Wilmette Institute

This presentation will begin with a review of basic information about the nature of the Bahá’í Faith, its founders, and its scriptures. Three Wilmette Institute staff—Robert Stockman, Justin Scoggin, and Ymasumac Marañón Davis—will explore the principles and beliefs about individual and collective development, and conclude with an overview of what Bahá’ís are learning in their efforts to serve humanity through community building, public discourse, and social action.

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This webinar features a collaborative effort between the Wilmette Institute and NCCU (North Carolina Central University), a historically Black university in Durham, North Carolina. These two institutions utilized the power of combining theater and education to put on a thought-provoking play, The Bus Stop, that features how the mass incarceration of Black men affects Black women, their families, and the community. The panel will include two professors from NCCU – one who started the collaboration between the institutions and the other who mobilized her graduate students to facilitate the post-performance discussions and continued to challenge her students with transformative pedagogy to build capacity for social action. An NCCU graduate student, and formerly justice-involved activist will share their experiences in raising awareness about the need for reform. The Baha’i perspective on questioning the underlying assumptions of society and how we can approach the root causes of issues such as mass incarceration of people of color will be explored.

This webinar first introduces Bahá’u’lláh’s mystical Writings and describes His approach to using mystical concepts and symbols. Next, it examines the Bahá’í view on conventional practices, doctrines, experiences, and institutions that are the traditional loci of mysticism. It then considers the object of the spiritual journey in the Bahá’í Faith and provides an overview of the Bahá’í doctrines, concepts, and practices that redefine mysticism but continue the mystical narrative. This webinar concludes with a discussion of how the Bahá’í Faith offers an organic alternative to organized mysticism.

Speaker: Vargha Bolodo-Taefi

Vargha Bolodo-Taefi holds a BA in advanced Bahá’í studies and a PhD in politics and international affairs. He has worked across public and private sectors in trade and investment policy. His research interests include Bahá’í theology, Islamic philosophy, Bahá’í economics, comparative religion, asymmetric conflict, coercive diplomacy, and terrorism. He is currently serving in the Research Department at the Bahá’í World Centre.

This webinar will closely examine Bahá’u’lláh’s proclamatory addresses to Pope Pius IX (r. 1846-1878) of the Roman Catholic Church, Emperor Franz Joseph Hapsburg (r. 1848-1916) of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Kaiser Wilhelm I (r. 1871-1888) of the German Empire. It is the first in a series of three webinars offered by the Wilmette Institute as part of a course scheduled to begin on Wednesday January 18th, 2023. For more details, visit the course page: God Summons Europe (Part II).

Presenter:

Shahrokh Monjazeb is an independent scholar of the Bahá’í history and sacred scripture. He began his scholarly endeavors in Bahá’í history around 1989 after he completed his undergraduate degree in Applied Physics and Electro-Acoustics with a minor in Religious Studies and Middle Eastern History. Two years later in 1991, he was invited to present at the annual conference of the Association for Bahá’í Studies North America on one of Bahá’u’lláh major works. Since then he has been involved with Bahá’í academic research as well as the work of translating into English the writings of the Central Figures of the Bahá’í Faith. He is a published author and lecturer whose writings and presentations focus on Bahá’í Sacred Text and their literary and historical significance in the context of the socio-spiritual condition of human society. He has authored more than a couple of dozen articles on Bahá’í history and Sacred Text as well as a monograph on Bahá’u’lláh entitled “Bahá’u’lláh: A Brief Survey of His Life & Works”

“At each stage in human history, more complex levels of integration become not only possible, but necessary… The demands of the present moment are pushing existing structures for facilitating deliberations among nations, as well as systems of conflict resolution beyond their capacity…” – A Governance Befitting, BIC

While significant progress has been made toward advancing global order, “…recent events demonstrate that current arrangements are no longer sufficient … Integration and coordination must… be extended further…” (A Governance Befitting, BIC) This webinar examines the implications of the emergence of regional centres associated with global institutions in expanding state engagement in global law making. Drawing on findings from her most recent book, Forming Transnational Dispute Settlement Norms: Soft Law and the Role of UNCITRAL’s Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (Edward Elgar, 2021), this webinar explores the role of decentralized law making in the East Asian region and prospects for deepening global cooperation.

Presenter:

Shahla Ali is Professor and Associate Dean (International) & Director of the Program in Arbitration and Dispute Resolution at the Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong. Her work centers on questions of governance, development and cross-border dispute resolution in the Asia Pacific region. She serves as a bilingual arbitrator (English/Chinese) with the UN Ombuds office and arbitral institutions in the US and East Asia. Her recent books including Forming Transnational Dispute Settlement Norms (Elgar, 2021) Court Mediation Reform (Elgar, 2018), Governing Disasters (Cambridge, 2016), Consumer Financial Dispute Resolution in a Comparative Context (Cambridge, 2013) and Resolving Disputes in the Asia Pacific (Routledge, 2010) have contributed to the emergence of a growing body of work examining comparative dispute resolution systems from an interdisciplinary perspective. She has been engaged in dispute resolution reform at the regional and global levels including with USAID, IFC/World Bank and the United Nations on issues pertaining to access to justice, peace process negotiation training, financial dispute resolution and land use conflict resolution. Shahla holds a BA from Stanford University in International Relations and Chinese language and a JD and PhD in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from the University of California at Berkeley.

This second part of the original presentation dedicated to the Holy Maiden, who appeared before Bahá’u’lláh as detailed in Terry Culhane’s Bahá’í publication, I Beheld a Maiden, will continue to focus on the Sacred Feminine or Feminine Divine at the heart of the Bahá’í Faith. 

This multimedia presentation augmented with visual art images that previously focused on the Feminine Divine of Native America will expand globally to including the Ocean Mother, River Goddess and Grandmother Moon with symbolism of the Divine Feminine throughout the world.

Presenter:

Nadema Agard Winyan Luta (Woman Holy Red} is a Cherokee/Lakota/Powhatan artist, illustrator, curator, educator, lecturer, storyteller, writer, poet, published author, museum professional and consultant in Repatriation and Multicultural/ Native American arts and cultures. She earned a B.S. Degree from N.Y.U. and M.A. in Art and Education from Teacher's College, C.U. Her work spans more than four decades and includes multiple solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, and guest curatorship’s nationally and internationally. Describing her work, Nadema states: “My artwork has an individualistic style that draws upon cosmic subject matter. It has a global agenda from an Indigenous perspective and reflects the interconnection of myself as woman, mother, Indigenous world citizen, Native North American, spiritual being and warrior. My work has been influenced by the ceremonies of the Onondaga Longhouse, the Hopi Kiva on Second Mesa, the Full Moon and Sweat Lodge ceremonies of the Ojibwe, the Sundance of the Lakota, a pilgrimage to Medicine Wheel, Wyoming, Nanih Waiya Mound of the Choctaw, the Mayan Pyramid in Chichen Itza and Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii, home of goddess Pele.”

The appointment of Shoghi Effendi as Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá came as a surprise to most Bahá’ís, including Shoghi Effendi himself. The general expectation was that after the ascension of `Abdu’l-Bahá, the Universal House of Justice, which `Abdu’l-Bahá had referred to in a number of tablets and talks, would be elected to lead the community. At the time, however, it would have been impossible to elect the Universal House of Justice in accordance with instructions given in `Abdu’l-Bahá’s will. Consequently, both the community and Shoghi Effendi had to adapt to a period of leadership by the Guardian alone.

The early Guardianship can be seen as a transitional period in which Shoghi Effendi only gradually unveiled and utilized his full authority, which was almost immediately challenged by Covenant-breakers and tested by outside opponents of the Faith. In the early months of his ministry, Shoghi Effendi took a number of measures to assess the size and condition of Bahá’í communities around the world and to manage the affairs of the Bahá’í World Centre. He also identified the three areas of activity that would become the focus of his ministry: establishing the Bahá’í Administrative Order; developing the properties of the Bahá’í World Centre; and spreading the Faith around the world. He began or encouraged initiatives in each of these areas in the first few months of his ministry. This presentation will examine the evolution of the Guardianship until the late 1930s, by which time his guidance to and leadership of the Bahá’í community had solidified a foundation on which he could begin teaching plans that would eventually spread the Faith around the world and create the conditions for the election of the Universal House of Justice.

Contributor

Richard Hollinger

Richard Hollinger was born in California, where he became a Bahá’í in the 1970s. He holds M.A. degrees in Middle Eastern History from UCLA and in Public History/Historic Preservation from California State College at Dominguez Hills, and has recently retired from a career as an archivist. He has conducted research and published on American and Middle Eastern Bahá’í History, and wrote the chapter on Shoghi Effendi for the recently-published "World of the Bahá’í Faith."

Bahá’íyyih Khánum, known as the Greatest Holy Leaf, is a unique figure in the annals of the Bahá’í Faith. Her lifelong heroic services to Bahá’u’lláh’s Cause pinnacled after `Abdu’l-Bahá’s ascension. The vital role she played at that crucial juncture ensured the smooth running of the affairs of the worldwide Bahá’í community until Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Cause of God, appointed by the Centre of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant arrived in Haifa a month after `Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing. She was the staunchest supporter and confidant of Shoghi Effendi, ever ready, despite advanced age, to accomplish the formidable tasks she was required to undertake. This webinar is about her services during the crucial first decade of the second Age of the Bahá’í Era.

A unique and revolutionary spiritual principle stated in the Bahá’í Writings for the purpose of redistribution of income and wealth is the law of Huqúqu’lláh. The traditional way of redistribution of income and wealth which is practiced even today is the material means, mainly through all kinds of taxes and subsidies and different kinds of national insurances. The redistribution of income and wealth through the Law of Huqúqu’lláh includes both material and spiritual aspects and the effect is astonishing. 

The law allows Bahá’ís to learn and apply moral virtues as the basis of true redistribution of income and wealth. This presentation is about some of the astounding economic significance of the Law of Huqúqu’lláh that is contributing to the well-being of the generality of the population, as well as to potential economic growth and reducing the gap between the rich and the poor.

Mona Khademi will discuss Laura Clifford Dreyfus-Barney’s accounts of Shoghi Effendi. Laura Barney first encountered Shoghi Effendi in the early 1900s when he was five or six years of age and then throughout his teenage years and early adulthood, including in Paris in 1920. Laura Barney also met and corresponded with Shoghi Effendi after the passing of his beloved grandfather, Abdu’l-Baha, when he was appointed as the Guardian of the Faith, until his passing in 1957. She visited the Holy Land at least nine times, each time staying from a few days to several months. Laura Barney had watched Shoghi Effendi move through the different stages of life, and she always had special admiration for him.

The admiration of Shoghi Effendi for Laura Barney whom he addressed as ‘Laura Khanom,’ was mutual. The speaker will discuss Shoghi Effendi’s appreciation for Laura Barney for all her accomplishments, especially her greatest achievement, the compilation Some Answered Questions. When Shoghi Effendi recorded the names of those persons who had been instrumental in the West for the rise of the Faith, he called Laura Barney’s work imperishable service because her book, entitled “Some Answered Questions,” gave Abdu’l-Baha’s priceless explanations covering a wide variety of subjects.

After the passing of Shoghi Effendi, Laura Barney stayed in touch with his wife. He had married Mary Maxwell, the daughter of Laura’s spiritual mother May Bolles Maxwell, in 1937. She was given the title of Amatu’l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum by Shoghi Effendi. Laura Barney continued her correspondence with Ruhiyyih Khanum until the end of her life in 1974.