Winter 1999): 141–145. “Buck has undertaken a project that is to be commended on many fronts. This study is daring in that it is the first extended analysis of the Islamic context and content of Baha’ullah’s thought and writings. The rigor with which Buck has treated his topics is a model for anyone engaging in textual scholarship: his research is broad, his attention to detail thorough, and his coverage of the topics exhaustive. Finally, many of his conclusions, the light he throws on the Íqán and its content, and in places even his methods are frankly brilliant.” DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00210869908701948.
• Jonah Winters, Journal of Bahá’í Studies 9.3 (September 1999): 69–75. “Christopher Buck’s Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i Íqán (Studies in the Bábí and Bahá’í Religions, volume 7) can be seen as a work of genius: it is ground-breaking—daring, innovative, and even brilliant. … As Symbol and Secret is the first work written in English to examine Bahá’í scripture and hermeneutics in any analytical depth, Buck’s work can without exaggeration be declared seminal.
[…] First, this study is daring in that it is the first extended analysis of the Islamic context and content of Bahá’u’lláh’s thought and writings. Buck’s tangential self-defense on pages 260–261 indicates that he, too, is well aware of the daringness of the topic and of his academic approach to it. Second, the rigour with which Buck has treated his topics is a model for anyone engaging in textual scholarship: his research is broad, his attention to detail thorough, and his coverage of the topics exhaustive. Finally, many of his conclusions, the light he throws on the Íqán and its content, and in places even his methods are frankly brilliant.” DOI: https://doi.org/10.31581/jbs-9.3(1999).
From the "Introduction":
Michigan State University’s Service Learning Writing Project has become a combination of both service and learning throughout the 2000–2001 academic year, in association with two non-profit advocacy organizations: Michigan Nonprofit Association and Michigan’s Children. Students in Dr. David Stowe’s and Dr. Christopher Buck’s sections of “Writing: Public Life in America” (ATL 135) were given the opportunity to write issue briefs, covering concerns of their generation, Generation Y.
Generation Y Speaks Out: A Policy Guide is the result of hard work and dedication, and is researched and written entirely by MSU students. The following compilation of issue briefs began as an unknown. The final outcome was a mystery to all partners, yet a vision was in mind.
What exactly is an issue brief? What components does it contain? What is the final format? All of these are questions that were asked over and over to make this project’s vision a reality. An issue brief is exactly what its name describes - a brief summary of a current issue relevant to society.
In this particular case, it is an issue that is of concern to Generation Y. Generation Y is the 18–24 age group into which participating students of this project fall. While the views of this generation have been criticized as either being radical, or not having any views at all, the results may be surprising. These results are the end product of numerous focus groups, surveys, and research of the opinions of students and friends of students at Michigan State University.
In: Menschenrechte in der Islamischen Republik Iran (Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran), ed. Anja Pistor-Hatam (Würzburg, Germany: Ergon-Verlag, 2021). Pp. 161–188. (Published on May 5, 2021.)
Description (German, with English translation):
Beschreibung
Die Islamische Republik Iran ist an den gewohnheitsrechtlichen Inhalt der Allgemeinen Erklärung der Menschenrechte gebunden. In der Verfassung Irans gelten Gleichheitsrechte jedoch nur für Musliminnen und Muslime. Auch wird der Schutz durch das Gesetz in der Verfassung den Bürgerinnen und Bürgern der Islamischen Republik ausschließlich im Rahmen der zwölferschiitischen Auslegung des islamischen Rechts gewährt. Demzufolge gibt es unterschiedliche Rechte für unterschiedliche Menschen, je nach Geschlechts- und Religionszugehörigkeit. Wie man in Iran auf dieser Grundlage die universellen Menschenrechten diskutiert und wie man mit diesen umgeht, ist Gegenstand der Beiträge dieses Sammelbandes.
Description
The Islamic Republic of Iran is bound by the customary content of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In Iran's constitution, however, equality rights apply only to Muslims. Also, protection under the law in the constitution is granted to citizens of the Islamic Republic only within the framework of the Twelver Shiite interpretation of Islamic law. Accordingly, there are different rights for different people depending on their gender and religious affiliation. How universal human rights are discussed and dealt with in Iran on this basis is the subject of the contributions to this anthology. Content:
Anja Pistor-Hatam: Einleitung/Introduction /
Kerstin von der Decken: Völkerrechtliche Bindungen des Iran an die Menschenrechte: UN-Menschenrechts-verträge, universelles Völkergewohnheitsrecht und OIC-Menschenrechtsdokumente /
Arash Sarkohi: Islamischer Menschenrechtsdiskurs in Iran - Chance oder Widerspruch /
Constance Arminjon Hachem: Human Rights in Twelver Shiite Islam: Iranian Clerics' Debate on Two Legal Traditions /
Ladan Rahbari: Violence Against Women in Contemporary Iran: Between State, Society and Domestic Sphere /
Arash Guitoo: Sexuelle Minderheiten in der Islamischen Republik Iran /
Christopher Buck: The "Baha'i Question" in Iran: Influence of International Law on "Islamic Law" /
Anja Pistor-Hatam: "Human Dignity/karâmat": On the Question of a Possible Consensus in the Human Rights Debate through the Example of the Islamic Republic of Iran /
Anja Pistor-Hatam: Freedom of Religion in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the "Right to Have Rights" /
Mohsen Kadivar: Plädoyer für die Abschaffung der Bestrafung von Apostasie im Islam
About the Editor:
Anja Prof. Dr. Pistor-Hatam
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Seminar für Orientalistik
Dr Anja Pistor-Hatam is professor of Islamic Studies at Kiel University. After studying Islamic Studies and History at Freiburg University, where she earned her doctorate in 1992, she habilitated at Heidelberg University in 1999. Prof. Pistor-Hatam has held various positions at Kiel University (Dean of the Department of Philosophy, Speaker of the university's senate and Vice-President for Student Affairs, Internationalization, and Diversity). She is a member of the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg and of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Scientific Advisory Board for the Institute of Iranian Studies.
https://www.nomos-shop.de/ergon/titel/menschenrechte-in-der-islamischen-republik-iran-id-87893/
Arabic translation of: Buck, Christopher. “Kahlil Gibran.” American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies. Supplement XX. Edited by Jay Parini. Farmington Hills, MI: Scribner’s Reference/The Gale Group, 2010. Pp. 113–129. Translated from English into Arabic by Mr. Gamal Hassan.
جبران خلیل جبران
( (المولود 1883 ، والمتوفي 1931
مقالة بقلم كریستوفر باك
كان خلیل جبران، الكاتب والفنان العربيّ الأصل والأمریكيّ الجنسیة، صاحب مؤلّفات أوسع
الكتب انتشارا، وھي أعمال لم تنل بعد من ترحیب النقاد ما نالتھ من إعجاب جمھور القرّاء.
ولاشك في أن أعمال جبران العربیة كانت أعمالا محوریّة فیما یتعلّق بتطوّر الأدب العربيّ في
القرن العشرین، من حیث أن الرومانسیة بدأت بجبران، تلك الشخصیّة الرئیسیة في حركة المھجر
التي قام بھا الأدباء الذین ھاجروا إلى الغرب واتخذوا من مدینة نیویورك مركزا لھم. كما أنھ لیس
ھناك من شك في أن رائعة جبران – ألا وھو كتاب "النبيّ" (عام 1923 )، وھو مؤلّف في الحكم
والأمثال صغیر الحجم یقدّم للقارئ أقوالا حكیمة تقارب النبوءات في أسلوبھا – ھو عمل ینتمي
إلى الأدب العالمي نظرا لنیلھ شھرة وشغفا من القراء في جمیع أنحاء المعمورة. أما عن كونھ
أدیبا أمریكیا فإن جبرن لم ینل سوى النذ ر الیسیر من اھتمام نقاد الأدب الأمریكیین. وبما أن كتاب
"النبيّ" ما زال في انتظار الاعتراف بھ كعمل كلاسیكيّ أمریكي، وكاتبھ لم یُقبَل بعد في زمرة
الأدباء الأمریكیین، یكون إدراج جبران في موسوعة المؤلّفین الأمریكیین أمراً یلزمھ ما یبررّه
لدى أوساط النقد الأدبيّ.
This article was highly recommended by the late Suheil Bushrui, BA, PhD, Hon LHD (d. 2015), who wrote: “Not only did Dr. Buck contribute an excellent entry on Gibran, he also provided overwhelming support for Gibran’s inclusion in the American literary canon.” (See Dr. Bushrui’s “Letter of Reference,” CV.)
Shortly before he passed away at the age of 85, Dr. Bushrui planned to have this article translated into Arabic for the Arabic-speaking readers. Dr. Bushrui—as (former) Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace, University of Maryland—was recognized as “the world’s foremost authority on the works of Lebanese poet, artist and writer Kahlil Gibran.”
https://burhaninstitute.org/…/Arabic-Translation-of-Kahlil-…
FRENCH TRANSLATION
Christopher Buck, “Un auteur américain: Khalil Gibran (Bécharré 29, 6 janvier 1883—New York, 10 avril 1931),” trans. Philippe Maryssael, Khalil Gibran—Le Fol: Ses Paraboles et Poèmes. Traduit de l’anglais: The Madman: His Parables and Poems (Arlon, Belgium: DEMDEL Éditions, 2018). Pp. lxv–ciii. ISBN 978-2-87549-265-4. https://www.demdel-editions.com/…/241-87549-265-98728754926…
Available on Academia:
https://www.academia.edu/…/Christopher_Buck_Un_auteur_am%C3…
ENGLISH ORIGINAL:
Christopher Buck, “Kahlil Gibran.” American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies. Supplement XX. Edited by Jay Parini. Farmington Hills, MI: Scribner’s Reference/The Gale Group, 2010. Pp. 113–129. (Available in the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) database.)
Available on Academia:
https://www.academia.edu/…/_Kahlil_Gibran._American_Writers…
ABSTRACT
KAHLIL GIBRAN
(1883–1931)
Christopher Buck
The Arab American author and artist Kahlil Gibran was a best-selling writer whose work has yet to receive critical acclaim equal to his popular appeal. There is no question that Gibran’s work in Arabic was central to the development of twentieth-century Arabic literature—in that Arab Romanticism begins with Gibran, the pivotal figure in the Mahjar movement of émigré Arab writers centered in New York. There is also no question that Kahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet (1923)—a small volume of aphorisms (wise sayings) offering pithy wisdom of an almost prophetic quality—belongs to world literature, for it is known and loved the world over. As an American man of letters, however, Gibran has received scant attention by American literary critics. Since The Prophet has yet to be widely recognized as an American classic, and the author yet to be fully accepted as an American writer, Gibran’s inclusion in the American Writers series requires some justification.
Eminent scholars including Irfan Shahid (professor emeritus at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.) and Suheil Bushrui (professor emeritus and current director of the Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace at the University of Maryland at College Park) have made the case for Gibran’s recognition as an American writer worthy of note. According to Bushrui, America is entitled to claim Gibran as one of its sons (even if not a native son) as fully and as authentically as his native Lebanon can lay such claim: “In his work, he became not only Gibran of Lebanon, but Gibran of America, indeed Gibran the voice of global consciousness” (1996, p. 10). After all, the young Gibran spent only the first twelve years of his life in Bsharri (a village near the famous “Cedars of God”), where he was born in 1883, before emigrating with his family to the United States. Apart from a two-year study in Paris and two brief return visits to Lebanon, Gibran spent his entire adult life—the last two-thirds of his life, in fact—entirely on American soil, dying in New York at the age of forty-eight. In The Prophet, the city of Orphalese is often said to represent America (or New York).
Shahid underscores the fact The Prophet was America’s best-selling book of the twentieth century, not counting the Bible, and that Gibran outsold all other American poets, from Walt Whitman to Robert Frost. According to Gibran’s New York publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, The Prophet has sold more than ten million copies. The book’s success was due entirely to its own appeal, as Knopf never promoted it. Strangely, Gibran is arguably America’s best-loved prose-poet, whose market appeal continues despite critical indifference. It’s true that Gibran had what might be called a double psyche, and inhabited two thought-worlds at once. As an Arab American, Gibran wrote in two languages: English and Arabic. Arabic was his mother tongue, and English his second language. As an accomplished man of letters of considerable influence in the Middle East, Gibran inspired a literary renaissance in the Arab world, such that all modern Arabic poetry bears the marks of Gibran’s. Yet Gibran’s work has had little influence in American letters, despite its enormous popular appeal. Notwithstanding, Shahid thinks that Gibran has not been fairly treated as an American writer. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that, categorically, The Prophet exists in splendid isolation, severed from its Arabic cultural roots. And so The Prophet will have to be evaluated, or reevaluated, on its own literary merits and for its singular contribution to the American literary heritage.
“Chapter 5: Religion of Peace: Islamic Principles of Good Governance.” Winds of Change in the Middle East and North Africa: Crisis, Catharsis, and Renewal, ed. Behrooz Sabet and Gamal Hassan. Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan (رياح التغيير: في الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا). Beirut: Dar al-Saqi, 2018. Pp. 133–166. (Release date: November 1, 2018.) ISBN: 9786140320994.
English original: Buck, Christopher. “Chapter 5: Religion of Peace: Islamic Principles of Good Governance.” Winds of Change: The Challenge of Modernity in the Middle East and North Africa, ed. Cyrus Rohani and Behrooz Sabet. London: Saqi Books, 2019. (Forthcoming. Release date: November 4, 2019.)
“Chapter 6: Defining Islamic Social Principles: A Preamble.” Winds of Change in the Middle East and North Africa: Crisis, Catharsis, and Renewal, ed. Behrooz Sabet and Gamal Hassan. Arabic translation of English original by Gamal Hassan (رياح التغيير: في الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا). Beirut: Dar al-Saqi, 2018. Pp. 167–180. (Release date: November 1, 2018.) ISBN: 9786140320994.
English original: Buck, Christopher. “Chapter 6: Defining Islamic Social Principles: A Preamble.” Winds of Change: The Challenge of Modernity in the Middle East and North Africa, ed. Cyrus Rohani and Behrooz Sabet. London: Saqi Books, 2019. (Forthcoming. Release date: November 4, 2019.)
Creating Racial and Religious Diversity
PREVIEW
This downloadable PDF features Google Books’s “Preview” of pp. 1–41 (as well as front matter and back matter).
Edited by Loni Bramson. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books, 2019. (Release date: December 3, 2018.) Cloth ISBN: 978-1-4985-7002-2. Paper ISBN: 978-1-4985-7004-6 (delayed). Elec. ISBN: 978-1-4985-7003-9.
1. The Bahá’í “Pupil of the Eye” Metaphor: Promoting Ideal Race Relations in Jim Crow America. [Pp. 1–41.]
• by Christopher Buck
3. Alain Locke on Race, Religion, and the Bahá’í Faith. [Pp. 91–116.]
• by Christopher Buck [Pp. 91–116.]
ORDER INFORMATION:
Lexington Books
Book Details
Pages: 296 • Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4985-7002-2 • Hardback • December 2018 • $95.00 • (£65.00):
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498570022
978-1-4985-7004-6 • Paperback • September 2021 • $39.99 • (£31.00):
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498570046
978-1-4985-7003-9 • eBook • December 2018 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
https://rowman.com/ISBN/97814985-70039
___________________
THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH AND AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY:
Creating Racial and Religious Diversity
Released December 3, 2018
Edited by Loni Bramson;
Introduction by Loni Bramson;
Contributions by:
• Christopher Buck
• Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis
• Louis Venters
• Mike McMullen
• June Manning Thomas
• Loni Bramson
This book examines the intersection of African American history with that of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States. Since the turn of the twentieth century, Bahá’ís in America have actively worked to establish interracial harmony within its own ranks and to contribute to social justice in the wider community, becoming in the process one of the country’s most diverse religious bodies. Spanning from the start of the twentieth century to the early twenty-first, the essays in this volume examine aspects of the phenomenon of this religion confronting America’s original sin of racism and the significant roles African Americans came to play in the development of the Bahá’í Faith’s culture, identity, administrative structures, and aspirations.
Book Details
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction. [Pp. ix–xxv.]
• by Loni Bramson
1. The Bahá’í “Pupil of the Eye” Metaphor: Promoting Ideal Race Relations in Jim Crow America. [Pp. 1–41.]
• by Christopher Buck
2. “The Most Vital and Challenging Issue”: The Bahá’í Faith’s Efforts to Improve Race Relations, 1922 to 1936. [Pp. 43–89.]
• by Loni Bramson
3. Alain Locke on Race, Religion, and the Bahá’í Faith. [Pp. 91–116.]
• by Christopher Buck [Pp. 91–116.]
4. The Most Challenging Issue Revisited: African American Bahá’í Women and the Advancement of Race and Gender Equality, 1899–1943. [Pp. 117–141.]
• by Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis
5. Hand in Hand: Race, Identity, and Community Development among South Carolina’s Bahá’ís, 1973–1979. [Pp. 143–177.]
• by Louis Venters
6. Race Unity Efforts among American Bahá’ís: Institutionalized Tools and Empirical Evidence. [Pp. 179–224.]
• by Mike McMullen
7. Race, Place, and Clusters: Current Vision and Possible Strategies. [Pp. 225–253.]
• by June Manning Thomas
Conclusion. [Pp. 255–258.]
• by Multiple Authors of the Chapters in This Book
About the Contributors
Lexington Books
Pages: 296 • Trim: 6 1/4 x 9
978-1-4985-7002-2 • Hardback • December 2018 • $95.00 • (£65.00)
978-1-4985-7003-9 • eBook • December 2018 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
Subjects: Religion / Baha'i, Religion / General, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies
About the Contributors
CHRISTOPHER BUCK, PhD (University of Toronto), JD (Cooley Law School), is an independent scholar, Pittsburgh attorney, and online faculty member at the Wilmette Institute. He previously taught at Michigan State University, Central Michigan University, Quincy University, Millikin University, and Carleton University. Dr. Buck publishes broadly in Bahá’í studies, American studies, African American studies, Native American studies, Islamic studies, religious studies, Syriac Studies, and legal studies (constitutional law). His books include: Baha’i Faith: A Quick Reference; God and Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America; Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy; Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Bahá’í Faith; Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i Íqán; Religious Celebrations (co-author); and Generation Y Speaks Out: A Policy Guide (coeditor).
LONI BRAMSON’s doctorate is in Contemporary History and History of Religion from the Université Catholique de Louvain. She has taught at universities in Africa, Europe, and the United States. Currently she is an associate professor at the American Public University System. She teaches courses in modern United States and European history, history of religion, women’s history, African American history, and American Indian history. Her publications include chapters in books, articles, and encyclopedia entries on the Bahá’í Faith, and a human rights monograph. She is an editor for the Journal of International Women’s Studies.
GWENDOLYN ETTER-LEWIS is Professor of English, black world studies, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She earned her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Etter-Lewis teaches a variety of interdisciplinary courses. Most recently she taught a course on black British writers at the Miami University John E. Dolibois European Center in Luxembourg, which included a five-day study tour in London. In 2007, she founded a college readiness program (Project REACH, now known as Dream Keepers) for underrepresented high school students in the greater Cincinnati area. The program was awarded an internal grant ($150,000) in 2015 and has become a university practicum offered each semester. Dr. Etter-Lewis’ interest in women of color and education has taken her to various countries for research: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Lesotho, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya. She is the author of several books and articles including:
• Lights of the Spirit: Historical Portraits of Black Bahá’is in North America. Coedited with Richard Thomas. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 2006.
• Unrelated Kin: Race and Gender in Women’s Personal Narratives. Coedited with Michele Foster. New York: Routledge, 1996.
• My Soul Is My Own: Oral Narratives of African American Women in the Professions. New York: Routledge, 1993.
LOUIS VENTERS, PhD, teaches African and African diaspora history, southern history, and public history at Francis Marion University and is a consultant in the fields of historic preservation and cultural resource management. He is the author or coauthor of several site studies, public history reports, and exhibits, and is a member of the board of directors of Preservation South Carolina and of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission. He is currently working on a sequel to his book, No Jim Crow Church: The Origins of South Carolina’s Bahá’í Community. He blogs on issues related to race, religion, history, and culture at www.louisventers.com.
MIKE MCMULLEN is a professor of Sociology and Cross Cultural Studies at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Houston, Texas. He received his doctorate from Emory University. His first book The Bahá'í: The Religious Construction of a Global Identity. His areas of interest include Bahá’í studies, the sociology of religion, the Middle East, organizational development and change, and conflict resolution and mediation. Recently, he lived for a year in Cairo, Egypt, as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching at the American University in Cairo. He continues to research the American Bahá'í community, and recently published a book entitled The Bahá’ís of America: The Growth and Change of a Religious Movement. He is currently working on a book on the history of conflict resolution in the United States.
JUNE MANNING THOMAS is Mary Frances Berry Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan and specializes in issues related to social equity in city planning and development. Some of her books include Redevelopment and Race: Planning a Finer City in Postwar Detroit (1997, 2013); Planning Progress: Lessons from Shoghi Effendi (1999); and the coedited Mapping Detroit: Evolving Land Use Patterns and Connections (2015). She currently serves on the Regional Baha’i Council of the Midwestern States. Her full biography can be accessed at http://taubmancollege.umi ch.edu/urbanplanning/faculty/directory/june-manning-thomas.
Creating Racial and Religious Diversity
PREVIEW
This downloadable PDF features Google Books’s “Preview” of pp. 1–41 (as well as front matter and back matter).
Edited by Loni Bramson. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books, 2019. (Release date: December 3, 2018.) Cloth ISBN: 978-1-4985-7002-2. Paper ISBN: 978-1-4985-7004-6 (delayed). Elec. ISBN: 978-1-4985-7003-9.
1. The Bahá’í “Pupil of the Eye” Metaphor: Promoting Ideal Race Relations in Jim Crow America. [Pp. 1–41.]
• by Christopher Buck
3. Alain Locke on Race, Religion, and the Bahá’í Faith. [Pp. 91–116.]
• by Christopher Buck [Pp. 91–116.]
ORDER INFORMATION:
Lexington Books
Book Details
Pages: 296 • Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4985-7002-2 • Hardback • December 2018 • $95.00 • (£65.00):
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498570022
978-1-4985-7004-6 • Paperback • September 2021 • $39.99 • (£31.00):
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498570046
978-1-4985-7003-9 • eBook • December 2018 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
https://rowman.com/ISBN/97814985-70039
___________________
THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH AND AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY:
Creating Racial and Religious Diversity
Released December 3, 2018
Edited by Loni Bramson;
Introduction by Loni Bramson;
Contributions by:
• Christopher Buck
• Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis
• Louis Venters
• Mike McMullen
• June Manning Thomas
• Loni Bramson
This book examines the intersection of African American history with that of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States. Since the turn of the twentieth century, Bahá’ís in America have actively worked to establish interracial harmony within its own ranks and to contribute to social justice in the wider community, becoming in the process one of the country’s most diverse religious bodies. Spanning from the start of the twentieth century to the early twenty-first, the essays in this volume examine aspects of the phenomenon of this religion confronting America’s original sin of racism and the significant roles African Americans came to play in the development of the Bahá’í Faith’s culture, identity, administrative structures, and aspirations.
Book Details
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction. [Pp. ix–xxv.]
• by Loni Bramson
1. The Bahá’í “Pupil of the Eye” Metaphor: Promoting Ideal Race Relations in Jim Crow America. [Pp. 1–41.]
• by Christopher Buck
2. “The Most Vital and Challenging Issue”: The Bahá’í Faith’s Efforts to Improve Race Relations, 1922 to 1936. [Pp. 43–89.]
• by Loni Bramson
3. Alain Locke on Race, Religion, and the Bahá’í Faith. [Pp. 91–116.]
• by Christopher Buck [Pp. 91–116.]
4. The Most Challenging Issue Revisited: African American Bahá’í Women and the Advancement of Race and Gender Equality, 1899–1943. [Pp. 117–141.]
• by Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis
5. Hand in Hand: Race, Identity, and Community Development among South Carolina’s Bahá’ís, 1973–1979. [Pp. 143–177.]
• by Louis Venters
6. Race Unity Efforts among American Bahá’ís: Institutionalized Tools and Empirical Evidence. [Pp. 179–224.]
• by Mike McMullen
7. Race, Place, and Clusters: Current Vision and Possible Strategies. [Pp. 225–253.]
• by June Manning Thomas
Conclusion. [Pp. 255–258.]
• by Multiple Authors of the Chapters in This Book
About the Contributors
Lexington Books
Pages: 296 • Trim: 6 1/4 x 9
978-1-4985-7002-2 • Hardback • December 2018 • $95.00 • (£65.00)
978-1-4985-7003-9 • eBook • December 2018 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
Subjects: Religion / Baha'i, Religion / General, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies
About the Contributors
CHRISTOPHER BUCK, PhD (University of Toronto), JD (Cooley Law School), is an independent scholar, Pittsburgh attorney, and online faculty member at the Wilmette Institute. He previously taught at Michigan State University, Central Michigan University, Quincy University, Millikin University, and Carleton University. Dr. Buck publishes broadly in Bahá’í studies, American studies, African American studies, Native American studies, Islamic studies, religious studies, Syriac Studies, and legal studies (constitutional law). His books include: Baha’i Faith: A Quick Reference; God and Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America; Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy; Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Bahá’í Faith; Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i Íqán; Religious Celebrations (co-author); and Generation Y Speaks Out: A Policy Guide (coeditor).
LONI BRAMSON’s doctorate is in Contemporary History and History of Religion from the Université Catholique de Louvain. She has taught at universities in Africa, Europe, and the United States. Currently she is an associate professor at the American Public University System. She teaches courses in modern United States and European history, history of religion, women’s history, African American history, and American Indian history. Her publications include chapters in books, articles, and encyclopedia entries on the Bahá’í Faith, and a human rights monograph. She is an editor for the Journal of International Women’s Studies.
GWENDOLYN ETTER-LEWIS is Professor of English, black world studies, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She earned her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Etter-Lewis teaches a variety of interdisciplinary courses. Most recently she taught a course on black British writers at the Miami University John E. Dolibois European Center in Luxembourg, which included a five-day study tour in London. In 2007, she founded a college readiness program (Project REACH, now known as Dream Keepers) for underrepresented high school students in the greater Cincinnati area. The program was awarded an internal grant ($150,000) in 2015 and has become a university practicum offered each semester. Dr. Etter-Lewis’ interest in women of color and education has taken her to various countries for research: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Lesotho, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya. She is the author of several books and articles including:
• Lights of the Spirit: Historical Portraits of Black Bahá’is in North America. Coedited with Richard Thomas. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 2006.
• Unrelated Kin: Race and Gender in Women’s Personal Narratives. Coedited with Michele Foster. New York: Routledge, 1996.
• My Soul Is My Own: Oral Narratives of African American Women in the Professions. New York: Routledge, 1993.
LOUIS VENTERS, PhD, teaches African and African diaspora history, southern history, and public history at Francis Marion University and is a consultant in the fields of historic preservation and cultural resource management. He is the author or coauthor of several site studies, public history reports, and exhibits, and is a member of the board of directors of Preservation South Carolina and of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission. He is currently working on a sequel to his book, No Jim Crow Church: The Origins of South Carolina’s Bahá’í Community. He blogs on issues related to race, religion, history, and culture at www.louisventers.com.
MIKE MCMULLEN is a professor of Sociology and Cross Cultural Studies at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Houston, Texas. He received his doctorate from Emory University. His first book The Bahá'í: The Religious Construction of a Global Identity. His areas of interest include Bahá’í studies, the sociology of religion, the Middle East, organizational development and change, and conflict resolution and mediation. Recently, he lived for a year in Cairo, Egypt, as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching at the American University in Cairo. He continues to research the American Bahá'í community, and recently published a book entitled The Bahá’ís of America: The Growth and Change of a Religious Movement. He is currently working on a book on the history of conflict resolution in the United States.
JUNE MANNING THOMAS is Mary Frances Berry Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan and specializes in issues related to social equity in city planning and development. Some of her books include Redevelopment and Race: Planning a Finer City in Postwar Detroit (1997, 2013); Planning Progress: Lessons from Shoghi Effendi (1999); and the coedited Mapping Detroit: Evolving Land Use Patterns and Connections (2015). She currently serves on the Regional Baha’i Council of the Midwestern States. Her full biography can be accessed at http://taubmancollege.umi ch.edu/urbanplanning/faculty/directory/june-manning-thomas.
Christopher Buck, “Political Philosophy: Alain Locke’s Philosophy of Democracy.” Studies in Bahá’i Philosophy: Selected Articles. Edited by Mikhail Sergeev (Swampscott, MA: M-Graphics Publishing, 2018). (Released August 1, 2018.) ISBN-10: 1940220904. ISBN-13: 978-1940220901.
Book available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Studies-Bahai-Philosophy-Selected-Articles/dp/1940220904
Previously published as: Christopher Buck, “Alain Locke’s Philosophy of Democracy.” Studies in Baha’i Philosophy 4 (2015): 24–45.
ABSTRACT
Alain Locke has been acknowledged as “the most influential African American intellectual born between W. E. B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King, Jr.” This paper presents Alain Locke’s philosophy of democracy, in nine dimensions. Baha’i values synergized Locke’s philosophy of democracy or, at the very least, now serve as a useful heuristic for understanding and appreciating certain aspects of Locke’s philosophy of democracy. Locke’s grand (though not systematic) theory of democracy sequenced local, moral, political, economic, and cultural stages of democracy as they arced through history, with racial, social, spiritual, and world democracy completing the trajectory. Adjunct notions of natural, practical, progressive, creative, intellectual, equalitarian democracy crystallized the paradigm.
EXCERPT
A particularly poignant poem is “Stumptown Attends the Picture Show,” which, as the poet indicates right after the title, is “on the first attempt at desegregation in Canton, Georgia” (AH, p. 14):
______________
Word has come and Martha the ticket girl
stands behind the candy counter
eating popcorn and smoking Salems.
Beside her the projectionist,
having canned the Vivien Leigh
and come downstairs to watch the real show,
leans folding chairs against the theater doors,
guards his glass counter
like saloon keepers in his Westerns
guard the mirrors hung above their bars.
Outside, good old boys line the sidewalk,
string chain between parking meters
in front of the Canton Theater,
dig in like Rebs in a Kennesaw trench.
From the street, policeman and sheriff’s deputies
address their threats to proper names,
try to maintain any stability.
Someone has already radioed the State Boys.
Through the glass door Martha watches
the moon slide over the Jones Mercantile.
In front of Landers’ Drugstore
a streetlight flickers like a magic lantern,
but Martha cannot follow the plot,
neither can the projectionist.
Only one thing is certain:
elements from different worlds are converging,
spinning toward confrontation,
and the State Boys are winding down some country road,
moving in a cloud of dust towards the theater marquee.
______________
This poem never attracted the attention and critical claim that it rightly deserves. It is a masterpiece of understatement, an almost casual look at profound social change in progress, to which the ticket girl and projectionist are oblivious (“but Martha cannot follow the plot, / neither can the projectionist”).
In an almost documentary fashion, “Stumptown Attends the Picture Show” is a showpiece exemplifying the prevailing social “reptile brain” among many white Americans in the Deep South, so steeped as it was in racial prejudice. It is almost a perfect poem as a snapshot of that time and place, where Canton, Georgia, represents America at large.
The actual event took place on Monday, August 11, 1964, as four young African American men attempted to integrate the Canton Theater on Main Street. “Stumptown” is the nickname for an African American section of Canton, where David Bottoms grew up. We are never shown the attempted desegregation of the local movie theater (presumably by unnamed African Americans from Stumptown), but only the prelude (which could well have been the result of a wild rumor).
The siege mentality is strikingly depicted, and the poem’s ending—“Only one thing is certain: / elements from different worlds are converging, / spinning toward confrontation”— is as close as Bottoms ever comes to outright social commentary. …
Available in the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) database:
Buck, Christopher. “Ninian Smart (1927–2001).” British Writers, Supplement XXIV. Ed. Jay Parini. Farmington Hills, MI: Charles Scribner’s Sons/The Gale Group, 2018. Pp. 269–283. ISBN-13: 978-0684325156. (Release date: September 8, 2017.)
ABSTRACT
ACADEMICS IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES have a long- standing joke. Question: “What is the difference between Ninian Smart and God?” Answer: “God is everywhere. Ninian Smart is everywhere but here!” (Ninian Smart on World Religions, p. xxi). That one-liner about Smart’s ubiquity attests not only to the reach of his publications but also to his international influence in the emergence of the scholarly field of religious studies—first and foremost in Britain and, more widely, in North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Almost single-handedly, Ninian Smart “founded the academic study of religion in Britain” and “gave intellectual structure and shape to the field in the rest of the English-speaking world, especially the U.S.A.,” according to Jacob Neusner (“Remembering Ninian Smart,” pp. 355–356). Yet Smart was far more than an academic. In writing books about philosophy and world religions, he was steeped in deep thought, immersed in higher thinking. Human and social values were his subject matter. He compared cultures, religions, philosophies, and political ideologies such as Marxism and Maoism. His own thinking about Buddhist enlightenment, Confucian order, Taoist freedom, Hindu liberation, Christian salvation, and so forth produced a wonderful, if not exotic, synthesis. He could see the full picture, understand human dilemmas, and propose global orientations in solutions that were simple, yet profound. A gentleman and a scholar in every sense, Smart was a down-to-earth man but a noble soul, with a grand vision of the world and the direction he believed that it needed to take. …
Despite his Scottish flourishes—eating his porridge with salt and pepper, and occasionally donning his kilt and tartan—Ninian Smart was humanitarian and universal. He presented a vision and version of Christianity that could seriously engage with the fact of religious pluralism and operate in an entirely secular mode as well. Smart was fond of joking: “Comparative religion will make you comparatively religious” (quoted in Strenski, “Ninian Smart and the Overcoming of Philosophy,” p. 369). He recognized wisdom and insight in various religious and cultural settings, and he broke free entirely of parochial presumptions. In that regard, he was both theologian and academic. Ninian Smart, almost single-handedly, was instrumental in institutionalizing the academic study of religion. The entire discipline is indebted to his leadership and legacy.
Now available in the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) database.
EXCERPT (including an important statement by Chief Jacob (“Jake”) Thomas):
Equally at issue, however, is the question of how this canonization of the Peacemaker comports with the views of Native Americans and Native Canadians. What justification for this cultural appropriation, this impingement on all things indigenous, this infringement, as it were, of sacred indigenous tradition, which is so culturally sensitive? By what right can the non-Native present writer presume to profane (i.e., to publicly render secular) a sacred oral tradition?
The Iroquoian ethnologist Michael K. Foster, curator emeritus of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, recounts how Chief Jacob (“Jake”) Thomas (d. 1998), a prominent proponent and interpreter of Haudenosaunee culture, justified this profanation/translation to the non-Native world when, in September 1992 on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario, he took the unprecedented step of reciting the Great Law in English (drawing much indigenous indignation thereby), in a nine-day event on the grounds of his home, which attracted national media coverage. Among the some two thousand people present, a large number of these listeners were white, not Iroquois. During the summer of 1994 Chief Thomas repeated the event. Responding to criticism, he offered this justification, according to Foster:
I think the white man needs to understand. It isn’t that he’s going to take the law and use it himself. They already did! The 13 colonies already took the Great Law for their so-called Constitution. So what should we be afraid of? If they want to learn it, they have a right to. That should have been done 500 years ago, to study and respect the Confederacy. Maybe we wouldn’t have the problems we have today if they would have studied our people, and [would now] understand and honor and respect [us].
(Foster, “Jacob Ezra Thomas,” p. 227)
It is in the spirit of this advice that the following epitome of the life and teachings (i.e. oral “writings”) of the Peacemaker are here presented. In so doing, this is not intended as exploitation of Native American spiritual traditions. It is not a “theft of spirit.” Rather, it is recognition of the universality and contemporary relevance of the Peacemaker’s enunciation of “the Good Message, also the Power and the Peace.”
— 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
EXCERPT:
In his 1912 Howard University speech, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá invoked the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation in essentialist terms, anchored in historical generalizations, as a rhetorical strategy for promoting interracial emancipation. Abolition of slavery was a first step in the progressive emancipation of African Americans within color-bound American society. Slavery’s roots run deep in American history, and are yet to be fully extirpated. They extend, in more subtle forms, down to the present. Racism is a ghost of the slaver’s psyche, and legislation alone cannot eradicate the problem. Something profoundly different is needed to significantly steer social history in a new direction. This is what makes ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s 1912 sojourn in America of such historical import. . . .
To recapitulate, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in his Howard University speech, emphasized the personal sacrifice of Northern whites for Southern blacks in the course of the Civil War, and that African Americans (as the descendants of emancipated slaves) should therefore be grateful to whites in kind. In so saying, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá invoked history (or a certain view of it) in order to make history—by completing the unfinished work of the Emancipation Proclamation. . . .
And so it is that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tasked the whites with a mission equal to the objectives of the Civil War, Emancipation, and Reconstruction in achieving what was (and is) still undone, to “endeavor to promote your [i.e. African Americans’] advancement and enhance your honor.” Such interracial unity entails more than fostering interracial camaraderie. Advancement is required. Actual progress must be fostered, for it is this “advancement” that “will be the cause of love (sabab-i maḥabbat).” In other words, doing “good” (by tangible actions) is a precondition for “goodwill” (as an intangible feeling). This, indeed, was the mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), founded in 1909, as an interracial endeavor. . . .
The advancement of African Americans was an integral element in the progress of America as a nation, and so there is a strong argument that the development of its own social capital was in the nation’s enlightened self-interest. Here, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s rhetorical strategy was to establish a clear basis, anchored in American history, for overcoming entrenched antagonisms in favor of reciprocal appreciation in the interests of interracial harmony and cooperation. In that sense, the accuracy of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s historical generalizations is quite beside the point, as the focus was on fostering racial healing and solving America’s racial crisis. . . .
On February 1, 2012, Cornel West, professor of African American Studies and Religion, Princeton University, expressed his appreciation of the Bahá’í efforts to foster ideal race relations: “When you talk about race and the legacy of white supremacy, there’s no doubt that when the history is written, the true history is written, the history of this country, the Baha’i Faith will be one of the leaven in the American loaf that allowed the democratic loaf to expand because of the anti-racist witness of those of Baha’i faith.” (“Cornel West praises work of Baha’is in establishing Racial Unity” (February 1, 2012). Professor West here recognizes the leavening influence of the Bahá’ís in the history of race relations in America. . . .
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s 1912 Howard University speech was for then, yet it has a message for us now as well: It could be said that in his Howard speech, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá invited his audience to build on history by making history, in commencing a new era of global solidarity.
https://www.academia.edu/29904876/_Abdu_l-Baha_s_1912_Howard_University_Speech_A_Civil_War_Myth_for_Interracial_Emancipation_2013_
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.
Review: The editors describe Christopher Buck’s essay as the first comprehensive treatment of the 2002 University of North Carolina controversy, characterized by Michael Sells as “suing the Koran on behalf of the Bible” (pp. xxiii and 138). This narrative-cum-analytic essay by an attorney and independent scholar documents an important post-9/11 controversy at a major university and demonstrates that even the academic study of Islam is not safe from what some observers have called the “Islamophobia industry.” (Usaama al-Azami, Review of Observing the Observer: The State of Islamic Studies in American Universities (2012). The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 30:3 (2013): 94–97 [96].)
ABSTRACT
The Bahá’í calendar charts physical time, as do all calendrical systems, yet is additionally designed to inspire spiritual progress by associating time with the cultivation of human nobility. The precise name for the Bahá’í calendar is the Badí‘ (“Unique” or “Wondrous”) calendar. It originated with Sayyid ‘Alí-Muḥammad of Shiraz (1819–1850), entitled the Báb (“the Gate”), who founded the Bábí religion, soon superseded by the Bahá’í Faith, established by Mírzá Ḥusayn-‘Alí Núrí (1817–1892), known as Bahá’u’lláh (a spiritual title meaning the “Splendor [or “Glory”] of God”). By adopting and modifying the Badí‘ calendar for use by the Bahá’í community, Bahá’u’lláh gave it formal sanction.
Time is invested with spiritual significance by the naming of weekdays, days of the month, months, years, and cycles of years after godly perfections that can be translated into goodly virtues, such as “Beauty” (Jamál) “Knowledge” (‘Ilm), “Honor” (Sharaf), and “Grandeur” (‘Aẓamat), which are names of 4 of the 19 Bahá’í months. These dynamic “names of God” each highlight a distinctive quality of sterling character and human nobility, in a process of transformation that may, to coin the present author’s term, be called theophoric metamorphosis. Literally, the term “theophoric,” as its Greek root indicates, means “God-bearing.” Here, the “names” of God may be conceived of as “qualities” or, better still, as “powers” of God that can be potentially manifested by man (and, to a lesser degree, by each created thing when it reaches its potential state of perfection).
In the Báb’s Kitáb al-Asmá’ (“Book of [Divine] Names”), which exceeds 3,000 pages and is said to be “the largest revealed book in sacred history,” the Báb treats human beings as reflections of divine names and attributes (Saiedi, Gate of the Heart, 36). To the extent that a person is a “bearer” of one of the “names” (i.e., qualities or powers) of God, that individual is empowered to express that quality in human action. Through the progressive spiritualization of all persons—and, indeed, of all things—the Báb wished to transform all of reality into “mirrors” reflecting the perfections represented by these divine names.
KAHLIL GIBRAN
(1883–1931)
Christopher Buck
The Arab American author and artist Kahlil Gibran was a best-selling writer whose work has yet to receive critical acclaim equal to his popular appeal. There is no question that Gibran’s work in Arabic was central to the development of twentieth-century Arabic literature—in that Arab Romanticism begins with Gibran, the pivotal figure in the Mahjar movement of émigré Arab writers centered in New York. There is also no question that Kahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet (1923)—a small volume of aphorisms (wise sayings) offering pithy wisdom of an almost prophetic quality—belongs to world literature, for it is known and loved the world over. As an American man of letters, however, Gibran has received scant attention by American literary critics. Since The Prophet has yet to be widely recognized as an American classic, and the author yet to be fully accepted as an American writer, Gibran’s inclusion in the American Writers series requires some justification.
Eminent scholars including Irfan Shahid (professor emeritus at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.) and Suheil Bushrui (professor emeritus and current director of the Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace at the University of Maryland at College Park) have made the case for Gibran’s recognition as an American writer worthy of note. According to Bushrui, America is entitled to claim Gibran as one of its sons (even if not a native son) as fully and as authentically as his native Lebanon can lay such claim: “In his work, he became not only Gibran of Lebanon, but Gibran of America, indeed Gibran the voice of global consciousness” (1996, p. 10). After all, the young Gibran spent only the first twelve years of his life in Bsharri (a village near the famous “Cedars of God”), where he was born in 1883, before emigrating with his family to the United States. Apart from a two-year study in Paris and two brief return visits to Lebanon, Gibran spent his entire adult life—the last two-thirds of his life, in fact—entirely on American soil, dying in New York at the age of forty-eight. In The Prophet, the city of Orphalese is often said to represent America (or New York).
Shahid underscores the fact The Prophet was America’s best-selling book of the twentieth century, not counting the Bible, and that Gibran outsold all other American poets, from Walt Whitman to Robert Frost. According to Gibran’s New York publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, The Prophet has sold more than ten million copies. The book’s success was due entirely to its own appeal, as Knopf never promoted it. Strangely, Gibran is arguably America’s best-loved prose-poet, whose market appeal continues despite critical indifference. It’s true that Gibran had what might be called a double psyche, and inhabited two thought-worlds at once. As an Arab American, Gibran wrote in two languages: English and Arabic. Arabic was his mother tongue, and English his second language. As an accomplished man of letters of considerable influence in the Middle East, Gibran inspired a literary renaissance in the Arab world, such that all modern Arabic poetry bears the marks of Gibran’s. Yet Gibran’s work has had little influence in American letters, despite its enormous popular appeal. Notwithstanding, Shahid thinks that Gibran has not been fairly treated as an American writer. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that, categorically, The Prophet exists in splendid isolation, severed from its Arabic cultural roots. And so The Prophet will have to be evaluated, or reevaluated, on its own literary merits and for its singular contribution to the American literary heritage.
This chapter also suggests that Islamic identity and praxis must now withstand the scrutiny of the international community — a relatively new situation that certainly did not exist when Islam was the world’s superpower during the so-called Dark Ages of Europe. Inevitably, Islamic law will be measured against international law, and will increasingly be constrained by it. More importantly, in the twenty-first century, the legal “right” of minority religions to an identity may be as important as the “truth” of their respective identities. The cosmopolitanism of human rights requires the right to an identity of a minority where that identity stands in tension with the identity of the majority.
Three of the most controversial religious minorities within the Islamic world with be examined in their respective socio-historical contexts: the Alevis in Turkey, the Ahmadiyya in Pakistan, the Bahá’ís of Iran. These three faith-communities provide ideal subjects for a comparative study of the identities of religious minorities within the modern Muslim world. In an increasingly globalized world, Islamic identity is ultimately a legal as well as a religious issue. Characterizing the Ahmadiyya and the “Bahá’í Faith” as “Islamic minorities” is problematic in itself, as the Ahmadis profess themselves as Muslims while the Bahá’ís do not. Indeed, the distinctive identity of the Bahá’í Faith as an independent world religion is universally upheld by the Bahá’í scriptures, authorities, and adherents themselves, while the adamantine Islamic identity of the Ahmadiyya is universally upheld by the Ahmadiyya writings, authorities, and adherents with equal vigor. Where the self-identity of each of these two religious minorities is at issue within a given Islamic state offers a case-study in terms of Islamic claims to authenticity.
So, what is Islamic identity? More to the point is this question: Can an Islamic state tolerate a religious minority that has an alternative Islamic identity (as in the case of the Alevis), a rival Islamic identity (as in the case of the Ahmadiyya), or a post-Islamic identity (as in the case of the Bahá’ís)? The resolution of these vexed questions depends on which lens is used as a frame and focus. Here, the choice of the framework of analysis is critical, for it will largely determine the outcome. This study employs a three-faceted inquiry. The identities of religious minorities within Islamic states implicates: (1) emic (insider/subjective), (2) etic (outsider/objective), and (3) international perspectives. Together, these three perspectives operate as a prism that works its own ideological optics, refracting claims to Islamic identity and breaking those claims into their constituent colors - the spectral measure of which is the treatment of religious minorities in an Islamic state.
Thus, this chapter explores Islamic and non-Islamic identities from multiple perspectives — internal, external, and international. Internal identity emanates from the perspective of the faith-community itself. Its own identity is refracted externally from the perspective of dominant Islamic authorities. International opinion regarding the identity of both religious minorities and the majority of a given Islamic state is best viewed from the perspective of international human rights standards. In trying to make sense of all three vantage points, the connections between how Islamic authorities characterize certain religious minorities and how they treat them with respect to fundamental human rights will be explored. It is critical, then, to be clear throughout which perspective is being presented.
BAHA’U’LLAH’S BOOK OF CERTITUDE (KITAB-I-IQAN)
Buck, Christopher. “Beyond the ‘Seal of the Prophets’: Bahā’u’llāh’s Book of Certitude (Ketāb-e Iqān).” Religious Texts in Iranian Languages. Edited by Clause Pedersen & Fereydun Vahman. København (Copenhagen): The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters / Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab – Historiske-filosofiske Meddelelser 98, København, 2007. Pp. 369–378.
INTRODUCTION
Because of its international audience, Baha’u’llah’s Book of Certitude (Ketab-e Iqan) may now be regarded as the world’s most influential Koran commentary in Persian outside the Muslim world. The basis for this claim is simple: the Iqan is coextensive with the Baha’i faith. As its preeminent doctrinal text, the Iqan helped crystallize Baha’i identity and lent considerable impetus to its missionary expansion. The core claims advanced by the Iqan have, in principle, been adapted to other religious environments. It is post-Islamic by dint of its claims: the Iqan vindicates the prophetic credentials of Sayyid ‘Ali-Muhammad Shirazi, known as “the Bab” (d. 1850), who broke decisively from Islam in 1844, by declaring himself to be the inaugurator of a new religious cycle. “Revealed” in January 1861, the Iqan sets the stage for Baha’u’llah’s impending claim to revelation in April 1863 in Baghdad.
The Iqan advances an Islamic argument to legitimate its post-Islamic claims. The Iqan's most original and dramatic act of Koranic interpretation may well be its argument for how God could (and would) send another prophet after Muhammad, notwithstanding the latter’s station as the “Seal of the Prophets” (Q. 33:40). Baha’u’llah’s exegetical strategy is a tour de force—using an essentially Islamic argument to prove something ostensibly alien to orthodox Islam, both Sunni and Shi‘a. More significant than its theological argument, however, is the Iqan's historical impact. Even though, from the Islamic point of view, the Iqan argued the impossible, Baha’u’llah’s discourse on realized eschatology became a self-fulfilling prophecy. The argument for a post-Islamic rev- elation was not academic. It was historical.
EXCERPT:
The “Seal of the Prophets”
[...] By shifting the focus of prophetological attention away from the “Seal” verse itself to refocus on the several Koranic “Divine Presence” verses, Baha’u’llah could make an Islamic case for post-Koranic revelation. From a certain point of view, his entire line of argumentation in the Iqan is calculated to establish the priority of Q. 33:44 over Q. 33:40. Baha’u’llah accepts the importance of the Koranic verse designating Muhammad as “the Seal of the Prophets” (Q. 33:40), yet draws attention to an exegetical oversight but four verses later:
“How strange! [...] Even as the Lord of being hath in His unerring Book [the Koran], after speaking of the ‘Seal’ in His exalted utterance: ‘Muhammad is the Apostle of God and the Seal of the Prophets’ (Q. 33:40), hath revealed unto all people the promise of ‘attainment unto the divine Presence’ (cf. Q. 33:44). To this attainment to the presence of the immortal King testify the verses of the Book, some of which We have already mentioned. The one true God is My witness! Nothing more exalted or more explicit than ‘attainment unto the divine Presence’ hath been revealed in the Koran.” [...]
“And yet, through the mystery of the former verse, they have turned away from the grace promised by the latter, despite the fact that “attainment unto the divine Presence” in the ‘Day of Resurrection’ is explicitly stated in the Book. It hath been demonstrated and definitely established, through clear evidences, that by ‘Resurrection’ is meant the rise of the Manifestation of God to proclaim His Cause, and by ‘attainment unto the divine Presence’ is meant attainment unto the presence of His Beauty in the person of His Manifestation. For verily, ‘No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision’ (Q. 6:103).” (Iqan 169–70/Persian text, 112)
This argument is predicated on an anti-anthropomorphist interpretation of Q. 6:103. It would be safe to say that, for Muslims universally, the Koran’s designation of Muhammad as the “Seal of the Prophets” (Q. 33:40) is possibly the most important prophetological verse of the Koran (certainly it ranks as one of the most crucial verses doctrinally). Yet Baha’u’llah here points to a verse just four verses later, and makes that verse (and its parallels) the centerpiece of his exegesis and the crux of his entire argument: “Their greeting on the day when they shall meet Him shall be “Peace!” And He hath got ready for them a noble recompense” (Q. 33:44).
While this brief description of the Iqan scarcely does justice to its broader range of Koranic interpretations, the reader should now have a clear idea as to the book’s purpose, theophanic claims, and historical impact. As a heterodox work of tafsir, the Iqan advances an Islamic argument to exegetically create the possibility of post-Koranic prophets. For this and other reasons, the Iqan preserves its place as the preeminent doctrinal text of the Baha’i Faith. To claim that the Iqan may now be regarded as the world’s most influential Koran commentary outside the Muslim world is simply to acknowledge the historical fact that the Baha’i religion has spun out of its Islamic orbit and radiated globally, while maintaining its Islamic roots.
"Christopher Buck." In Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2024. Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors (accessed February 19, 2024). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1000188543/CA?u=gale&sid=bookmark-CA&xid=f62323db.
WORKS
WRITINGS:
Symbol & Secret: Qur'an Commentary in Bahá'u'lláh's Kitáb-i ĺqán, Kalimát Press (Los Angeles, CA), 1995, 2nd edition, 2004.
Paradise & Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Bahá'í Faith, State University of New York Press (Albany, NY), 1999.
(Editor, with David W. Stowe and Shanetta L. Martin) Generation Y Speaks Out: A Policy Guide, Michigan Nonprofit Association (Lansing, MI), 2002.
Alain Locke: Faith & Philosophy, Kalimát Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2005.
Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America's World Role, Praeger Publishers (Westport, CT), 2009.
(J. Gordon Melton, Editor, with James A. Beverley, and Constance A. Jones) Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations, ABC-CLIO (Santa Barbara, CA), 2011.
God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America, Educator's International Press (Kingston, NY), rev. ed. of Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America's World Role, 2015.
Bahá'í Faith: A Quick Reference, Facts On File (New York, NY), 2016.
Bahá'í Faith: The Basics, Routledge (London & New York), 2021.
Contributor of numerous articles to academic journals and encyclopedias. Author of book chapters in edited multi-author works. Author of online articles on the Bahá'í Faith.
SIDELIGHTS
Christopher Buck is an attorney, independent scholar, educator, and author of nonfiction. He is most noted for his work in comparative religion, especially as it pertains to the Bahá'í Faith, a monotheistic religion founded in nineteenth-century Persia by Bahá'u'lláh, and emphasizing the spiritual kinship and unity of all humanity. According to Bahá'í beliefs, all major world religions have been a part of an evolving understanding of divinity and human purpose, as revealed through a series of messengers (including Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, the Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad, among others). Buck's first two books, Symbol & Secret: Qur'an Commentary in Bahá'u'lláh's Kitáb-i ĺqán and Paradise & Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Bahá'í Faith, have been applauded both for their fresh and rigorous methodology and for bringing attention to a major world religion generally neglected in academic research.
Excerpt:
“But the jewels in this book are unmistakable. … Clearly, Buck has given voice to the men and women who not only put the Bahá’í faith first in their lives, but also left key documents, personal letters, notes, and memoranda related to the life of philosopher Alain LeRoy Locke for future researchers to ponder and use for years to come.”
(Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20064165.)
Excerpts:
The most important contribution of this work to the literature on the Baha’i Faith consists of its focus on current Baha’i community life and its description of core activities which include devotional meetings, children’s classes, junior youth groups, and adult study circles, even describing the current curriculum being used for those activities. Attention is given as well to social and economic development projects and Baha’i participation in public discourse, all elements not covered in previous introductory material. In other words, this text focuses much more broadly on what Baha’is do, rather than simply what they believe. … This text serves as a good up-to-date presentation of current Baha’i beliefs and practices.
The activities, focus, and concepts in the Baha’i world are changing so rapidly at present, especially in the area of developing new approaches to community building, that any published introductory book soon becomes out-of-date. So it is good to see another introductory book on the Baha’i Faith published, in particular since it surveys recent developments well. For anyone wishing to find out about the Baha’i Faith and the current activities of the Baha’i community, this book can be recommended. Christopher Buck presents an insider view of the Baha’i Faith, but one that is descriptive rather than prescriptive. …
Buck presents all of this information in a clear and well-structured manner. He accompanies his own words with appropriate extracts from authoritative Baha’i texts to illustrate the points that he is making. He also draws on examples of the activities of the Baha’i community from different locations across the world. …
In summary, there are a good many introductory books on the market but this one can be recommended for two reasons. First, it is well-written and as reasonably comprehensive as such brief introductory books can hope to be. Second, it is up-to-date covering many of the recent changes in the Baha’i community that older similar books do not.
Moojan Momen, Wilmette Institute, Illinois
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.
Religious Myths and Visions of America
Christopher Buck
Troy, NY: Educator's International Press , November 2015. 424 pages.
$26.95. Paperback. ISBN 9781891928451.
REVIEW
http://readingreligion.org/books/god-apple-pie
As debates over America’s true nature and its ideal role in international affairs saturate current public discourse, Christopher Buck’s latest scholarly contribution is both timely and important. God and Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America offers readers an accessible account of the ways that America’s diverse religious communities have continually revised their understanding of America and their hopes for its future.
This work, released in 2015, is an expanded version of Buck’s Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America’s World Role (Praeger Press, 2009). The change in title helps to clarify what this book does and does not try to do. As Buck explains in the first chapter, the goal of this book is not to document how or to what extent minority faiths’ visions of America have exerted a quantifiable influence on the American public sphere. Rather, Buck aims primarily to show that “religions remythologize and re-envision America.” In this regard, he offers compelling evidence. Furthermore, this edition contains a new introduction by J. Gordon Melton as well an entirely new chapter on the Christian Right as well as updates to each of the other chapters.
After the introduction and a chapter outlining the goals of the text, chapters 2 through 12 each treat a distinct religious tradition or group of traditions in America—Native American religions, Protestantism, the Christian Right, Catholicism, Judaism, Mormonism, Christian Identity, Black Islam, Contemporary Islam, Buddhism, and the Baha’i Faith. In each of these chapters, Buck presents the myths of America that have emerged from these religious groups and what those groups predict and prescribe for America’s future. The chapter on Mormonism is especially compelling, due in part to this religious tradition’s uniquely intimate relationship with the United States. Likewise, the chapter on the Baha’i Faith represents a valuable addition to the tiny but growing corpus of studies of this modern world religion.
Chapter 13 concludes the text and offers an argument about what America’s future should be, and how religions can contribute to that ideal. Buck judges that most of America’s religions increasingly affirm the ideals of internationalism, pluralism, and cosmopolitanism, and that those religions “can and should translate their shared ideals into an American civil religion—and a corresponding ethic—that can help form a basis for the world civil religion that Robert Bellah envisions,” (371).
Readers may find that an imbalance arises in the book’s treatment of these diverse traditions. This is due, in part, to the difference in the extent to which their authoritative texts or leadership figures have spoken about America. In this regard, Mormonism is exceedingly rich, Judaism is somewhere in the middle, and contemporary Islam is tough to analyze. Buck concludes that Islam does not yet offer any notable contribution to collective visions of America’s world role given that: 1) Radical Islamism only sees a negative role for America; and 2) Progressive Islam has not reached a consensus on the subject. These two points are valid, but perhaps a reconsideration of consensus as a condition for generalization about a group’s vision of America could create space for better appreciation of the positive visions of America that Muslims across the country share, and how those visions inspire public engagement.
Race is a crucial theme in this book, which faithfully traces the role of racial and racialized discourse throughout American religious history. The chapters on Christian Identity and Black Islam offer the most extended exploration of race and religion, but the overt racial implications of other religious visions of America—among Protestants and Mormons in particular—receive attention as well. In the concluding chapter Buck explains “The … history of the religious idea of America, therefore, can be analyzed, in part, as an evolution—protracted and painful—in the idea of the place of race and ethnicity in American life, as religiously valued. The evolution of American thought, with respect to the idea of America itself, is roughly a progression from religious—and often racial—particularism to universal inclusivism.” (349)
This overview of religions in America and their relationship with America as both “nation and notion” covers tremendous ground. To complete this massive undertaking as a single author demonstrates a remarkable breadth of knowledge, which lends weight to Buck’s analysis. God and Apple Pie is a veritable encyclopedia of both primary and secondary sources, but with the benefit of a more digestible presentation and a coherent narrative framework. Although the numerous, lengthy block quotes require some extra work from the reader, the overall effect is to empower the reader to see for themselves exactly how people within a given tradition mythologize and theologize America. That is to say, Buck shows as well as tells. This rich background information makes it easy for an educated reader unfamiliar with some or all of these religious traditions to jump into the text.
As one would expect with a work that covers this much ground, some nuance is lost. Buck chooses to make his points clear by favoring generalizing language and simplifications, thereby saving the reader from getting bogged down by disclaimers and qualifications. However, this also opens him up to criticism for reifying categories and labels that, although practical for his purposes, are inherently problematic. For instance, Buck offers a taxonomy of Islamic responses to modernity in which he states that Sunni Muslim clerics can best be understood as traditionalists whose goal is “to preserve the status quo.” If another edition appears in the future, the allocation of space to discuss the complexity that such generalizations mask would make the text stronger.
God and Apple Pie offers a valuable contribution to readers looking to understand why religion matters in America and how different American religious groups have seen their relationship with their country. Any reader, no matter how well versed in religious traditions, would learn a great deal by perusing its pages.
About the Reviewer(s):
Emily Goshey is a doctoral candidate in religious studies at Princeton University.
Date of Review:
August 14, 2017
“Thus, the volume [God & Apple Pie] has clear import for both theological studies and religious studies, and is unique in that it attempts to summarize, systematize, and synthesize the visionary and mythical examples it deftly surveys. … On the whole, this revised and expanded volume is impressive for the breadth and depth it accomplishes and will be of value to researchers, teachers, and especially general readers.”
REVIEW
I grew up in a town that held annual weeklong revival meetings each autumn, co-sponsored by all of the churches (or at least the Protestant ones) in the town. Together they provided a budget sufficient to bring in some internationally known star revival preachers. The ones who could really pack in the crowds were those whose revival message was linked to dispensationalist eschatology. As they scoured the books of Daniel and Revelations for clues to what would happen next, a grade-school listener like myself could hardly be blamed for concluding that the Rapture, Second Coming, and the Times of Tribulation leading up to Judgment Day were literally right around the corner – hopefully even before school let out for the year! That was more than 50 years ago now and while one would think it very difficult to maintain such fervor for so long, I recently ran across the television show of preacher Jack Van Impe, impressive in those days as much for his gorgeous looks as for his End Times message. Well, bless his heart, he is still preaching the self-same message as he was 50 years ago, only updated by the addition of current events that have taken place over the last half century, each one presented as another important piece of the puzzle.
I was reminded of this as I read Christopher Buck’s fascinating book. Watching Van Impe as an adult underlined something I noticed even as a child. No matter how you twist and turn the many biblical passages to read the entrails of dispensationalist prediction, there is simply no direct mention of America at all in the scriptures. Yet strained though it would be, these preachers were unquestionably sure that America was pivotal and playing a special role in God’s plan for humanity and for the world. Furthermore, though again it was laid more between the lines than stated explicitly, heavy American loyalty and patriotism was both an expected plank in the belief system as well as the element that ensured that when the End Times feathers really did hit the fan, you would be sure to be found on God’s side of the apocalyptic struggle. Interestingly, all of this message about American primacy in God’s plan was also seamlessly mixed with raging denunciations of Hollywood movies, Rock and Roll music, liberal politicians and educators, consumerism, the welfare state, and much else that in retrospect appears to have been quite integral to the heart of American culture. The logical contradictions just did not surface.
God and Apple Pie is a well-written and researched compendium of this theme of the special role America plays in God’s plan for humanity as it appears across the spectrum of American religions, denominational statements, and sectarian apocalyptic visions. For this reader, one of the great values of the book is that it really underlines the fact that wrestling with the religious ‘meaning of America’ has by no means been confined to the End Times tail of conservative Protestantism or far-right political theologies. Chapter by chapter, Buck examines not only a number of Christian theologies, but also Native American perspectives and Jewish and Catholic thinkers who understandably saw in American religious pluralism a place of refuge for their people. The chapter on Mormonism, which moved in a very few years from readiness to declare Utah an independent nation to becoming perhaps the most solidly ‘pro-American’ faith of the bunch, is itself alone worth the price of the book. Other chapters, on Black Muslim and contemporary Islamic views, as well as Buddhist and Baha’i visions of America, fill out this book and are, to my knowledge, the very best sources available for summarization of this material.
Another strength of this book is its demonstration that religious myths and visions of America do not simply remain in the pulpit and the pews. They have had continuing strong and discernable impact on American political theory and on domestic and foreign policy. Their influence, for example, can be found especially in the framework and even the specific language of those politicians and commentators espousing ‘American exceptionalism’, who might be quite surprised to have the religious connections pointed out to them.
Buck suggests that what his book more than anything verifies is the assertion that religions in America periodically re-envision and re-mythologize the idea of America. This is an important notion, because America is a place, a land, an entity that sits within defined geographical borders. But as much or even more than that, ‘America’ is an ideal, a concept, something almost akin to a religion itself. Social theorists speak about the need for any nation to have unifying ideals that hold it together as a nation.
For many nations, the unifying element has been the shared history, language, and race of the people. Only in the current generation, for example, are many European countries coming to grips with the sense that, for example, a French, or German, or Swedish identity can be held by those who are new immigrants, who do not yet speak the respective language well, and whose skin color is quite different from that of the ‘typical’ citizen. But America has been coming to grips with this sense for 250 years already. While no one (and certainly not Buck) would assert that we have been unequivocally successful in this and do not face serious issues related to it as well, there is no question that America has done better in integrating the wide masses of people into a unified nation than have many others. And while we often point to religions as the last bastions of social prejudice, Buck’s book well makes the point that in this re-envisioning and re-mythologizing function of religion – their ongoing ability to adapt, adopt, and refashion the major symbols of the nation – we also strongly have American religions to thank for the measure of success we have enjoyed.
In the final chapters, Buck shifts gears a bit to pose more reflective questions about whether, from a sort of post-critical perspective, it still makes sense to speak in somewhat mythologized terms about America’s role in the world. He does not try to answer this definitively, but taking his cue from Robert Bellah’s formulation of the role of ‘civil religion’ in uniting diverse people together on the home front, Buck raises the interesting issue of whether, in a time of globalization and world consciousness, it might be time to think, along with Bellah, in terms of the need for a ‘world civil religion’.
If this were to be the case, what special contributions could be made from the perspective of the American experience? Buck points toward the integrity of the original Protestant/Puritan vision, fostering values of liberty, individualism, populism, egalitarianism, and of democracy in general, but with special attention to the many ways in which these values have been honed, interpreted, and enhanced as they were strained through the minority religions, particularly that of minority religions associated with the struggle for civil rights and empowerment of all citizens in the social mix. I am reminded here of the Kantian social ideal of ‘maximum individuality (liberty) within maximum community’. This is obviously a dynamic concept, never achieved once-and-for-all, but an ideal toward which to work in each generation.
Buck’s implied vision draws largely from the wider lake of attachment to universalism and democratic ideals. If it were unequivocally true that all people and nations were aching for the opportunity to come together in peace and international harmony, then it would be undoubtedly true that the American experience as presented in this book, of initially sound but functionally elitist Enlightenment ideals being continually adapted and refashioned in the symbolism of minority religions to produce a civil religion of dynamically wider inclusion into the beloved community, would largely fulfill the role of (1) being a model for the world, (2) exerting a benign political influence in international politics, (3) in the promotion of global peace and unity. These three concepts, exemplarism, vindicationism, and cosmopolitanism, form the basis for what Buck (citing in his favor a number of scholars and theorists) sees as the path toward a world civil religion. What is less clear in this book is how this vision plays out in a world in which at least some factions of undeniable importance see this vision itself as exactly what they reject and resist. True, Buck has shown how minority religions in America, such as Black Muslims and Christian Identity, contoured an initially hostile ideology in more positive directions. I am not sure, however, if that model can be repeated on the global scene.
Finally, I want to emphasize that while this book is heavily documented (cumulatively some 40 pages of end notes and 30 pages of bibliography), the reading itself is quite accessible. It could easily function not only as an undergraduate textbook, but also as the main reading for any adult education class or discussion group.
“This volume may be of interest to readers involved not only in Religious Studies, but also in Political Science, History, Intellectual History, American Studies, and Cultural Studies. . . . In the course of the detailed and well-documented analysis of individual religions, Buck reveals a highly elaborate and in-depth picture of the various beliefs, which is indeed impressive. . . He argues that the original myth and vision of America as a nation was captured by the Protestant notion of manifest destiny. This has been challenged by the other faiths . . . that have transformed the idea of manifest destiny into America’s common destiny. . .
The book is overall a fresh and stimulating cultural reading of some of America’s religions and the complex ways in which their followers make sense of and act in the world.”
[Electronic Database (full text available): ATLA Religion Database; JSTOR.]
“Religious Myths and Visions of America has many strengths. The author has defended his thesis with solid research. He has also made an original contribution to American studies.”
“This interesting, thoroughly researched scholarly study examines how ten minor religions interpreted America’s reality (“nation and notion”) and generated numerous religious myths and visions of America. …
[T]his volume is certainly a welcome addition to the topic of racial, cultural, and ethnic studies. … Recommended for comparative ethnic and religion collections.”
HIGHLIGHTS:
”Christopher Buck’s recent book, Alain Lock: Faith and Philosophy, is a welcome addition to the literature on early twentieth-century American and African American culture. But, perhaps more important, Buck’s study is a significant contribution to scholarship on the history of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States. …
Any future study of Locke must necessarily make its way through Christopher Buck’s Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy. The scholar forcefully proves his thesis that, in Locke’s thinking, philosophy and religious belief operated as synergistic terms. He has shown that the Bahá’í Faith was integral to Locke’s life and ideology. …
Yet, after reading Buck’s work, it is difficult to imagine Locke the philosopher rapt in prayer. Of course, this is not a shortcoming of the book. Rather it is an indication that, while he may have wanted to portray a more pious figure, Buck maintains the vow he made in his introduction to Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy “to constrain any grandiose claims on Locke as a Bahá’í.”
“Buck’s theoretically innovative analysis of “paradigmatic differences” in East Syrian (or Nestorian) Christianity and the early Baha’i faith is a fascinating and intellectually challenging book. … In all, a forceful and clearly argued book which should be read by scholars interested in questions of religious symbolism and the comparative method.”
ABSTRACT
Rediscovery of contemporaneous handwritten notes by Cambridge orientalist, Edward Granville Browne, 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.
Subjects: Interpersonal relations; Christianity; Historical linguistics; Browne, Edward Granville, 1862–1926; Bahá'u'lláh, 1817–1892
Cited References: (34)
EBSCO Host citation:
Baha'u'llah's Paradise of Justice: Commentary and Translation.
Academic Journal
By: Buck, Christopher; Masumian, Adib. Baha'i Studies Review , Jun2014, Vol. 20 Issue 1, p97-134, 38p
Abstract:
Baha'u'llah's Paradise of Justice (Riḍvānu'l-'Adl, or Riḍwān al-'Adl; also known as Lawḥ-i Riḍvānu'l-'Adl and Lawḥ-i 'Adl) may be regarded as Baha'u'llah's paradigm ('Paradise' or ideal) of 'justice'. Baha'u'llah's Paradise of Justice transforms received notions of 'justice'. Although typically considered a 'secular' concern within rather specific institutional confines, Baha'u'llah allegorizes, personifies, symbolizes and otherwise expatiates on 'Justice' in such a way as to vivify the concept. Justice is made sacred, deriving from the 'Name' of God as 'The Just' (al-'ādil). Justice - encompassing, as it does, both faith and action - is the essence of the Baha'i concept of salvation, both individual and societal. As a framework of analysis, this paper is organized as follows: Introduction; Historical Context; Structure (vis-à-vis Apostrophes); Highlights of Baha'u'llah's Paradise of Justice; Theological Dimension of 'Justice'; Revelatory Dimension of 'Justice'; Authoritarian Dimension of 'Justice'; Contemporaneous Dimension of 'Justice'; Social Dimension of 'Justice'; Individual Dimension of 'Justice'; Conclusion; Appendix: Riḍwān al-'Adl: Paradise of Justice (translated by Adib Masumian). This study demonstrates how Baha'u'llah's Paradise of Justice presents a significantly expanded paradigm of justice, both in precept and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR];
DOI: 10.1386/bsr.20.1.97_7; (AN 127240313)
Subjects: Political philosophy; Social justice; Justice administration; Anarchism; Bahá'u'lláh, 1817-1892
Add to folderCited References: (79)
EBSCO Host data:
Title:
The 1893 Russian Publication of Baha'u'llah's Last Will and Testament: An Academic Attestation of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Successorship.
Authors:
Buck, Christopher1
Ioannesyan, Youli A.2
Source:
Baha'i Studies Review; Jun2013, Vol. 19 Issue 1, p3-44, 42p
Document Type:
Article
Subjects:
Browne, Edward Granville, 1862-1926
Covenants (Christianity)
Acquisition of Russian publications
Ethnology -- Tanzania
Author Supplied Keywords:
Abdu'l-Baha
Alexsandr Tumanski
Baha'i Faith
Baha'u'llah
Baron Rosen
covenant
Edward Granville Browne
Kitab-i-'Ahd
successor
Abstract:
This study concerns the publication of a document that may well be unique in the history of religions: the written designation of a successor by the charismatic founder of a world religion. Mīrzā Ḥusayn-‘Alī (1817–1892), known as Bahā’-Allāh (more commonly, Baha’u’llah, ‘Splendor of God’), prophet-founder of the Bahā’ī Faith. In the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī (‘Book of My Covenant’), Baha’u’llah designated his eldest son, ‘Abbās Effendī, known as ‘Abdu’l-Bahā (1844–1921), as successor. Baha’u’llah died on 29 May 1892 (at 3:00 a.m.) in Bahjī (near ‘Akkā), Palestine (now modern-day Israel), and the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī was read aloud nine days later. In 1893, Russian orientalist, Aleksandr Grigor’evich Tumanski (1861–1920) published this document, in the original Persian, with Russian translation, together with a eulogy composed by the celebrated Bahā’ī poet, Mīrzā ‘Alī-Ashraf-i Lāhājānī, known by his sobriquet, ‘Andalīb (‘Nightingale’; d. 1920). Since ‘Andalīb was an eyewitness to the events he describes, his eulogy may be treated as a historical source. Tumanski’s scholarly publication of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī is discussed in the context of Russian scholarly and diplomatic interests. The present study is presented as follows: (1) Introduction; (2) Aleksandr Grigor’evich Tumanski; (3) Contents of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī and Brief Commentary; (4) ‘Andalīb’s Eyewitness Account of the Reading of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī, 1892; (5) The St. Petersburg Edition of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī; (6) The Original Manuscript of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī and the Textus Receptus; (7) Textual Variants Between the St. Petersburg Edition of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī and the Textus Receptus; (8) The Cambridge Manuscript of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī in the E. G. Browne Collection; and (9) Conclusion: Contemporary-Historical Attestation of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Successorship by Tumanski and other Russian Notables [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Author Affiliations:
1Independent Scholar, Pittsburgh
2Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg)
ISSN:
13548697
DOI:
10.1386/bsr.19.1.3_1
Accession Number:
122940446
(Presented at Princeton University, February 21, 2014.) Video of presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38_ElzcX6Wo. Thanks to Emily Goshey, PhD (for setting up this event with Princeton), and to Tahi Hicks and Sahand Keshavarz Rahbar (for posting the video of the presentation).
EBSCO Host data:
Fifty Baha'i Principles of Unity: A Paradigm of Social Salvation.
Academic Journal
By: Buck, Christopher. Baha'i Studies Review , 2012, Vol. 18 Issue 1, p3-44, 42p Abstract: The Baha'i Faith, a young world religion, offers principles of unity - from family relations to international relations - as a paradigm for social salvation. These principles may be studied within the analytic prism of an 'illness/cure' approach to religious soteriologies - a conceptual model in the phenomenology of religions popularized by Stephen Prothero. World religions are systems of salvation, liberation or harmony. Their respective offers of salvation, liberation or harmony respond directly to the human predicament, as defined by each religion. If humanity is plagued by sin, then Christianity's redemptive offer of salvation from sin makes perfect sense. Early Buddhism's offer of liberation - from the fundamental problem of suffering - also fits perfectly in this model. In the Baha'i religion, the plight facing the world is profound estrangement at all levels of society. Therefore the social salvation that the Baha'i religion offers are precepts and practices that augment unity and harmony, as Baha'u'llah proclaims: 'The distinguishing feature that marketh the pre-eminent character of this Supreme Revelation consisteth in that We have ... blotted out from the pages of God's holy Book whatsoever hath been the cause of strife, of malice and mischief amongst the children of men, and have ... laid down the essential prerequisites of concord, of understanding, of complete and enduring unity'. After reviewing Raymond Piper's typology, fifty (50) Baha'i principles of unity are enumerated and briefly described: types of unity propounded by Baha'u'llah in the Tablet of Unity (Law?-i Itti??d); types of unity forecast by 'Abdu'l-Baha in the 'The Seven Candles of Unity'; and types of unity articulated by Shoghi Effendi - a splendid array of understudied elements of the Baha'i social gospel. Since the present study is a first extended survey - of the notion of unity vis-à-vis the Baha'i Faith, based squarely on authenticated primary sources - results are preliminary, not definitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR].
DOI: 10.1386/bsr.18.1.3_1; (AN 108561335)
Subjects: Bahai Faith; Religion; Salvation; Buddhism; Religious life; Foreign affairs; International Affairs; Interpersonal relations research; International relations -- Research
Cited References: (169)
EBSCO Host data:
The Baha'i 'Race Amity' Movement and the Black Intelligentsia in Jim Crow America: Alain Locke and Robert S. Abbott.
Academic Journal
By: Buck, Christopher. Baha'i Studies Review , 2011, Vol. 17 Issue 1, p3-46, 44p
Abstract:
This study demonstrates how the Baha'i 'Race Amity' efforts effectively reached the black intelligentsia during the Jim Crow era, attracting the interest and involvement of two influential giants of the period - Alain Leroy Locke, PhD (1885-1954) and Robert S. Abbott, LLB (1870-1940). Locke affiliated with the Baha'i Faith in 1918, and Abbott formally joined the Baha'i religion in 1934. Another towering figure in the black intelligentsia, W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) - whose first wife, Nina Du Bois (d. 1950), was a member of the New York Baha'i community - had sustained, for a period of time, consider¬able interest in the Baha'i movement, as documented in a forthcoming special issue of the Journal of Religious History, guest edited by Todd Lawson. These illustrious figures - W. E. B. Du Bois, Alain L. Locke and Robert S. Abbott - are ranked as the 4th, 36th and 41st most influential African Americans in American history. It is not so much the intrinsic message of the Baha'i religion that attracted the interest of the black intelligentsia, but rather the Baha'i emphasis on 'race amity' - representing what, by Jim Crow standards, may be regarded as a socially audacious - even radical - application of the Baha'i ethic of world unity, from family relations to international relations, to the prevailing American social crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; DOI: 10.1386/bsr.17.3_1; (AN 88061176)
Subjects: Bahai Faith; Religious movements; Black intellectuals; Segregation of African Americans; Race relations in the United States; Abbott, Robert S. (Robert Sengstacke), 1868-1940; Locke, Alain LeRoy, 1886-1954; Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963
Cited References: (168)
EBSCO Host data:
Baha'u'llah's Bishārāt (Glad-Tidings): A Proclamation to Scholars and Statesmen.
Academic Journal
By: Buck, Christopher; Ioannesyan, Youli A.. Baha'i Studies Review , 2010, Vol. 16 Issue 1, p3-28, 26p
Abstract:
This article is a historical and textual study of the one of the major writings of Baha'u'llah: the Lawḥ-i Bishārāt ('Tablet of Glad-Tidings'), revealed circa 1891, and advances new theories as to its provenance and purpose. The 'Tablet of Glad-Tidings' is a selective compendium of Baha'u'llah's laws and principles, sequentially presented in a series of 15 'Glad-Tidings'. As the Arabic term, Bisharat, suggests, these 'Glad-Tidings' were a public announcement of some of the essential teachings of the new Baha'i religion. The 'Glad-Tidings' is the most extensive of several 'tablets' by Baha'u'llah that present key teachings in a numbered structure. The Glad-Tidings may, in part, be regarded as serially articulated 'world reforms' intermixed with religious reforms emanating from Baha'u'llah in his professed role as 'World Reformer'. The 'Glad-Tidings' also functioned analogously (albeit anachronistically) to a press release, serving not only as a public proclamation but to rectify the inaccuracies and gross misrepresentations that had previously circulated in print. Intended for widespread translation and publication, the Glad-Tidings was sent to scholars - notably Russian orientalist, Baron Viktor Rosen (1849-1908) and Cambridge orientalist, Edward Granville Browne (1862-1926) - and possibly pre-revolutionary Russian statesmen as well. As a 'Proclamatory Aqdas', the Tablet of Glad-Tidings was part of a much broader proclamation by Baha'u'llah, who proclaimed his mission to the political and religious leaders of the world. This study will argue that Baha'u'llah may have revealed the Tablet of Glad-Tidings for E. G. Browne - or rather through him, since Baha'u'llah evidently intended that Browne should translate and publish the Bisharat in order to make the nature of the Baha'i teachings more widely known. This would then correct the distortions that had previously been published regarding Baha'u'llah's purpose and the nature of the religion that he founded, thereby promoting a public awareness that a new world religion was on the horizon of modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
DOI: 10.1386/bsr.16.3/1; (AN 55556852)
Subjects: Terms & phrases; Vocabulary; Religion; Modernity; Bahá'u'lláh, 1817-1892
Cited References: (42)
Times Cited in this Database: (2)
Abstract
African American philosopher Alain Locke is arguably the most profound and important western Bahá’í philosopher to date. Except for Ernest Mason’s 1979 World Order article, scholarship on Locke has neither seriously taken into account his Bahá’í identity nor its influence on his work. The present study, based largely on archival sources, will contribute to research on this “missing” dimension of Locke’s complex life and thought. This study examines Locke’s worldview as a Bahá’í, his secular perspective as a philosopher, and the synergy between his confessional and professional essays. This study also argues that Locke had a fluid hierarchy of values—of loyalty, tolerance, reciprocity, cultural relativism and pluralism (the philosophical equivalent of “unity in diversity”)—and that this hierarchy represents a progression and application of quintessentially Bahá’í ideals. Locke’s distinction as a “Bahá’í philosopher” may therefore be justified on ideological as well as historical grounds. Locke “translated” Bahá’í ideals “into more secular terms” so that “a greater practical range will be opened up for the application and final vindication of the Bahá’í principles” in order to achieve “a positive multiplication of spiritual power.” [1]
[1] Alain Locke, “Unity through Diversity: A Bahá’í Principle,” in The Bahá’í World: A Biennial International Record, Volume IV, April 1930–April 1932, comp. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada (New York: Committee, 1933; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1980) 372–74. Reprint in Leonard Harris (ed.), The Philosophy of Alain Locke (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989) 133–38 [above quote from 137]. Harris’ reference (133 n.) should be emended to read, Volume IV, 1930–1932 (not “V, 1932–1934”).
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.
Abstract
Academic and popular interest has lent prestige to native spirituality and has brought it into prominence. The United Nations proclamation of 1993 as the International Year of Indigenous People gave native peoples international recognition. A corresponding interest in native culture has “valorised” (brought respect to) native spirituality. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada took a position of advocacy on behalf of First Nations Canadians in its formal submission to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in the fall of 1993. The strong native presence in Canadian Bahá’í community life raises the question of the place of native spirituality within a Bahá’í worldview. Homefront “pioneers” have extended Bahá’í universalism to a recognition of the richness and authenticity of native cultural values. Such recognition has been supported by local Bahá’í policy, as attested in teaching pamphlets addressed to native peoples, in which the concept of First World messengers of God has been validated. Although theoretically acknowledged, explicit recognition of native messengers of God has yet to be formalised in Bahá’í doctrine. This study discusses the possibilities of incorporating the principle of “Messengers of God to Indigenous Peoples” within formal Bahá’í doctrine, reflecting a development that has already taken place in popular Bahá’í belief in the North American context. A hitherto under-studied Persian text of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá establishes the principle in such a way that its explicit enunciation is now possible. The problem of historical attestation remains. The prophetic credentials of Iroquois culture hero and statesman Deganawida are critically examined as a test case. The legend of Deganawida has a kernel of historicity overlaid by hagiography, with admitted Christian influence. Nonetheless, if the Bahá’í principle of “Progressive Revelation” can assimilate the Amerindian spiritual legacy as distinct from and developmentally asynchronous with Irano-Semitic and Sino-Indic religious histories, then it might be possible to accord Deganawida a provisional status with Bahá’í prophetology, and still affirm Bahá’u’lláh’s unific role in world history, as oral cultures take their place alongside the more familiar “literate” traditions.
Abstract: This article is a historical and textual study of the one of the major writings of Baha’u’llah: the Lawḥ-i Bishārāt (‘Tablet of Glad-Tidings’), revealed circa 1891, and advances new theories as to its provenance and purpose. The ‘Tablet of Glad-Tidings’ is a selective compendium of Baha’u’llah’s laws and principles, sequentially presented in a series of fifteen ‘Glad-Tidings.’ As the Arabic term, bishārāt, suggests, these ‘Glad-Tidings’ were a public announcement of some of the essential teachings of the new Baha’i religion.
The ‘Glad-Tidings’ is the most extensive of several ‘Tablets’ by Baha’u’llah that present key teachings in a numbered structure. The Glad-Tidings may, in part, be regarded as serially articulated ‘world reforms’ intermixed with religious reforms emanating from Baha’u’llah in his professed role as ‘World Reformer.’ The ‘Glad-Tidings’ also functioned analogously (albeit anachronistically) to a press release, serving not only as a public proclamation, but to rectify the inaccuracies and gross misrepresentations that had previously circulated in print. Intended for widespread translation and publication, the Glad-Tidings was sent to scholars—notably Russian orientalist, Baron Viktor Rosen (1849–1908) and Cambridge Orientalist, Edward Granville Browne (1862–1926)—and possibly pre-revolutionary Russian statesmen as well.
As a ‘Proclamatory Aqdas,’ the Tablet of Glad-Tidings was part of a much broader proclamation by Baha’u’llah, who proclaimed his mission to the political and religious leaders of the world. This study will argue that the Baha’u’llah may have revealed the Tablet of Glad-Tidings for E.G. Browne—or rather through him, since Baha’u’llah evidently intended that Browne should translate and publish the Bishārāt in order to make the nature of the Baha'i teachings more widely known. This would then correct the distortions that had previously been published regarding Baha’u’llah's purpose and the nature of the religion that he founded, thereby, promoting a public awareness that a new world religion was on the horizon of modernity.
“Baha’u’llah’s Bishārāt (Glad-Tidings): A Proclamation to Scholars and Statesmen. Persian translation, Part 1: Payám-i-Bahá’í, No. 371 (October 2010): 51–57. Persian translation by Faruq Izadinia.
“Baha’u’llah’s Bishārāt (Glad-Tidings): A Proclamation to Scholars and Statesmen. Persian translation, Part 2: Payám-i-Bahá’í, No. 372 (November 2010): 14–18. Persian translation by Faruq Izadinia.
“Baha’u’llah’s Bishārāt (Glad-Tidings): A Proclamation to Scholars and Statesmen. Persian translation, Part 3: Payám-i-Bahá’í, No. 373 (December 2010): 35–45. Persian translation by Faruq Izadinia.
“Baha’u’llah’s Bishārāt (Glad-Tidings): A Proclamation to Scholars and Statesmen. Persian translation, Part 4: Payám-i-Bahá’í, No. 374 (January 2011): 28–30. Persian translation by Faruq Izadinia.
ABSTRACT
Although not a “holy day” in the formal sense, Race Unity Day (observed annually on the second Sunday of June) may be seen as contributing to what some scholars call “civil religion” as part of shared cultural values that progress over time. Although the term “civil religion” is commonplace among scholars of religion, the term “civil religious holy day” may be an apt neologism by which to characterize Race Unity Day as a cultural event, in which the sacred Bahá’í values of unity are secularized and thereby transposed into the civic sphere.
Like World Religion Day, another observance conceived and “invented” by the US-NSA, as it were, this community event is universal in that it is not specifically a “Bahá’í” observance, but can be more widely appreciated and participated in. As an US-NSA-inspired “civil religious holy day” (to use the author’s term), Race Unity Day has apparently provided a model that appears to have inspired its secular namesake, sponsored by the government of New Zealand.
https://www.academia.edu/103191662/_Race_Unity_Day_Buck_2011_Religious_Celebrations_
Christopher Buck, God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America. (Introduction by J. Gordon Melton, Distinguished Professor of American Religious History of Baylor University’s Institute for Studies.) Kingston, NY: Educator’s International Press, 2015. (Hardback release date: March 27, 2015; Paperback release date: November 10, 2015.)
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010TXL1EG
EXCERPT:
FIFTY BAHA’I PRINCIPLES OF UNITY
I. INDIVIDUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD: (1) “Mystic Feeling which Unites Man with God”; II. FAMILY RELATIONS: (2) Unity of Husband and Wife; (3) Unity of the Family; III. INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS: (4) Oneness of Emotions; (5) Spiritual Oneness; IV. GENDER RELATIONS: (6) Unity of the Rights of Men and Women; (7) Unity in Education; V. ECONOMIC RELATIONS: (8) Economic Unity; (9) Unity of People and Wealth; VI. RACE RELATIONS: (10) Unity in Diversity; (11) Unity of Races; VII. ENVIRONMENTAL RELATIONS: (12) Unity of Existence (Oneness of Being and Manifestation; (13) Unity of Species; (14) Unity with the Environment; VIII. INTERFAITH RELATIONS: (15) Unity of God; (16) Mystic Unity of God and His Manifestations; (17) Unity of the Manifestations of God; (18) Unity of Truth; (19) Unity Among Religions; (20) Peace Among Religions; IX. SCIENTIFIC RELATIONS: (21) Unity of Science and Religion; (22) Methodological Coherence; (23) Unity of Thought in World Undertakings; X. LINGUISTIC RELATIONS: (24) Unity of Language; XI. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: (25) Unity of Conscience; (26) Unity in Freedom; (27) Evolving Social Unities; (28) Unity in the Political Realm; (29) Unity of Nations; (30) Unity of All Mankind/World Unity; (31) Unity of the World Commonwealth; (32) Unity of the Free; XII. BAHA’I RELATIONS: (33) Unity of the Baha’i Revelation; (34) All-Unifying Power; (35) Unity of Doctrine; (36) Unity of Meaning; (37) Baha’i Unity; (38) Unity among Baha’i Women; (39) Unity in Religion; (40) Unity of Station; (41) Unity of Souls; (42) Unity in Speech; (43) Unity in [Ritual] Acts; (44) Unity of Baha’i Administration; (45) Unity of Purpose; (46) Unity of Means; (47) Unity of Vision; (48) Unity of Action; (49) Unity of the Spiritual Assembly; (50) Unity of Houses of Justice and Governments.
– God & Apple Pie (2015), p. 329.
REVIEWS
• “Interview with Christopher Buck, author of God & Apple Pie.” By Troy Mikanovich, Assistant Editor, and Christopher Buck. Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion. (Published online: September 14, 2018.) http://readingreligion.org/content/interview-christopher-buck-author-god-apple-pie
• Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion. Review by Emily Goshey (PhD candidate, religious studies, Princeton University):
“This overview of religions in America and their relationship with America as both “nation and notion” covers tremendous ground. … God and Apple Pie is a veritable encyclopedia of both primary and secondary sources, but with the benefit of a more digestible presentation and a coherent narrative framework. Although the numerous, lengthy block quotes require some extra work from the reader, the overall effect is to empower the reader to see for themselves exactly how people within a given tradition mythologize and theologize America. That is to say, Buck shows as well as tells. … God and Apple Pie offers a valuable contribution to readers looking to understand why religion matters in America and how different American religious groups have seen their relationship with their country. Any reader, no matter how well versed in religious traditions, would learn a great deal by perusing its pages.” (Published online: August 14, 2017.) http://readingreligion.org/books/god-apple-pie
• Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 20.4 (May 2017): pp. 130–131. Review by Donald A. Westbrook (UCLA): “Thus, the volume has clear import for both theological studies and religious studies, and is unique in that it attempts to summarize, systematize, and synthesize the visionary and mythical examples it deftly surveys. … On the whole, this revised and expanded volume is impressive for the breadth and depth it accomplishes and will be of value to researchers, teachers, and especially general readers.” DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2017.20.4.130 / http://nr.ucpress.edu/content/20/4/130
• Religion: (Published online: 26 Oct 2016.) Review by Daniel Liechty PhD, DMin, ACSW (Professor of Social Work, Illinois State University): “Fascinating … The chapter on Mormonism … is itself alone worth the price of the book. Other chapters, on Black Muslim and contemporary Islamic views, as well as Buddhist and Baha’i visions of America … are, to my knowledge, the very best sources available for summarization of this material. … The reading itself is quite accessible. It could easily function not only as an undergraduate textbook, but also as the main reading for any adult education class or discussion group.” DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2016.1244636 / https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0048721X.2016.1244636
Religions 2023, 14(3), 341; DOI: 10.3390/rel14030341. Published: 4 March 2023. (This article belongs to the Special Issue: The Bahā’ī Faith: Doctrinal and Historical Explorations)
Abstract
The appearance of post-Islamic religions, the Bābī and Bahā’ī Faiths, is a theoretical impossibility from an orthodox Muslim perspective, since the Qur’ān designates the Prophet Muḥammad as the “Seal of the Prophets” (Q. 33:40), widely understood as meaning the “Last of the Prophets”. To overcome this problem, the respective prophet-founders, the Bāb (1819–1850) and Bahā’u’llāh (1817–1892), each presented novel approaches which this article will explore. In short, the Bāb revealed a “new” Qur’ān, i.e., the Qayyūm al-Asmā’ (1844), and Bahā’u’llāh wrote the Kitāb-i Īqān (Book of Certitude) in January 1861. While acknowledging Muḥammad as the last prophet in the “Prophetic Cycle”, the Bāb and Bahā’u’llāh inaugurated the advent of the “Cycle of Fulfillment”. This new era was foretold in the Qur’ān by way of a symbolic code, understood metaphorically and spiritually. A key concept is that of the “divine presence” (liqā’ Allāh), i.e., the encounter/“meeting” with God, whereby Q. 33:44, Q. 83:6, Q. 7:35 (and their respective parallels) effectively transcend Q. 33:40. Recognizing that the Bāb and Bahā’u’llāh each manifests the “divine presence” thereby constitutes a “realized eschatology”. This paper represents the first time that a wide-ranging survey and analysis of the Shaykhī, Bābī, and Bahā’ī viewpoints on the subject of the “Seal of the Prophets” has been made and is the result of a collaboration between two scholars working in the United States and Russia.
Keywords: Seal of the Prophets; divine presence; Qur’an; Islam; Shaykhism; the Bab; Babism; Baha’u’llah; Baha’i Faith
PRÉCIS [Abstract]:
Bahá’í Prayers for Good Governance
Christopher Buck
Bahá’u’lláh, in his last will and testament, encouraged, if not obliged, Bahá’ís to pray for their respective rulers and governments, which is effectively the same as praying for good governance, peace, and prosperity. This essay presents a newly authorized translation of a Bahá’í prayer, “A Prayer for the confirmation of the American Government”—along with a provisional translation of a prayer of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the Ottoman State and Caliphate. Bahá’í prayers for good governance are analyzed and discussed in comparative perspective with Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic prayers for good governance in the American context, introduced as phenomenological parallels. Bahá’u’lláh’s injunction to pray for one’s rulers is a precept that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá put into practice—to good practical effect. Moreover, he revealed several prayers for good governance for use by the Bahá’ís themselves, to offer, wherever they may reside, on behalf of their governments. Several such prayers are presented, with comments as to their respective historical contexts and purpose.
EXCERPT:
* * *
“A Prayer for the confirmation of the American Government”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá revealed the first Bahá’í prayer for America sometime around 1900. He later praised the American model of government and said, “Having traveled from coast to coast, I find the United States of America vast and progressive, the government just and equitable, the nation noble and independent . . . worthy of raising the flag of brotherhood and international agreement.” However, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá repeatedly challenged America to fulfill its role of peacemaker in the world, stating, “America has become renowned for her discoveries, inventions and artistic skill, famous for equity of government and stupendous undertakings; now may she also become noted and celebrated as the herald and messenger of Universal Peace.” This prayer for America—for which an authenticated Arabic original exists—was originally published as a provisional translation in Star of the West, a Bahá’í periodical. In 2017, the Universal House of Justice released an authorized translation, accompanied by a Memorandum that reads, in part, as follows:
Dr. Buck requests an authorized translation of the prayer of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá beginning “Alláhumma yá mu’ayyid kull-i sulṭatin ‘ádila(tin)” and asks whether it was revealed specifically for America. The prayer in question is authentic, and its original Arabic text is held in the Archives at the Bahá’í World Centre. The manuscript includes the following heading in English: “A Prayer for the confirmation of the American Government.” Moreover, in a message dated January 4, 1982, to a National Spiritual Assembly, the Universal House of Justice stated that the prayer was “specifically revealed for the U.S. Government.” A 2017 authorized translation of the prayer follows:
O my God! O Thou Who endowest every just power and equitable dominion with abiding glory and everlasting might, with permanence and stability, with constancy and honour! Aid Thou by Thy heavenly grace every government that acteth justly towards its subjects and every sovereign authority, derived from Thee, that shieldeth the poor and the weak under the banner of its protection.
I beseech Thee, by Thy divine grace and surpassing bounty, to aid this just government, the canopy of whose authority is spread over vast and mighty lands and the evidences of whose justice are apparent in its prosperous and flourishing regions. Assist, O my God, its hosts, raise aloft its ensigns, bestow influence upon its word and its utterance, protect its lands, increase its honour, spread its fame, reveal its signs, and unfurl its banner through Thine all-subduing power and Thy resplendent might in the kingdom of creation.
Thou, verily, aidest whomsoever Thou willest, and Thou, verily, art the Almighty, the Most Powerful.
—‘Abdu’l‑Bahá
(Additional Prayers Revealed by ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá)
www.bahai.org/r/229771371
The original Arabic text of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s “A Prayer for the confirmation of the American Government” may be found online; it was previously published in print in Muntakhabátí az Makátíb-i-Ḥaḍrat-i-ʻAbduʼl-Bahá, vol. 2, p. 313:
مناجات طلب تأیید بجهة حکومت امریکا
A Prayer for the confirmation of the American Government
٩
اللّهمّ یا مؤیّد کلّ سلطة عادلة و سلطنة قاسطة علی العزّة الأبدیّة و القدرة السّرمدیّة و البقآء و الاستقرار و الثّبات و الافتخار ایّد بفیض رحمانیّتک کلّ حکومة تعدل بین رعایاها و کلّ سلطة ممنوحة منک تحمی الفقرآء و الضّعفآء برایاتها اسئلک بفیض قدسک و سیب فضلک ان تؤیّد هذه الحکومة العادلة الّتی ضربت اطناب خبائها علی ممالک واسعة شاسعة و اظهرت العدالة برهانها فی اقالیمها العامرة الباهرة اللّهمّ ایّد جنودها و رایاتها و نفّذ کلمتها و آیاتها و احم حماها و راع ذمارها و اذع صیتها و شیّع آثارها و اعل علمها بقوّتک القاهرة علی الأشیآء و قدرتک الباهرة فی ملکوت الانشآء انّک انت مؤیّد من تشآء و انّک انت المقتدر القدیر ع ع
پنهان کردن توضیحات
یادداشت:
https://www.bahai.org/fa/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/additional-tablets-talks-abdul-baha/292030620/1#768084884
A transliteration, into Latin characters, of the original Arabic text of this prayer for America is as follows—so that, when read aloud, the reader can approximate the sound of the Arabic original as well:
Alláhumma, yá mu’ayyidu kulli sulṭatin ‘ádilatin wa salṭanatin qásiṭatin ‘alá ’l-‘izzati ’l-abadiyyati wa ’l-qudrati ’s-sarmadiyyati wa ’l-baqá’i wa ’l-istiqrári wa ’th-thabáti wa ’l-iftikhár. Ayyid bi-fayḍi raḥmániyyatika kulla ḥukúmatin ta’dilu bayna ra’áyáhá wa kulla sulṭatin mamnúḥatin minka taḥmí al-fuqará’i wa ’d-du’afá’i biráyátihá.
As’aluka bi-fayḍi qudsika wa ṣayyibi faḍlika an tu’ayyida hádhihi ’l-ḥukúmata ’l-‘ádilata ’llatí ḍarabat aṭnába khibá’ihá ‘alá mamáliki wási‘atin shási’atin wa aẓharat al-‘adálata burhánihá fí aqálímihá ’l-‘ámirati ’l-báhira.
Alláhumma, ayyid junúdahá wa ráyátahá wa naffidh kalimatahá wa áyátihá wa aḥmi ḥamahá wa rá‘i dhimárahá wa adhi‘ ṣítahá wa shayyi‘ áthárahá wa i‘la ‘alamahá bi-quwwatika ’l-qáhirati ‘alá ’l-ashyá’i wa quwwatika ’l-báhirati fí malakúti ’l-inshá’. Innaka anta mu’ayyidu man tashá’ wa innaka anta ’l-muqtadiru ’l-qadír.
* * *
On July 4, 2022, a video recitation of this Arabic prayer was posted online here:
The Utterance Project, “A Prayer for the Confirmation of the American Government » by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá – Arabic w/English Subs,”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2dVhXE6K1I
Transliteration and Recitation
Adib Masumian
Design and Video Editing
Violetta Zein
ABSTRACT
Rediscovery of contemporaneous handwritten notes by Cambridge orientalist, Edward Granville Browne, 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.
Original, longer article that was invited, accepted, and edited (6,160 words) and briefly published online (as I recall). Then a new word-limit was imposed, such that I had to cut 2,255 words. The published article is accessible here: https://www.academia.edu/30244819/Bah%C4%81%CA%BE%C4%ABs_Supplement_2016_Encyclopaedia_of_the_Qur%CA%BE%C4%81n
Excerpt:
Adherents of Bahāʾism (ahl al-Bahāʾ), widely known as the “Bahāʾī Faith,” an independent world religion with Islamic origins. The Bahāʾī religion, a universalization of Bābism, was founded by Mīrzā Ḥusayn-ʿAlī Nūrī (1817–92), known as Bahāʾ Allāh/Bahāʾullāh (Splendor of God; standardized Bahāʾī spelling, Bahā’u’llāh), in Baghdad in the year 1863. In 1866, it emerged as a distinct faith-community in Adrianople (Edirne). Bahāʾī identity is fully independent. While Bahāʾīs do not identify as Muslims, Bahāʾīs regard the Qurʾān with profound respect as divine revelation, as do Muslims, except that Bahāʾīs have their own corpus of sacred scriptures, quite apart from the Qurʾān.
Bahāʾīs also believe in Muḥammad as the “Seal of the Prophets and of the Messengers” (going beyond the Qurʾān’s honorific of Muḥammad as the “Seal of the Prophets” (khātam l-nabiyīn) in q 33:40) and hold him to be the final Messenger for the “Cycle of Prophecy.” Prophecy foretells, as well as tells forth. In Bahāʾī doctrine, the “Cycle of Prophecy (kawr-i nubuvvat) or “Adamic Cycle” (kawr-i ādam) prepared the world for the “Cycle of Fulfillment” (kawr-i taḥaqquq va ikmāl) or “Bahāʾī Cycle” (kawr-i Bahāʾī), symbolically foreshadowed in the Qurʾān as the “Great Announcement” (al-nabāʾ al-ʿaẓīm, q 78:2; Bahāʾullāh, Kitāb l-aqdas, par. 167). This Cycle of Fulfillment was inaugurated by the Bāb, who prophesied the imminent advent of “Him who God shall manifest” (man yuẓhiruhu llāh), whom the majority of Bābīs (followers of the Bāb) came to recognize as Bahāʾullāh.
A Bahāʾī theology of pluralism, with special reference to Islam, may be based on a statement by Shoghi Effendi, “Guardian” of the Bahāʾī Faith (1921–57): “Unequivocally and without the least reservation it proclaims all established religions to be divine in origin, identical in their aims, complementary in their functions, continuous in their purpose, indispensable in their value to mankind.” (S. Effendi, World Order, p. 58). This, of course, applies as much to Islam as to other religions.
Having arisen out of Islamic historical context and milieu, the Bahāʾī religion has certain Islamicate elements, yet Bahāʾism exhibits certain other features that are supra-Islamicate and distinct in character. For instance, Islamic doctrine adheres to a belief in successive revelations, beginning with Adam, and culminating with the Prophet Muḥammad as the “Seal of the Prophets.” In Bahāʾī teachings, the idea of successive revelations is invested with a teleology that transforms it into “progressive revelation” (tajdīd va takāmul-i adyān) where the succession of Messengers throughout the history of religions is not only sequential but cumulative, coefficient with the social evolution of humanity (Y. Ioannesyan, The concept of the “manifestations of God’s will”). As humankind advances socially, so does the corresponding need for guidance and laws suited to the exigencies of the day and age. Here, “progressive” conveys the notion of “superior” in respect of “fuller” and “more advanced,” without making a claim of intrinsic superiority.
Before focusing on Bābī and Bahāʾī approaches to the interpretation of the Qurʾān, some distinctive features of Bahāʾism may be highlighted here. Bahāʾullāh, on 22 April 1863 privately declared himself “Him whom God shall manifest” (man yuẓhiruhu llāh), the messianic theophany foretold by the Bāb. In open epistles to Queen Victoria, Napoleon III, Pope Pius IX and other world leaders during the Adrianople and ʿAkkā (Haifa) periods (1864–92), Bahāʾullāh publicly proclaimed himself the advent of the millenarian “Promised One” of all religions — a “multiple-messiahship” (C. Buck, Unique, 158), i.e. the Zoroastrian Shāh Bahrām Varjāvand, the Jewish Everlasting Father (Isa 9:6)/Lord of Hosts, the Christian Spirit of Truth, the Shīʿī al-Ḥusayn redivivus, the Sunnī return of Christ, and “Him who God shall manifest,” as announced by the Bāb (see apocalypse).
As “World Reformer” (muṣliḥ al-‘ālam), Bahāʾullāh advocated world peace, parliamentary democracy, disarmament, an international language, the harmony of science and religion, interfaith concord as well as gender and racial equality. . . .
In precocious religious preparation for a global society, Bahāʾullāh’s signal contribution was to sacralize certain secular modernist reforms within an irreducibly original paradigm of world unity in which peace is made sacred. By designating his son ʿAbdu l-Bahāʾ (Servant of Bahāʾ, d. 1921) as interpreter, exemplar and successor and by establishing elected councils, Bahāʾullāh instituted his Covenant, symbolized as “the Crimson Ark” (C. Buck, Paradise, ch. 5). This is the organizing principle of the Bahāʾī community and the means to safeguard its integrity against major schism. Succeeding ʿAbdu l-Bahāʾ in 1921 as “Guardian” of the Bahāʾī Faith, Shoghi Effendi (d. 1957) globalized and evolved the Bahāʾī administration as a system of local and national Spiritual Assemblies. This led in 1963 to the establishment of the Universal House of Justice, the international Bahāʾī governing body, on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel.
The purpose of the Bahāʾī Faith, as the religion is now known, is to unify the world through its principles of unity, which range from family relations to international relations. According to a recent survey, some 50 Bahāʾī principles of unity have been identified in the primary sources (Persian, Arabic and English) as follows:
50 Bahāʾī Principles of Unity
I. Individual Relationship with God: (1) “Mystic feeling which unites nan with God”; II. Family Relations: (2) Unity of Husband and Wife (vaḥdat); (3) Unity of the family (ittiḥād va ittifāq dar miyān-i khāndān); III. Interpersonal Relations: (4) Oneness of Emotions (iḥsāsāt-i vāḥida); (5) Spiritual Oneness (vaḥdat-i rawḥānī); IV. Gender Relations: (6) Unity of the Rights of Men and Women (vaḥdat-i huqūq-i rijāl va nisāʾ); (7) Unity in Education (vaḥdat-i uṣūl va qavānīn-i tarbiyat); V. Economic Relations: (8) Economic Unity (ittiḥād-i iqtiṣādī); (9) Unity of People and Wealth (ittiḥād-i nufūs va amvāl) [i.e. beneficence/philanthropy]; VI. Race Relations: (10) Unity in Diversity; (11) Unity of Races (vaḥdat-i jins); VII. Environmental Relations: (12) Unity of Existence (Oneness of Being and Manifestation (Arabic: waḥdat al-wujūd wa shuhūd/Persian: vaḥdat-i vujūd va shuhūd); (13) Unity of Species (vaḥdat-i jins); (14) Unity with the Environment; VIII. Interfaith Relations: (15) Unity of God (tawḥīd-i ilāhī); (16) Mystic Unity of God and His Manifestations; (17) Unity of the Manifestations of God (maqām-i tawḥīd); (18) Unity of Truth (vaḥdat-i ḥaqīqat); (19) Unity Among Religions (ittiḥād dar dīn); (20) Peace Among Religions (sabab-i ulfat bayn-i adyān/ṣuḥul bayn-i adyān); IX. Scientific Relations: (21) Unity of Science and Religion (vaḥdat-i ‘ilm va dīn); (22) Methodological Coherence; (23) Unity of Thought (vaḥdat-i ārā) in World Undertakings; X. Linguistic Relations: (24) Unity of Language (vaḥdat-i lisān); XI. International Relations: (25) Unity of Conscience (vaḥdat-i vujdān); (26) Unity in Freedom (vaḥdat-i āzādī); (27) Evolving Social Unities; (28) Unity in the Political Realm (vaḥdat-i siyāsat); (29) Unity of Nations (vaḥdat-i vaṭan); (30) Unity of All Mankind/World Unity (ittifāq-i kull va ittiḥād-i ‘umūm/vaḥdat-i ‘ālam-i insānī); (31) Unity of the World Commonwealth; (32) Unity of the Free; XII. Bahāʾī Relations: (33) Unity of the Bahāʾī Revelation; (34) All-Unifying Power (jaat-i jāmiʻa); (35) Unity of Doctrine; (36) Unity of Meaning; (37) Bahāʾī Unity (vaḥdat-i Bahā’ī); (38) Unity among Bahāʾī Women (al-ittiḥād wa’l-ittifāq); (39) Unity in Religion (vaḥdat-i dīnī); (40) Unity of Station (ittiḥād-i maqām); (41) Unity of Souls (ittiḥād-i nufūs); (42) Unity in Speech (ittiḥād dar qawl); (43) Unity in [Ritual] Acts (ittiḥād-i ā’māl); (44) Unity of Bahāʾī Administration; (45) Unity of Purpose; (46) Unity of Means; (47) Unity of Vision; (48) Unity of Action; (49) Unity of the Spiritual Assembly (yigānigī); (50) Unity of Houses of Justice and Governments (Buck, God & Apple Pie, p. 329; id., Fifty Bahāʾī principles of unity).
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ABSTRACT
This article presents an episode recounted by Cambridge orientalist, Edward Granville Browne (7 February 1862–5 January 1926), as narrated in his travel classic, A Year Amongst the Persians, first published in 1893 (second edition published by Cambridge in 1926), in what may be characterized, with some poetic license, as the first recorded “fireside” in Bahá’í history, i.e. the firsthand account given in the course of his historic contacts with the Bahá’ís in Persia (present-day Iran), during his stay in Shíráz, from Thursday, 22 March 1888 to Saturday, 6 April 1888—at which time Browne, at long last, succeeded in his quest to discover further information on the Bábí religion which, by this time, had evolved into what is today known as the “Bahá’í Faith,” now an independent world religion established in all countries except for North Korea and the Vatican. Special focus is devoted to a meeting that took place in Shiraz on “Friday, March 30th,” 1888—and which here is characterized as “the first recorded Bahá’í fireside.” Browne’s account—closely compared, in the present study, to his original diary entries, digital scans of which are now made available by at Pembroke as part of the “Browne Archive Project”—is energized by his intense curiosity, which may fairly be described as a “passion” for his research interest as a scholar. To ascertain the degree to which Browne’s narrative is a composite, reworked account—and not strictly sequential and chronological—it makes sense to draw some correspondences between Browne’s diary entries, and the Shíráz narrative in Chapter XI in A Year Amongst the Persians, as to both topics and dates. Browne’s corresponding diary entries, where “SHÍRÁZ” appears as the heading at the top of each page. Briefly, the present article highlights Browne’s diary entries, folio by folio (page by page), from Vols. II and III of Browne’s diary, and offers some observations on corresponding passages in A Year Amongst the Persians.
Keywords: Edward Granville Browne; Persians; Shiraz; diary; Baha’i; Bábí; fireside.
** Note that this is the final issue of Baha’i Studies Review, as it is being discontinued.
CONTENTS
Editors’ Introduction
Co-Editors: Barney Leith & Brendan McNamara
p. 3 (1 p.)
Articles:
Shoghi Effendi and the Early Development of Bahá’í Administration in North America, 1922–1927
Author: Smith, Peter
pp. 5–26 (22 pp.)
The Articulation of the Equality and Rights of Women in Bahá’í Discourse and Implementation
Author: Momen, Wendi
pp. 27–55 (29 pp.)
The First Recorded Bahá’í Fireside
Author: Buck, Christopher
pp. 57–85 (29 pp.)
The Awakening of Spirit: Artistic and Thematic Influences on the Evolution of Mark Tobey’s ‘White Writing’
Author: Weinberg, Robert
pp. 87–99 (13 pp.)
An Introduction to the Bahá’í Religiolect
Author: Masumian, Adib
pp. 101–120 (20 pp.)
Book Review:
Review of Islam at the Crossroads, by Lameh Fananapazir (2015) Oxford: George Ronald
Author: Momen, Moojan
pp. 121–122 (2 pp.)
Article:
The Conceptual in Human Nature: Learning to Perceive the World
Author: Filson, Gerald
pp. 123–149 (27 pp.)
* Note: These are personal reflections — not academic discourses.
1. Unsealing the “Seal of the Prophets” • Christopher Buck • Oct 1, 2013 • https://bahaiteachings.org/unsealing-the-seal-of-the-prophets
2. The Seal of the Prophets: Meeting God on the Last Day • Christopher Buck • Feb 12, 2016 • https://bahaiteachings.org/seal-of-the-prophets-meeting-god-on-the-last-day
3. Muhammad: the Last Prophet? • Christopher Buck • May 15, 2017 • https://bahaiteachings.org/last-prophet-muhammad
_____________
Even as the Lord of being hath in His unerring Book [the Qur'an], after speaking of the "Seal" in His exalted utterance: "Muhammad is the Apostle of God and the Seal of the Prophets" [Qur'an 33:40], hath revealed unto all people the promise of "attainment unto the divine Presence." [Qur'an 33:44] … Nothing more exalted or more explicit than "attainment unto the divine Presence" hath been revealed in the Qur'an. … And yet, through the mystery of the former verse [Qur'an 33:40], they have turned away from the grace promised by the latter [Qur'an 33:44], despite the fact that "attainment unto the divine Presence" in the "Day of Resurrection" is explicitly stated in the Book. [Baha'u'llah, The Book of Certitude, Paragraphs 181–182.]
This quote changed my life, challenged my thinking, gave me insight. Here's how:
ABSTRACT
The Bahá’í Faith “claims not to destroy or belittle previous Revelations, but to connect, unify, and fulfill them,” according to Shoghi Effendi (Bahá’í “Guardian,” 1921–1957). Seena Fazel proposed “three bridges that can link the Bahá’í community to other religions in dialogue”: “ethical,” “intellectual,” and “mystical-spiritual.” The Universal House of Justice (elected international Bahá’í council) addressed its public “Letter to the World’s Religious Leaders” (April 2002) to promote consensus “that God is one and that … religion is likewise one.” Shoghi Effendi’s declaration that the Bahá’í Faith “proclaims all established religions to be divine in origin, identical in their aims, complementary in their functions, continuous in their purpose, indispensable in their value to mankind” potentially can promote ideal interfaith relations through reciprocal recognition and respect.
EXCERPT
This moral imperative can be further developed doctrinally in terms of interfaith relations, for [from] my Bahá’í perspective. Shoghi Effendi (1897–1957)—who led the Bahá’í world as “Guardian” of the Bahá’í Faith from 1921 to 1957—wrote the following statement regarding the Bahá’í perspective on purpose with regard to the other religions of the world:
__________
Fundamental Principle of Religious Truth
Let no one, however, mistake my purpose. The Revelation, of which Bahá’u’lláh is the source and center, abrogates none of the religions that have preceded it, nor does it attempt, in the slightest degree, to distort their features or to belittle their value. It disclaims any intention of dwarfing any of the Prophets of the past, or of whittling down the eternal verity of their teachings. It can, in no wise, conflict with the spirit that animates their claims, nor does it seek to undermine the basis of any man’s allegiance to their cause. Its declared, its primary purpose is to enable every adherent of these Faiths to obtain a fuller understanding of the religion with which he stands identified, and to acquire a clearer apprehension of its purpose. It is neither eclectic in the presentation of its truths, nor arrogant in the affirmation of its claims. Its teachings revolve around the fundamental principle that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is progressive, not final. Unequivocally and without the least reservation it proclaims all established religions to be divine in origin, identical in their aims, complementary in their functions, continuous in their purpose, indispensable in their value to mankind.
__________
Taking each of the “established religions,” one by one, a Bahá’í “theology of pluralism” or “theology of religions” is capable of further specificity and application, on a religion-by-religion basis. One way to accomplish this is to substitute a particular religion as one of the “established religions” and to see how Shoghi Effendi’s significant statement may be applied practically to bilateral interfaith relations. Taking Christianity as an example, the following Bahá’í perspective on Christianity follows, by means of the following paraphrase of Shoghi Effendi’s pronouncement:
__________
Unequivocally and without the least reservation, it [the Bahá’í Faith] proclaims [Christianity] to be divine in origin, identical in [its] aims, complementary in [its] functions, continuous in [its] purpose, indispensable in [its] value to humankind.
__________
This approach has yet to be widely experimented with, much less adopted, yet it is worthy of testing in the social laboratory of interfaith relations in which a Bahá’í presence is included. Whether or not interfaith representatives of Christianity would be prepared to offer reciprocal recognition along these lines remains to be seen. This short declaration of interfaith recognition has tremendous potential as a foundation for more extensive interfaith encounter, engagement, and ecumenism. This formula conceivably could take on a life of its own and represent recognition and reciprocity between any two faith communities in an interfaith context in which a Bahá’í representative is at one end of the dialogue. If so, this would represent a distinctively Bahá’í contribution to interfaith dialogue and accord at the level of reciprocal recognition and declarations of common cause and shared values at the level of principle.
The Letter remains relevant today. Now, some seventeen years later, revisiting this official statement can serve to define better a Bahá’í perspective on interfaith dialogue. This public Bahá’í statement on interfaith relations may be regarded as a contribution to ecumenical literature in general and to better understanding of what the Bahá’í Faith brings to the table in interfaith dialogues. It serves as a resource for reminding and reorienting religious leaders of the pressing need to reduce religious prejudice—not only by pointing out the evil inherent in prejudice itself but also by discrediting and counteracting the intellectual and doctrinal basis for such prejudice by refocusing religious belief on the overarching conviction that “the truth underlying all religions is in its essence one.” The House’s recommendations are mandates for progress in interfaith dialogue in particular and for interfaith relations generally.
Seena Fazel has proposed “three bridges that can link the Bahá’í community to other religions in dialogue”: (1) an “ethical bridge” that “should focus on tackling obstacles to world peace in cooperative projects with other religious communities”; (2) an “intellectual bridge” that “needs to confront religious differences and attempt to resolve them”; and (3) a “mystical-spiritual bridge” that “can significantly enrich the nature of Bahá’í community and devotional life and contribute to a Bahá’í theology of religions.” These “three bridges” may be read and appreciated as constructive ideas for increasing the scope and substance of interfaith encounters. In other words, thanks to the April, 2002, Letter from the House, Bahá’í engagement is expected to increase in scale and substance. In any case, Bahá’í contributions to interfaith dialogue can be expected to draw on the Letter. Such noble efforts are in keeping with one of the purposes of the Bahá’í Faith: “Therein lies the strength of the unity of the [Bahá’í] Faith, of the validity of a Revelation that claims not to destroy or belittle previous Revelations, but to connect, unify, and fulfill them.”
A review of the literature shows that precious little has been written beyond passing references to this document. As such, the Journal of Ecumenical Studies may be the very first venue in which the Universal House of Justice’s “Letter to the World’s Religious Leaders” has been described and analyzed in some depth.
Christopher Buck and Necati Alkan • Jan 23, 2017 • 11 Comments
Believe it or not, the prophet Muhammad appeared to Baha’u’llah in a dream.
Within the Islamic context, the appearance of Muhammad in a dream has real significance. Unlike Western culture—which widely considers dreams to be a figment of the imagination, or projection of wish images, or expressions of repressed fears, or symbolic of deep, psychological needs—classical Islamic tradition ascribes both authenticity and, in some cases, spiritual authority, to clear and direct messages conveyed in dreams.
Let’s first look at the dream in which the prophet Muhammad conveys a profound message to Baha’u’llah—and therefore through Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith. Here is Baha’u’llah’s personal account of that particular dream, in this provisional translation by Necati Alkan:
* * *
One day I saw in a dream that I associated with His Holiness, the Apostle (Muḥammad), may the souls of all else but Him be sacrificed for His sake. Words were revealed and utterances were made manifest from that Dawning-Place of God’s Book. Thereupon He (Muḥammad) said:
“Previously I had said: ‘Paradise is beneath the shades of swords (al-jannatu taḥta ẓilāli al-suyūf).’ However, if I were manifest in these days, I would say: ‘Paradise is beneath the shade of the tree of friendliness and compassion’ (al-jannatu taḥta ẓilāli sidrati al-ulfati wa al-raḥma)’.”
Upon hearing this blessed and exalted Word, I (Baha’u’llah) declared: “May the souls of all men be a sacrifice unto Thy loving-kindness, tender mercy and bounty!” Subsequently, the Ocean of utterance (Baha’u’llah) spoke that which the Pen was unable to reveal and the ink not capable to make manifest. When I woke up from my sleep I have found Myself filled with gladness for a time, in such wise that it was beyond description.
– Baha’u’llah, Lawḥ-i Ṭabīb, provisional translation by Necati Alkan.
* * *
In this dream narration, Baha’u’llah tells us that he and Muhammad “associated” with each other. This immediately places Baha’u’llah’s dream in a distinct class of its own.
The majority of reported dreams in which Muhammad is said to appear are cast in the form of reports of words that are heard within the dream itself, but are not the product or outcome of a conversation.
Dialogue, after all, presupposes a certain equality of status between those who converse. Such is not the case in which Muhammad appears to a pious Muslim in a dream. While there is definitely communication, typically no “conversation” takes place.
But in Baha’u’llah’s dream of Muhammad, they converse as friends and as equals. Muhammad says within the dream itself: “Paradise is beneath the shade of the tree of friendliness and compassion.”
The chain of transmission is simple: This is Baha’u’llah’s direct report of what he himself personally heard the prophet Muhammad say. Let’s talk about the tradition itself, in which Muhammad is reported to have previously said:
* * *
“Swords are the keys to paradise” (al-suyūf mafātīḥu al-janna). …The Messenger of God (Muḥammad) said, “All that is good lies in the sword and under the sword’s shadow, for people shall not rise save by the sword and swords are the keys to Paradise and Hellfire” (al-khayru fī l-sayfi wa-taḥta ẓilli l-sayfi wa-lā yuqīmu l-nāsa illā l- sayfu wal-suyūfi maqālīdi l-jannati wa l-nāri). …
– Qtd. by Sean W. Anthony, “Muḥammad, the Keys to Paradise, and the Doctrina Iacobi: A Late Antique Puzzle.” Der Islam 91.2 (2014), p. 257.
* * *
Here, the word “sword” is a metonymy—a figure of speech where “sword” symbolizes “jihad.” Professor Leah Kinberg has researched and studied the role of dreams in early Islam. Evidently, for a period of time in early Islam, a dream could be invoked as a source of authority. The spiritual reality behind the phenomenon of the true dream (as distinct from the dream that arises from pure imagination) was recognized way back then, as it is now in the Baha’i writings, although Baha’i and Islamic views of dreams differ. Professor Kinberg writes:
* * *
A widely circulated Prophetic ḥadīth states that a vision of the Prophet in a dream is deemed equal to his actual appearance. In other words, regardless of time and place, one who has seen the Prophet in a dream is deemed equal to a ṣaḥābī, a companion of the Prophet. Consequently, prophetic words heard in dreams may have the same impact as words preserved in ḥadīth. …
The authoritative power of manāmāt [“dreams”] is anchored in the recognition of these dreams as the vessels of sound transcendental knowledge. … Although the value of a dream message does not depend on the appearance of the Prophet, the wide distribution of reports about communications of the Prophet in dreams conveys a real need to see the Prophet rather than anyone else. Ja’far al-Ṣādiq (d. 148/765) is reported to have said, “If any one sees the Prophet in a dream, then good, indeed, will be its effect … and verily will one enter Paradise, who so sees the Prophet in a dream, and great will be the honor that he will receive.”
– Leah Kinberg, “Dreams,” Encyclopaedia of Islam,” Third Edition.
* * *
As applied to the appearance of the prophet Muhammad to Baha’u’llah in a dream, this Islamic doctrine has profound significance, at least potentially. If it is true that the appearance of Muhammad in a dream can be invoked as spiritual authority attesting the authenticity of a tradition ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad, then why not the authenticity of the statement itself, if conveyed by Muhammad in a dream?
For Baha’is, Baha’u’llah’s authority is independent of the authority of Muhammad. Therefore, a Baha’i would accept the authenticity of this new saying of Muhammad based on the authority of Baha’u’llah himself.
Even if this dream is appreciated purely for its symbolic value, the significance remains the same. In this day and age, Baha’is believe, the “sword”—i.e. Islamic holy war—is no longer one of the “keys to Paradise.” Quite the opposite may be true, in fact (except in the case of a defensive, “just war”). Because it says “Paradise is beneath the shade of the tree of friendliness and compassion,” this invocation of peace obviously is a Baha’i teaching. Yet given the fact that this source is said to be from the prophet Muhammad himself, this very same saying can be regarded as having not only Baha’i authority, but Islamic authority as well.
If the world accepted this proposition as true, it could have profound implications for contemporary Islamic social policy, strictly forbidding the use of force and coercion in matters of faith.
Baha’u’llah’s dream states a difference in order to make a difference in the world today.
https://bahaiteachings.org/no-jihad-muhammads-message-bahaullahs-dream
PREVIEW This downloadable PDF features Google Books’s “Preview” of pp. 1–39 (as well as front matter and back matter), as well as scans of pages available on Amazon.com's preview future as well.
Christopher Buck and Derik Smith
Oxford Research Encyclopedia (2019)
Subject: North American Literatures
Online Publication: Updated on 26 April 2019.
Summary and Keywords
Robert Hayden was made poet laureate of Senegal in 1966 and ten years later became America’s first Black poet laureate. He was acclaimed as “People’s Poet” early in his career, but he was largely ignored by the American literary establishment until late in life. In his poetics of history and his nuanced representations of black life, Hayden’s art showed that the African American experience was quintessentially American, and that blackness was an essential aspect of relentlessly heterogeneous America. As he figured it in his late-in-life poem, “[American Journal],” national identity was best metaphorized in “bankers grey afro and dashiki long hair and jeans / hard hat yarmulka mini skirt.” Hayden’s archetypal efforts to demonstrate the kaleidoscopic quality of both black and American identity produced an art that transcended propagandistic categories of race and nation, and pathed the way for a large cadre of late 20th and early 21st century poets who, like Hayden, understand themselves to be simultaneously black and American, but ultimately human.
Keywords: Robert Hayden, poetry, poet laureate, Black Arts Movement, national identity, African American, Bicentennial, Baha’i
ABSTRACT
History offers a review of past events in a quest for contemporary relevance, where hindsight can serve as a source of insight into present-day social paradoxes and dilemmas. The present essay revisits three public speeches by distinguished Bahá’í philosopher, Alain Locke, presented at the Institute of International Relations’ Tenth Annual Session in 1944, and argues that he articulated a three-part message: (1) racism, although an American problem, is not purely a domestic issue; (2) racism has bilateral and multilateral consequences (especially economic) in the international context; and (3) three “moral imperatives”—of promoting the unity of races, religions, and nations, both locally and globally—are primary objectives in the quest for world peace.
SELECTED ARCHIVAL DIGITAL SCANS
posted on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/christopher.buck.1656/posts/2303968696388494
(1) Alain Locke, “Race: American Paradox and Dilemma”; (2) Alain Locke, “Race in the Present World Crisis”; and (3) Alain Locke, “Moral Imperatives for World Order” (including discussion of remarks by Alain Locke, Leslie Schaefer, Rabbi William Stern, and Harry Silcock). Summary of Proceedings: Institute of International Relations, Mills College, Oakland, California, June 18 to 28, 1944, edited by Clarice Hubert and Cynthia Reynolds, Mills College, 1944, pp. (1) 9–10; (2) 13–15; and (3) 19–20, respectively. (Courtesy of Janice Braun, Library Director & Special Collections Librarian Milhaud Archivist, and Director, Center for the Book, Mills College, October 1, 2018.) Permission to reprint the summaries of Alain Locke’s three presentations granted, courtesy of Janice Braun, Library Director & Special Collections Librarian Milhaud Archivist, and Director, Center for the Book, Mills College, October 12, 2018. (Edited by Christopher Buck, based on digital scans kindly provided by Mills College.)
Entire issue of the Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.1–2 (Spring/Summer 2019) available online:
https://bahai-studies.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/JBS-29.1-2.pdf
Source: [untitled essay], Alain Locke Papers, MSRC, Box 164-143, Folder 3 (Writings by Locke—Notes. Christianity, spirituality, religion).
Permission to post on Academia granted February 25, 2019, courtesy of:
Meaghan Alston
Prints and Photographs Librarian
Moorland-Spingarn Research Center
Howard University
Text edited and published in 2005:
“Alain Locke in His Own Words: Three Essays.” Edited and annotated by Christopher Buck and Betty J. Fisher. World Order 36.3 (2005): 37–48. [Features four previously unpublished works by Alain Locke: “The Moon Maiden” (37); “The Gospel for the Twentieth Century” (39–42); “Peace between Black and White in the United States” (42–45); and “Five Phases of Democracy” (45–48).]
See also:
Christopher Buck, “Alain Locke: Race Leader, Social Philosopher, Baha’i Pluralist.” Special Issue: “Alain Locke: Dean of the Harlem Renaissance and Baha’i Race-Amity Leader.” World Order 36.3 (2005): 7–36.
Winner of the 2006 DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Award of Excellence: Class B. Periodicals—Single Issue, Magazine, National (B-1), for excellence in religion communications and public relations. Awarded to: (1) Dr. Betty J. Fisher, Editor; (2) World Order magazine; and (3) the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. See http://www.religioncommunicators.org/assets/documents/derosehinkhouseawardwinners2006.pdf
Excerpts:
First paragraph:
The gospel for the Twentieth Century rises out of the heart of its greatest problems, and few who are spiritually enlightened doubt the nature of that problem. The clashing ominous [t?]est of issues of the practical world of today, the issues of race, sect, class and nationality, all have one basic spiritual origin, and for that reason, we hope and believe one basic cure. Too long have we tried to patch these issues up and balm them over; [sic] instead of going to the heart and seat of the trouble in the limited and limiting conceptions of humanity which are alone, like a poisonous virus circulating through our whole social system, responsible for them. A change of condition will not remedy or more than temporarily ameliorate our chronic social antagonisms; only a widespread almost universal change of social heart, a new spirit of human attitudes, can achieve the social redemption that must eventually come. The finest and most practical idea of Christianity, the idea of the millenium [sic], of peace on earth, has been allowed to lapse as an illusion of the primitive Christian mind, as a mystic’s mirage of another world. And as a consequence the Brotherhood of Man, taken as a negligible corollary of the fatherhood of God, has if anything in practical effect put the truth of its own basic proposition to doubtful uncertainty. The redemption of society, social salvation, should have been sought after first, the pragmatic test and proof of the fatherhood of God is afterall [sic] whether belief in it can realize the unity of mankind; and so the brotherhood of man, as it has been inspirationally expressed, [sic] the “oneness of humanity”, [sic] must be in our day realized or religion die out gradually into ever-increasing materiality. The salvation we have sought after as individuals in an after-life and another sphere must be striven for as the practical peace and unity of the human family here in this [world]. In some very vital respects God will be rediscovered to our age if we succeed in discovering the common denominator of humanity and living in terms of it and valuing all things in accordance with it. …
Last paragraph:
We must begin working out the new era courageously, but it must be a revolution within the soul. How many external wars and revolutions it will make unnecessary, if it is only possible! And we must begin heroically with the great apparent irreconcilables; the East and the West, the black man and the self-arrogating Anglo-Saxon, for unless these are reconciled, the salvation of society in this world cannot be. If the world had believingly understood the full significance of Him who taught it to pray and hope “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven” who also said “In my Father's house are many mansions”, already we should be further toward the realization of this great millenial [sic] vision. The word of God is still insistent, and more emphatic as the human redemption delays and becomes more crucial, and we have what Dr. Elsemont [Esslemont] rightly calls Bahá’u’lláh's “one great trumpet-call to humanity”: “That all nations shall become one in faith, and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled … These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and family.[”]
Alain Locke has been acknowledged as “the most influential African American intellectual born between W. E. B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King, Jr.” This paper presents Alain Locke’s philosophy of democracy, in nine dimensions. Baha’i values synergized Locke’s philosophy of democracy or, at the very least, now serve as a useful heuristic for understanding and appreciating certain aspects of Locke’s philosophy of democracy. Locke’s grand (though not systematic) theory of democracy sequenced local, moral, political, economic, and cultural stages of democracy as they arced through history, with racial, social, spiritual, and world democracy completing the trajectory. Adjunct notions of natural, practical, progressive, creative, intellectual, equalitarian democracy crystallized the paradigm.
Republished as a book chapter: Christopher Buck, “Political Philosophy: Alain Locke’s Philosophy of Democracy.” Studies in Bahá’i Philosophy: Selected Articles. Edited by Mikhail Sergeev (Swampscott, MA: M-Graphics Publishing, 2018). (Released August 1, 2018.) ISBN-10: 1940220904. ISBN-13: 978-1940220901.
The New Negro Movement was a bold effort to transform American images of African Americans through art and literature while instilling race pride within the African American community itself. Pursuing racial renewal through cultural diplomacy, the New Negro Movement gave birth to the Harlem Renaissance from 1919 to 1934, a period of African American artistic blossoming. A golden age of African American cultural nationalism, the Harlem Renaissance was a grand response to the call of W. E. B. Du Bois, an African American civil rights leader who, in November 1920, wrote that an age of African American literature was due.
The artists, musicians and important contributors to the Harlem Renaissance—Alain Locke, James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer, Zora Neale Hurston, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Wallace Thurman, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, and others—were the leaders of the New Negro Movement. Collectively, the writers, artists, intellectuals, and performers were known as the "new Negroes," and their milieu would be called the Harlem Renaissance.
The term "new Negro" actually predates the New Negro Movement. Henry Louis Gates Jr., an African American literary critic and writer, has traced the use of this metaphor back to its origins. The term "new Negro" had been variously used to refer to transplanted Africans as slaves in the Americas, to newly emancipated slaves, and to African American political activists. In 1900, Booker T. Washington wrote A New Negro for A New Century. From 1905 to 1910, the Niagara Movement, an organization founded by Du Bois, became the forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, an interracial organization founded in Springfield, Illinois in 1909.
The term "new Negro" was already a social reality, and the New Negro Movement simply solidified the awareness of that new reality. The "new Negro" was really the product of the Great Migration from 1915 to 1920 where more than a million African Americans moved from the rural South to the urban North in search of prosperity. In Harlem, an African American middle class emerged, and a convergence of social forces made Harlem the cultural capital of African Americans from the 1920s to the mid-1930s.
The New Negro Movement stood in tense opposition to separatist Jim Crow laws that regulated African American society after the Civil War. In December 1924,Vanity Fair magazine heralded the advent of the "new Negro." A Mexican caricaturist drew striking images of African Americans that radically departed from the old stereotypes, and Eric Walrond, an African American writer, wrote the captions. In the Vanity Fair feature, Walrond proclaimed the demise of artistic stereotypes of the "old Negro." At this time when African Americans had virtually no political recourse, their voice could best be heard through their distinctive music, poetry and art—a creative and humanistic effort to achieve the goal of civil rights by producing positive images of African Americans and promoting activism through arts and culture.
In its heyday, the effective leader of the New Negro Movement was philosopher Alain Locke, whose roles as both intellectual leader and cultural pluralist proved a rare combination. As the first African American Rhodes Scholar, his education abroad at Oxford and in Germany and his Harvard doctorate in philosophy prepared him to become the most prominent African American intellectual between Du Bois and Martin Luther King Jr. As the spokesman and chief strategist of the New Negro Movement during the Harlem Renaissance period and beyond, Locke resolved to sweep away the disparaging stereotypes of the "old Negro" through the change of ideas and the visual rhetoric of art, music, drama, and literature.
The most spectacular cultural product of the New Negro Movement was the Harlem Renaissance. The ideology of the New Negro Movement expressed itself through the Harlem Renaissance, which sparked a new pride in everything African American, and presented, to both white and black audiences, the artistic and literary gifts of the "talented tenth"—the vanguard of the African American elite who could best represent the new image of African Americans to America at large.
This was a watershed period in African American history because the Harlem Renaissance achieved a major objective of the New Negro Movement and instilled pride in African Americans and a corresponding respect for African Americans by mainstream America. The Harlem Renaissance presented itself as a "self-portraiture" of African American culture to the United States and to the world. Locke had believed that art ought to contribute to the improvement of life and the New Negro Movement transfused African American consciousness by shaping a new self-image through powerful literary and artistic images.
Journal of Religious History
Volume 36, Issue 4 p. 542-562
ARTICLE
The Interracial “Baha'i Movement” and the Black Intelligentsia: The Case of W. E. B. Du Bois
CHRISTOPHER BUCK
First published: 13 December 2012
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9809.2012.01230.x
Abstract
This article surveys W. E. B. Du Bois's encounters with the Baha'i religion, from 1910 to 1953. Sections one and two focus on Du Bois and ‘Abdu'l-Baha (1844–1921), while section three treats Du Bois's indirect connection to the New York Baha'i community through Nina Du Bois's documented affiliation with that group. Section four chronicles the 1937 Nashville incident involving reportedly segregated Baha'i meetings, and section five looks at Du Bois's later Baha'i contacts, completing the trajectory. Originally attracted to Baha'i teachings on interracial unity — with Du Bois prominently featuring ‘Abdu'l-Baha with full-page photograph in Du Bois's “Men of the Month” column — Du Bois later waxed indignant, openly criticizing the Baha'i movement in a Pittsburgh Courier editorial. Drawing on press reports, Baha'i records, and archival correspondence between members of the Baha'i community and Du Bois, primary sources establish that Du Bois's righteous indignation was based on misinformation.
EPIGRAPH:
I attended every session, day and night ... Many times throughout the meetings did with much effort restrain my tears. My heart leaped and throbbed and many times almost burst within my breast. I am a colored man ... My race as a whole, I believe, is quite ready to welcome the glad day when all will be brothers. ... The trouble is nearly unilateral. God give us the day.
— M. F. Harris, audience member at the ‘Convention for Amity Between the Colored and White Races Based on Heavenly Teachings’ (19–21 May 1921)
ABSTRACT:
This study demonstrates how the Baha’i ‘Race Amity’ efforts effectively reached the black intelligentsia during the Jim Crow era, attracting the interest and involvement of two influential giants of the period — Alain Leroy Locke, PhD (1885–1954) and Robert S. Abbott, LLB (1870–1940). Locke affiliated with the Baha’i Faith in 1918, and Abbott formally joined the Baha’i religion in 1934.
Another towering figure in the black intelligentsia, W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) – whose first wife, Nina Du Bois (d. 1950), was a member of the New York Baha’i community — had sustained, for a period of time, considerable interest in the Baha’i movement, as documented in a forthcoming special issue of the Journal of Religious History, guest edited by Todd Lawson. These illustrious figures — W. E. B. Du Bois, Alain L. Locke and Robert S. Abbott — are ranked as the 4th, 36th and 41st most influential African Americans in American history. It is not so much the intrinsic message of the Baha’i religion that attracted the interest of the black intelligentsia, but rather the Baha’i emphasis on ‘race amity’ — representing what, by Jim Crow standards, may be regarded as a socially audacious, even radical — application of the Baha’i ethic of world unity, from family relations to international relations, to the prevailing American social crisis.
EXCERPT:
On February 1, 2012, Cornel West, Professor of African American Studies and Religion, Princeton University, paid tribute to the historic Baha’i efforts to foster ideal race relations in America:
“When you talk about race and the legacy of white supremacy, there’s no doubt that when the history is written, the true history is written, the history of this country, the Baha’i Faith will be one of the leaven in the American loaf that allowed the democratic loaf to expand because of the anti-racist witness of those of Baha’i faith.”
[“Towards Oneness - Cornel West” (1 February 2012). Online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbEDC8wAWiI [updated link, accessed May 17, 2018.]
If and when, as suggested by Cornel West, a revisionist history of the Jim Crow era is written, the contribution of the Baha’i ‘race amity’ initiatives — envisioned and mandated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá himself — should take its rightful place in the annals of American history.
ABSTRACT
For all its failings, the Harlem Renaissance (1917–1934) (originally called the “Negro Renaissance”) was a spectacular success—spectacular because it was, in fact, a spectacle, a public exhibition of African American poetry, prose, drama, art, and music. This was not just “art for art’s sake,” but art to redraw the public image of “colored” people in America. Enjoying a “double audience” of black and white, the Harlem Renaissance was the fairest fruit of the New Negro movement, whose mission it was to bring about racial renewal through cultural diplomacy.
The Harlem Renaissance was not only a golden age of African American arts, but a valiant effort to remove the masks of racial stereotypes in order to put a new face on African Americans. To a certain degree, it not only improved race relations somewhat (a nearly impossible task, given the entrenched racial prejudices of the day), but instilled a racial pride and nobility among African Americans whose lives the Harlem Renaissance touched.
The chief strategist and “voice” of this cultural movement was philosopher Alain Locke (1885–1954), who edited the premiere and pivotal anthology of the Harlem Renaissance, The New Negro: An Interpretation (1925), which is described later. As the first African American Rhodes Scholar in 1907, Locke studied abroad in Oxford (1907–1910) and the University of Berlin (1910–1911), before receiving his PhD in philosophy from Harvard in 1918. Locke figures prominently in the Harlem Renaissance and served as its principal art critic, promoter, and power broker.
One can say that Alain Locke further democratized American democracy in paving the way for the Civil Rights movement. During the Jim Crow era of American apartheid, when civil rights were white rights (under Plessy v. Ferguson’s “separate-but-equal” doctrine), Locke was the real genius behind the Harlem Renaissance, which David Levering Lewis (Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of W. E. B. Du Bois) aptly characterized as a movement that sought to achieve “Civil Rights by Copyright.”
As the acknowledged “dean” of the Harlem Renaissance, Locke may well be regarded as the Martin Luther King of African American culture. Locke’s anthology, The New Negro, has been hailed as the first “national book” of African Americans. He ingeniously used culture as a strategy for ameliorating racism and for winning the respect of powerful white elites as potential agents for social and political transformation.
Christopher Buck, “Locke, Alain.” Encyclopedia of African American History. Edited by Leslie Alexander & Walter Rucker. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Pp. 224–227 (Vol. 1).
ABSTRACT
History remembers Alain Locke (1885–1954) as the first African American Rhodes Scholar (1907) and, more famously, as the “dean” of the Harlem Renaissance (1919– 1934). Locke edited The New Negro (1925), acclaimed as the “first national book” of African Americans. In this way, Locke’s role is analogous to that of Martin Luther King: whereas King championed the civil rights of African Americans through nonviolent civil disobedience, Locke did so through a process known as “civil rights by copyright.” In the Jim Crow era, when blacks had no effective political recourse, Locke used the arts as a strategy to win the respect of the white majority and to call to their attention the need to fully democratize democracy and Americanize America by extending full equality to all minorities.
Recent scholarship has brought Locke back to life, and his philosophy of democracy, in particular, lends him renewed importance. Harvard, Harlem, Haifa—place names that represent Locke’s special involvement in philosophy, art, and religion—are keys to understanding his life and thought. Harvard prepared Locke for distinction as the first black Rhodes Scholar in 1907 and, in 1918, awarded Locke his PhD in philosophy, thus securing his position as chair of the Department of Philosophy at Howard University from 1927 until his retirement in 1953. Harlem was the mecca of the Harlem Renaissance, whereby Locke, as a spokesman for his race, revitalized racial solidarity and fostered the group consciousness among African Americans that proved a necessary precondition of the Civil Rights movement. Haifa is the world center of the Bahá’í Faith, the religion to which Locke converted in 1918, the same year he received his doctorate from Harvard. Until recently, this has been the least understood aspect of Locke’s life.
During the Jim Crow era, at a time when black people saw little possibility of interracial harmony, this new religious movement offered hope through its “race amity” efforts, which Locke was instrumental in organizing. These three spheres of activity—the academy, the art world, and spiritual society—converge to create a composite picture of Locke as an integrationist whose model was not assimilation, but rather “unity through diversity” (the title of one of his Bahá’í World essays).
Features four previously unpublished speeches by Alain Locke:
(1) “The Preservation of the Democratic Ideal” (1938 or 1939);
(2) “Stretching Our Social Mind” (1944);
(3) “On Becoming World Citizens” (1946); and
(4) “Creative Democracy” (1946 or 1947).
As America’s “Bicentennial poem,” poet-laureate Robert Hayden’s “American Journal” reveals much about the poet’s treatment of American identity, and of his tropical use of “America” as well. The artifice of “American Journal” is quite interesting: “American Journal” purports to be the field notes of a Martian observer who, by his shape-shifting powers, disguises himself in an array of human personas, and who then reports his findings to his superiors, “the Counselors.” "American Journal” introduces the unlikely figure of an alien observer from outer space, whose field-notes are reported in the poem itself. The alien‘s journal about America (hence the title, “American Journal”) is recorded in truncated form—largely by the poetic device known as brachylogy (condensed expression; laconic speech), as in “oceans deserts mountains grain fields canyons / forests variousness of landscapes weathers / sun light moon light as at home much here is / beautiful dream like vistas reminding me of / home.”
A close reading of “American Journal” assumes that these American social identities act as superegos that overarch and refract on individual identities, to which individual identities may be subaltern. In the opening lines of the poem, the poet describes “the americans this baffling / multi people.” Yet, at the end of the poem, the poet is at a loss to adequately account for “their variousness their ingenuity / their elan vital and that some thing essence / quiddity i cannot penetrate or name.” Nevertheless, internal evidence suggests that Hayden treats American identity in nine dimensions: (1) Landscape Identity; (2) Alien (Individual) Identity; (3) Racial Identity; (4) Political Identity; (5) Class Identity; (6) Material Identity; (7) Religious Identity; (8) American (National) Identity; (9) Human Identity.
Citation: Christopher Buck, "Robert Hayden's 'American Journal": A Multidimensional Analysis." Online Journal of Baha’i Studies 2 (2008): 1–37.
Winner of the 2006 DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Award of Excellence: Class B. Periodicals—Single Issue, Magazine, National (B-1), for excellence in religion communications and public relations. Awarded to:
(1) Dr. Betty J. Fisher, Editor;
(2) World Order magazine; and
(3) the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States.
See http://www.religioncommunicators.org/assets/documents/derosehinkhouseawardwinners2006.pdf
SELECTED CONTENTS
Christopher Buck, “Alain Locke: Race Leader, Social Philosopher, Baha’i Pluralist.” Special Issue: Alain Locke: Dean of the Harlem Renaissance and Baha’i Race-Amity Leader. World Order 36.3 (2005): 7–36.
Alain Locke, “Alain Locke in His Own Words: Three Essays.” Edited and annotated by Christopher Buck and Betty J. Fisher. World Order 36.3 (2005): 37–48.
Features four previously unpublished works by Alain Locke:
• “The Moon Maiden” (37);
• “The Gospel for the Twentieth Century” (39–42);
• “Peace between Black and White in the United States” (42–45);
• “Five Phases of Democracy” (45–48).
Features four previously unpublished works by Alain Locke:
(1) “The Moon Maiden” (37) •
(2) “The Gospel for the Twentieth Century” (39–42) •
(3) “Peace between Black and White in the United States” (42–45) •
(4) “Five Phases of Democracy” (45–48).
Also included: Christopher Buck, “Alain Locke: Race Leader, Social Philosopher, Baha’i Pluralist.” Special Issue: Alain Locke: Dean of the Harlem Renaissance and Baha’i Race-Amity Leader. World Order 36.3 (2005): 7–36.
*This special issue of World Order won the Religion Communicators Council’s 2006 DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Award of Excellence for excellence in religion communications and public relations (Class B. Periodicals—Single Issue, Magazine, National (B-1)).
[Excerpts]
Author Nader Saiedi was the inaugural holder of the Taslimi Lectureship in Bahá’í History and Religion in Iran in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. The second edition of Saiedi’s Logos and Civilization, which includes some minor revisions due to authoritative translations that became available in the intervening years, invites a reappraisal of its noteworthy and significant contributions.
Published reviews of the first edition of Logos and Civilization were contributed by Seena Fazel and Dominic Parviz Brookshaw (2001), Denis MacEoin (2002), Stephen N. Lambden (2003), and Christopher Buck (2004). Retrospectively reviewing these previously published reviews, I have come to realize that academic reviewers tend to prioritize critique over contribution. That is to say, the great weight of a book’s worth should be measured in terms of what original ideas and insights it brings to the current realm of discourse on a given topic.
It is for this reason that I would like to prioritize contribution over critique, and offer readers a fresh perspective on the significant contributions that Logos and Civilization makes to current academic discourse on some of the most salient and celebrated sacred texts that form part and parcel of the legacy of Bahá’u’lláh’s revelatory works.
The free exercise of religion is a fundamental right guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Yet it is not the right itself that is Finbarr Curtis’s focus here, but rather how individual religious choices are shaped by social forces throughout American history. As such, The Production of American Religious Freedom is a tour de force, offering a multifaceted and sustained analysis of how individual religious choices work both in history and in contemporary life. The result is Curtis’s well-argued thesis: the free exercise of religion is not as free as it might appear to be. While no American is forced to choose any given religion, religious preferences themselves are influenced by competing social and market forces. This thesis is original and insightful.
Curtis opens his book with “Americans are a people captivated by freedom” (1). The first paragraph presents several paradoxical phenomenological observations regarding the free exercise of religion, such as “Freedom longs for a Christian nation and welcomes religious diversity” (1). Although Curtis tries to link each of his chapters later on in an epilogue, there is little sense of continuity. This gives the impression that the book project itself was conceived after the fact, in string- ing together these chapters. That said, this patchwork quilt of disparate chapters does more or less support Curtis’s objective, albeit unevenly. He gets to the point with his highly original thesis that “there is no such thing as religious freedom” (2). The heart of his argument is articulated here:
If there is any single common theme, it is that while religious freedom often promises individual liberation from social constraints, this is the one thing freedom does not do. There is no such thing as unconditioned freedom that exists outside of social life. As the economy of religious freedom produces, distributes, and challenges different social arrangements, it addresses contradictions between formal promises of religious liberty and the practical exercise of freedom. (5) [ … ]
175 Years of Persecution
A History of the Babis and Baha'is of Iran
Fereydun Vahman
London, England: Oneworld Publications, February 2019. 352 pages. $30.00. Hardcover. ISBN 9781786075864. For other formats: Link to Publisher's Website.
Review
Religious persecution matters, because it is a life-and-death matter for many of those directly affected, and a quality-of-life matter for many more. Especially egregious is religious persecution in the name of religion itself. 175 Years of Persecution: A History of the Babis and Baha’is of Iran (i.e., from 1844 to 2019) is an updated version of the Persian original, published in 2009. The author, Fereydun Vahman, is professor emeritus at Copenhagen University and former Iranian studies fellow at Yale University, with over forty years of teaching and research in Iranian religions and languages.
Throughout this sordid and shocking history, accessory Shi'i Muslim clerics were able as a matter of Iranian state policy to incite, instigate, and orchestrate persecution of the Baha’i religion (i.e., the Baha’i Faith) and its predecessor, the Babi religion, whose adherents—then and now—collectively comprise Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority. In due course, the Babi religion, which originated in 1844, evolved into the Baha’i Faith, often characterized as the youngest independent world religion.
The Babis and Baha’is of Iran have suffered relentless persecution, in all forms imaginable—in all strata and social spaces of Iranian society—in the name of Islam. This, of course, seriously compromises and undermines the professed ideal of Islam, at least among Muslims themselves, as the proverbial “religion of peace” (with the notable and continuously newsworthy exception of radical Islamism).
The chapter titles themselves offer a brief synopsis of the history and course of these persecutions. In the “Introduction: The ‘Enigma’ of the Baha’i Religion in Iran,” the “enigma” is the irony that, inside Iran itself—the very birthplace of the Baha’i faith—there is a dearth of accurate information and a plethora of disinformation, notwithstanding the fact that the Baha’i religion is one of the most widespread religions in the world today, with basic, credible information readily and publicly available outside of Iran.
Compounding this “enigma” is the further irony that, although the Baha’i faith is the largest non-Islamic religious minority in Iran, a “long campaign of propaganda and suppression of information about the Baha’i community in Iran” has nevertheless “served to mask a continuing human rights crisis” (1). This book is then divided into two major parts, with the first part covering persecution of the Baha’i faith-community during the Qajar and Pahlavi dynasties (1844–1979), and the second part chronicling the Islamic Republic of Iran’s “confrontation” with the Baha’i faith, with relentless aggression and perpetual oppression perpetrated by the putatively “Islamic” state itself, to which the Baha’is have responded with what has elsewhere been characterized as “constructive resilience,” i.e. quietly perduring these systematic, orchestrated acts of persecution with exemplary fortitude and moral rectitude.
Producing such a history is timely, yet long overdue. The topic is challenging, especially in maintaining an evenhanded, balanced approach, yet not shying away from documenting episodes that are often horrific in the extreme, as Vahman notes:
It has been an enormous challenge to convey such a history merely through episodes and epochs, neatly divided and categorized for the reader in a coherent, analytical fashion. The problem has not been a dearth of facts. On the contrary, the evidence of widespread cruelty is overwhelming. The problem has been how to express the reality of this inhumanity for those who suffered it, often for generations. No pen can adequately describe the lasting wounds for those whose families have been shattered, homes looted, and loved ones imprisoned, tortured, or hanged. The deeper meaning of these unspeakable atrocities, exacerbated by calumny and denial, is best expressed by recognizing that it can never be adequately captured in words. (277–78)
Statistics only intimate what Iranian Baha’is must routinely face, when anti-Baha’i antipathy and policies are a fact of daily life and experience. According to the Baha’i International Community, since 2005, some 1,006 Baha’is have been arrested, with dozens of Baha’is currently in prison in Iran. With over twenty-six thousand pieces of anti-Baha’i propaganda disseminated in the Iranian media, the irony is that anti-Baha’i campaign has, in fact, intensified ever since President Hassan Rouhani came to power in August 2013, despite his promises to improve the human rights situation in Iran. At least fifty-two incidents of arson attacks on Baha’i properties have been documented, for which no one has been arrested, with some sixty incidents of vandalism, desecration, and/or destruction of Baha’i cemeteries recorded.
In 2017, at least eighty-four arrests of Baha’is were documented, with eighty-one in 2016, and fifty-six and 2015—evidence that Iran’s state-sponsored persecution of Baha’is is ongoing and unrelenting. Among the current forms of religious persecution now taking place in Iran are home raids, unlawful arrests, arbitrary detentions, violations of due process, economic persecution, denial of the right to higher education, denial of cultural rights (including desecration and destruction of Baha’i cemeteries and violations of burial rights), and incitement to hatred (See Bahá’í International Community, “Situation of Bahá’ís in Iran”).
More recently, land confiscation and mass displacement of Baha’is in Iran has drawn media attention. Two Iranian courts ruled Baha’i ownership of lands to be illegal, resulting in the October 2020 expropriation of the farmland of twenty-seven Baha’i farming families in Ivel Village, which falls under the administration of the city of Sari, in the province of Mazandaran (See International Federation for Human Rights, “Iran: Leaked Document Reveals Plans to Intensify Suppression of Baha’is and Other Religious Minorities”).
The sheer scope, breadth, and depth of this history of religious persecution of the beleaguered Babis and Baha’is of Iran is masterful, impressive, and instructive, especially as to its contribution to present-day thought and implications for the future. As Payam Akhavan observes in the foreword: “Great works of history are themselves history-making, because they transform distant occurrences from the past into a narrative about our current struggle to build a better future” (ix).
175 Years of Persecution: A History of the Babis & Baha’is of Iran is essential reading for any serious study of religious persecution in the Middle East (especially in Iran) and is a valuable contribution to human-rights literature. By memorializing the religious persecution of adherents of the Babi and Baha’i religions in Iran from 1844 to 2019, this book—affordably priced, especially for an academic book—is recommended for university libraries with substantial holdings in the fields of human rights and Middle East studies.
About the Reviewer(s):
Christopher Buck is an independent scholar.
Date of Review:
March 22, 2021
About the Author(s)/Editor(s)/Translator(s):
Fereydun Vahman is Professor Emeritus at the University of Copenhagen. Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 he has been a leading voice defending the rights of Baha'is.
Categories: history politics 20th century 21st century violence Middle East Islam war and peace
Keywords: baha'i faiths, Iran, persecution, Islamic Revolution of 1979
EXCERPTS:
The Prophecies of Jesus
December 21, 2015 — 15 mins
by Michael Sours. Oneworld Publications, Oxford, 1991, 223 pages. Available on Amazon
Reviewed by Christopher S. Buck in Journal of Bahá’í Studies, vol. 5, no. 2 (1992)
Bahá’í literature on Christianity is, by and large, apologetic. Recent exceptions prove the rule: Michael Sours’s article, “The Maid of Heaven, the Image of Sophia, and the Logos” (The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 4.1 [1991]: 47–65) is a nonapologetic exercise in comparative phenomenology. For this essay, Sours was distinguished with the 1991 Association for Bahá’í Studies Award for Excellence in the general category. The Prophecies of Jesus emanates from the same pen, and despite its drawbacks, it is excellent apology and is, in the words of another reviewer commenting on the apology—scholarship distinction, “therefore apologetics, polemics, but not objective scholarship. And let it at once be added that it is none the worse for that.”[1]
The present review, in keeping with its publication in an academic journal, will press the distinction between apologetics and scholarship, too often blurred in Bahá’í literature. Like the word logical in colloquial usage, the term “Bahá’í scholar” has a rather wide and imprecise usage in the Bahá’í community.
In its promotion of The Prophecies of Jesus, the 1992-93 Oneworld Catalogue cites the Bahá’í Review Committee of the United Kingdom’s evaluation: “An interesting book from an author who is rapidly establishing himself as the Bahá’ís’ foremost Christian scholar” This is a fair assessment of Sours’s output as a Bahá’í author on the topic of Christianity. The designation of Sours as a scholar, however, requires some explanation.
A rather broad use of the terms “scholar” and “scholarship” in Bahá’í literature may perhaps be traced to a received interpretation of Bahá’u’lláh’s benediction upon “the learned ones (‘ulamá’) in Bahá” in His code of laws.[2] The “learned” are defined in two distinct ways, institutionally and individually: (1) the Institution of “the Learned,” which constitutes the appointed branch of’ the Bahá’í Administrative Order (Hands of the Cause of God and Counsellors. Auxiliary Board Members and their assistants); and (2) Bahá’ís who are preeminent in teaching and proclamation.[3] In contemporary Bahá’í communities, there is a clear emphasis on the institutional dimension. The International Teaching Centre, in a letter dated 22 March 1981, speaks of the relationship that ideally should exist between the Institution of the Learned and the community of Bahá’í scholars: “The Supreme Body [the Universal House of Justice] has informed us that both the International Teaching Centre and the Boards of Counsellors can render valuable services in the field of Bahá’í scholarship by encouraging budding scholars, and also by promoting within the Bahá’í community an atmosphere of tolerance for the views of others.” Here, “scholars” seems to have a professional connotation. However, in common Bahá’í parlance, a “Bahá’í scholar” is not presumed an academic.[4]
Presentationally, The Prophecies of Jesus is scholarly in respect of research and documentation, without being a work of scholarship. As I read it, Sours prosecutes, albeit with kid gloves, an oblique polemic against Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as will be shown below. Sours speaks softly, but carries a big stick. Christian readers will read seventy pages (pp. 31–101) of exegesis under the overarching theme of corruption: corruption of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Significant is the fact that The Prophecies of Jesus is written in the form of a biblical commentary, namely, on Jesus’ Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24) known also as the Synoptic Apocalypse (paralleled by Mark 13 and Luke 21). This choice of fotin was deliberate, showing sensitivity on the author’s part to Christian sensibilities and to the Christian expository tradition. Verses are indicated in the running headers. A random glance at the upper right-hand comer of page 127, for instance, tells the reader that Matt. 24:30 is being discussed.
Following the introduction, The Prophecies of Jesus is divided into four parts: I. The Beginning of Sorrows (thematically governed by the corruption of Judaism and Christianity); II. The Corrupting of Islam; III. The Second Advent; IV. The Command to Watch. An epilogue and seven appendices follow.
A cursory look at the bibliography discloses an impressive command of popular expository literature, particularly of the kind of Gospel commentary a Christian might find in the reference section of a public library. Sours is particularly well read in the nineteenth-century millennialist literature, from which he ably documents the messianic fervor of the period. Visibly absent from the bibliography are works of critical scholarship.
Sours’s apologetic intent is stated thus: “In this book an attempt will be made to provide information which will enable those who accept the authority of the Bible, or those who are interested in the Bahá’í Faith, to understand why many have acknowledged Bahá’u’lláh’s biblical claims” (18). He has little use for other possible approaches to Jesus’ Olivet Discourse. Contemporary-historical interpretation[5] of Matthew 24 does not serve Sours’s apologetic interests;[6] neither does theoretical consideration of the “community of Matthew,” for whom the gospel was first intended. The author shows no methodological interest in sociological interpretation of the New Testament, which seryes to constrain interpretation.
Bahá’í readers might still wonder why The Prophecies of Jesus is not, strictly speaking, a work of scholarship. The answer is simple: A key element of apologetics is polemic. Scholarship is presumed free of polemics. Though the polemical tone is subdued, The Prophecies of Jesus carries an antiestablishmentarian polemic of world-historical proportions.
Part 1, entitled “The Beginning of Sorrows,” is really the beginning of a Christian-styled Bahá’í polemic in which Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, in prophetic terms, are each given institutional obituaries. The destruction of the Temple in AD 70 and the dispersion of the Jewish people following the Second Revolt in AD 120 are presented as a consequence of the Jews’ rejection of Jesus. Are the Romans then exonerated as instruments of God’s wrath? By implication, Sours sees the consequences of Gentile rejection of Christ as somehow mitigated in the conversion of Constantine some 300 years later (31–39).
This anti-Judaic (not anti-Semitic) line of argumentation is perhaps more Christian than Bahá’í.[7] Sours does not address the history of Christian anti-Semitism, for which the theme of rejection and deicide (“God-killing”) was a pretext, culminating in the Holocaust (to which Sours alludes on 36), for which the Jews were obviously not responsible. (Here, Bahá’u’lláh’s own concern for the rights of oppressed Jews in nineteenth-century Europe could have been deemed relevant.)[8] Sours’s argument is lent a further inconsistency in that Christians did not suffer the same fate for their rejection of the Prophet Muhammad.[9]
Throughout the rest of Part I, the reader is shown, among other things, visions of “False Christs,” “Catastrophes,” “Persecution of the Christians,” “Apostasy and Betrayal Among Christians,” “False Prophets Among the Christians”— in a word, a portrayal of Christianity in decline. Jesus is represented, in effect, as a prophet of doom for his own religion. Indeed, the final section of Part I is entitled, “The End of the Christian Era” (59–60), but such an “End” is not made explicit at this juncture. The reader will soon figure out that Christianity somehow “ended” twice: dispensationally, with the advent of Muhammad in AD 622 (82) and prophetically, in AD 1844 when the dispensation of Islam came to an end and the return of Christ as foretold by Daniel took place. Bahá’í doctrine is explicit as to the eclipse of Christ’s authority by Muhammad,[10] in the sense that each “New Testament” both confirms former scriptural authority yet renders it obsolete (“Old”). Retained in Bahá’í universalism is the sense that each of the world religions has a continuing, indispensable part to play in the spiritual metamorphosis of the world.[11] Matthew 24:15 is taken as “a specific reference to what befell Islam—that is, Islam is the holy Temple that was desecrated” (82). Sours takes Christians to task for their rejection of Islam (although Muhammad is never represented as the return of Christ) but somewhat exonerates them for this failing owing to the corruption of Islam at the hands of its own leaders (87). This paradox—the corruption of Christianity that precipitated a new Revelation from God, which in turn was corrupted—obliges Sours to prolong the time of Christian tribulation for 1,260 years (96).
Part II (“The Corrupting of Islam”) treats at some length time-prophecies in the Book of Daniel, to which Jesus refers (Matt. 24: [5). Various chronological periods foretold in the ninth chapter of Daniel are interpreted in detail. Sours has no direct interest in the patristic tradition within the history of exegesis: the reader would not know that it was chronographer Julius Africanus who first drew Christian attention to the seventy weeks of years in Dan. 9:24–25 as a precise vaticination and proof of Christ’s first advent. Occasionally, however, we get patristic information secondhand: Sours cites Calvin’s reference to Jerome (73).
Patristic tradition had the advantage of hindsight only when it came to Christ’s first advent; the Parousia was a different matter altogether.
(Online review published by the American Academy of Religion, May 8, 2020)
Christopher Buck, Review of Tafsir as Mystical Experience: Intimacy and Ecstasy in Quran Commentary. Tafsīr sūrat al-baqara by Sayyid ‘Alī Muhammad Shīrāzī, The Báb (1819–1850), by Todd Lawson. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2018. Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion. (Published online on May 8, 2020.)
Tafsīr as Mystical Experience
Intimacy and Ecstasy in Quran Commentary
Todd Lawson
Texts and Studies on the Qur'an
Boston, MA: Brill Publishers, November 2018. 210 pages.
$140.00. E-Book. ISBN 9789004384156. For other formats:
Link to Publisher's Website.
Review
Todd Lawson’s Tafsir as Mystical Experience is not a basic book. But it is foundational. For the first time in scholarship, an in-depth description and analysis of the first major work by Sayyid ʿAlī Muḥammad Shīrāzī (1819–1850), better known as “the Báb” (“the Gate”), has now been published. The Báb was the charismatic founder of the remarkably influential, yet short-lived, Babi religion, which evolved into what is known today as the Baha’i Faith, founded by Bahá’u’lláh (Mīrzā Ḥusayn ʿAlī Nūrī, 1817–1892), whose imminent advent the Báb had foretold. In that sense, the Báb has been described by Shoghi Effendi (Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, 1921–1954) in a September 20, 1953 cablegram and elsewhere as the “Co-Founder” of the Baha’i religion.
To oversimplify the history of the Báb and the origins of the Baha’i religion: Shiʿa Islam may be thought of as an eschatologically intensified faith, wherein the Twelfth Imam, “Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (occulted in 874) the hidden Imam, al-Mahdī, al-Qāʾim, al-Ḥujja” (5), disappeared in the year 260 of the Islamic calendar (AH). After a full millennium had elapsed, the Báb, in 1844 (1260 AH), appeared on the historical horizon. In the Tafsīr sūrat Yūsuf, the Báb’s “message to the Shiʿa,” Lawson explains, was that “this is the true Quran that has been in hiding with the 12th Imam until now and its appearance also entails the appearance of the hidden Imam” (1). This was an apocalyptic moment in prophetic time. In Gregorian years, the Báb was a mere (albeit prodigious) youth of twenty-four years old, and an unschooled merchant, who had the sheer audacity to author a commentary on the Quran without being duly “qualified” as a trained Muslim cleric.
The subject matter of the Báb’s treatise, however, predates the birth of the Babi religion itself, quietly and inauspiciously inaugurated on the evening of May 22, 1844, in Shiraz, Persia (present-day Iran), when the Báb declared his prophetic mission to his first disciple, Mullā Ḥusayn Bushrūʾī (d. 1849), at precisely two hours and eleven minutes after sunset. To Mullā Ḥusayn’s astonishment, the Báb extemporaneously revealed the first chapter of his Tafsīr sūrat Yūsuf (Qayyūm al-asmāʾ or Aḥsan al-qaṣaṣ), better known in English as the Commentary on the Sura of Joseph, which Bahá’u’lláh acclaimed as “the first, the greatest and mightiest” (The Kitáb-i-Íqán: The Book of Certitude, 231) of the works revealed by the Báb. Here, by “first,” Bahá’u’lláh likely means the Báb’s first work of divine revelation—described by Lawson as “an unusual commentary on the 12th chapter of the Quran, the sura of Joseph, that was in fact written in the form of a simultaneously new and ancient (viz. badīʿ) Quran” (1).
The Báb’s earlier work, the Tafsīr sūrat al-baqara—which does not explicitly claim to be revelation—was written “in late 1843, early 1844/1259–1260” (1)—and, as such, is the heretofore little-known and therefore understudied precursor to the Báb’s Tafsīr sūrat Yūsuf. As such, Lawson’s Tafsir as Mystical Experience “provides new information on the rise and development of the Babi religion of mid-19th century Iran and its later development, the Bahai Faith” (177).
So what approach does Lawson take? On first glance, the repetition of the word “glory” leaps from the Contents page, literally and figuratively: Introduction, “Entering the House of Glory: Exegesis as Mystical Intimacy with the Divine”; Chapter 1, “Walāya: Luminous Love and Intimacy” (9); Chapter 2, “Tetrads: Architecture of Glory, I” (48); Chapter 3, “Heptads: Architecture of Glory, II” (76); Chapter 4, “Tajallī: Divine Glory Manifested” (116); Chapter 5, “Qāʾim: Divine Glory Embodied” (152); Epilogue, “A Mysticism of the Covenant” (176).
Since the theme of “glory” pervades (and indeed structures, if not suffuses) this entire book, it is crucial to understand how Lawson defines the word in discoursing on the Báb’s mystical thought. “Glory” here refers to the revelation or experiential “presence” of God, manifested in different ways through various mystical encounters—such as beatific vision (i.e., “seeing” God) and/or divine audition (i.e., “hearing” God), which are two peak mystical experiences highly sought after in the classical Sufi tradition and which “for the Báb and his fellow Shiʿis, this would be sacreligious [sic]” (150). Instead, for the Báb, the primary mode of mystical experience is what Lawson characterizes as “wijdān—intensified being, conscience, ecstasy or perhaps even instasy” (147). “The Báb’s mysticism,” Lawson explains, “finally is not directed towards God as such but towards the Imams” (150).
Lawson gives us privileged insights into a particular mode of mystical expectation and experience—that is, the quest for divine encounter through God’s proxy, the eschatological Qāʾim, or “hidden Imam.” The primary value of Tafsir as Mystical Experience is its intense focus on the Báb’s Tafsīr sūrat al-baqara, thereby providing the most immediate and direct “background” and insight into the highly mystical mind of the Báb, in advance of the impending and imminent declaration of his prophetic mission on the evening of May 22, 1844.
That is why Lawson’s treatise on the Báb’s Commentary on the Sura of the Cow offers such valuable insights into the Bab’s later Commentary on the Sura of Joseph. In the interval between the first and second works, a profound transformation had taken place, to wit: while the Báb’s first Tafsir was a discourse on the Qāʾim, whereas the second Tafsir became a discourse by the Qāʾim himself.
So, at a time when the Shiʿa world was expecting the advent of the Qāʾim, the Báb appeared on the eschatological and historical horizon, first by writing about the eschaton, then by personifying it.
Lawson’s style is engaging, with an original and distinctive “voice,” an impressive command of his source material (both primary and secondary), and an exquisitely analytical prowess and illuminating insights—textual, historical, mystical, and otherwise.
By introducing the Báb’s Commentary on the Sura of the Cow, Lawson’s Tafsir as Mystical Experience is prolegomenal and therefore foundational to Babi and Baha’i studies. Lawson’s treatise should be read along with Lawson’s companion study, Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam: Quran, Exegesis, Messianism, and the Literary Origins of the Babi Religion (Routledge, 2011), which describes the Bab’s later Commentary on the Sura of Joseph.
I recommend this book for all university libraries with significant religious studies collections, and further endorse it as an optional text for Islamic studies courses in the modern period, whereby a seemingly esoteric and obscure sectarian movement, in due course, became transformed into a new world religion—that is, the Baha’i Faith, in the full glare—and gleam—of modern history.
About the Reviewer(s):
Christopher Buck is an Independent Scholar.
Date of Review:
April 30, 2020
About the Author(s)/Editor(s)/Translator(s):
Todd Lawson is Professor Emeritus of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto.
Categories: myth Middle East Islam Quran
Keywords: mystical exegesis, Tasfīr, imam
For more information, see also:
Buck, Christopher. “Deganawida, the Peacemaker.” American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies. Supplement XXVI. Edited by Jay Parini. Farmington Hills, MI: Scribner’s Reference/The Gale Group, 2015. Pp. 81–100.
https://www.academia.edu/20338006/_Deganawida_the_Peacemaker._American_Writers._Supplement_XXVI_2015_
EXCERPT
Structure and Overview
The spirit is willing, but the text is deep. To plumb its depths, an extended review of Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam is needed to explore Todd Lawson’s analysis of the early work of Sayyid ‘Alī-Muḥammad Shīrāzī (1819–50), known as the Bab (‘the Gate’), prophet-founder of the Babi religion (which later evolved into the Baha’i Faith). . . . The Tafsīr Sūrat Yūsuf, composed/revealed in 40 consecutive days (29) in mid-1844, when the Bab was 25 years old (28), is thus the subject matter of Lawson’s monograph. . . .
In revealing the Tafsīr Sūrat Yūsuf, the Bab ‘is introducing a new scripture or revelation by means of the Trojan horse of exegesis’ (22). . . .
If this ‘interpretation by instantiation’ is fundamentally correct, then the end result is that the Bab reveals himself, in his performance as exegete, as the subject and object of that exegesis, where the exegesis is about the exegete rather than the exegeted text. Lawson seems to suggest this: ‘But this text is within the soul of the Bāb, who in the act of reading inscribes himself with the read text and becomes a text himself, which he also reads aloud to us: reading reading itself’ (135).
In appreciating what Lawson is saying here, three levels of sacred text emerge: (1) the literal text, in and of itself, which is obviously the Qur’an; (2) the ‘read text’ as the imamological interpretation, wherein the Bab reads ‘Joseph’ as the Qa’im (the occulted, Twelfth Imam); and (3) the ‘text himself’, i.e. the ‘realized’ interpretation in the Bab’s prophetological advent as the new, metaleptic Joseph. The substitution of the Qa’im (for the figure of Joseph in the Qur’an) operates as the first-order metonym, while the Bab’s advent functions as the second-order metonym (for the figure of the Bab, who is the advent of the Hidden Imam).
This completes the metalepsis. ‘This method, by which the Bāb weaves his own words into the fabric of the Qur’an, is a kind of metalepsis,’ Lawson writes (60), which is nothing less than ‘the utter and unapologetic manipulation of sacred Scripture – metalepsis’ (137). ‘Rather,’ Lawson concludes, ‘the message of the commentary is proclaimed by an invocation of images and symbols, which when combined points to a kind of annunciation’ (41).
What appears as a merely literary trope or device, i.e. metalepsis, is actually a spiritual, existential process of presenting the text (the Qur’an), of re-presenting the text (of interpreting Joseph as the Qa’im), of representing – indeed, of instantiating, even incarnating – the text (of interpreting the Qa’im as the Bab himself), as Shi‘i tradition predicts: ‘When the Qā’im comes forth the shirt of Joseph will be on him, and he will have the staff of Moses and the ring of Solomon’ (qtd. on 175, n. 13). Here, through metalepsis, the Bab engages in a profound and sustained meditation (‘reading’) of the Qur’an and then explicates the text by embodying the text, wherein the Qa’im rises up through the soul/mind of the Bab such that the Bab performs the Qa’im, becomes the Qa’im. In other words, the Bab steps out of the pages of his commentary and emerges as a messiah.
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English version: https://www.academia.edu/34170280/_Islamic_Approaches_to_Symbolism_2017_
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Islamic Approaches to Symbolism
by Christopher Buck
ABSTRACT
“Islamic Approaches to Symbolism”—Chapter Three of Symbolic Quranic Exegesis (Master’s thesis, University of Calgary, 1991, pp. 69–137)—was supervised by Canada’s renowned Islamicist, the late Andrew Rippin (d. 2016), in whose memory this study is respectfully dedicated. Now published in 2017, “Islamic Approaches to Symbolism” surveys interpretations (tafsīr) of “ambiguous” (mutashābihāt) verses of the Qur’an (Q. 3:7) and offers a five-fold topology: (1) rhetorical exegesis (§ 2.0, infra); (2) theological exegesis (§ 3.0); (3) philosophical exegesis (§ 4.0); (4) mystical exegesis (§ 5.0); and (5) sectarian exegesis (§ 6.0). Fine scholarly monographs notwithstanding, no typology, to the best of the author’s knowledge, has been offered as an overview of Islamic approaches to passages in the Qur’an that are figurative, and possibly symbolic.
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Of all religious minorities in the Middle East, Bahá’ís are typically the least able to practice their religion freely. With several notable exceptions, the current situation throughout the modern Middle East and in Muslim countries generally is that Bahá’ís cannot openly promote their faith. However, the governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh allow the Bahá’ís to hold public meetings, publicly teach the Faith, establish Bahá’í centers, as well as elect Bahá’í administrative councils (known as local and national “spiritual assemblies”). In Pakistan, moreover, government officials have occasionally attended events at Bahá’í centers. And in Indonesia, after several decades of quiet growth, the Faith is now legally recognized and its adherents free to elect spiritual assemblies (Bahá’í councils). In Turkey, the Bahá’í Faith has been legal for decades. The Bahá’í community enjoys legal status in Albania and in most Central Asian nations as well. Over the past few years, a groundswell of articles and dialogue on this subject has appeared. Persian-language media in the United States have begun to openly talk about the plight of the Bahá’ís in Iran, with some predicting that, in Iran’s future civil society, even the Bahá’ís must be given freedom of religion. Moreover, several non-Bahá’í Iranian academics are beginning to speak out about the conspiracy of silence against the Faith. Evidence, in the form of listener feedback, indicates that a wide-ranging audience in Iran is listening to daily Persian-language Bahá’í shortwave and satellite broadcasts. Speaking out on the state of affairs with respect to governments that have implemented anti-Bahá’í measures, however, is sensitive and has to be approached with a certain degree of delicacy. …
While the post-revolutionary persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran has attenuated, a subtle strangulation of the Bahá’í community is now in effect, evidenced recently by unprovoked arrests and short-term detentions of Bahá’ís, confiscation of Bahá’í properties, summary seizures of liquid assets, wrongful denial of rightful pensions, desecration or destruction of Bahá’í cemeteries, official and public denunciations of the Bahá’í religion, harassment of Bahá’í teachers and students, the effective barring of qualified Bahá’í students from higher education, and the barring of Bahá’ís from all government employment enforced as a matter of official policy and adroitly orchestrated. All attempts to obtain redress are procedurally frustrated or systematically denied, as Bahá’ís have no legal recourse under Iran’s constitution. Particularly egregious has been the recent destruction of Bahá’í sacred sites in Iran, comparable to the Taliban’s demolition of two towering Buddha figures in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in 2001. This might be more comprehensible, although no less justifiable, had Bahá’ís acted against Iran or Islam—both of which they respect and honor. Paradoxically, Bahá’ís have a strong belief in the prophethood of Muhammad and in the authenticity and veracity of the Qur’an. The situation is even more peculiar for a Bahá’í academic, like myself, teaching Islam in an effort to counteract the cultural Islamophobia that still predominates in the West, as the UN has rightly noted.
So why are Bahá’ís denied full freedom of religion throughout many states in the Muslim Middle East? There are two principal reasons for this: (1) Bahá’ís lack dhimmi (protected) status and are therefore excluded from Qur’anic protection, and (2) the Bahá’í Faith is a post-Islamic religion—a theoretical impossibility considering Muhammad’s ontological status as the “Seal of the Prophets” (Qur’an 33:40). Apart from the Day of Judgment, Islam cannot conceive of a post-Islamic act of revelation, much less theologically tolerate a post-Islamic claim to revelation. Since the two founding figures of the Bahá’í religion, known as the Bab (Sayyid ‘Ali-Muhammad Shirazi, d. 1850) and Baha’u’llah (Mirza Husayn ‘Ali Nuri, d. 1892), had each advanced theophanic claims, it is quite impossible, Islamicly speaking, to accord Bahá’ís full civil and religious rights. In Islamic countries where this religion is proscribed or highly regulated with oppressive effect, the Bahá’í Faith should not exist, whether in theory or in practice. The problem is that it does. However, legal recognition of the Bahá’í Faith is not without historical and legal precedent in the Middle East. …
Although the Islamic position is doctrinally understandable, sometimes it is morally wrong (by civil rights standards) to be doctrinally “right.” The theologically unacceptable prospect of a post-Islamic revelation has justified morally repugnant efforts to extirpate the Bahá’í community in certain Muslim countries. This goes far to explain why Bahá’ís either have no constitutional rights (as under the Iranian constitution) or have restricted rights in certain other Islamic states. In this respect, the Iranian constitution contradicts the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, to which Iran is a signatory. These two documents stand in tension with each other, as will be explained. …
Specifically, international law has emerged as the most effective guarantor of religious freedom and ultimately provides the only viable resolution to the Bahá’í problem. But an Islamic resolution to the Bahá’í problem is preferable, as Muslim communities would find a natural ally in Bahá’ís as advocates against Islamophobia. If I may coin this neologism, allow me to say that the current “Bahá’í-phobia” that prevails in many Muslim Middle East countries feeds Islamophobia in the West, and reducing the former will mollify the harsh criticism that Islam is a tolerant religion in principle, but intolerant in practice.
by Christopher Buck
Published online August 8, 2017: Burhan Institute
Islamic Approaches to Symbolism
by Christopher Buck
ABSTRACT
“Islamic Approaches to Symbolism”—Chapter Three of Symbolic Quranic Exegesis (Master’s thesis, University of Calgary, 1991, pp. 69–137)—was supervised by Canada’s renowned Islamicist, the late Andrew Rippin (d. 2016), in whose memory this study is respectfully dedicated. Now published in 2017, “Islamic Approaches to Symbolism” surveys interpretations (tafsīr) of “ambiguous” (mutashābihāt) verses of the Qur’an (Q. 3:7) and offers a five-fold topology: (1) rhetorical exegesis (§ 2.0, infra); (2) theological exegesis (§ 3.0); (3) philosophical exegesis (§ 4.0); (4) mystical exegesis (§ 5.0); and (5) sectarian exegesis (§ 6.0). Fine scholarly monographs notwithstanding, no typology, to the best of the author’s knowledge, has been offered as an overview of Islamic approaches to passages in the Qur’an that are figurative, and possibly symbolic.
__________
Abstract:
The quest for “true Islam” necessarily involves agreement on basic principles. Renewed efforts should be made to identify authentic Islamic principles of good governance — universal and timeless — to be applied resourcefully and sensitively to the widely varying social and political contexts across the Muslim world today. Perhaps the best way to begin to achieve consensus is, to begin by relying on a well-respected document that articulates principles of Islamic good governance, to which all leaders, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, may give assent. As a starting point for building consensus anew, the document that may best embody Islamic principles of good governance may well be “Caliph ‘Alī’s Letter to Mālik al-Ashtar,” which advocates the following Islamic principles of good governance that remain viable today: (1) International Relations: Respect Multilateral and Bilateral Agreements; (2) Trade Relations: Promote a Prosperous Business Environment; (3) Tax Administration: Pursue Enlightened State Revenue Policies While Providing for the Poor and Elderly; (4) Economic Policies: Strive to Reduce Poverty; (5) Administrative Staffing: Appoint the Best Administrators; (6) Judiciary: Appoint the Best Judges; (7) Defense Administration: Appoint Upstanding as well as Outstanding Officers, and Keep the Army Well-maintained; (8) Human Rights: Respect the Rights of All Citizens; (9) Domestic Relations: Hear the Oppressed, and Respond Equitably; (10) Personal Integrity: Be Worthy of Office; (11) General Principles: Be Answerable to the Governed and True to Principles of Good Governance (by relying on the Qur’an, Tradition, Sage Advice, and Mature Experience).
Abstract: https://burhaninstitute.org/content/?q=node/104
English original: https://burhaninstitute.org/content/sites/default/files/articles/Religion%20of%20Peace%20(English).pdf
Arabic translation:
https://burhaninstitute.org/content/sites/default/files/articles/Religion%20of%20Peace%20(Arabic).pdf
An Ethical and Moral Sharia:
A Proposal for the Quran-Based Moral Framework
If asked, Muslims may be hard-pressed today to define Islam in terms of social ethics and moral imperatives. Such ethical imperatives would go far in attracting a growing consensus as to what Islamic precept and praxis should ethically entail.
For this to actually happen—much less even to be possible—some robust principles need to be formulated that can serve as general propositions about Islam—ideas and ideals capable of gaining popular and official assent. These general statements of social ethics and moral imperatives can operate as algorithms for establishing regulative ideals.
Spirituality refines intuition. Ethical standards guide moral deliberations. Such norms will gain intuitive plausibility. New and higher ethical “instincts” may be cultivated. If grounded in the Quran, a set of articulated social, ethical and moral principles may serve to heighten general awareness of the regulative ideals of “true Islam.”
Moral practice nurtures a solid foundation for a comprehensive ethical theory capable of contributing to social dynamics of consensus building. The same is true of societies as a whole. Thus, a clearly defined set of social ethics and moral principles, derived from sound Quranic interpretation, can transcend sectarian divides, and refine Islamicate and non-Islamicate societies alike, to the extent that ethical refinement is socially sublime.
Placing definitive ethical principles at the center of moral practice will have the benefit of redounding to the rehabilitated image of Islam as an intrinsically ethical and moral religion. Doing so may well prove to be the most effective long-term means for defeating such aberrant social phenomena as the putative and reprehensible “Islamic State,” thereby obviating military force in a “might makes right” clash—not of “civilizations,” but of radical versus moderate worldviews.
In this respect, such “Islamic reform” is tantamount to “Islamic restorationism”—a kind of Islamic revivalism, as it were. At best, such a principled presentation of “Islam”—as proposed here—is not so much a redefinition as it is a reaffirmation (at a higher level of awareness) in which a Muslim, when asked, can clearly articulate those social, ethical and moral principles for which Islam proudly stands.
Published online by the Burhan Institute:
https://burhaninstitute.org/?p=517
(2016 English, with Arabic translation)
by Christopher Buck
“Be just” (kūnū … bil-qis'ṭi). — Qur'an 5:8 (Sahih International translation.)
Islamic law, or sharia, is a hot topic today. For many Muslims, sharia law defines, and comprehends, what it means to be Muslim. The purpose of this article is to introduce and discuss a parallel notion: the concept of Islamic principles. In other words, can principles of Islamic ethics somehow influence our understanding of how Islamic law may be brought into conformity with received notions of Islamic ethics? After all, Islamic law and Islamic ethics should coexist in harmony. Ethics, after all, what may be thought of as Islamic social policy. The question, then, is this: Does Islamic law mirror Islamic ethics? The answer, of course, varies according to which particular Islamic practice is evaluated, relative to its fidelity to the relevant Islamic ethic under consideration. …
The Islamic Law of Apostasy: A Test Case
All Islamic laws are sharia laws in practice, but not all sharia laws are “Islamic” in principle. Those sharia laws that do not comport with the Quranic social ethic of justice are subject to reevaluation. If any such law cannot withstand scrutiny under the Quranic benchmark of justice, then the supporting traditions should be discounted, declared perforce invalid, or otherwise be subjected to intense “ḥadīth criticism.” …
Apostasy is under reconsideration at the highest levels. Below is an excerpt of a fatwa (Islamic ruling) by Al-Azhar (Cairo), Sunni Islam’s highest religious authority, on the issue of apostasy from Islam, promulgated in Arabic, and published online on June 17, 2016: …
On first surmise, it appears that the fatwa appeals to the traditional view of apostasy from Islam as treason and therefore a capital crime for which death is in order. On closer examination, however, the traditional view is then discussed further with alternative considerations. The end of the official statement is somewhat surprising, given the traditional wording and reasoning presented at the opening of the same statement. The decree is remarkable for integrating both conservative and liberal approaches. The influence of modernity may well have something to do with both the timing and the end result of this fascinating exercise in contemporary Islamic jurisprudence.
If my reading is correct, here we see a “reform” of the Islamic law of apostasy by way of mitigating punishment and encouraging counseling and persuasion of the apostate. This is a significant departure from the traditional view of apostasy that has been the received view for well over 1,000 years. Such a reform appears to have been motivated, in part, by the “West’s claims and objections.”
This official statement by al-Azhar—i.e. from what may be considered to be the highest expression of scholarly opinion within the Muslim world today—is presumably the fruit of much discussion, after the problem had been raised to such a high level of attention. Not much is said regarding the methodology by which this prime example of Islamic reform (although not presented as such) has come to be promulgated. It would appear that one Islamic tradition has been invoked to counterbalance or otherwise soften the literal reading of another Islamic tradition on the subject of apostasy from Islam. This may be a moderate and constructive application of “ḥadīth criticism.”
What is clear is that the al-Azhar decree represents precisely the method that has been presented in this article, which is the idea that Islamic law, and the traditions upon which it is based, ultimately must be brought into relation with clear Islamic principles. Note that the al-Azhar fatwa explicitly invokes the Quran: “This is how modern scholars explain the punishment for an apostate in line with Allah’s Holy word, ‘no compulsion in religion.”
Furthermore, the al-Azhar fatwa suggests a progressive attempt to unite tradition with modernity—i.e. continuity with novelty. Historically, Muslim jurists have used the tool of fatwa decrees to guide the faithful, especially as new questions and challenges surface with the passage of time. It is inherent in the practice of issuing fatwa rulings that change is an essential feature of sharia and must be addressed according to the emerging exigencies of the modern historical context.
ABSTRACT
Bahāʾīs
(1,972 words)
The adherents of Bahāʾism (ahl al-Bahāʾ), widely recognized as the “Bahāʾī Faith,” an independent world religion with Islamic origins. The Bahāʾī movement, a universalization of Bābism, was founded by Mīrzā Ḥusayn ʿAlī Nūrī (1817–92), known as Bahāʾullāh (Splendor of God; standardized Bahāʾī spelling, Bahāʾullāh), in Baghdad in the year 1863. In 1866, it emerged as a distinct faith-community in Adrianople (Edirne). Bahāʾism underwent transformations in ethos and organization throughout three missionary phases: the Islamic context (1844–92), the international missions (1892–1963) and global diffusion (1963–present). The Islamic context was co-extensive with the combined ministries of Bahāʾullāh and his precursor, Sayyid ʿAlī Muḥammad Shīrāzī (1819–50), known as the Bāb (Gate), the prophet-martyr of the Bābī movement.
The year 1260/1844 marked the Shīʿī millennium, a thousand lunar years since the occultation of the twelfth imām (see IMĀM; SHĪʿISM AND THE QURʾĀN). On 22 May 1844 the Bāb effected a decisive, eschatological break from Islam by means of an exegetical work entitled The immortal renovator of the divine names (Qayyūm al-asmāʾ, often referred to as The commentary on the Joseph sūra), an audacious and revolutionary commentary on the twelfth sūra of the Qurʾān (see JOSEPH). In this work he “proclaimed himself the focus of an Islamic apocalypse” (T. Lawson, Structure, 8). One of his most distinctive exegetical techniques is his “exploded commentary.” In works on Q 108 and Q 103, the exegesis proceeds “not only verse by verse, or even word by word, but also letter by letter” (T. Lawson, Dangers, 179). The Bāb's commentaries on the Qurʾān are remarkable in that, by force of his prophetic authority, “interpretation became revelation” (T. Lawson, Interpretation, 253). In 1848, he revealed a new law code (Bayān-i fārsī), paradoxically super-Islamic in piety, yet supra-Islamic in principle.
After the Bāb's execution (1850) by the Persian authorities, Bahāʾullāh revitalized the Bābī community by employing symbolic interpretation as strategy to abolish the Bābī antinomianism. In the Arabic Tablet of “all food” (Lawḥ-i kull al-ṭaʿām, 1854 — note that the titles of Bahāʾi works written in Arabic are conventionally given in Persianized form), Bahāʾullāh related the abolishment of the Jewish dietary restrictions in Q 3:93 to the mystical and cosmological realms. While the Baghdad period (1853–63) was eschatologically charged with his own messianic secrecy (ayyām-i buṭūn), Bahāʾullāh, in his pre-eminent doctrinal work, the Book of certitude (Kitāb-i Mustaṭāb-i īqān, Jan. 1861), advanced an extended qurʾānic and biblical argument to authenticate the Bāb's prophetic credentials. Bahāʾullāh's repertoire of exegetical techniques includes most of the ¶ twelve “procedural devices” attested in the classical commentaries (Wansbrough, QS, part ii) as well as others. Bahāʾullāh's style of discourse is itself exegetical, with frequent pairings, linked by the Persian metaphorical genitive (iḍāfa-yi majāzī), of qurʾānic symbols and referents.
Hermeneutically, Certitude resonates with five Islamic orientations to symbolism: 1. the semanticism of rhetoric, especially the science of tropes (ʿilm al-bayān); 2. the dialectic of theology (kalām); 3. reason (ʿaql) and analogy (qiyās) as a reflex of philosophy (falsafa) and jurisprudence (fiqh); 4. the use of allusion (ishāra) and gnosis (maʿrifa qalbiyya) in Ṣūfī/Ishrāqī mysticism (see ṢŪFĪʿISM AND THE QURʾĀN); 5. recourse to apocalyptic presentism, adducing prophetic proof-texts to instantiate a realized eschatology, a common characteristic of millenarian sectarianism. In his Commentary on the sūra “By the sun” (Tafsīr sūrat wa-l-shams), while critical of rhetoric (ʿilm al-balāgha) and the cognate qurʾānic sciences, Bahāʾullāh echoes al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111) and al-Taftazānī (d. 791/1389) in stressing the need to harmonize literal and figurative interpretations (C. Buck, Symbol, 91–2, 104). In his Tablet on esoteric interpretation (Lawḥ-i taʾwīl), citing Q 3:5, he states that eschatological verses are properly susceptible to esoteric interpretation (taʾwīl) whereas qurʾānic laws are to be understood by their obvious sense (tafsīr, see exegesis EXEGESIS AND AND THE QURʾĀN: CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL).
Islamic prophetology is anchored in the received interpretation of Q 33:40, which is widely believed to establish Muḥammad as the final prophet (see prophets and prophethood). In what is perhaps his most significant exegetical maneuver, Bahāʾullāh relativizes that claim in order to supersede it, refocusing the reader's attention a mere four verses later (Q 33:44) on the eschatological attainment to the presence of God (liqāʾ Allāh) on the last day (see ¶ eschatology). Arguing that direct beatific vision of God is impossible, Bahāʾullāh reasons that Q 33:44 anticipates a future theophany who, as deus revelatus and divine vicegerent, is symbolically God by proxy.
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.
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.
• This is a work-in-progress.
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“Attach great importance to the Indigenous population of America. … Likewise, these Indians, should they be educated and guided, there can be no doubt that they will become so illumined as to enlighten the whole world.” – ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of the Divine Plan, p. 33.
Tablet to Amir Khan
(English & Persian)
“Undoubtedly in those regions [the Americas] the Call of God must have been raised in ancient times, but it hath been forgotten now.”
https://www.bahai.org/…/additional-tablets-ext…/169212878/1…
Original Persian (transliterated):
al-battih dar án ṣafahát níz dar azmanih-yi-qadímih vaqtí nidá-yi-iláhí buland gashtih va-lákin hál farámush shudih ast.
“Attach great importance to the Indigenous population of America. … Likewise, these Indians, should they be educated and guided, there can be no doubt that they will become so illumined as to enlighten the whole world.” – ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of the Divine Plan, p. 33.
Tablet to Amir Khan
(English & Persian)
“Undoubtedly in those regions [the Americas] the Call of God must have been raised in ancient times, but it hath been forgotten now.”
https://www.bahai.org/…/additional-tablets-ext…/169212878/1…
Original Persian (transliterated):
al-battih dar án ṣafahát níz dar azmanih-yi-qadímih vaqtí nidá-yi-iláhí buland gashtih va-lákin hál farámush shudih ast.
For updated version (Dec. 5, 2019), see:
https://www.academia.edu/41195053/Buck_Locke_2019_Prophecy_Indians_Enlighten_World
ABSTRACT
On September 8, 2000, speaking on behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Assistant Secretary of the Interior Kevin Gover offered a historic apology for the agency's policies and actions throughout its 175-year history—particularly for its devastating impact on American Indian nations, whether federally recognized, unrecognized, or extinct.1 Over much of its history,2 the BIA wreaked havoc in Indian Country through policies that, in their most extreme forms, ranged from extermination (physical genocide) to assimilation (cultural genocide). Indeed, its legacy of anti-Indian abuses of power staggers the imagination and remains a source of profound shame for nearly every American of conscience who is aware of this relentless assault on all things Indian. In his capacity as assistant secretary for Indian affairs under the Clinton administration (November 1997 to January 2001), Gover took the occasion of the BIA's 175th anniversary as an opportunity to make history by apologizing for it.
Gover’s apology was official as to the BIA itself, but did not presume to speak on behalf of the federal government. Nevertheless the event was as controversial as it was historic. Sadly, it was also as ephemeral as it was memorable. Although widely reported by the national and international press, Gover's apology has since suffered a death by silence. Recovery of the BIA's videotape of that event, however, and a formal reflection on its significance five years later, affords an ideal opportunity to reflect on the history that Gover made and its implications for further remedial actions, particularly with regard to the issue of reparations. Educators, moreover, may take an interest in Gover's BIA apology as a resource for bringing university students (and the wider public) to a greater awareness of and sensitivity to unresolved issues of underrated magnitude that persist in Indian Country today. This paper revisits Gover's apology, and argues that this "Never Again" speech—as it has come to be known—should not languish in its current death by silence. To illumine public opinion and enlighten public policy, educators have a duty to carry forward the torch of Gover's message, in order to address past injustices and redress present inequities.
See video of Kevin Gover’s historic apology on behalf of the BIA here:
http://christopherbuck.com/video/Kevin_Gover_BIA_Speech.mpg
Or on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu52ig696L4
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412963879.n91.
Christopher Buck and Don Addison (Choctaw Elder),
“Messengers of God in North America Revisited:
An Exegesis of ’Abdu’l-Baha’s Tablet to Amir Khan.”
Online Journal of Baha’i Studies 1 (2007): 180–270.
The following paper is cast in the form of a conversation between two Bahá’í scholars, Dr. Donald Francis Addison and Dr. Christopher Buck, in an emic/etic (insider/outsider) collaboration that offers a complement of Native/non-Native perspectives. Their work takes the form of an experimental alternative to traditional models of academic discourse—one called “conversive relationality,” broadly defined as follows: “A conversive model of communication and scholarship … firmly rooted within the sacred, emphasizing relationality, intersubjectivity, and collaboration … [to] reinform and transform academic … writing and scholarship.”
The exchange between Dr. Addison and Dr. Buck addresses the critical need to fully transform intercultural interactions between Native American/Native Canadian and mainstream Bahá’í communities, and that this process can renewed through a formal recognition, on the part of the Bahá’ís, of the value and authenticity of Native American spirituality. One way that this can be achieved symbolically is through acknowledging that, in principle, the indigenous peoples of the Americas have their own claim to wisdom traditions, and that these traditions derive from “Messengers of God to First Nations.”
This principle is anchored, Buck and Addison argue, in the Tablet to Amír Khán Áhan. And while Bahá’ís cannot officially add names of individuals who might otherwise qualify as “Manifestations of God,” they can certainly “recognize” the fact that sacred Indian tradition has. This new rapprochement, if successfully undertaken, will signalize the intercultural parity and equality that is needed before the indigenous peoples of the Americas can find inspiration and empowerment in what has been characterized as the sole “specific racial prophecy in all of the Bahá’í scriptures,” which is this: “Attach great importance to the indigenous population of America. For … there can be no doubt that they will become so illumined as to enlighten the whole world.”
Front Cover: SACRED EPIC OF THE PEACEMAKER Artist: John Kahionhes Fadden (Mohawk). Reprinted by permission.
ARTIST'S DESCRIPTION: In the upper left-hand corner is the eclipse of the sun with developing corn. This is when the corn was knee-high in Seneca country, and there was an eclipse of the sun, and this served as a sign in the sky to a reluctant group of Senecas [when the Black Sun persuaded the westernmost Senecas to follow Deganawidah]. The man in the upper middle represents both the Peacemaker [Deganawidah] and Aiionwatha [Hiawatha] singing the Peace Song that helped turn the mind of Atadaho [the cannibal warlord, Atotarho, powerful Onondaga sorcerer with snakes in his hair]. The antlers signify leadership, and the gourd rattle accompanies the Peace Song. In the background are clouds representing natural forces at work, and below the clouds is a lake and hills. This symbolizes the People of The Hills/Onondaga, and the lake is Onondaga Lake where the League was formed. In front of the lake are symbols of the original Nations [the Five Nations of the Iroquois League of Nations founded by the Prophet Deganawidah and his first convert, Hiawatha]. From right to left are: People of the Flint (Mohawk), People of the Upright Stone (Oneida), People of the Hills (Onondaga), People of the Swamp (Cayuga), and People of the Great Mountain (Seneca). Just to the left of these national symbols is a bone comb symbol of the removal of the snakes from Atadarho’s head [by Hiawatha, whose name means, He Who Combs]. Below the comb is Atadarho [who became Firekeeper, Wampum Keeper and Chief of Chiefs of the League of Nations], and as the PeaceSong takes effect, the war club is loosened from his hand. To his right is the symbol of the Council Fire, the gathering place of the Five Nations, of clans, and of family. Below that are further natural elements flowers that grow in the grasses, and beneath these plants can be seen the image of a turtle, representing Turtle Island North America.
A TEST CASE FOR BAHA’I UNIVERSALISM (1996)
*** Christopher Buck, “Native Messengers of God in Canada?: A Test Case for Baha’i Universalism.” Baha’i Studies Review 6 (1996): 97–133.
*** Award for Excellence in Baha’i Studies. Association for Baha’i Studies, 1994.
EPILOGUE
Thereupon Tekanawitaˀ [Deganawida, the Peacemaker] stood up in the center of the gathering place, and then he said, “First I will answer what it means to say, ‘Now it is arriving, the Good Message.’ This indeed, is what it means: When it stops, the slaughter of your own people who live here on earth, then everywhere peace will come about, by day and also by night, and it will come about that as one travels around, everyone will be related. …
Now again, secondly, I say, ‘Now it is arriving, the power,’ and this means that the different nations, all the nations, will become just a single one, and the Great Law will come into being, so that now all will be related to each other, and there will come to be just a single family, and in the future, in days to come, this family will continue on.
Now in turn, the other, my third saying, ‘Now it is arriving, the Peace,’ this means that everyone will become related, men and also women, and also the young people and the children, and when all are relatives, every nation, then there will be peace as they roam about by day and also by night. …
Then there will be truthfulness, and they will uphold hope and charity, so that it is peace that will unite all the people, indeed, it will be as though they have but one mind, and they are a single person with only one body and one head and one life, which means that there will be unity.” …
When they are functioning, the Good Message and also the Power and the Peace, moreover, these will be the principal things everybody will live by; these will be the great values among the people.”
– Chief John Arthur Gibson, Concerning the League: The Iroquois League as Dictated in Onondaga, newly elicited, edited and translated by Hanni Woodbury in Collaboration with Reg Henry and Harry Webster on the Basis of A.A. Goldenweiser’s Manuscript. Memoir 9 (Winnipeg: Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics, 1992): 36–41.
ABSTRACT
Academic and popular interest has lent prestige to native spirituality and has brought it into prominence. The United Nations proclamation of 1993 as the International Year of Indigenous People gave native peoples international recognition. A corresponding interest in native culture has “valorised” (brought respect to) native spirituality.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada took a position of advocacy on behalf of First Nations Canadians in its formal submission to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in the fall of 1993. The strong native presence in Canadian Bahá’í community life raises the question of the place of native spirituality within a Bahá’í worldview.
Homefront “pioneers” have extended Bahá’í universalism to a recognition of the richness and authenticity of native cultural values. Such recognition has been supported by local Bahá’í policy, as attested in teaching pamphlets addressed to native peoples, in which the concept of First World messengers of God has been validated. Although theoretically acknowledged, explicit recognition of native messengers of God has yet to be formalised in Bahá’í doctrine.
This study discusses the possibilities of incorporating the principle of “Messengers of God to Indigenous Peoples” within formal Bahá’í doctrine, reflecting a development that has already taken place in popular Bahá’í belief in the North American context. A hitherto under-studied Persian text of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá establishes the principle in such a way that its explicit enunciation is now possible.
The problem of historical attestation remains. The prophetic credentials of Iroquois culture hero and statesman Deganawida are critically examined as a test case. The legend of Deganawida has a kernel of historicity overlaid by hagiography, with admitted Christian influence. Nonetheless, if the Bahá’í principle of “Progressive Revelation” can assimilate the Amerindian spiritual legacy as distinct from and developmentally asynchronous with Irano-Semitic and Sino-Indic religious histories, then it might be possible to accord Deganawida a provisional status with Bahá’í prophetology, and still affirm Bahá’u’lláh’s unific role in world history, as oral cultures take their place alongside the more familiar “literate” traditions.
https://www.academia.edu/36294314/_Native_Messengers_of_God_in_Canada_1996_
Opening paragraph:
Religions enshrine symbols, the stained-glass windows of faith. Sacred symbols present an explorable treasury of religious thought—an information-rich, condensed language of spirituality. Symbols are the prisms of ideals and of other religious concerns. Symbols are susceptible of analysis and are proper objects of study. As symbols encode ideas, they require interpretation to be both understood and meaningfully compared. “We can see that an essential ingredient of the modern study of religion,” writes Ninian Smart, “is symbolic analysis, which tries to throw light on the various themes which can be discovered cross-culturally through the exploration of various worldviews” (1985, 33). Symbolic analysis involves not only the exploration of religious worldviews intrinsically, but comparatively as well.
Closing paragraphs:
Symbols ensoul ideas. In the Abrahamic faiths generally, the most important symbol-complex is eschatological imagery, the positive focus of which is Paradise. Visions of the empyreal realm have, historically, had an extraordinary power to inspire. Paradise is iconoplastic. The beatific panorama, the symbolic landscape, the ideals and imagery that inform Paradise in the religious imagination are grounded in root metaphors and are animated by key scenarios reflecting a theology of activity, in a dynamic interplay of belief and behavior, myth and ritual, within the religious grasp of totality.
Paradise allegorizes ideals. These ideals are projected onto heaven. There, in the wish-images of the communal dream, ideals are reified and beatified. In a Berger-esque process of paradisical world-building, Heaven functions as the impressionistic blueprint of the ideal faith-community. Paradise imagery is then dislocated from the speculative and refocused on earth. When once the heart is transformed and society reformed, Paradise is realized. In the intersection of eschatology and ethics, in the interplay of ideas and imagery, and as a function of an organizing principle, an overarching paradigm, Paradise becomes utopia.
Key Symbols in ‘Persian’ Christianity and the Baha’i Faith
by Christopher Buck
Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Toronto (Canada), 1996.
PhD supervisor: Willard G. Oxtoby.
ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing, 1996. NN18989.
Published as Paradise & Paradigm (SUNY Press, 1999).
ABSTRACT
Symbols enshrine ideas. Sacred symbols present an explorable treasury of religious thought--an information-rich, condensed language of spirituality. "We can see that an essential ingredient of the modern study of religion," writes Ninian Smart, "is symbolic analysis, which tries to throw light on the various themes which an be discovered cross-culturally through the exploration of various worldviews." An experiment in comparative method, reflecting the author's research interests in "Persian" religious from Zarathustra to Baha'ullah, this study compares "key symbols" in early Syriac Christianity and the Baha'i Faith. Historically, as the "Church of Persia" in Sasanian Iran, the East Syrian (Nestorian) "Church of the East" was the pre-Islamic antecendent to the Baha'i religion.
During preliminary research, this finding fell into focus: In both traditions, many dominant symbols related to notions of Paradise. Why? Because Paradise allegorizes ideals. Visions of Paradise are the stained-glass windows of worldviews, encompassing most of the imagery--or "key symbols"--to be analyzed in this study.
Adequate description is a requisite for explanation. Smart's "Dimensional Model" assigns six "dimensions" to each religion. For mnemonic purposes, the present writer has coined the acronym "DREEMS" (Doctrinal, Ritual, Ethical, Experiential, Mythic, Social) to represent these dimensions. Defining religions as systems of symbols (Geertz), this study focuses on "key symbols" (Ortner), comprised of thought-orienting "root metaphors" and action-incentive "key scenarios."
Providing wholistic descriptions of religions as symbol systems for worldview analysis, the invention of a "symbolic profile" orders an array of dominant, ideationally indexed images within respective "dimensions." These "symbolic profiles" are synoptic mappings of dominant "key symbols" within each tradition. Key symbols for the various dimensions of the DREEMS map are charted. Formally affine and distinctive symbols are compared by an inventory of features, with respect to superordinating paradigms of each religion.
Paradigms render parallels intelligible. Syriac Christianity exhibits a paradigm of transformational purity. A paradigm of concentric unity structures the Baha'i worldview. As an added agenda for what William Paden has recently called the "new comparativism," this study proposes the following axiom for further research and refinement: "Parallels yield paradoxes of commensurability resolvable by paradigm "logics" within religious systems, resulting in symbolic transformation.
ABSTRACT
“Persian Christianity” refers to East Syriac Christianity under the Sasanian empire and beyond. The term “Persian Christianity” is used by A. V. Williams (1996), Stephen Gerö (1981; 1982) and others to refer to the “Church of the East”—the official name of the church—which was territorially coextensive with, yet surpassed, the orbit of the Sasanian empire. (Acknowledging that the term “Iranian” is technically more correct, both Syriac texts and the greater part of European scholarship employ the term “Persian.”
Persian Christianity was perhaps the first great non-Roman form of Christianity. The “Church of the East” was ecclesiastically “Persian” in that it was, with minor exceptions, the officially-recognized Church of the Sasanian empire. The Church was politically “Persian” due to the role of Sasanian kings in the eleven Synods from 410 to 775 C.E. The Church was geographically “Persian” in that it was coextensive with, but not limited to the orbit of the Sasanian empire. The Church of the East was only secondarily “Persian” in terms of ethnicity. Yet the presence of ethnic Persians vividly illustrates why the Church of the East became the world’s most successful missionary church until modern times.
Although the majority of Christians in the church are assumed to have been ethnic Syrians, the Church of the East was once a universal, multi-ethnic religion. As a witness to the universality of the Church of the East in its heyday, it is probably the case that ethnic Persians formed the most visible and important ethnic minority of Christianity in Persia. This study will argue that the role of Iranian converts may have been far more significant than has so far been realized.
Discoveries of Persian Christian texts in Iranian languages (Middle Persian, Sogdian, New Persian) have proven conclusively that Syriac was not the exclusive language of liturgy and instruction in the Persian Church. In fact, part and parcel of the extraordinary missionary success of the Church of the East derived from its genius for adapting Christian worship to local vernaculars. Evidence of this gift for effective indigenization may be seen in the both the Assyrian and Chaldean services for the Feast of Epiphany, in which fragments from a lost Persian Christian liturgy are preserved and recited to this very day.
ABSTRACT
A fresh reading of the Hymns on Paradise (HdP) discloses how Ephrem the Syrian reworked soteriological presuppositions and thought-forms current in fourth-century Syria to effect a transformation of the doctrine of theōsis (deification), freeing it from its substantive categories, to lay emphasis on divinization at the sapiential level. See, for instance, HdP XII.15, where Ephrem states that “the human person can become / the likeness of God, / endowed with immortal life [i.e. theōsis] / and wisdom [i.e. sapience] that does not err” (HdP XII.15, HyP 166). While the form of the doctrine with its anthropological considerations was kept intact, the manner of Ephrem’s affirmation of theōsis was tantamount to its sophistication, in what amounted to a reformulation of the doctrine itself. In Ephrem’s eschatological scheme—which exalts form over substance—body, soul and spirit are rarefied beyond physicality, while corporeality is maintained. Even the argument for the body’s afterlife existence—the instrumentality of the senses being required for the soul’s ability to perceive—is effectively undermined by the obviation or precluding of the senses in the soul’s immediate cognition of the delights of Paradise. This innovation lent Ephrem’s doctrine of theōsis a greater potential for realization, in which eschatological Paradise came to enjoy a more edifying immediacy among the faithful.
The Resurrection, therefore, in Ephrem’s conception of it, is not simply an “arising” in the sense of revivification. It is an “arising” in the sense of a spiritual ascent, in which the whole tripartite being of man is “raised” to new life and to new heights. In what manner may we conceive of this? In this present life, in what really amounts to a realized eschatology for Ephrem, “the mind ... is spiritual” and it is the mind in mystic transport, and, at the eschaton, something like the mind into which the resurrection body is transformed, that can attain the environs of Paradise and, by the blessing of its Creator, enter into its Garden. There is in fact the suggestion that the metaphors Ephrem employs for his portrayal of Paradise may be decoded. From HdP VI.6 and elsewhere, we may thus infer: Symbols of Paradise (Symbol = Referent): Bud = Heart; Produce = Rational Speech; Fruit = Words (Deeds, VI.11); Plants = Truth; Sweet Scents = Love; Blossoms = Chastity (VI.12); Beauty = Mind (VI.13); Flowers = Virtuous Life (VI.13); Garden = Free Will (VI.13); Earth = Human Thought (VI.13); Trees = “Victors” (VI.14); Treasure Store = Hidden Mysteries (VI.25).
Paradise and paradigm:
Images and ideas are the twin hemispheres of the religious mind. The bicameral interaction of the imaginal and the abstract focus the believer on the archetypes of belief. To give a more complete description of any religious worldview, concepts should be complemented by conceits. In Ephrem, the Church is imagistically conceived of as Paradise. Since it is an extended metaphor, its imagery is extensible. Individually and collectively, paradise imagery can represent different facets of church life and experience. The phrase from the Lord’s Prayer—“on earth, as it is in Heaven”—perfectly expresses both imagistically and ideologically the Ephrem’s artifice at work in the HdP.
Ephrem’s Paradise is at once ecclesiastical and eschatological. Its imagery expresses a paradigm of purity. This is a purity that “cures.” It cleanses the soul of the “disease” of mortality. It restores primordial immortality. Life in Paradise, in both worlds, is for the pure. The pure in heart are Christians who are sexually pure and morally stainless. On this point, perhaps Ephrem and Bardaiṣan might agree. In a quote from Theodore bar Koni, Bardaiṣan, in one of his lost songs, taught: “And lo, the natures, all of them—with created things they hastened, to purify themselves and remove what was mingled with the nature of evil” (Segal 1970, 38). Although Ephrem rejects Bardaiṣan’s creation myth, the pursuit of ethical purity in both systems is, in nonascetic terms, comparable. In fine, Syriac Christianity’s response to Late Antiquity is the quest for purity, in which chrism, baptism, and the Eucharist become the ointment, fountain, and elixir of immortality, while the imagery of Paradise ennobles the sanctified soul.
ABSTRACT
In commenting on Jesus’ so-called “cry of dereliction”—“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mark 15:34; see also Matthew 27:46)—the author notes some textual variants and suggests that there is some academic support for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s reported proposition that this passage actually misquotes Jesus, and that the so-called “cry of dereliction” is actually an expression of the glory of martyrdom: “But this word Sabacthani is similar in sound to another which means glorify, and he actually murmured, ‘O God! O God! How thou dost glorify me.’” (See Mary Hanford Ford, “An Interview with ‘Abdu’l-Baha," Star of the West, vol. 24, no. 4 (July 1933), pp. 103–107 (see p. 105), https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:SW_Volume24.pdf&page=105.)
Excerpt:
Inventing a Christian America “argues both sides” with equipoise and an evenhanded, not high-handed, approach. Green advances his thesis methodically, one historical milestone at a time. This solid monograph delivers on its promise to expose the “Christian America” myth as invented “in the early nineteenth century in the quest for a national identity” as “a consciously created myth” (243). This reviewer would have benefited from reading and citing Inventing a Christian America if it had been available prior to the publication of my God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America (Educator’s International Press, 2015).
As a result of Green’s iconoclasm, the myth of America is open to revision. Inventing a Christian America is recommended for university and law school libraries alike. A paperback edition would be welcome for use in the classroom, and for trade distribution.
https://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/syllabi/b/buck/Buck-20040309.pdf
What do Mormons have to say about the U.S. Constitution? What do Black Muslims believe about the future of the white race in America? How do many Protestants look at the United States in prophecy? What have Catholic Popes had to say about America? What do the Baha'is predict about the spiritual destiny of America? What have the Hopi Indians told the world from the pulpit of the United Nations? With a little research, these are easy enough questions to answer. But what only a few have tried to do is to formally study and compare these religious myths of America to see what these narratives have to say — and why.
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.
Early, unpublished manuscript. Although apologetic, this paper was written at a stage when I was an autodidact, just beginning to review the relevant scholarly literature. I've written more recently on this topic in a popular, online venue:
ON BAHA'U'LLAH AS THE "TENTH AVATAR" (HINDU MESSIAH)
Is Baha’u’llah the spiritual advent of the Kalki Avatar, the Hindu messiah?
The answer to that question ultimately becomes a matter of faith. Yet faith can be based on reason, and evidence—so this question invites some investigation.
The Baha’i principle of the harmony of science and religion—which is a universal principle made sacred in the Baha’i teachings—may be brought to bear on this question, through the use of history, a kind of scientific inquiry in its own right.
So these questions naturally arise: How and when did Baha’u’llah come to be identified with the Kalki avatar? Who was Kalki? How did his tradition originate? More importantly, do the descriptions of Kalki favorably compare with Baha’u’llah’s life and mission? The short answer is no—not unless the Kalki traditions are radically reinterpreted.
This is all the more important because the identification of Baha’u’llah with Kalki requires some careful nuancing. It is not a claim that should be taken at face value, upon further investigation.
First, how did Baha’u’llah come to be associated with the messianic figure of Kalki? In 1915, George O. Latimer’s “The Call Of God” was published as the featured article in a prominent American Baha’i publication: Star Of The West, Vol. 6, No. 15 (December 12, 1915), pp. 114–120. The footnote on p. 114 reads: “*Note – Compiled in Stuttgart, Germany, during August, 1914. This manuscript was presented to Abdul-Baha personally by Mr. Latimer while in Akka in October of the same year. Abdul-Baha gave consent to its publication. — The Editors.”
This is quite an endorsement, because it appears that Abdul-Baha approved the article for publication, presumably having reviewed its contents. As Abdul-Baha did not read English, one can only speculate if a translator read Latimer’s article to Abdul-Baha in Persian translation.
In this article, Latimer states that “the Hindoos await the appearance of the tenth incarnation of truth, called Kalki” (p. 117) and, further:
______________
These three divine men (the Bab, Baha’u’llah and Abdul-Baha) have not only fulfilled the spiritual prophecies of all the former religions, but they have manifested by their words and deeds of the true qualities and requisites necessary to the divine and perfect educator. – p. 119.
______________
Here, Baha’u’llah is proclaimed as “the promised one of all religions” (p. 118), a common Baha’i declaration of faith:
… the Promised One of all the world’s peoples hath now been made manifest. For each and every people, and every religion, await a Promised One, and Baha’u’llah is that One Who is awaited by all; and therefore the Cause of Baha’u’llah will bring about the oneness of mankind, and the tabernacle of unity will be upraised on the heights of the world, and the banners of the universality of all humankind will be unfurled on the peaks of the earth. – Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 101.
These statements, when read together, lead to the conclusion that the author, George Latimer (claiming Abdu’l-Baha’s approval), explicitly associated messianic traditions of the Kalki avatar with Baha’u’llah’s advent.
Did this messianic association of Baha’u’llah and Kalki gain traction among Hindu Baha’is? In India, songs, called “bhajans,” were composed by Baha’is for teaching purposes. One of the “Baha’i bhajans” joyously proclaims:
______________
The Kalki Avatar
Arise! O children of India, the Kalki avatar has come.
Vishnu’s avatar has come with the name Baha’u’llah.
Nowhere in the entire world can the influence of religion be seen.
The wicked have obtained everything; the truthful have lost all;
According to the Gita, the time of Vishnu’s avatar has come.
The Gita has said when circumstances are such,
religion is again established just as it has happened today.
In order to save the righteous, the Kalki avatar has come.
Foolish people have not realized that Vishnu’s avatar has come again.
Radha and Arjuna knew that the Lord had taken a new abode.
The eternal has once again manifested himself, the avatar of God.
– quoted by Daniel E. Bassuk, Incarnation in Hinduism and Christianity: The Myth of the God-Man, p. 147.
______________
Baha’i scholar Moojan Momen, in his book, Hinduism and the Baha’i Faith, writes the following about Baha’u’llah’s messianic association with Kalki:
______________
Hindus are awaiting the coming of the Kalki Avatar at the end of this present age, Kali Yuga. Baha’is believe that we are already at this time. We are at the end of the Kali Yuga and Baha’u’llah is the Kalki Avatar. … All the Hindu scriptures are agreed that when conditions have reached this point, when things have deteriorated and mankind has sunk to the lowest depths of moral degradation, then the Lord will again manifest Himself as the Kalki Avatar. … Therefore Baha’is believe that, faithful to the promises and prophesies recorded in the Hindu holy books, the Lord has now manifested Himself again in the form of the Kalki Avatar. Baha’is believe that this is Baha’u’llah. – Chapter 4, “Hindu Prophecies.”
______________
For those who are familiar with the Kalki traditions, or for those who decide to explore them, readers may wonder: Does the bold (if not bald) claim that Baha’u’llah is the Kalki avatar withstand scrutiny?
On a popular level, when Baha’i bhajans announcing the advent of Kalki as Baha’u’llah are joyfully sung, then yes. On a textual and historical grounds, however, problems arise. These problems therefore invite a nuanced analysis.
Wendy Doniger, in her controversial book, The Hindus: An Alternative History, refers to Kalki as one of the “interreligious avatars” (p. 674), who makes his first appearance (in Sanskrit literature) in the Hindu epic, Mahabharata, the (the world’s longest poem):
______________
Kalki appears first in the Mahabharata, after a long description of the horrors of the Kali Age. Then: “A Brahmin by the name of Kalki Vishnuyashas will be born, impelled by Time, in the village of Shambhala.” He will be a king, and he will annihilate all the barbarians and destroy the robbers and make the earth over to the twice born at a great horse sacrifice. (Mahabharata 3.188.86–93, 189.1–13.) Nothing is said here about his being an avatar of Vishnu, except that he is named Fame of Vishnu (Vishnu-yashas), and nothing is said about a horse, except for his horse sacrifice. – p. 308.
______________
Here, we see that the name of this Savior-King, whether mythical, legendary or quasi-historical, means the “fame of Vishnu,” which was one of the names of Kalki, i.e. Kalki Vishnu-yashas. In the Kalki Purana (Chapter 30, “Lord Kalki and Visnuyasa Perform Sacrifices Instructions by Narada Muni”), “Vishnu-yashas” is the name of Kalki’s father:
Visnuyasa could understand from the words of the great sage, Narada, that his son, Kalki, was truly the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Hari. After some time, he gave up his family life and left home to reside within the forest. – Kalki Purana 30:42.
The name of Kalki’s father, Visnuyasa (or the alternative spelling, Vishnu-yashas), is a spiritual epithet that means the “fame of Visnu.” It can likewise be translated as the “Glory of God”—which is the exact meaning of Baha’u’llah’s name!
Let’s now consider the term “interreligious” in connection with Kalki and, later on, with Baha’u’llah. “Interreligious” relations can be for good or for ill. If for unity, then good. If for conquest, then bad.
Baha’u’llah as the Hindu Kalki Avatar
Christopher Buck • Jan 16, 2018
https://bahaiteachings.org/bahaullah-hindu-kalki-avatar/
The Graphic Battles in the Holy Books
Christopher Buck • Jan 17, 2018
https://bahaiteachings.org/graphic-battles-holy-books/
Awaiting the Hindu Messiah
Christopher Buck • Jan 19, 2018
https://bahaiteachings.org/awaiting-hindu-messiah/
The Tenth Avatar
Christopher Buck • Jan 21, 2018
https://bahaiteachings.org/tenth-avatar/
Baha’u’llah and the Return of Krishna
Christopher Buck • Jan 22, 2018
https://bahaiteachings.org/bahaullah-return-krishna/
Who Was Krishna—and Has He Returned?
Christopher Buck • Jan 23, 2018
https://bahaiteachings.org/who-was-krishna-and-has-he-retu…/
The Prophecies of the Bhagavad-Gita
Christopher Buck • Jan 24, 2018
https://bahaiteachings.org/prophecies-bhagavad-gita/
How to Beware of False Prophecies
Christopher Buck • Feb 8, 2018
https://bahaiteachings.org/beware-false-prophecies/
The Mystery of the Sworded Warrior in Hindu Apocalypse: Was Kalki Visnuyasas Bahā’u’llāh? Christopher Buck. American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature, Pacific Northwest Region, Annual Meeting. Vancouver School of Theology, Vancouver, British Columbia. (May 8, 1981.) (Abstract published in “Abstracts: AAR/SBL—Pacific Northwest Region, Annual Meeting, 7–9 May 1981, Abstract #16.)
https://bahai-library.com/buck_mystery_sworded_warrior
The Mystery of the Sworded Warrior in Hindu Apocalypse: Was Kalki Visnuyasas Bahā’u’llāh? Vancouver Regional Conference. Canadian Association for the Studies on the Bahá’í Faith. Presented, in absentia, by Jane Nishi Goldstone. (December 30, 1980.)
https://bahai-library.com/buck_mystery_sworded_warrior
McGUIGGAN v. ALLEGHENY GEN. HOSP. | Case No. GD-16-001573 | Reporter: 2021 PA C.P. CT. BRIEFS LEXIS 14 | Type: Brief (Title: “Plaintiff’s Pretrial Statement”) | Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County | Date filed: 2021-07-19. (Settled with one Defendant for a confidential sum on 2021-11-04.) (Settled with the other Defendant for a confidential sum on 2023-01-06.)
Plaintiffs respectfully move this Court for entry of the attached (proposed) Order determining that all of Plaintiffs' Pennsylvania state law claims claims, set forth in Plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint (ECF No. 19), are ripe for jury determination under Pennsylvania law, to wit: (1) Count I (Negligence for Manufacturing Defect, including all negligent failure to warn claims); (2) Count II (Strict Liability); (3) Count III (Breach of Express Warranty); (4) Count V (Exemplary (Punitive) Damages); and (5) Second Estate Cause of Action (Survival), in the above-captioned matter.
ABSRACT
In The Souls of Black Folk (1903), W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that the principle problem of the 20th century will be that of the color line. Being black was “strange” largely because of the estrangement between the races in America. The “color line” was drawn in bold by Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). By keeping the Jim Crow status quo, Plessy deepened the racial divide. This is the notorious “separate but equal” case. Although not part of the decision verbatim, these three words, which accurately express the legal fiction of the Supreme Court’s ruling, gave legal sanction to Jim Crow segregation. Thus “separate but equal” equals “Jim Crow affirmed.”
This opinion is couched in legal language that requires an understanding of constitutional law to decode. The high court held that the separation of the races within states does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, which had previously granted African Americans equal protection under the laws. The technical terms notwithstanding, the Court’s purport was patent. In black and white, Justice Henry Billings Brown kept blacks from whites. This bad result was “good law” for nearly six decades. It would take Brown v. the Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) to overrule Justice Brown. If, except for the Dred Scott case, Plessy was the worst Supreme Court ruling ever handed down, as Justice Harlan indicated in his dissent, then the Brown decision may rank as the greatest Supreme Court decision. To appreciate the greatness of Brown v. Board of Education, it is necessary to understand Plessy first.
Democracy is a process of progressive equalizing. It is a matter of degree. Mollified by democratic language and reasoning, nevertheless Plessy is a harsh and fundamentally undemocratic decision. More than undemocratic, it was antidemocratic because Plessy may be characterized as an antidemocratic reaction to the then-recent democratic reforms of Reconstruction (1865–1877).
Reconstruction was the nation’s first experiment in economic emancipation and interracial democracy. The three Reconstruction Amendments (the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments (1865, 1868, and 1870, respectively) established (legally but not factually) civil rights for all Americans. But the experiment failed; or rather, America failed the experiment. The reforms in- troduced by Reconstruction were being systematically dismantled in the South. For instance, the promise of “forty acres and a mule” was proclaimed by General William T. Sherman but never delivered by Congress. Reconstruction was progressive; Plessy was regressive. Plessy, in fact, was the ultimate deconstruction of Reconstruction—the final judicial nail in its historical coffin. Far worse were its social and historical consequences, for the decision legitimized legal segregation. Plessy was a pact with the devil of Jim Crow, and it legitimatized the American apartheid of systemic segregation.
Plessy’s “separate but equal” doctrine was an oxymoron. Yet, as the supreme law of the law, it held sway for well over a half-century. It would take the Brown decision to successfully overturn it. Brown v. Board of Edu- cation exposed the Plessy decision as a contradiction, ruling that “separate but equal” is inherently unequal.
Plessy v. Ferguson
To appreciate Brown v. Board of Education (1954), one must understand Plessy v. Ferguson (1996) first. Plessy is the notorious “separate but equal” case where the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Jim Crow segregation laws as constitutional. While the phrase “separate but equal” does not appear in the decision itself, the doctrine it represents gave legal sanction to legalized segregation. In fine, “separate but equal” equals “Jim Crow affirmed.” If, as Justice Harlan indicated in his dissent, Plessy is the worst Supreme Court ruling ever handed down (except for the Dred Scott decision), then the Brown decision may rank as the greatest Supreme Court decision.
The Plessy Court held that “the enforced separation of the races, as applied to the internal commerce of the State, neither abridges the privileges or immunities of the colored man, deprives him of his property without due process of law, nor denies him the equal protection of the laws, within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment.” In plain English—in black and white—Justice Henry Billings Brown kept black from white. This bad result was “good law” for nearly six decades. It would take Brown v. the Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), to overrule Justice Brown.
The Color Line
Although mollified by democratic language and reasoning, Plessy is an anti-democratic reaction to the democratic reforms of Reconstruction (1865–1877). As the nation’s first experiment in economic emancipation and interracial democracy, Reconstruction produced three Amendments to the U.S. Constitution—the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments (1865, 1868, and 1870 respectively—which established (legally but not factually) civil rights for all Americans. But the experiment failed—or rather, America failed the experiment. Reconstruction was progressive; Plessy was regressive. Plessy, in fact, was the ultimate deconstruction of Reconstruction. Far worse were its social and historical consequences. By reconciling white supremacy with the Reconstruction amendments of the 1860s, Plessy was a pact with the devil of Jim Crow, legitimatizing the American apartheid of systemic segregation.
The Railroad Line
In September 1891, the local activist Citizens’ Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law (Comite´ de Citoyens) decided to challenge the constitutionality of the 1890 Louisiana Separate Car Act, which commanded that “that all railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in this State, shall provide equal but separate accommodations for the white, and colored races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger coaches by a partition so as to secure separate accommodations.” Violation of this act triggered a fine of $25.00 or imprisonment of not more than twenty days.
On 7 June 1892, Homer Adolph Plessy (1863–1925), a shoemaker in his late twenties, bought a first-class ticket at the Press Street Depot in New Orleans for passage on the East Louisiana Railroad to the city of Covington, which was in St. Tammany Parish (county) in Louisiana. His ticket was for a seat in the first-class carriage, on a train scheduled to depart at 4:15 p.m. The trip was to have taken around two hours in its traverse to Covington, which was thirty miles to the north, on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain, near the Mississippi border. Plessy never reached his physical destination, because he had legal destination in mind. A dignified gentleman donning suit and hat, this “Creole of Color” quietly took his seat in a compartment reserved for whites only. According to a story in the weekly Crusader, “As the train was moving out of the station, the conductor came up and asked if he was a white man. Plessy, who is as white as the average white Southerner, replied that he was a colored man. Then, said the conductor, ‘you must go in the coach reserved for colored people’.” In effect, this scenario was staged; it was planned in advance.
Plessy could easily have passed as white. Phenotypically, Plessy exhibited none of the physical features associated with his race. While there are no extant photographs of Homer Plessy, the record is clear: “the mixture of colored blood was not discernible in him,” as the Supreme Court acknowledged in its decision. To use the inartful slang of the day, Plessy was an “octoroon” (a person of one-eighth Black blood)—an accident of “hypodescent” (a peculiar American doctrine that classifies anyone with the least trace of African ancestry as “colored,” with all of the legal and social stigmas that would attach to that pejorative classification). Facially, Plessy was white; racially he was black, by the standards of that day. He was the perfect man to challenge the constitutionality of the Louisiana Separate Car Act. Plessy’s racial ambiguity was useful as a as legal strategy, providing a more poignant critique of white supremacy.
Conductor J.J. Dowling, pursuant to Louisiana law, informed Plessy that he had to move from the “white car” to the “colored car.” Typically hitched right behind the locomotive, this Jim Crow car would reek of soot and smoke. While first-class seats were cushioned, colored seats were wooden. With dignified equipoise, Plessy refused. Law enforcement was summoned, and “Detective” Chris C. Cain asked Plessy to disembark from the train. Plessy complied with the officer of the law in order to challenge the law itself.
Drawing the Line
In his October 13th arraignment, John H. Ferguson, judge of Section “A” of the Criminal District Court, Parish of Orleans, presided. In the case filed as 19117 The State of Louisiana v. Homer Adolph Plessy, Judge Ferguson heard arguments by 55-year-old James Campbell Walker, a local Creole attorney, and Assistant District Attorney Lionel Adams, reputed to be a “crack trial lawyer.” Walker agreed to defend Plessy for $1,000. Ironically, Homer Plessy (“white as the average white Southerner”) and Judge Ferguson had the very same skin color.
After failing in his motion to have the case dismissed, Walker filed a motion to stay the proceedings so that arguments on the constitutionality of the Separate Car Act could be heard. Judge Ferguson then set a date for Oct. 28th. Meanwhile, in his Oct. 14 brief, Walker had argued that the Louisiana statute violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. By requiring him to sit in a Jim Crow car, the state was branding Plessy with a “badge of slavery,” which is proscribed by the Thirteenth Amendment (1865). The Separate Car Act also offended the Fourteenth Amendment (1868), which forbade any state’s abridging the “privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” The judge then congratulated Walker for the “great research, learning, and ability” that was evident in his brief. on Nov. 18, Judge Ferguson rendered his decision: “There is no pretense that he [Plessy] was not provided with equal accommodations with the white passengers. He was simply deprived of the liberty of doing as he pleased, and of violating a penal statute with impunity.” On Nov. 22, Plessy appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court, which was docketed as case number 11134.
Although Walker remained as part of Plessy’s legal team, Albion Winegar Tourgée (1838–1905) took over as Plessy’s lead attorney. After reviewing the statutory language of the Separate Car Act, the Louisiana high court noted a recent decision regarding the Act’s constitutionality: “We have had occasion very recently to consider the constitutionality of this act as applicable to interstate passengers, and held that, if so applied, it would be unconstitutional because in violation of the exclusive right vested in Congress to regulate commerce between the States.” However, because Plessy’s destination was intrastate, the Commerce Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3) was not implicated: “It thus appears that the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution of the United States is not involved.”
His Thirteenth Amendment claim having failed, the Court then addressed Plessy’s alternative pleading—his challenge of the Separate Car Act as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment: “It would little boot for us to make extensive quotations from these decisions. They all accord in the general principle that, in such matters, equality, and not identity or community, of accommodations is the extreme test of conformity to the requirements of the XIVth Amendment.”
• Invited essay, intended as model “argument essay” for undergraduate students.
• Introduces Christopher Buck’s “CLEAR Argument Paradigm,” a generative model (based on British philosopher Stephen Toulmin’s paradigm for analyzing arguments) to assist students in writing argument essays: (1) “Claim” (Opinion, Stance, Thesis); (2) “Limits” (Qualifier); (3) “Evidence” (Reasons, Grounds); (4) “Assumptions” (Warrants and Backing); and (5) “Rebuttal” (advance responses to foreseeable objections).
• Also introduces Buck’s “DREAMS Paradigm.” “DREAMS” is a mnemonic acronym for the following six dimensions of religion: (1) “Doctrinal”; (2) “Ritual”; (3) “Ethical”; (4) “Artistic”; (5) “Mystical”; and (6) “Social.” Based on the model originally proposed by Scottish scholar (and founder of the academic study of religion in Britain), Ninian Smart (1927–2001), in Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs (1983, six “dimensions”) and Dimensions of the Sacred (1996, seven “dimensions”), but further refined by adding four subcategories within each “dimension” of religion. (See Buck, “Ninian Smart (1927–2001).” British Writers. Supplement XXIV (2018).) Developed as a classroom tool (for university students) for formally comparing world religions (where Smart’s “Materialistic” dimension is subsumed in Buck’s “Artistic” dimension):
DREAMS Paradigm
Doctrinal Dimension (metaphysics, philosophy of religion) [Acronym: CASE.]
• Cosmology (cosmogony/theodicy).
• Anthropology (soul/consciousness/purpose).
• Soteriology (predicament/salvation).
• Eschatology (afterlife/apocalypse).
Ritual Dimension (anthropology of religion) [Acronym: CROW.]
• Calendar (type/special features).
• Rites of Passage (rites of life/life-crisis rites/rites of faith).
• Observances (festivals and fasts/pilgrimages).
• Worship (communal/domestic).
Ethical Dimension (philosophy of religion) [Acronym: LIVE.]
• Laws (prescriptions/proscriptions).
• Intentions (motives/reactions).
• Virtues (saints/saintliness).
• Ethics (moral principles/social principles).
Artistic Dimension (art history, iconography) [Acronym: MAPS.]
• Music (liturgical/devotional).
• Art & Architecture (visual arts, temples, shrines, pilgrimage sites/assembly halls).
• Performance (dance/drama).
• Symbols (literary/concrete).
Mystical Dimension (psychology of religion) [Acronym: GASP.]
• Goal of Attainment (quest/preparation).
• Activities (spiritual exercises/mystical orders).
• Stages (path/progress).
• Peak Experiences (visions, auditions/transformations).
Social Dimension (sociology of religion) [Acronym: DORM.]
• Distribution (heartland/diaspora).
• Organization (hierarchy/community).
• Relations (church/state relations/interfaith relations).
• Missions (domestic/foreign).
The short answer is this: No. Science, rather than being a type of religion, is a complement of religion. This answer, standing alone, is naked assertion, and needs to be fleshed out and clothed with reasons and supporting evidence in order to become a full-edged argument.
In fine, the argument is as follows:
No. Science, rather than being a type of religion, is a complement of religion (Claim), given that science and religion each has its own domain of authority (Limits), especially considering the empirical nature of the scientific method (Evidence), and assuming that science is strictly empirical, dealing primarily, although not exclusively, with observable phenomena (Assumptions). If the objection is raised that science can theoretically replace religion and effectively perform its functions even better, science would still not constitute a "type of religion" because the respective functions of religion and science remain distinct, yet science and religion, ideally, can and should be consilient (Rebuttal).
So, yes, all world religions ultimately share the same values (Claim) if and when religious leaders seek and agree on common ground for the common good (Limits), as demonstrated at the 2010 World Religions Summit in the final communiqué of the conference, "A Time for Inspired Leadership and Action" (Evidence), assuming that religious leaders speak with some authority and consensus among them is a good thing (Assumptions). Even if interfaith alliances are exceptional, they are likely to become the norm, now that the precedent has been set for future summits of world's religious leaders (Rebuttal).
This is a complete argument based on the present writer's "CLEAR Argument Paradigm," an argument model adapting the work of British philosopher Stephen Toulmin used to assist students in writing their own arguments. "CLEAR" stands for the six elements in Toulmin's argument-mapping, but reduced to these ve components: Claim (Position), Limits (Qualier), Evidence (Reasons, Grounds), Assumptions (Warrants and Backing), and Rebuttal (to objections).
From ABC-CLIO's World Religions website
AMERICA IS A MULTIFAITH NATION
Question: Is the United States a Christian nation?
Answer: The short answer is this: America is a multifaith nation.
This response, while concise, is incomplete, for it is merely a naked assertion—that is, a declaration, affirmation, averment—standing alone. To assert is not to prove. To become an argument, this skeletal statement—this unsupported asseveration—must be fleshed out with the thew and sinew of reason and evidence. For this purpose, the author will employ his "CLEAR Argument Paradigm"— where "CLEAR" stands for Claim (Position), Limits (Qualifier), Evidence (Reasons, Grounds), Assumptions (Warrants & Backing), and Rebuttal (to objections). In a nutshell, the argument is as follows:
America is now a multifaith nation, a post-Christian nation, and no longer a "Christian nation" (Claim), although America arguably was once so, if the 1892 United States Supreme Court decision, viewed in isolation, is invoked as proof: "[T]his is a Christian nation"[1] (Limits). Yet First Amendment jurisprudence—especially landmark decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court —defines America as a multicultural, pluralistic and thus multifaith society, such that the constitutional decree of the Free Exercise Clause embraces any faith (Evidence), assuming that such precedents command the highest legal authority and articulate normative social policy (Assumptions). Even if it is objected that America is a Christian nation by way of its historical heritage, and that America is still predominantly Christian, its demography is such that America is irreversibly a multicultural—and thus a multifaith—society (Rebuttal).
The argument will now be presented more fully:
Argument essay, introducing the present writer’s “CLEAR Argument Paradigm,” a generative model (based on Stephen Toulmin’s analytical model) to assist students in writing their own arguments: Claim (Position), Limits (Qualifier), Evidence (Reasons, Grounds), Assumptions (Warrants & Backing), and Rebuttal (to objections).
Argument essay, introducing the present writer’s “CLEAR Argument Paradigm,” a generative model (based on Stephen Toulmin’s analytical model) to assist students in writing their own arguments: Claim (Position), Limits (Qualifier), Evidence (Reasons, Grounds), Assumptions (Warrants & Backing), and Rebuttal (to objections).
Introduces Buck’s “DREAMS Paradigm.” “DREAMS” is a mnemonic acronym for the Doctrinal, Ritual, Ethical, Artistic, Mystical, and Social dimensions of religion. Developed as a classroom tool (for university students) in formally comparing world religions.
ABSTRACT
The late Kevin Locke (Lakota: Tokéya Inážiŋ, “First to Arise”) believed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s “Tablet to Amír Khán” establishes the principle of Indigenous Messengers of God to the Americas: “Undoubtedly in those regions the Call of God must have been raised in ancient times, but it hath been forgotten now” (www.bahai.org/r/760585775). This expanded understanding of the Bahá’í doctrine of Progressive Revelation has profound implications for interactions with Indigenous people.
Christopher Buck, PhD (Keynote Speaker)
2020 International eConference on Interreligious Dialogue
Global Center for Religious Research (GCRR)
December 6, 2020
Précis (Abstract)
• “Interfaith” here means “interreligious.” “Relations” refers to interfaith encounters, engagements, and ecumenical (transreligious) interactions, including dialogue and cooperation.
• The Bahá’í Faith “claims not to destroy or belittle previous Revelations, but to connect, unify, and fulfill them” according to Shoghi Effendi (“Guardian,” 1921–57).
• Bahá’í scholar, Seena Fazel, proposed “three bridges that can link the Bahá’í community to other religions in dialogue”: “ethical,” “intellectual,” and “mystical-spiritual.”
• The Universal House of Justice (elected international Bahá’í council) addressed its public “Letter to the World’s Religious Leaders” (April, 2002) to promote consensus “that God is one and that . . . religion is likewise one.”
• Shoghi Effendi’s declaration that the Bahá’í Faith “proclaims all established religions to be divine in origin, identical in their aims, complementary in their functions, continuous in their purpose, indispensable in their value to mankind” can promote ideal interfaith relations through reciprocal recognition and respect.
‘Abdu'l-Bahá's 1912 Howard University Speech:
A Civil War Discourse for Interracial Emancipation.
Grand Canyon Baha’i Conference. Phoenix, AZ.
(December 22, 2012.)
Based on:
Christopher Buck, “’Abdu’l-Baha’s 1912 Howard University Speech: A Civil War Myth for Interracial Emancipation.” ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Journey West: The Course of Human Solidarity. Edited by Negar Mottahedeh. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Pp. 111–144.
https://www.academia.edu/29904876/_Abdu_l-Baha_s_1912_Howard_University_Speech_A_Civil_War_Myth_for_Interracial_Emancipation_2013_
Presented by Christopher Buck and Nahzy Abadi Buck.
With video & audio links.
“Memorials of the Faithful” weekend (May 23–24, 2015). Desert Rose Baha’i Institute. Eloi, AZ.
(May 24, 2015, morning and afternoon sessions.)
Presented by Christopher Buck and Nahzy Abadi Buck.
“Memorials of the Faithful” weekend (May 23–24, 2015). Desert Rose Baha’i Institute. Eloi, AZ
(May 23, 2015, morning session).
During America’s Bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence in 1976, Hayden served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, in the first of his two-term tenure (1976–77 and 1977–78).
That same position later became known as “Poet Laureate of the United States” in 1985.
As America’s Bicentennial poet laureate and the first African American poet laureate, Hayden rose to the occasion by offering a poem about America.
That poem is “American Journal” (1976).
“American Journal” may thus be regarded as America’s “Bicentennial poem.”
Implicit in Robert Hayden’s “[American Journal]” is this thesis:
Social maturity is coefficient with human solidarity.
This thesis unifies the various kinds of identity that this compressed and kaleidoscopic poem treats.
As a literary tube of mirrors, “American Journal” implicitly describes social identities that render the American experience decidedly multidimensional.
Internal evidence suggests that Hayden treats American identity in nine dimensions:
(1) Landscape Identity;
(2) Alien (Individual) Identity;
(3) Racial Identity;
(4) Political Identity;
(5) Class Identity;
(6) Material Identity;
(7) Religious Identity;
(8) American (National) Identity;
(9) Human Identity.
In the modernist collage of anecdotal scenes and sustained ironies that comprise “American Journal,” these nine dimensions operate as a multifaceted prism of American mentality and potentiality.
On viewing Hayden’s “[American Journal]” through this dimensional prism, America emerges as a work-in-progress—episodically revised by crisis after crisis—an experiment through which the meaning of humanity may be universalized.
This “work” will progress until it reaches a stage in which the interplay of competing identities is seen as a stable matrix—an ideal array of integrative identities (reflecting Hayden’s general orientation as a Bahá’í).
This optic will apply to the inarticulate yet implicitly unitive moral of “American Journal”—a message in a bottle, as it were.
America, in the poet’s musing, is caught up in a socially adolescent identity crisis. America has yet to mature until it resolves its fundamental identity crisis. This, in the broader context, is a defining social problematic of the world at large.
Our special thesis is that “America” itself—as portrayed in “American Journal” and as analytically illuminated by the nine dimensions previously described—operates topically and tropically as an emblematic problematic in humanity.
The problem is not with any identity in particular. It is when particular identities alienate.
In composing “American Journal,” Hayden—who is acutely aware of this “strangering” or schisming dynamic—contrives a reconnaissance mission involving a fictive visit by a man from Mars.
An inverse of NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched in 2005, Hayden launches his own probe of planet Earth, to explore American alienation through the eyes of an alien from outer space, who defines the core and refines the crux of American identity.
Christopher Buck, Ph.D.
The Bahá’í Faith emphasizes the harmony of science and religion and therefore, by implication and application, encourages scriptural interpretation that aligns with reason and scientific understanding. When it comes to interpreting scriptural texts, one possible approach is to consider them from three levels: (1) historical-contemporary, (2) history of interpretation, and (3) Bahá’í-focused interpretation. For example, The parable of the city in the Qur’án offers an example where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Bahá’u’lláh provide different, yet complementary interpretations of the same passage. The study of religion presents useful insights into the nature of prophecy. As proposed in this presentation, one Bahá’í-inspired approach to interpreting scriptural texts involves a four-step method that asks questions to determine if the text is literal or figurative, symbolic, and spiritual or social in nature. This is an experimental approach to interpreting these texts and not an authoritative analysis.
https://www.clearwaterbahais.org/blog/a-science-of-religion-approach-to-figuring-out-prophecy.html
This presentation offers a method to interpret biblical prophecy by looking at the words used in the scripture, the context in which it was written, and the cultural and historical background of the time. Two useful examples are Peter’s sermon at Pentecost from Acts 2 and Bahá’u’lláh’s commentary on Revelation 1:14–16; 2:18; 19:12, 15 to show how prophecy can be understood as spiritual and symbolic, rather than literal. This presentation proposes that if a prophecy is impossible to fulfill literally, it should be understood as figurative and symbolic and that the figurative language used in scripture can help in better understanding and appreciating the spiritual message of a scriptural passage in the form of a prophecy.
https://bahaiteachings.org/4-steps-for-understanding-the-mysteries-of-prophecy/
To read a series of essays written about this topic, go here: https://bahaiteachings.org/series/figuring-out-prophecy/
FIRST METHOD
(1) To Interpret Prophecies, Add the Word “Spiritual.”
SECOND METHOD
1. If impossible, then not literal.
2. If not literal, then figurative.
3. If figurative, then symbolic.
4. If symbolic, then spiritual and social.
THIRD METHOD
(1) historical-contemporary interpretation.
(2) the history of interpretation.
(3) Baha’i interpretation.
in what Book is this written?”
How and Why ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Identified “New” and Distinctive Bahá’í Principles
by Christopher Buck, PhD, JD
ABSTRACT
In a Zoom webinar presented for “Bahá’í Chronicles” on Sunday, September 18, 2022, at 2:00 PM, this 121-slide PowerPoint (created in Apple’s Keynote app) focuses on three key Bahá’í texts:
Text #1:
Talk Given by Abdu’l-Baha in Port Sa’id on 19 June 1913:
At most, one would object that the Gospel includes similar teachings, to which we would reply, “Among these teachings is the oneness of humanity; in which of the Books [of the New Testament] can this be found? Show us! And universal peace—in what Book is this written? And that religion must be the cause of love and fellowship, and that without these the lack of religion would be preferable—in which Book is this stated? And that religion must accord with sound reason and accurate science—in what Book is this mentioned? And equality between men and women—in which Book does one find this? And the abandonment of sectarian, religious, national, political, and racial prejudices—what Book contains this?” And so on and so forth.
— ʻAbdu’l-Bahá (Provisional translation by Adib Masumian, https://adibmasumian.com/translations/abu0231/.)
Text #2:
On 15 November 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was asked:
“What has Bahá’u’lláh brought that we have not heard before?”
The Promulgation of Universal Peace
www.bahai.org/r/591469335
Text #3:
On 2 December 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was asked:
“You have asked me what new principles have been revealed by Him.” (Bahá’u’lláh)
The Promulgation of Universal Peace
www.bahai.org/r/322194491
CONCLUSIONS
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s 19 June 1913 talk in Port Said, Egypt, sheds new light on His prior responses to questions as to what is “new” in Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings, on 15 November 1912 and 2 December 1912, in New York.
A close comparison between (1) the first publication of these two key talks in the Star the West magazine, and (2) their later, edited republication in The Promulgation of Universal Peace, shows that the earlier versions were probably more true to the original.
This is most evident in the 15 November 1912 talk where, in editing the text for republication in Promulgation, editor Howard MacNutt turns ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s rhetorical questions into categorical answers.
For Bahá’ís, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s approach has potentially and possibly profound implications for public discourse, considering ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s role as the “Perfect Exemplar” — not only as a paragon and paradigm of all Bahá’í virtues, but as a model for how best to present and teach the Bahá’í Faith.
Muḥammad is not the father of any one of your men, but the Messenger of God, and the Seal of the Prophets; God has knowledge of everything.
– Qur’an 33:40 (tr. Arberry).
On the day when they will be brought into the presence of their Lord, their greeting to each other will be, “Peace be with you.” God has prepared an honorable reward for them.
– Qur’an 33:44 (tr. Muḥammad Sarwar).
Presented live, via Zoom, on June 26, 2022.
The Centenary of the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (1921–2021)
Presented by Christopher Buck.
Winchester Thurston Upper School, Pittsburgh, PA (Dec. 11, 2021).
The key principles of Bahá’u’lláh that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá expounded are part of his “living legacy“— i.e. these “new” or “special” principles are useful for presenting information about the Bahá’í Faith today.
Bahá’u’lláh’s “Special” Teachings
Nov. 15, 1912 / Dec. 2, 1912 (New York)
1. Search for Truth
2. See Humankind as One
3. See Religion as One
4. Religions Should Unify
5. Religion Respects Science
6. Women and Men Are Equal
7. Abolish Every Prejudice
8. Promote World Peace
9. Provide Education for All
10. Economic Problems Require Spiritual Solutions
11. The Universal House of Justice is Unique
12. The Special Bahá’í “Covenant” Protects Bahá’í Unity
13. Adopt a Universal Auxiliary Language
14. Work is Worship
15. The Bahá’í Faith Offers Other “New Principles”
Grandfather above, we acknowledge the holy ones you have sent upon this land to kindle the sacred fire in the hearts of us — your grandchildren. We are eternally grateful that, in ancient times, you have sent Deganawida, the Peacemaker, White Buffalo Calf Woman, Breath Maker, Sweet Medicine and a myriad others to breathe holiness and beauty upon this Turtle Island and your grandchildren here, and to teach us Your laws and to enable us to draw close to You and especially to love and cherish our relative, Grandmother Earth, and all that dwell upon her. In particular we acknowledge the holy ones You have sent to the spot upon which we stand and the nations and kindreds who have been the custodians of that sacred trust. We ask that You breathe upon and fan the embers of the fire of love and faith in our hearts and minds, that our footsteps may tread Your path and we may restore peace and order upon this blessed land.
— Prayer offered by Kevin Locke (Lakota).
This was occasioned by his virtual presentation for Green Acre Bahá’í School on October 9, 2021, and in advance of the following event:
On Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021, the Patricia Locke Foundation presented a session, “Indigenous Land Acknowledgement Centered on Spiritual Reality” in the 2021 Parliament of the World’s Religions Virtual.
A pre-recorded video, “Encouraging Grassroots Indigenous Land & Spiritual Acknowledgements” (44:12) was submitted.
Participants: Ceylan Isgor-Locke (Turkish); Nanabah Bulman (Navajo/Diné); Marylou Miller (Tlingit of the lineage of Chief George Kyan of Ketchikan, Alaska); Kevin Locke (Lakota & Anishnabe); Christopher Buck (non-Indigenous “ally,” co-author, with Kevin Locke and others, “Indigenous Messengers of God” series); George Holly (Deg Xit’an Athabaskan, Alaska); Lee Brown (Cherokee), and Jordan Bighorn (Lakota).
“What is the significance of “ezafe-ye majaz” in relation to your paper on the Seal of the Prophets?”
(See Buck, “Beyond the ‘Seal of the Prophets’: Bahā’u’llāh’s Book of Certitude (Ketāb-e Iqān).” Religious Texts in Iranian Languages. Edited by Clause Pedersen & Fereydun Vahman. København (Copenhagen): The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters/Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab—Historiske-filosofiske Meddelelser 98, København, 2007. Pp. 369–378. [Courtesy of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, this entire multi-author work is now available online: http://www.royalacademy.dk/Publications/Low/2085_.pdf).)
“DOs and DO NOTs of Land Acknowledgements” (Slides #45, 50, 51), which were cited with prior interim permission, now have official permission:
"(Permission, courtesy of the Delaware Nation’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office, August 23, 2021.)"
Christopher Buck Ph.D., J.D.
On Nov. 15 and Dec. 2, 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá noted “special teachings of Bahá’u’lláh” as “new,” “distinctive” and “not found in any of the sacred Books of the past.” Bahá’í Faith: The Basics presents these as “dynamic Bahá’í principles, expressed as actions.”
Slideshow for Zoom presentation, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021,
11 AM to 12:30 PM, Pacific time (2 to 3:30 Eastern time).
Sponsored by the Baha’is of Manhattan Beach.
Published on May 4, 2015
The “idea of America” is at the heart of American studies. It defines who we are as Americans, at least in theory. In practice, the “idea of America” offers a golden opportunity to engage in the public discourses of society. When “God and country” further inspires the “idea of America,” then the “idea of America” becomes a “theology of America.” This is the central focus of God and Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America.
It is not necessary to disparage other religions in favor of Christianity, Buddhism or the Baha’i Faith, for instance. On the contrary, it is good to find common ground. This, after all, is one important goal of interreligious dialogue. A prerequisite to interfaith discourse is becoming knowledgeable, both about one’s own faith and the faith of others, as Abdu’l-Baha states clearly in The Secret of Divine Civilization.
The secret of effective interfaith dialogue is not conversion, but convergence. Can we, as Americans, agree on what America can, or should, stand for? For this purpose, God and Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America offers a handbook. It treats each of the religions evenhandedly.
That same evenhanded, interested yet self-disinterested approach allows for productively engaging in the discourses of society which, in this case, means the public discourses of American society. This is the approach that Baha’i philosopher, Alain Locke, favored.
A course based on the book will be offered by the Wilmette Institute starting May 10; to register, click here. Purchase of the book is required; purchase it here.
Presentation based on:
Christopher Buck, “’Abdu’l-Baha’s 1912 Howard University Speech: A Civil War Myth for Interracial Emancipation.” ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Journey West: The Course of Human Solidarity. Edited by Negar Mottahedeh. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Pp. 111–144.
https://www.academia.edu/29904876/_Abdu_l-Baha_s_1912_Howard_University_Speech_A_Civil_War_Myth_for_Interracial_Emancipation_2013_
________________
NOTE & DISCLAIMER: After I became a Baha’i on December 15, 1972, I started investigating world religions, as well as the religion that I grew up with: Christianity. Long before becoming a graduate student at the University of Calgary (1989–1991) and, before that, an unclassified graduate student at the University of British Columbia (1983–1985), I was an autodidact (self-taught), and was primarily interested in apologetics. In other words, my quest was for the “search after proof” of the claims of the Baha’i Faith. Graduate work transformed me completely, as I graduated from the “search after proof” to the “search after truth.” So this transcript of a radio talk show debate is from the period of my apologetic “search after proof,” in which I was quite interested in what scholars call the “Jesus–Paul debate,” and was fascinated by the work of Hans Joachim Schoeps, author of Jewish Christianity: Factional Disputes in the Early Church (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969). So this radio talkshow debate does not represent my current perspective, but is simply posted here as an example of my “apologetic” phase. That said, in the past few years, in addition to my academic publications, I’ve contributed a number of articles to the Baha’i Teachings website. These articles, although “apologetic” to some extent, are completely non-polemical in nature. In my golden years, I have learned the value of being “diplomatic” and respectful in all matters interfaith related.
________________
Voice Over: Anchor, a weekly program of religious concerns, involving the clergy and laymen in an examination of life's challenges in the 1970’s. Anchorman for this series is the Reverend Leonard Erickson, pastor of Central Lutheran Church of Bellingham.
Rev. Erickson: Welcome to Anchor. Our topic today is “Is Christianity really Christian?” Here to talk about that, to my left, is Chris Buck; he is a member of the Baha’i community of Bellingham. Seated next to Chris is Dr. Bill Wells; he is Visiting Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, B.C., coming from Hilo, Hawaii where he has been for the last eight years. And seated next to Bill is Tom Cicchitti; he is also a member of the Baha’i Faith of the greater Bellingham area. We’ll be back in a moment to talk about “Is Christianity really Christian?”
Rev. Erickson: Chris, you’ve done some research, and you have raised the question in your own mind—whether or not Christianity is really Christian. Why do you ask such a question?
Buck: The question is sort of a paradox, but the historical situation is also a paradox. In the beginning, there appear to have been early followers of Christ that had strong disagreements with Paul and who were also strong followers of Peter. Their history and beliefs survive in very fragmentary, garbled and meager sources. And it’s just been recently, from the nineteenth century onward, we’ve begun to learn about these original disciples of Christ that flourished in the Jerusalem community before the destruction of Jerusalem and then fled to the trans-Jordan area in Syria to continue to exist.
The type of Christianity that we call “Western Christianity” or Western religion had Rome as its base and was principally influenced by Paul. This Syrian Christianity, which later migrates down to Arabia, perhaps to Ethiopia, is a different form of Christianity and believes to have preserved the original teachings of Christ.
Rev. Erickson: So you’re saying that is more authentic Christianity then than what you call Western Christianity?
Buck: They would say so, and ...
Rev. Erickson: Now by “they” who do you mean?
Buck: OK, their names were originally “Nazarenes,” which was the name that all Christians were once called by. Christians were not called “Christians” until Antioch. Later they became known as Ebionites, a word meaning “poor.” They took one of the beatitudes or sayings of Christ, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the Kingdom of God.”
Rev. Erickson: Then, Chris, how would these people differ then from what we would consider the orthodox Christians?
Buck: OK, for one thing they believed that the “Kingdom of God,” the “Gospel of the Kingdom,” was the central message of Christ. The gospel of Christ crucified, which is the emphasis that Paul places on the whole event of Christ appearing in history, is something that they opposed.
Rev. Erickson: They didn’t believe in the resurrection?
Buck: Well, some of them did and some of them didn’t.
Rev. Erickson: But they thought it wasn't important?
Buck: They felt that what Paul did was to create a sort of hero-worship out of the religion, and began to worship Christ, to deify Him. They began to . . .
Rev. Erickson: Now you say “they" deified Him? Are you saying that He wasn’t, uh, divine?
Buck: They were against the Trinity—that doctrine. And it’s a sorry episode in history, the whole dissension over trying to understand something that’s maybe not comprehensible by man. But a lot of persecution took place.
Rev. Erickson: But now, persecution of these, uh, Ebonite Christians?
Buck: That’s right.
Rev. Erickson: By whom?
Buck: By the Roman Christians.
Rev. Erickson: But the Roman Christians, they were being persecuted by the government of the day, weren't they? Very strongly?
Buck: That’s right, until Constantine. And then . . .
Rev. Erickson: And what year was that?
Buck: Well, around the fourth century.
Rev. Erickson: So you're saying during the first three centuries then, the Roman Christians were persecuting the other Christians?
[Transcript continues . . .]
Understanding Names and Attributes as Energies | Christopher Buck | May 8, 2016, https://bahaiteachings.org/understanding-names-and-attributes-as-energies/. (Part 15 in Series: Transforming Time: Turning Godly Perfections Into Goodly Actions,” https://bahaiteachings.org/series/transforming-time-turning-godly-perfections-into-goodly-actions/.) Identity of translator not known at this time. Courtesy of Iraj Ayman (September 10, 2017).
English Article:
Understanding Names and Attributes as Energies
Christopher Buck | May 8, 2016
Part 15 in Series:
Transforming Time: Turning Godly Perfections Into Goodly Actions
(46 Articles)
Understanding Names and Attributes as Energies
“Names” (Persian/Arabic: Asma’) is the name of the ninth Baha’i month in the 19-month, 19-day Baha’i Calendar. The month of “Names” lasts from late August to early September, each year.
In the Baha’i writings, the term “Names” does not simply mean “names” in the ordinary sense. Rather, the word “Names” often combines with another term, “attributes,” to construct the phrase, “names and attributes,” which occurs quite often in Baha’i texts. Usually, the phrase refers to the perfections of God; the perfections of the prophets of God; and our human perfections. We can begin to understand and appreciate these “Names”—as perfections across all three domains—in the passage below:
Nay, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is a direct evidence of the revelation within it of the attributes and names of God, inasmuch as within every atom are enshrined the signs that bear eloquent testimony to the revelation of that most great Light. … How resplendent the luminaries of knowledge that shine in an atom, and how vast the oceans of wisdom that surge within a drop! To a supreme degree is this true of man, who, among all created things, hath been invested with the robe of such gifts, and hath been singled out for the glory of such distinction. For in him are potentially revealed all the attributes and names of God to a degree that no other created being hath excelled or surpassed. All these names and attributes are applicable to him. Even as He hath said: “Man is My mystery, and I am his mystery.” – Baha’u’llah, The Book of Certitude, pp. 100–101.
Think of the “names and attributes” of God as part of our spiritual DNA. The primary difference between our spiritual DNA and our individual genetic code is that, when we are born, our genes, more or less, are fully expressed, or are in the process of expressing themselves throughout our development over the span of our lifetime. At our physical birth, we begin our journey in this world, and develop our abilities and capacities as best we can.
Each of us has inherent talents and faculties. The role of education is to awaken them. These are powers that are latent within us. It remains for each of us to realize those potential powers.
In the same way, our spiritual being develops in a somewhat parallel way here on Earth. Baha’u’llah often refers to these spiritual names and attributes as “energies”:
Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He, through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him—a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation. … Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing He hath shed the light of one of His names, and made it a recipient of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty.
These energies with which the Day Star of Divine bounty and Source of heavenly guidance hath endowed the reality of man lie, however, latent within him, even as the flame is hidden within the candle and the rays of light are potentially present in the lamp. – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, pp. 65–66.
Just like we need education and training to develop our inherently physical powers and faculties, we need spiritual training to awaken and bring to fruition our spiritual energies.
Education requires teachers. Spiritual education requires spiritual teachers. The best spiritual teachers are the founders of the great world religions. Baha’is refer to these extraordinary individuals as prophets of God.
The purpose of the prophets—counseling, guiding, inspiring and perfecting each and every one of us—is manifested in their mission to educate humanity, both individually as well as collectively. In the aggregate—in the grand scheme of things—they exert a cumulative effect when the teachings of such extraordinary individuals as Moses, Zoroaster, the Buddha, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, the Bab and Baha’u’llah bring their power and influence to bear on the world at large, through the Word of God:
Should the Word be allowed to release suddenly all the energies latent within it, no man could sustain the weight of so mighty a Revelation. … No sooner had mankind attained the stage of maturity, than the Word revealed to men’s eyes the latent energies with which it had been endowed—energies which manifested themselves in the plenitude of their glory… – Ibid., pp. 76–77.
So here’s a simple set of equivalences: “names” are “attributes,” which are spiritual “energies.” Shoghi Effendi calls these “ennobling energies.” They have the power to transform individual and society alike. Some examples of these spiritual dynamics are given in the extraordinary passage below:
The Faith of Baha’u’llah has assimilated, by virtue of its creative, its regulative and ennobling energies, the varied races, nationalities, creeds and classes that have sought its shadow, and have pledged unswerving fealty to its cause. It has changed the hearts of its adherents, burned away their prejudices, stilled their passions, exalted their conceptions, ennobled their motives, cöordinated their efforts, and transformed their outlook. While preserving their patriotism and safeguarding their lesser loyalties, it has made them lovers of mankind, and the determined upholders of its best and truest interests. …
This universal, this transcending love which the followers of the Baha’i Faith feel for their fellow-men, of whatever race, creed, class or nation, is neither mysterious nor can it be said to have been artificially stimulated. It is both spontaneous and genuine. They whose hearts are warmed by the energizing influence of God’s creative love cherish His creatures for His sake, and recognize in every human face a sign of His reflected glory. – Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u’llah, pp. 197–198.
So there it is, in a nutshell! In a sense, the Baha’i month of “Names” invites each of us to reflect and meditate on the attributes of God, as conveyed through the prophets of God, and as exemplified by God’s creatures. We can meditate on each and every one of these “names and attributes,” which are really “perfections” by studying the Baha’i calendar.
We have the power to incarnate these virtues and to develop these capacities, especially if we benefit from the spiritual education that the Baha’i writings provide. To realize our spiritual potential, to awaken our inherent greatness, we should, all the while, remain humble, as we put our own individual lives into a broader perspective. The Baha’i writings enshrine moral and social principles that have the power to transform society, even to change the face of the earth.
TAGS: Spiritual Growth
https://bahaiteachings.org/understanding-names-and-attributes-as-energies/
(Uploaded to Academia.edu on June 9, 2024.)
A Key Islamic Prophecy, Fulfilled by a New Faith
by Christopher Buck
Published online (May 13, 2017):
http://bahaiteachings.org/key-islamic-prophecy-fulfilled-new-faith
* Persian translation by .
"50 Baha’i Principles of Unity:
From Individual to International Relations"
by Christopher Buck
Published online (June 10, 2014):
http://bahaiteachings.org/50-bahai-principles-of-unity-from-individual-to-international-relations
* Persian translation by .
See also:
“Fifty Baha'i Principles of Unity: A Paradigm of Social Salvation”
(2017 update, with original Persian and Arabic texts).
https://www.academia.edu/35016378/_Fifty_Bahai_Principles_of_Unity_A_Paradigm_of_Social_Salvation_2017_update_
* Persian translation of:
“Baha’u’llah’s Bisharat (Glad-Tidings):
A Proclamation to Scholars and Statesmen.”
By Christopher Buck and Youli A. Ioannesyan.
Baha’i Studies Review 16 (2010): 3–28.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/bsr.16.3/1.
Posted on Negah: http://negah.org/1498. (January 17, 2012.)
* Persian translation by Faruq Izadinia. See also (serially published):
• 2010 Persian translation, Part 1: Payām-i-Bahā’ī, No. 371 (October 2010): 51–57.
• 2010 Persian translation, Part 2: Payām-i-Bahā’ī, No. 372 (November 2010): 14–18.
• 2010 Persian translation, Part 3: Payām-i-Bahā’ī, No. 373 (December 2010): 35–45.
• 2011 Persian translation, Part 4: Payām-i-Bahā’ī, No. 374 (January 2011): 28–30.
* Persian translation of:
“Baha’u’llah’s Bisharat (Glad-Tidings):
A Proclamation to Scholars and Statesmen.”
By Christopher Buck and Youli A. Ioannesyan.
Baha’i Studies Review 16 (2010): 3–28.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/bsr.16.3/1.
Posted on Negah: http://negah.org/1498. (January 17, 2012.)
* Persian translation by Faruq Izadinia. See also (serially published):
• 2010 Persian translation, Part 1: Payām-i-Bahā’ī, No. 371 (October 2010): 51–57.
• 2010 Persian translation, Part 2: Payām-i-Bahā’ī, No. 372 (November 2010): 14–18.
• 2010 Persian translation, Part 3: Payām-i-Bahā’ī, No. 373 (December 2010): 35–45.
• 2011 Persian translation, Part 4: Payām-i-Bahā’ī, No. 374 (January 2011): 28–30.
* Persian translation of:
“Baha’u’llah’s Bisharat (Glad-Tidings):
A Proclamation to Scholars and Statesmen.”
By Christopher Buck and Youli A. Ioannesyan.
Baha’i Studies Review 16 (2010): 3–28.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/bsr.16.3/1.
Posted on Negah: http://negah.org/1498. (January 17, 2012.)
* Persian translation by Faruq Izadinia. See also (serially published):
• 2010 Persian translation, Part 1: Payām-i-Bahā’ī, No. 371 (October 2010): 51–57.
• 2010 Persian translation, Part 2: Payām-i-Bahā’ī, No. 372 (November 2010): 14–18.
• 2010 Persian translation, Part 3: Payām-i-Bahā’ī, No. 373 (December 2010): 35–45.
• 2011 Persian translation, Part 4: Payām-i-Bahā’ī, No. 374 (January 2011): 28–30.
“Religious Minority Rights.”
by Christopher Buck.
In: The Islamic World.
Edited by Andrew Rippin.
London/New York: Routledge, 2008.
Pp. 638–655. [Final chapter.]
https://www.academia.edu/30243445/_Religious_Minority_Rights._The_Islamic_World_2008_
Persian translation by Faruq Izadinia.
در وَرای «خاتَمُالنَّبیّین»
کتاب مستطاب ایقان
نویسنده: دکتر کریستوفر باک
مترجم: مهندس خسرو دهقانی
(Syllabus, Millikin University, 1999)
Professor: Dr. Christopher Buck
Teaching Assistant: Rev. Frederick Evans
Required Textbooks
(1) African American Spirituality: A Course Reader. Edited by Christopher Buck and Rev. Frederick Evans (Youth Pastor). Note: Readings to be distributed weekly.
(2) L. Sue Baugh, How to Write Term Papers and Reports (NTC/Contemporary Publishing Co., 1997).
Course Description
This is a survey course on African American religions in America. There are around 140 distinct African American churches. The Congress of National Black Churches, Inc. (CNBC), founded in 1978, is an ecumenical coalition of eight major historically Black denominations:
African Methodist Episcopal
African Methodist Episcopal Zion
Christian Methodist Episcopal
Church of God in Christ
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
National Missionary Baptist Convention of America
Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.
This course will cover all of these except for the seventh, because of limitations in the course schedule. In addition to these historic Black denominations, we will also survey a broader range of African American religions in America. These will be organized under the following three types: (1) Indigenous; (2) Independent; (3) Integrated.
Objectives
This course is based on an outcome-oriented philosophy of education.
The overall objective is a collaborative course project—the compilation of a book, entitled: African American Spirituality in Central Illinois, in which each student contributes a chapter as his/her research paper. This is a collective goal.
Individually, students should not only gain knowledge from this course, but should generate knowledge as well. Beyond acquiring multifaith literacy in knowing something about African American religions, the student should also develop an understanding about what these religions say about America, and why they, morally and socially, serve as the “conscience of America” (Peter Paris, Princeton Theological Seminary).
Writing: The Evolution of American Thought (ATL-150)
Fall Semester, 2002
Department of American Thought & Language
Michigan State University
Professor: Dr. Christopher Buck
SYLLABUS
Course Overview:
What is America? What does it stand for? What does it mean to be an American? Does America have a world role? (Ever since the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, this has been a hotly debated question.) What did the “Founding Fathers” have in mind when they first formed this country? What about the “great” Presidents? What have other public figures, such as “people’s poets” and preachers—past and present—have to say? If you see a bumper sticker that says, “God loves America,” who thinks this is true? And why? These questions are important, because the very “idea of America” is central to American studies and is part of the experience of being an American.
In this course we will explore the evolution of American thought through studying the evolution of thought on America. We will look at the “idea of America” in three dimensions: (1) “Protestant” visions of America, which have dominated the public discussion of America’s destiny; (2) “Poetic” visions of America (poetry and popular songs) as a type of cultural ideology; and (3) other “Providential” visions of America, from various religious perspectives (Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Black Muslim, Bahá’í, Buddhist, American Indian—or any other religious group with an identifiable belief about America that a student might know about and propose studying as well).
All of these influences have helped shape what historians call America’s “civil religion.” It may even be that the idea of America has, in turn, influenced American religions themselves. Religions are important cultural phenomena to study because they have traditionally been the primary sources of human values and social values, even though these are “codified” in secular terms.
Michigan State University (Syllabus, Spring 2004)
Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures
WRITING: THE EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN THOUGHT (ATL 150)
Focus:
VISIONS OF AMERICA:
AMERICAN POETRY AS SOCIAL COMMENTARY
Spring 2004
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Poets are a strange breed. They write about life, usually their own. But some rise to the threshold of "social poets," those voices of celebration and protest that quicken national pride yet prick its conscience. The anthology of poems, Visions of America: Poems and Lyrics on the Idea of America, adopted for this course, is unified by the idea of America. This narrow topic is remarkably broad. It encompasses all throughout this land. These bards and minstrels speak to us in voices that haunt and inspire. Their poems are living artifacts of American thought and culture that do not require a museum curator for their preservation. They simply need to be remembered, so that we can remember who we are as a people. And when crossing a line in a desert can explode into a desert storm, the might of America and the pervasiveness of her commercial culture creates an even greater need for social responsibility, as the idea of America controls both foreign and domestic policy. As we read these poems, the mental pictures they evoke are each worth a thousand more words.
History frames each one of these pictures in the gallery before us, as we walk down the corridors of time, while the eyes in the busts of these great poets seem to follow us. The mental environment, the social habitat, the ponderousness of world events, cast each poem in a particular light. The reader must therefore follow each thread of history to which the poem alludes in order to regain a vicarious immediacy of the poet's time and place. This is part of what the reader must bring to the poem in active reading. The reader is an actor and the poem is a stage. In reciting the poem, the reader speaks to the audience, which is him- or herself. As we leave the theater of words and their conjuries of images, we go back to the streets of reality, altering that reality in our own small ways.
In placing these poems in an approximate historical sequence relative to when each poet lived, the reader will get a better sense of the evolution of American thought. The reader is not asked to be a Walt Whitman, but merely to converse with him. As Richard Wilbur writes, in "Advice to a Prophet" (1959):
When you come, as soon you must, to the streets of our city,
Mad-eyed from stating the obvious,
Not proclaiming our fall but begging us
In God's name to have self-pity,
Spare us all word of the weapons, their force and range,
The long numbers that rocket the mind;
Our slow, unreckoning hearts will be left behind,
Unable to fear what is too strange.
The voice of the social poet is prophetic. Not always right, but always true—true to life through the filter of the poet's kaleidoscopic eyes and mental prism. The light that comes out of their eyes is refracted with meaning, their vision of what it means to be an American and, more importantly, what it means to be a human, a world citizen. "Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country. Let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind." These words, spoken by a Persian sage in a Turkish prison in a historic interview with a Cambridge scholar in 1890, says something about the relationship of a nation among nations—and by extension, the relationship of America to the rest of the world. As James Scully writes in "What is Poetry" (1983):
We know it doesn't rhyme much anymore
but is it beautiful is it true
does it transcend the moment
which moment […]
or is it above the social arena does it circle the earth, a satellite with a proper sense of gravity high above the winds of fashion
who put it up there
does it transmit breathtaking pictures of a tiny earth
to a tiny earth
if not, is it a vision of eternity
tell us about it
While Visions of America may not be a "vision of eternity," the poets anthologized in it have much to say about America, even if some, in spirit, may be among the disinvited to the White House. The quintessential patriotism of protest is seen in these poems, as well as the life-affirming celebration of human nature when it is good-natured, and of a nation, inspired by a vision but sometimes blinded by it. This collection begins with William Blake’s America: A Prophecy, which is briefly quoted in the science fiction classic, Blade Runner.
RELIGIOUS MYTHS OF AMERICA
Professor Christopher Buck
Michigan State University
IAH 211C, Areas Studies and Multicultural Civilizations: The Americas
ATL (Tier I writing requirement).
312 Bessey (Spring 2004).
Mon./Wed. 7:00-8:50 p.m. (Spring 2004).
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course was originally designed for "Myth, Self and Religion" (REL 205), in which I proposed a special topic: "Myths of America, Religion, and the Democratic Self." Instead of looking at "dead" myths of antiquity, my intent was focus on modern or "living" myths in the American experience. The rationale for the new course design was post 9-11 curricular relevance, issues of religious responses to modernity, and the evolving and expanding idea of America.
Indeed, there exist several "theologies of America" that relate concepts of personal salvation/liberation to notions of social salvation, including perspectives on America's world role. Thus, instead of adopting a traditional curricular approach, as represented by Joseph Campbell's book title, Myths To Live By (New York: Viking Press, 1972), I proposed an alternative approach as exemplified by Mary Midgley's recent book, Myths We Live By (London: Routledge, 2003). Dr. Ken Waltzer, Director of MSU's Center for Integrative Study of Arts and Humanities (CISAH), proposed that this course be offered as an IAH-211C course instead. This is how the course you are now taking came to be. …
Beyond Bellah's notion of a master myth of America, we will discover that there are other myths of America that are themselves proper objects of study. I have chosen specifically religious perspectives, because an interesting social phenomenon is at work here: While every American has a personal view as to what it means to be an American, I have found that there are actually entire communities ("faith-communities," as scholars say) that hold religious convictions about America. Some scholars have called such group-held views "theologies of America."
What do Mormons have to say about the U.S. Constitution? What do Black Muslims believe about the future of the white race in America? How do many Protestants look at the United States in prophecy? What have Catholic Popes had to say about America? What do the Baha'is predict about the spiritual destiny of America? What have the Hopi Indians told the world from the pulpit of the United Nations? With a little research, these are easy enough questions to answer. This course is unique in that these questions have been brought together for the first time as a new approach to the "idea of America" in American studies.
Our "framework of analysis" (the way we will look at myths of America) consists of four dimensions: (1) identity (America's past), mission (America's present), destiny (America's future), and social policy (how we get from America's "mission" to America's "destiny"). This approach to myth, which may be thought of as a form of "sociofunctionalism," recognizes the fact that myths convey social and moral values. Myths, moreover, serve as conceptual models for society and furnish what Richard Comstock calls a "symbolic articulation of the social patterns" of a given society. As William Doty, author of Mythography: The Study of Myths and Rituals (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2000) states: "Myths provide 'charters' insofar as they justify and exemplify the social order" (132).
The great contribution the sociofunctionalists to the study of myth was to establish clear connections between social order and the myths that sustain it, against the view that myths are merely imaginary, misguided perceptions of reality with little social value. In this course, you will need to ask yourself, "How do each of these myths translate into social behavior? In other words, how have these myths been acted out historically and how are they "performed" today? Pay close attention also to how myths change over time as a function of how society evolves.
Application for post-doctoral fellowship in the Mellon/Sawyer seminar on “Millennialism: Motifs and Movements” coordinated by the Council on Middle East Studies, Yale University.
ABSTRACT
Apocalypses are coded ideological revolutions, religiously fired and metaphorically controlled by the future as tense metaphor. This future tense, permeated by hortative and optative moods, heightens eschatological tensions, which are themselves in tension with a sequence of historical presents, century after century. As a form of crisis literature, a collective depression is documented, a cultural angst expressed in terms of world-historical and cosmic proportions. In the manic phase of mantic vaticinations, the subjunctive indicts the indicative. Apocalypses typically use the language of natural convulsions and cosmic contests in the context of intended social revolution, in which the geocentric often metaphorizes the ethnocentric. Apocalypses typically begin as social commentaries and end up as ideological engines of transformation commandeered by a messianic claimant, whether religious or political, or both.
This project proposes a six-dimensional model for the analysis of selected apocalypses a study unified by a hypothesis which holds that apocalypses are past events (drawn from the author’s/redactor’s historical present) projected as last events, in which prophecy fulfillment employs the authority of the past in order to legitimate the present as instantiated future. Since it is not enough to invoke the authority of scripture for leadership purposes, the fuzzy specificity of apocalyptic vaticinations can be appealed to as proof-texts by messianic claimants of otherwise unattested spiritual lineage.
The six dimensions proposed for the holistic study of apocalyptic are as follows:
1. Apocalypse as genre.
2. Apocalypse as coded history.
3. Apocalypse as social critique and wish-image.
4. Apocalypse as ethnocentrism.
5. Apocalypse as legitimation.
6. Apocalypse as exemplar of discrete religious paradigms.
Key Symbols in 'Persian' Christianity and the Baha'i Faith
Buck, Christopher George
Centre for the Study of Religion
University of Toronto (Canada)
ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1996. NN18989.
ABSTRACT
Symbols enshrine ideas. Sacred symbols present an explorable treasury of religious thought — an information-rich, condensed language of spirituality. "We can see that an essential ingredient of the modern study of religion," writes Ninian Smart, "is symbolic analysis, which tries to throw light on the various themes which an be discovered cross-culturally through the exploration of various worldviews." An experiment in comparative method, reflecting the author's research interests in "Persian" religions from Zarathustra to Baha’u'llah, this study compares "key symbols" in early Syriac Christianity and the Baha'i Faith. Historically, as the "Church of Persia" in Sasanian Iran, the East Syrian "Church of the East" was the pre-Islamic antecedent to the Baha'i religion.
During preliminary research, this finding fell into focus: In both traditions, many dominant symbols are related to notions of Paradise. Why? Because Paradise allegorizes ideals. Visions of Paradise are the stained-glass windows of worldviews, encompassing most of the imagery — or "key symbols” — to be analyzed in this study.
Adequate description is a requisite for explanation. Smart's "Dimensional Model" assigns six "dimensions" to each religion. For mnemonic purposes, the present writer has coined the acronym "DREEMS" (Doctrinal, Ritual, Ethical, Experiential, Mythic, Social) to represent these dimensions. Defining religions as systems of symbols (Geertz), this study focuses on "key symbols" (Ortner), comprised of thought-orienting "root metaphors" and action-incentive "key scenarios."
Providing wholistic descriptions of religions as symbol systems for worldview analysis, the invention of a "symbolic profile" orders an array of dominant, ideationally indexed images within respective "dimensions." These "symbolic profiles" are synoptic mappings of dominant "key symbols" within each tradition. Key symbols for the various dimensions of the DREEMS map are charted. Formally affine and distinctive symbols are compared by an inventory of features, with respect to superordinating paradigms of each religion.
Paradigms render parallels intelligible. Syriac Christianity exhibits a paradigm of transformational purity. A paradigm of concentric unity structures the Baha'i worldview. As an added agenda for what William Paden has recently called the "new comparativism," this study proposes the following axiom for further research and refinement: "Parallels yield paradoxes of commensurability resolvable by paradigm "logics" within religious systems, resulting in symbolic transformation.
Classification: 0318 Religion
Identifier / keyword: Philosophy, religion and theology
Title:
Paradise and Paradigm:
Key Symbols in 'Persian' Christianity and the Baha'i Faith
Author: Buck, Christopher George
Number of pages: 414
Publication year: 1996
Degree date: 1996
School code: 0779
Source DAI-A 58/06: Dissertation Abstracts International
Place of publication: Ann Arbor
Country of publication: United States
ISBN 9780612189898, 0612189899
Advisor: Oxtoby, Willard G.
University/institution: University of Toronto (Canada)
University location: Canada
Degree Ph.D.
Source type: Dissertations & Theses
Language English
Document type: Dissertation/Thesis
Dissertation/thesis number: NN18989
ProQuest document ID: 304295878
ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.
Database ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global
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
Transposition and Equivalence:
Comparing Key Symbols in the Baha’i Faith and Syriac Christianity
by Christopher Buck
Fourth Draft
Submitted to
Programme Advisory Committee
• Professor Willard Oxtoby [Supervisor], Centre for the Study of Religion
• Professor John Corbett, Centre for the Study of Religion
• Professor Todd Lawson, Middle East & Islamic Studies, and
• Professor C. T. McIntire, Associate Director
Centre for the Study of Religion
University of Toronto
27 January 1993
EXCERPTS:
Key Symbols as Units of Analysis:
Why compare key symbols? Geertz’s definition of religion as a system of symbols is a conceptual point of departure. Attractive in its simplicity, utility and conceptual elegance is the theoretical framework, or model, proposed by Sherry B. Ortner (a student of Geertz), advancing the analysis of religions as symbol systems. Ortner developed the heuristic concept of key symbols. She has reworked the existing idea of thought-orientating root metaphors to complement the fundamental thought/action distinction with the concept of key scenarios which represent strategies for action.
Theoretical Relevance:
A project so designed can place constraints on comparison claims and, in so doing, enhance the credibility of those claims that withstand their constraints. The traditions under study provide a testing ground.
Operative Hypothesis:
This study seeks to extend comparative method along this operative hypothesis: In two or more religious systems, if two phenomena are closely comparable, they should exhibit functional equivalence, the test for which is interchangeability. This technique of interchange is termed, transposition.
Specific Hypothesis:
Analytic control requires a theoretically focused selection of significant aspects of the focal phenomena, viz., the Baha’i Faith and Syriac Christianity. Key symbols, the conceptual centre of this study, will serve to represent the distinctive features of each tradition.
Each religion will be analyzed across seven domains, constituting the framework of comparison. The specific hypothesis holds that similarities as well as differences between two religions will preponderate according to domain, and that a testable paradox of positive and negative comparison can be qualitatively specific and precise.
Accordingly, the Baha’i Faith and Syriac Christianity might well exhibit significant affinities in the domains of proclamation, ethics and mysticism, but may betray marked differences in soteriology and ritual, with the overarching conclusion that the Baha’i unity paradigm and the Syriac Christian soteriology of divinization sufficiently account for the major differences, while vast domains of affinity may be mapped out as analogically shared territory.
Procedure:
Comparative method, it has been said, proceeds from internal analysis to external analysis—a synthesis of methods. The comparison of key symbols will be performed across a range of several identifiable domains of religious praxis and experience. Essentialism apart, the attempt is to represent each religion in its totality, to compare religious symbol systems systematically, both in terms of data and of method.
Root metaphors and key scenarios drawn from each of seven domains of religious experience will be identified from within the traditions under study (internal analysis). Tentative symbolic configurations of the Baha’i Faith and Syriac Christianity have been given in Endnote 8.
These root metaphors and key scenarios will be assigned similarity ratings for functional equivalence after operations of transposition have been performed (external analysis). The testing procedure of transposition may be defined as the cross-cultural substitution of key symbols from one religious code to another for purposes of feature analysis.
For instance, the apparent congruence of the metaphors of Christ and Baha’u’llah as Physicians can best be adjudicated on the basis of functions. In the case of Syriac Christianity, Christ is both Physician and Medicine, whereas the Baha’i medicine is not sacramental, nor is it individual, but rather collective, illustrating a possible inverse relationship of respective soteriologies, which may be oversimplified as individual versus mutual salvation.
For assessment, a qualitative scale for Similarity Rating has been developed. Each similarity rating will be based on the apparent degree of functional equivalence when analytical key symbols—viz., root metaphors and key scenarios, predicated of the religions under study (internal analysis) are tested through transposition into the other system (external analysis).
Why Syriac Christianity and the Baha’i Faith?: The selection of these two traditions is no mere juxtaposition.
Considering its Irano-Semitic roots, the Baha’i Faith pours old vintage Zoroastrian, Judaic, Christian and Islamic symbols into a new and original wineskin. Study of the transubstantiation of these symbols—that is, their reconfiguration into a unity paradigm—is, in itself, a a heuristic key.
Assyrian Christianity in its sundry forms was coextensive with early Baha’i history. This accounts for the fact that the earliest Christian converts to the Baha’i Faith were from Syrian Christian backgrounds. Faris Effendi, Syrian Christian doctor and priest, won over to the new Faith in 1868 in Alexandria, became the first Christian Baha’i.
The first Baha’i missionary to America, Anton Haddad, was likewise a converted Syrian Christian. Historically more significant is the fact that Syriac Christianity at one time became the official Christianity of Persia. The proposed comparison therefore respects the fact of Baha’i origins in Iran, and its early history in Iraq and elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire.
In both traditions, there exists a wealth of key symbols, typically cast in metaphorical language, operating as concept indicators. Each key symbol, therefore, may be “unpacked” in terms of its rich, expressive underpinnings. Particular attention will be given to two kinds of expressive sub-sets: genitive metaphors (the most complex type of noun metaphor and one that is frequently used to express Baha’i and Syriac root metaphors) and symbolic narratives (which effectively express key scenarios). These literary devices are richly panoplied in the writings both of the prophet-founder of the Baha’i Faith—Baha’u’llah (d. 1892 A.D.)—and the exponent par excellence of Syriac Christianity—Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373 A.D.)
The Baha’i Faith is of interest in the context of modernity. It is a religion which, according to Ninian Smart, “is an example of a spiritual revolution which intuitively recognized the global state of world culture before its time and gave religious preparation for this unified world.” Claimed as the youngest of the world’s independent religions, comparison of the Baha’i Faith with Christianity, the largest religion in the world, is inevitable.
Comparing Key Symbols in the Baha’i Faith and Syriac Christianity
Dissertation Proposal
by Christopher Buck
Fourth Draft
Submitted to
Programme Advisory Committee
• Professor Willard Oxtoby [Supervisor], Centre for the Study of Religion
• Professor John Corbett, Centre for the Study of Religion
• Professor Todd Lawson, Middle East & Islamic Studies, and
• Professor C. T. McIntire, Associate Director
Centre for the Study of Religion
University of Toronto
27 January 1993
EXCERPTS:
Key Symbols as Units of Analysis:
Why compare key symbols? Geertz’s definition of religion as a system of symbols is a conceptual point of departure. Attractive in its simplicity, utility and conceptual elegance is the theoretical framework, or model, proposed by Sherry B. Ortner (a student of Geertz), advancing the analysis of religions as symbol systems. Ortner developed the heuristic concept of key symbols. She has reworked the existing idea of thought-orientating root metaphors to complement the fundamental thought/action distinction with the concept of key scenarios which represent strategies for action.
Theoretical Relevance:
A project so designed can place constraints on comparison claims and, in so doing, enhance the credibility of those claims that withstand their constraints. The traditions under study provide a testing ground.
Operative Hypothesis:
This study seeks to extend comparative method along this operative hypothesis: In two or more religious systems, if two phenomena are closely comparable, they should exhibit functional equivalence, the test for which is interchangeability. This technique of interchange is termed, transposition.
Specific Hypothesis:
Analytic control requires a theoretically focused selection of significant aspects of the focal phenomena, viz., the Baha’i Faith and Syriac Christianity. Key symbols, the conceptual centre of this study, will serve to represent the distinctive features of each tradition.
Each religion will be analyzed across seven domains, constituting the framework of comparison. The specific hypothesis holds that similarities as well as differences between two religions will preponderate according to domain, and that a testable paradox of positive and negative comparison can be qualitatively specific and precise.
Accordingly, the Baha’i Faith and Syriac Christianity might well exhibit significant affinities in the domains of proclamation, ethics and mysticism, but may betray marked differences in soteriology and ritual, with the overarching conclusion that the Baha’i unity paradigm and the Syriac Christian soteriology of divinization sufficiently account for the major differences, while vast domains of affinity may be mapped out as analogically shared territory.
Procedure:
Comparative method, it has been said, proceeds from internal analysis to external analysis—a synthesis of methods. The comparison of key symbols will be performed across a range of several identifiable domains of religious praxis and experience. Essentialism apart, the attempt is to represent each religion in its totality, to compare religious symbol systems systematically, both in terms of data and of method.
Root metaphors and key scenarios drawn from each of seven domains of religious experience will be identified from within the traditions under study (internal analysis). Tentative symbolic configurations of the Baha’i Faith and Syriac Christianity have been given in Endnote 8.
These root metaphors and key scenarios will be assigned similarity ratings for functional equivalence after operations of transposition have been performed (external analysis). The testing procedure of transposition may be defined as the cross-cultural substitution of key symbols from one religious code to another for purposes of feature analysis.
For instance, the apparent congruence of the metaphors of Christ and Baha’u’llah as Physicians can best be adjudicated on the basis of functions. In the case of Syriac Christianity, Christ is both Physician and Medicine, whereas the Baha’i medicine is not sacramental, nor is it individual, but rather collective, illustrating a possible inverse relationship of respective soteriologies, which may be oversimplified as individual versus mutual salvation.
For assessment, a qualitative scale for Similarity Rating has been developed. Each similarity rating will be based on the apparent degree of functional equivalence when analytical key symbols—viz., root metaphors and key scenarios, predicated of the religions under study (internal analysis) are tested through transposition into the other system (external analysis).
Why Syriac Christianity and the Baha’i Faith?: The selection of these two traditions is no mere juxtaposition.
Considering its Irano-Semitic roots, the Baha’i Faith pours old vintage Zoroastrian, Judaic, Christian and Islamic symbols into a new and original wineskin. Study of the transubstantiation of these symbols—that is, their reconfiguration into a unity paradigm—is, in itself, a a heuristic key.
Assyrian Christianity in its sundry forms was coextensive with early Baha’i history. This accounts for the fact that the earliest Christian converts to the Baha’i Faith were from Syrian Christian backgrounds. Faris Effendi, Syrian Christian doctor and priest, won over to the new Faith in 1868 in Alexandria, became the first Christian Baha’i.
The first Baha’i missionary to America, Anton Haddad, was likewise a converted Syrian Christian. Historically more significant is the fact that Syriac Christianity at one time became the official Christianity of Persia. The proposed comparison therefore respects the fact of Baha’i origins in Iran, and its early history in Iraq and elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire.
In both traditions, there exists a wealth of key symbols, typically cast in metaphorical language, operating as concept indicators. Each key symbol, therefore, may be “unpacked” in terms of its rich, expressive underpinnings. Particular attention will be given to two kinds of expressive sub-sets: genitive metaphors (the most complex type of noun metaphor and one that is frequently used to express Baha’i and Syriac root metaphors) and symbolic narratives (which effectively express key scenarios). These literary devices are richly panoplied in the writings both of the prophet-founder of the Baha’i Faith—Baha’u’llah (d. 1892 A.D.)—and the exponent par excellence of Syriac Christianity—Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373 A.D.)
The Baha’i Faith is of interest in the context of modernity. It is a religion which, according to Ninian Smart, “is an example of a spiritual revolution which intuitively recognized the global state of world culture before its time and gave religious preparation for this unified world.” Claimed as the youngest of the world’s independent religions, comparison of the Baha’i Faith with Christianity, the largest religion in the world, is inevitable.
in Baha’i and Syriac Christian Conceptual Systems
by Christopher Buck
Submitted to
Professor Donald Wiebe
REL 1000Y
Method & Theory in the Study of Religion
15 April 1992
Centre for the Study of Religion
University of Toronto
ABSTRACT
This study invites formal comparison of doctrinal metaphors found in the two most widely-diffused religions of the world: Christianity and the Baha’i Faith. The paper is an exercise in comparison and not an attempt at dialogue, as modern forms of Christianity are purposely excluded from purview. The most metaphorically-rich form of Christianity for comparative purposes was found to be fourth-century Syriac Christianity. This determination was of a practical nature with the interests of data selection in mind, and did not constitute a definitive position on the literary claim made on that data. Saint Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373) was arguably the greatest poet of the patristic era, living in what could be considered the most formative period of Christian history beyond the witness of the New Testament itself.
The use of figurative language across the metaphoric-symbolic continuum will be considered in the Baha’i and Syriac Christian perspectives. These motifs will be organized in relation to the structurally-important concepts they undergird. Thus, metaphors will be paired with doctrinal concepts. Some of these metaphors will be considered to be functionally equivalent if they are found to “work” in each other’s system. Considerable space will be devoted to a discussion of the problems and prospects of the comparative enterprise itself as prolegomenal to that exercise. The significance of this study is to be assessed on the merits of its theoretical contribution to the phenomenology of religion.
The methodological rehabilitation and refinement of what used to be commonly referred to as “comparative religion” is of particular interest, for it is as methodologically challenging as it is unfashionable and represents, at the same time, an attempt to come to terms with some of the “larger issues” always raised in the course of teaching world religions. This study closes with fifteen theses prolegomenal a to future comparative study of religion.
TOWARDS A TYPOLOGY OF EXEGETICAL LOGIC*
by Christopher Buck
Submitted to
Professor Willard G. Oxtoby
REL 1001F
Language and Religion
Thematic Interdisciplinary Seminar
12 January 1992
Centre for the Study of Religion
University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada
*Unpublished graduate paper.
ABSTRACT
For the rhetor, the oyster shell is nacre, mother-of-pearl.
For the orthodox, all oysters betoken one Pearl.
For the philosopher, the oyster, pried with reason, yields the pearl of Truth.
For the mystic, there is another oyster inside the pearl.
For the gnostic, the pearl is docetic.
For the sectarian, the pearl is rightfully his.
CONTEXTS:
“LOGICS” OF RELEVANCE
I. RHETORICAL LOGIC
Predicating that the tools of language-analysis suffice to elucidate a text. The bias of the interpreter is not foregrounded.
II. THEOLOGICAL LOGIC
Predicating the normative character of a given "orthodoxy" in conformity with which the reading must be brought into line.
III. PHILOSOPHICAL LOGIC
Predicating of sacred text its symbolic conversion of higher truths, essentially psychodynamic in character.
IV. MYSTICAL LOGIC
Predicating scripture as essentially representative, operating on a experience-oriented higher octave of correspondences through typical recourse to unfalsifiable ineffability theory.
V. SECTARIAN LOGIC
Predicating scripture “proofs” of authority claims essentially polemical or apologetic in nature.
PROOFTEXTS: EXEGETICAL STRATEGIES
I. RHETORICAL
A. Grammatical explanations
B. Lexical explanation
C. Rhetorical explanations
D. Implausibility arguments
E. Use of analogies
F. Poetic loci probantes
G. Paraphrase
H. Identification of the vague and ambiguous
II. THEOLOGICAL
A. Doctrinal alignment
B. Associative “text-stringing”
C. Conscious “inner-bliblical exegesis”
D. Appeal to targum
E. Appeal to traditions
F. Circumstances of revelation
G. Ethnicization of prophecy
H. Respecification of prophecy
I. Harmonization
J. Abrogation
K Anecdote
L. List-making
III. PHILOSOPHICAL
A. Reason
B. LOGIC
C. Propositional cogency
D. Dialectic
E. Classification
F. Recourse to metaphorical analysis
IV. MYSTICAL
A. Cabbalistic computations
B. De-particularization of the text
C. Thematic metonymy
D. Wordplay
E. Metathesis of letters
F. Substitution of roots
G. Hagiographic anecdotes
H. Recourse to metaphorical analysis
V. SECTARIAN
A. Associative testimonia
B. Atomization
C. Gematria
D. Notarikon
E. Paranomasia
PARATEXTS: EXEGETICAL OUTCOMES
RHETORICAL
Empirically-oriented exegesis
THEOLOGICAL
Doctrinally-oriented exegesis
PHILOSOPHICAL
Psychologically-oriented, elitist exegesis
MYSTICAL
Experience-oriented exegesis
SECTARIAN
Legitimation-oriented exegesis
The Ghost of Bardaisan in the Hymns of Ephrem the Syrian
by Christopher Buck
Submitted to
Professor John Corbett
REL 1215Y
Early Eastern Christianity
7 January 1992
Centre for the Study of Religion
University of Toronto
ABSTRACT
Syriac Christianity, distinct from the Greek East and the Latin West, is the least studied stream of Christian tradition, possibly the most challenging: “Whoever wishes to study the doctrine of the early Syriac Fathers will look in vain for formal treatments in clear propositions. All is symbolic and figurative.”
The most important Syriac Christian writer of the pre-schismatic period was Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373). This study situates Ephrem’s hymns within the web of internal (Antiochene vs. Alexandrian) controversies over exegesis and within external controversies among competing forms of Christianity (Bardaisanism, Marcionism and, loosely speaking, Manichaeism) anachronistically classified as heresies. This study will endeavor to show that, despite Antiochene constraints on allegory, Ephrem allegorizes Biblical motifs to transform Bardaisanite myth into symbol, through the vehicle of its own propaganda, the didactic hymn. It will be demonstrated that the ghost of Bardaisan looms in the background of Ephrem’s hymns. From trichotomous anthropology to the soteriological quest for liberty, Ephrem is shown to have interacted with his immediate religious world, in which his “Palutian” community, as it was once known, was but a minority.
The didactic hymn – originated by Bardaisan and mastered by Ephrem – survives as the most distinctive literary genre of early Syriac Christianity. This genre extended the hermeneutical horizon of Syriac Christianity, in an effort to sustain a spiritual interpretation of the Bible. It is possible to speak, as Murray does, of “Ephrem’s stylistic and musical debt to Bardaisan,” a debt “borne out by by both literary-critical arguments and the very melody-titles of some hymns.” What might be referred to as Ephrem’s “Bardaisanite agenda” has heuristic value for the study of his hymns, in which the ghost of Bardaisan looms.
In the final analysis, symbolic/allegorical exegesis was not an end unto itself, nor was it alone considered sufficient for spiritual progress, as Isaac of Nineveh wrote: “What Scripture was not permitted to reveal, the pure mind is authorized to know – something that goes beyond what was entrusted to Scripture! Nevertheless the fountainhead for all these things is the reading of Scripture: from it comes the mind’s beauty.”
IN BAHA'U'LLAH'S BOOK OF CERTITUDE:
THE EXEGETICAL CREATION OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5072/PRISM/20147
https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/24638
* Master’s Thesis, University of Calgary (Canada), 1991.
* Published (with a new final chapter) in 1995/2004 as:
** SYMBOL AND SECRET:
QUR'AN COMMENTARY IN BAHA'U'LLAH'S KITAB-I IQAN
** “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.” — Moojan Momen, Review of Symbol and Secret, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series) 7.2 (July 1997): 290–291.
ABSTRACT
Nineteenth century Islam saw the rise of several messianic movements of which only one broke decisively from Islam: the Bahâ'î Faith. Its founder, Bahâ'u'llâh, In 1862 revealed In Baghdad a work of some 200 pages in Persian, known as the Book of Certitude [Persian: Kitâb-i îqân]. Written on the eve of his proclamation to European and Middle Eastern monarchs and pontiffs that the world must inevitably unite, this work proved critical in the formulation of Bahâ'î ideology. Islamic reform became world reform, In Bahâ'u'llâh's professed mission as the "World-Reformer" sent to "unify the world." Bahâ'u'llâh's spiritual authority therefore became a key issue.
Though the Book of Certitude focuses on the Qur'ân, it does so for purposes of legitimation rather than edification. To qualify the Book of Certitude as the most important modern work of Quranic exegesis outside the Muslim world is tempting but inappropriate, since the purpose of the work is to point beyond the Qur'ân itself. A transition from exegesis (advance legitimation) to ideology (overt legislation) served to create the "suprareligious ecumen" which Bahâ'u'llâh sought to establish-free of Islamic political claims.
This thesis will take particular interest in how Bahâ'u'llâh overcomes theoretical obstacles to a realized eschaton, the most formidable of which is Islam's doctrine of revelatory finality founded on the Quranic designation of Muhammad as the "Seal of the Prophets" (Q. 33/40). Bahâ'u'llâh sought to disenchant popular as well as clerical speculations on the eschaton, the impossibility of literal fulfilment of which effectively preempted its realization. This thesis will argue that Bahâ'u'llâh advanced rhetorical-style arguments to establish that figuration underlies eschatological symbolism in the Gospels and the Qur'ân. Once Interpreted, symbols in prophecy are contemporized within Bahâ'u'llâh's own historical present, leaving the reader to accept or reject their fulfillment.
Classical Islamic approaches to symbolism will be critically assessed as to precedent, leaving aside questions of dependence. The Mu'tazilî/Ash'arî controversy over anthropomorphisms in the Qur'ân provided the historical stimulus for investigating the symbolic or deep structure of the Qur'ân. The Islamic disciplines of rhetoric and philosophy made their own contributions to the discussion of figuration and symbolism. Mysticism rendered the Qur'ân more experiential and a symbolic blueprint of the heart's spiritual landscape was drawn, while sectarian exegesis opened up new vistas for the legitimation of authority in Islam.
As to Bahâ'u'llâh's own hermeneutic, this thesis will take Wansbrough's observations on the interdynamics of rhetorical and allegorical exegesis as a theoretical point of departure. Baha'u'llah's exegeses will be analyzed within what Wansbrough terms "procedural devices" employed across the spectrum of the classical exegetical tradition. A survey of the range of explicative elements in the Book of Certitude will tested for patterns of rhetorical-style appeal (rationalization) to Quranic figuration seen as the substratum of symbolism. The presence of symbolism demands allegorical interpretation.
As an exegetical constant, Bahâ'u'llâh extends anti-anthropomorphism to eschatological imagery, to identify the expected encounter with God as encounter with God's Prophet. This eschatological savior-figure Is Identified as the Bab (d. 1850), considered the precursor to a greater "Manifestation of God" with whom Bahâ'u'llâh implicitly identifies, betraying an element of Baha'u'llah's own messianic secrecy.
Exegesis established a doctrinal foundation for the Faith Baha'u'llah was to create. In the course of events, the Book of Certitude played an important role in establishing Bahâ'u'llâh's authority as eschatological deliverer and thus as lawgiver. A bridge to a new body of doctrine, the Book of Certitude In effect served as preamble to Bahâ'u'llâh's non-exegetical teachings. Sociomoral concomitants of Baha'u'Ilah's new symbolic universe-linkages struck between personal morality and world order-represent Bahâ'u'llâh's subsequent legislative activity.
Bibliography: pp. 297–318.
Symbolic Quranic Exegesis in Baha’u’llah’s Book of Certitude:
The Exegetical Creation of the Baha’i Faith.
Master’s Thesis. University of Calgary (Canada), 1991.
University of Calgary Library catalogue no.: BP 365 B83 1991.
Collection: Legacy Theses.
Courtesy of Kathryn Ruddock, Manager,
Digitization & Repository Services
University of Calgary.
Posted online on May 9, 2018.
Maimonides’ Exegesis of Natural Convulsions
in Apocalyptic Texts (Guide II.29)
by Christopher Buck
Text of Oral Presentation
Religious Studies 601.01
Interpretation of Scripture
Professor Andrew Rippin
University of Calgary
19 March 1990
Truth be told, the great Jewish philosopher, Maimonides (1138–1204), deeply influenced my thinking prior to writing Master's thesis—which was later published as my first book: Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Baháʼuʼlláh’s Kitáb-i Íqán (Studies in the Bábí and Bahá'í Religions, Vol. 7), 1995/2004).
This unpublished graduate paper may be of interest to those who might consider some similarities between the exegetical approaches to the interpretation of prophecy that appear (to me at least) to resonate and reverberate—timelessly and timely—between Maimonides and Baha’u’llah, with archetypal insight, explanatory power, and echoic effect.
Dedicated to the memory of my mentor, the late Andrew Rippin (1950–2016), Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria since 2013—formerly Professor of History and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities—to whom this paper was submitted while I was studying for my Master’s degree at University of Calgary (1989–1991).
by Christopher Buck
Professor Naphtali Kinberg
Structure of Arabic
Linguistics 599
12 November 1989
Department of Religious Studies
University of Calgary
(graduate paper)
“Truth Value” In Contradictory Truths-Claims?
by Christopher Buck
Professor Hugo Meynell
Religious Studies 601
30 October 1989
Department of Religious Studies
University of Calgary
(graduate paper)
Dual Indic/Sinic Influence on the Creation of a Secret Atman
by Christopher Buck
Professor L. Kawamura
Religious Studies 603
3 December 1989
University of Calgary (Graduate Paper)
An Application of Rawlinson’s “Conceptual Nets”
by Christopher Buck
Professor L. Kawamura
Religious Studies 603
22 November 1989
University of Calgary (Graduate Paper)
A Term to Unify All of Nagarjuna’s Thought?
by Christopher Buck
Professor L. Kawamura
Religious Studies 603
23 October 1989
Department of Religious Studies
University of Calgary
(Graduate Paper)
Transpositional Approaches to Transconfessionalism (1989)
Christopher Buck
Professor Hugo Meynell
Religious Studies 601
29 November 1989
University of Calgary (Graduate Paper)
By Christopher Buck, submitted as a research paper to Professor C. G. William Nicholls (Chair, Department of Religious Studies) and Professor Moshe Amon (Visiting Scholar, University of Tel Aviv) on 22 March 1984, for a seminar, “The History of Christian Anti-Semitism,” while I was an unclassified graduate student at the University of British Columbia.
Personal correspondence between Baha’i scholar, Dr. Udo Schaefer (Germany), and Dr. Hans Joachim Schoeps (Germany) is provided in the Appendix and translated into English from the original German.
Professor Nicholls gave me an “A” for this paper, whereas Professor Amon gave me an “F”!
ABSTRACT (from the conclusion):
Hans-Joachim Schoeps passed away on 8 July 1980 in Erlangen. The powered absence of a great and versatile scholar and pioneer in Jewish/Christian relations is felt by those who, from four monotheistic worlds, have found themselves moved by the spiritual as well as intellectual force behind the rediscovery of a lost religious world. The cryptic title of this paper should fall into focus once the following passages from an Ebionite Christian source is read—which had deeply stirred Professor Schoeps:
Chapter V. Faith the Gift of God
“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 were spoken to them. For their believing Moses was not of their own will, but of God, who said to Moses, ‘Behold, I come to you in a pillar of cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to you, and may believe you forever.’ Since, therefore, both to the Hebrews and to those who are called from the Gentiles, believing in the teachers of truth is of God, while excellent actions are left to every one to do by his own judgment, the reward is righteously bestowed upon those who do well. For there would have been no need of Moses, or of the coming of Jesus, if of themselves they would have understood what is reasonable. Neither is there salvation in believing in teachers and calling them lords.”
Chapter VI. Concealment and Revelation
“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 Jesus. For, there being one teaching by both, God accepts him who has believed either of these. But believing a teacher is for the sake of doing the things spoken by God. And that this is so our Lord Himself says, ‘I thank you, Father of heaven and earth, because You have concealed these things from the wise and elder, and hast revealed them to sucking babes.’ Thus God Himself has concealed a teacher from some, as foreknowing what they ought to do, and has revealed him to others, who are ignorant what they ought to do.”
Chapter VII. Moses and Christ
“Neither, therefore, are the Hebrews condemned on 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 whom they do not know. Neither are those from among the Gentiles condemned, who know not Moses on account of Him who has concealed him, provided that these also, doing the things spoken by Jesus, do not hate Him whom they do not know. And some will not be profited by calling the teachers lords, but not doing the works of servants. For on this account our Jesus Himself said to one who often called Him Lord, but did none of the things which He prescribed, 'Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?' For it is not saying that will profit any one, but doing. By all means, therefore, is there need of good works. Moreover, if any one has been thought worthy to recognise both as preaching one doctrine, that man has been counted rich in God, understanding both the old things as new in time, and the new things as old.” (Pseudo-Clementine Homilies 8:5–7.)
Chapter V. The Love of Moses and of Christ
“But salvation is in this, that you do his will of whom you have conceived a love and affection through the gift of God; in case that saying of his be addressed to you which he spoke, ‘Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not what I say?’ It is therefore the peculiar gift bestowed by God on the Hebrews, that they believe Moses; and the peculiar gift bestowed on the Gentiles is that they love Jesus. For this also the Master intimated, when he said, "I will confess' to you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have concealed these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes. By which it is certainly declared, that the people of the Hebrews, who were instructed out of the law, did not know him; but the people of the Gentiles have acknowledged Jesus, and venerate him; on which account also they shall be saved, not only acknowledging him, but also doing his will. But he who is of the Gentiles, and who has it of God to believe Moses, ought also to have it of his own purpose to love Jesus also. And again, the Hebrew, who has it of God to believe Moses, ought to have it also of his own purpose to believe in Jesus; so that each of them, having in himself something of the divine gift, and something of his own exertion, may be perfect by both. For concerning such a person our Lord spoke, as of a rich man, "Who brings forth from his treasures things new and old.” (Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions 4:5).
5. The love of Moses and of Christ
Such is the “Golden Age of Jewish/Christian relations” revisited. This Ebionite “Faith of Works” (R 1:26) deserves further research. Let us hope that the future of Jewish/Christian relations can embrace in its orbit the Islamic and Baha’i faiths as well. The persecutions of the Baha’is in ultra-Islamic Iran, done “in the name of Allah,” in addition to Arab/Arab and Arab/Israeli conflicts, intensify the urgency. Perhaps a step in the right direction is instanced by the Jewish/Christian/Muslim “Trialogue” held during early September 1982 under the auspices of the Department of Theology at Birmingham University in England. The theme was “Revelation: Torah, Christ, Muhammad.” The time has come to recognize the historical fact and present, visible community of the fourth revelation: Baha’u’llah.
By Christopher Buck. Submitted to Rev. Paul C. Burns, C.S.B., Graduate Seminar on Arianism (St. Mark's College, Vancouver, 15 December 1985).
_________________________
• 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).
Excerpt:
Bahá'í and Jesus
Dr Christopher Buck is a Bahá'í and a lecturer in religion at Carleton University. He writes:
Quotations from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, who founded the Bahá'í faith in Persia in the nineteenth century, and suffered imprisonment and exile for his beliefs:
'Know thou that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee.
'The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive, and resplendent Spirit.
'We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him, the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened, and the soul of the sinner sanctified.
'Leprosy may be interpreted as any veil that interveneth between man and the recognition of the Lord, his God. Whoso alloweth himself to be shut out from Him is indeed a leper, who shall not be remembered in the Kingdom of God, the Mighty, the All-Praised. We bear witness that through the power of the Word of God every leper was cleansed, every sickness was healed, every human infirmity was banished. He it is Who purified the world. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with light, hath turned towards Him.'
This statement is remarkable in that Bahá'u'lláh attributes the rise of western civilization to the spiritual power unleashed by Christ's passion on the Cross. The masterpieces of art, the great works of philosophy, the discoveries of science, even the rise of the Great Powers in nineteenth-century Europe are traced to Christ's influence. This is part of Bahá'u'lláh's theory of civilization and the role that Jesus Christ has played in it.
On comparative grounds, this seems to me to be a rather unique Christology. Bahá'u'lláh has a very high Christology. In its basic features, it differs little from a Christian perspective except that Bahá'ís see Christ as God in nature, but not in essence. (Bahá'u'lláh has advanced a doctrine of manifestation in place of the Christian doctrine of Incarnation.) There is also the fact that Bahá'u'lláh's Christology is not exclusive, as it recognizes the authenticity and greatness of Muhammad, Zoroaster, Krishna, the Buddha as well. Even so, Bahá'u'lláh clearly attaches enormous significance to the Christ event.
The Cross is seen as a cosmic event, and the person and work of Christ is viewed as a watershed in human history. Bahá'u'lláh's connection of the Christ-event to the history of Western civilization goes far beyond any notion of personal salvation in the traditional sense, such that, in my own understanding, Bahá'u'lláh extends what systematic theologians call the order of salvation to civilization itself. Bahá'ís are quite concerned with what theologians call mutual salvation, which Bahá'ís see as a complement to personal salvation.
Speaking personally, and not as an academic, as a former Christian I found that I was able to carry my belief and love of Christ into my faith as a Bahá'í. Bahá'ís regard Bahá'u'lláh as the one foretold by Christ, so there is really no reason for a Bahá'í to wish to diminish the greatness of Christ. To do so would be to diminish the greatness of Bahá'u'lláh and to violate Bahá'u'lláh's doctrine of the fraternity of the great religious figures of history and the accumulative nature of their teachings, which Bahá'ís refer to as 'progressive revelation'.
Digital scan available online:
https://bahai.works/World_Order/Series2/Volume_13/Issue_4
[Western Washington State College, now Western Washington University]
Short story. Issue won Mark of Excellence Award by Society of Professional Journalists, Seattle WA, as Region 10 winner in the student magazine category.
Republished: Part 1: “A Mouse in My Spiritual House.” BahaiTeachings.org (August 30, 2013)
https://bahaiteachings.org/a-mouse-in-my-spiritual-house
Part 2: “Awakening Empathy for Every Living Thing.” BahaiTeachings.org (September 3, 2013)
https://bahaiteachings.org/awakening-empathy-for-every-livi…
______________
TIN
by Christopher Buck
In a paucity of garages, legend has it, mice still, indeed, do exist.
This must not be so, according to my father. Swathed in the hollow of his musty garage, amidst sawhorses fleshed with a tangle of rags — rags of the past, of obsolescence, resurrected on occasion for some dirty sort of work, among Dutch Boy paint cans toppled by imbalance, or neglect — my struggling father was taming a plank of screeching redwood, with one quite discrete saw. The strung-up and hung carcass of a buck in a corner, flinched with shadows of my father’s dark frame, instructing the redwood of my mother’s concept of time and space — a twittering that he mistook for an indictment of the saw, a twittering, a twittering.
A saw paused, to listen. Silence. Again, the charcoal of a shadow flamed across the ribs of the slaughtered buck, swinging slowly in the corner, the saw twittering again, as if sick, or neurotic, twittering. My father knew, then, it could not be the saw.
Only the breathing, now, of 200 pounds of flesh, the huge lungs of my father, sawing oxygen in the pause. Outside, a car fills an instant, rushes a clock. The alert shadow of my father’s head, poised in the abscission of noise, eclipses a photograph framing a moment on the wall. Captain George H. Buck, United States Marine Corps, promoted to the office of Major, awarded a brace of maple leaves, pinned to the dextra and sinistra of his throat.
Casters! Piano casters! “BOYS!” shook the nexus of kitchen, living room, hall, to the walls of our room. “BOYS!”
“Dad wants us!” my brother shuddered, interrupting our mythology of wooden building blocks. Knocking down our castle of salvation, Carter and I, in our bare and holey socks, rushed from our room, skated on momentum down the hardwood floor of the hall, zoomed through the living room and kitchen, burst through the door to the garage. “SHSH!”
We petrified at the command.
“Boys,” whispered father, creating a panic of suspense. “Be as quiet as you can. I think there’s a mouse in here, but I can’t tell where. Lis—”
“A mouse!?” interrupted Carter.
“Yes!” retorted father, as if his son had challenged the obvious. “Now listen closely so we can tell where it’s coming from!”
The next few minutes were hours, as the carcass of the gutted buck swung in our eyes, Carter beginning to fidget, my foot being stuck with pins for loss of blood.
Casters! Squickleleequeak — tpht, tfft. Piano casters!
A voracious pause tossed our eyes into a corner, below fly-scabbed cobwebs and pendent neck of the buck, its head already mounted on the wall, circumspecting the garage with an impartial stare.
Squickleleequeak — tpht, tfft.
“There it is again!” affirmed my father. “Hear it?” A hazy nod from Carter mirrored back the suspicion, our father zeroing tympanic membranes toward the corner with a twist of the neck, stern faced cocked for incrimination, hammer of the middle ear poised as a gavel over his sentient anvil. With an accusing finger, I cried, “It’s in the corner, Dad, it’s coming from the corner!”
Dad’s military hand motioned an order, as if it were war, Major George H. Buck and his company of two, on special mission, pressing forward through the rank jungles of the Philippines, through a confusion of webs and snarled rags — cold, oily linoleum, fat with the slap of soles, lusting for a terse verdict, the squickling leakage of anguish, squirming beneath the feet of an immediate dream.
“The tools, move out the tools!” Dad commanded, as Carter grabbed a rake and a pick, and I a fishing rod clutching its gut. “Clear out those paint cans now!” The brush of the Dutch Boy flying across night, dubiously stacked cans shoved to an epiphany of convincing dunts, Dutch Boy rolling from side to side, convulsing over a broken back, spades of light from the fanged tungsten filament of the overlord bulb, uncovering a sawdust nest and droppings of a mouse, fleeing the spear and net of light, the Day of Judgment all too punctual. The mouse crashing madly against the wall, under the hulking, pendulum tower of a deer — the panicking mouse, infected with dread, racing against destiny — stabbing our ears with shrieks, squickleleequeak, squickleleequeak! Frantic piano casters. Oh, stop it! Stop!
A surprised silence. Dad’s booted foot, sliding on the pulpy nest of sawdust and newsprint, shredded to an accessible guess. It was evident. The mouse had hidden behind a dead battery, long forgotten, inert, yet acid to the touch. Black throwback to another year.
My father’s forecast of a shadow pointed to me.
“The oven pipe, Chris. Get the oven pipe.”
A few days back, we had dismantled an old stove from one of Dad’s duplexes — “dumps” he would call them. It was the first time that I had seen cockroaches.
The tunnel of tin limped through the dark, invaded by the feeble bulb that kept champing from the ceiling, destiny marching towards its conclusion, a king and two pawns advancing on the checkerboard floor of the garage, the king wielding his sceptre of tin. We inched around the battery. The mouse, surrounded by a mountain range of toes, and our father’s boots, its possibilities hocked by our feet.
Silence. Dad’s right hand lowering to a grip on the battery, deus ex machina, his left hand armored with tin, snapping back at the viper of light, the right hand ready, impervious to black acid, ready, ready …
“AAAAH!” CLANG!
The battery tugged out with a shout, the barrel of tin slammed to the floor, father collapsing to his knees with glee, robbing the mouse of escape, whirring in the cylinder, the mouse bolting in our stomachs to the flang of cinched tin, bitten at last into tile, lobs of its peewee skull pranging against a reality metaphysicians deny — thumping squeaks, piss-wet tail scurrying against time, its tinny voice pitting its wind against the sniggering Fates, its pleas and shrieks quivering our lips. Oh God, make less a monster of our father.
“Get a can, Carter, the peaches. Hurry!”
Carter whimpering to the shelves of canned goods, over towards a pretense of order, grabbed a four-pound tin of peaches with his quaking fingers, presented that mercenary metal to Dad, Carter and I, fighting tears, sucking hot globs in our throats, the oven pipe squeaking like casters, Dad’s tarantular hands suspending the can, craning over to the mouth of the pipe. The mouse — that dumbstruck runt of flesh — paused in its tracks, rose up on its haunches, peered at the tombstone of tin rolling overhead, eclipsing the monster eye, an eye that could gobble its head.
Dad, why are you waiting? Do it now or don’t make us go through with it.
The mouse, now spinning in tin, cringing at the ceiling of peaches, recounting all of its hours in a blur, paced by the arc of a carcass, holding its final Sabbath with black, baptizing our foreheads with an unbearable sweat.
The mouse, pummeling its own shadow, which is now the shadow of the world — the shadow its fresh effigy — all tasks too treacherous for the asking, demanding an epic of a guess.
The peaches shrink to a ratching screak, a screeching metal squist that rips our gristle to an erupted flood, vomiting the crumpled pulp, sliding from under itself, the cancellation of all doubt, the death warrant affixed by the squishing sound, the globules of hammered fat crawling in our brains — oh, how can we escape that god-awful sound that bolts in our veins? Yes, yes.
Mother was glad it was done. Hickory-dickory dock. Our hearts limp.
2020 publication (not peer-reviewed) of 1990 graduate school paper. [“Text of Oral Presentation. Submitted to Professor Andrew Rippin, Religious Studies 601.01: Interpretation of Scripture (Department of Religious Studies, University of Calgary, 19 March 1990).”]
“Author Introduction”
David Shasha has asked me to write a brief introduction to “The Anatomy of Figuration: Maimonides’ Exegesis of Natural Convulsions in Apocalyptic Texts (Guide II.29),” published in this special issue of “Sephardic Heritage Update.”
This was a graduate paper written at the University of Calgary, and submitted on March 19, 1990, for a graduate seminar, “Interpretation of Scripture.” Eliezer Segal, now Professor Emeritus of Classics and Religion, read and commented on a draft of my paper. Professor Siegel later served as one of the three faculty members on my thesis advisory committee. At my defense (January 1991), Professor Siegel referred to my thesis (later published, in 1995, as Symbol & Secret) as a “dissertation.”
My interest in Maimonides, the great medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher, was part of my broader interest in figurative language and symbolic exegesis. Although I have not been involved in Jewish studies formally, my latest work in that area is a chapter, “Jewish Myths and Visions of America,” in my 2015 book, God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America (with an introduction by J. Gordon Melton, Distinguished Professor of American Religious History, Baylor University). This chapter focuses on Jewish prayers for the American government.
For my research, I relied heavily on the work of Jonathan Sarna, one of the foremost historians of American Judaism. I should also mention that I presented a paper at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on December 18, 2000, which I began by offering a Baha’i perspective on Judaism—based on a statement by Shoghi Effendi in The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 58 (which I slightly modified to focus on Judaism), as follows:
“Unequivocally and without the least reservation, it [the Bahá’í Faith] proclaims [Judaism] to be divine in origin, identical in [its] aims, complementary in [its] functions, continuous in [its] purpose, indispensable in [its] value to humankind.”
I currently live in “Squirrel Hill,” a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Pittsburgh, which witnessed the tragic domestic terrorist attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue, about which I’ve written in these two articles: “Pittsburgh: How We Can All Respond to Anti-Semitism” (Nov. 2, 2018), https://bahaiteachings.org/pittsburgh-how-we-can-respond-anti-semitism, and “An Antidote for Anti-Semitism” (Nov. 16, 2018), https://bahaiteachings.org/antidote-anti-semitism.
It’s my position that “Faiths should be friends.” And so it is a great honor to have this paper published in this special issue of “Sephardic Heritage Update.” I hope that my esteemed readers will enjoy this paper!
Christopher Buck, PhD, JD
EXCERPTS
Apocalyptic Symbolism:
Natural Convulsions as Spiritual Events
Symbolism in Mantological Texts: Fishbane observes that Qumran pesher derives its exegetical techniques in part from an ancient and rich Near Eastern mantological inheritance:
“All of the images seen in visions, dreams, and omens have a symbolism which must be decoded, even those dreams whose meaning is immediately understood (cf. Genesis 37).”
Maimonides developed a philosophical hermeneutic whereby eschatological imagery made symbolic sense, once relieved of the burden of sheer impossibility as demanded by a literal reading.
Below is a synopsis of how cosmic eschatological imagery has been exegetically interpreted by Maimonides:
Cosmic Symbols/Referents in Guide 11.29
Sun: Sunset at high noon in Amos 8:9–10: destruction of Samaria. Seven-fold increase in the sun’s magnitude in Isaiah 30:26: good fortune of the dynasty brought about by Hezekiah.
Moon: Bloody moon of Joel 3:3–5: destruction of Sennacherib before Jerusalem.
Stars: Black stars of Ezekiel 32:7–8: defeat of Pharaoh by Nebuchadnezzar.
Heaven: Covered heaven of Ezekiel 32:7–8: ruin of the kingdom of Egypt. New heavens of Isaiah 65:15–19: Jerusalem and her people rejoicing. Vanishing heavens of Isaiah 51:3–6: defeat of Sennacherib.
Earth: Earth waste and void in Jeremiah 4:23: destruction of Jerusalem. Cleft earth of Psalm 60:10: weakness of religious community during Joab’s expedition against Edom. New earth of Isaiah 65:15–19: joyful Jerusalem. Earth crumbled to pieces in Isaiah 24:17–20: terror throughout the land of Israel.
Mountains: Molten mountains of Micah 1:3–4: the ruin of Samaria. Vanishing mountains of Isaiah 54:10: departure of great potentates from Israel. Mountains melted by blood in Isaiah 34:3–5: destruction of Edom.
Sea: Shaken sea of Haggai 2:6–7: fall of the kingdom of Medes and Persians. Sea in pain of Psalm 77:17: drowning of the Egyptians.