Illumining and Strengthening the Work of Bahá’í Writers Part 3

Dr. DeGruy’s research focuses on the intersection of racism, trauma, violence and American chattel slavery. She has over thirty years of practical experience as a professional in the field of social work. She conducts seminars, lectures, and trainings in the areas of Intergenerational/Historical trauma, mental health, social justice, improvement strategies and evidence-based model development. Dr. DeGruy travels across the globe to share her message and has held lectures and seminars almost everywhere. She has presented her work at Morehouse School of Medicine, Smith College, Spelman College, Harvard University, Tulane University, Princeton University, Fisk University, Yale University, M.I.T, the United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural Organization, Oxford University, the New York City African Burial Ground, the Essence Music Festival, the County of LA Department of Mental Health and many others. She has also been featured on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network. In addition to her pioneering work in the explanatory theory and book, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, she has developed evidence-based models for working with children, youth, and adults of color and their communities.

Illumining and Strengthening the Work of Bahá’í Writers Part 1

PRESENTERS: Authors Elaheh Bos and Linda Ahdieh Grant

DESCRIPTION: How can we craft material that will inspire the youngest members of our communities and nurture devotional habits and meaningful conversations in the home? As young families strive to live lives coherent with the broad framework of the Plans of the Universal House of Justice, and build strong spiritual foundations for their children, the need for vibrant children's literature is stronger than ever. Panelists will discuss their creative processes, the sources from which they draw inspiration, and the methods by which they see their projects through to completion.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá was a friend, guide and confidant to all humanity. Those who encountered Him recognized a character of matchless virtue, an all-embracing love and altruism, extraordinary spiritual acuity, and super-human knowledge.

In this conversation to mark the centenary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing, Robert Stockman talks to writer Rob Weinberg – compiler of the new book, Ambassador to Humanity – about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s character, life and mission as it was described by those who encountered Him.

About the Presenter:

Robert Weinberg

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Topic

Description

In this presentation, we will explore various visions of the afterlife, starting with Ancient Egypt, India, and Greece. From there, we will move onto classical Christianity and will examine Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant doctrines about life after death. In the final part of the presentation, we will discuss modern religious movements – Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Bahá’í Faith – in light of their reinterpretation of the notions of the apocalypse and posthumous existence.

In the twentieth century, the field of religious studies underwent a profound and striking transformation. Such terms as “comparative approach,” “ecumenical studies,” and “interreligious dialogue” have become commonplace in scholarly research, discussion, and literature on the subject. The twenty-first century has added another innovating concept to these rapidly changing viewpoints – trans-religious experience and theology.

Ecumenism aims at reconciling differences among various branches or denominations of the Christian religion, and interreligious dialogue extends this confessional attitude to other religious traditions. Trans-religious theology, more specifically, directs its focus to the analysis and comparison of the ideas about Ultimate Reality in various religious systems of the world. The founder of the trans-religious theological project is a former professor and chairman of the philosophy department at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Jerry L. Martin. As Dr. Martin notes, trans-religious theology “grows out of philosophizing about the aim of theology.” He explains further:

Often theology is defined as the articulation of the beliefs about the divine reality within one’s tradition. In light of the widespread experience of finding spiritual insight in other traditions as well, that definition seems inappropriately limited. Surely, the aim of theology should be to learn all we can about ultimate reality, regardless of the source of the insights. Even comparative theology, when it is regarded as finally confessional, limited to asking what light other traditions throw on my own, stops short. What is needed is a Theology Without Walls, without confessional boundaries, without blinders, as it were. That does not mean that we do not stand somewhere, but that our sense of our goal is not limited to where we stand at the outset.

Contributors

Jerry L. Martin

Mikhail Yu. Sergeev, PhD

Mikhail Sergeev was born and raised in Moscow, Russia, where he received his bachelor’s degree in international journalism from Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) in 1982. In 1990 he moved to the United States to pursue his doctoral studies. In 1993 he received his master’s degree in religious studies and in 1997 his doctorate in philosophy of religion from Temple University, Philadelphia. Sergeev works as an adjunct professor of religion and philosophy at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he received The President’s Distinguished Teaching Award (2010). He also co-chairs and serves on the faculty of the Department of Religion, Philosophy, and Theology at the Wilmette Institute as well as on the faculty of Temple University in Philadelphia.

The Great Law of Peace and the Most Holy Book - Dr. Lee Brown

Summary: This talk is a comparative study of the Great Law of Peace articulated by the Peacemaker and founder of the Iroquois Confederacy and Kitab-i- Aqdas promulgated by Baha'u'llah.

Interfaith Devotional And Climate Conversation Workshop 11.29.2021

More information:

The Bahá’í-inspired Interfaith Climate Group hosts a series of writing and conversation workshops to facilitate participation in the discourses of society on the social and environmental challenges of our time. Participants:

*Reflect on spiritual teachings from the world’s religions

*Consider unity of thought and possible actions for the United Nations’ Global Goals

*Learn about a faith-based community-wide climate conversation to action program.

The Interfaith Devotional supports a pilot Florida Climate “Conversation to Action” program with the University of Florida Extension and We, the World.

Jan Jasion, 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Other

This presentation is based on reflections on Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablet of the Land of Bá and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s statement published in Paris Talks and His activities in America. ʻAbdu’l-Bahá met with people of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds and He delighted in doing so. The Bahá’ís are very proud of this, and justly so. Many scholars have investigated the travels of ʻAbdu’l-Bahá in America: Alan Ward, Hassan Balyuzi, Robert Stockman, Earl Redman, Steven Kolins, Amín Egea. The latter two concentrated their efforts on newspaper coverage. Yet despite their efforts and the efforts of more localized research there appears a void which in a real sense undermines the intentions of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s efforts toward establishing the unity and dignity of all peoples. This void concerns the hundreds of non-English newspapers which existed at that time.

More resources: https://wilmetteinstitute.org/abdul-baha-and-the-other/

This presentation will attempt to explore the causes of this situation and its consequences and possible restoration and utilization of these articles.

Contributors

Jan Teofil Jasion is a retired librarian. He was born in Canada of Polish parents. His varied career included working as a roofer in housing construction and as a labourer at an iron-ore smelter, as a librarian in a remote Labrador town, a library technician at the National Library of Canada, at the Library of the University of New Brunswick and later at a college in Cardiff, Wales; as an economic journalist and translator in Warsaw, Poland, as an acquisitions and periodicals librarian at the Bahá’í World Centre Library, as an editor at the Department of Philosophy, Warsaw University; and as a cataloguer for a library vendor in England. He was educated at universities in Ontario, Newfoundland, England and Poland. His Bahá’í activities include pioneering to Labrador (1967-70) and Poland (1970-72; 1992-1999), and service on numerous national committees and local assemblies and lately as an editor at Librarie bahá’íe, Paris, France. He currently lives with his wife Annie-Joëlle in a southern suburb of Paris. Jan has published over 35 articles in journals in Canada, USA, UK, France, Poland and Pakistan in the field of library studies, economics, human rights, biography, corporate structures and bio-bibliography. He has authored and edited a dozen monographs including An International Guide to Legal Deposit (2nd ed. 2019); Never Be Afraid to Dare (George Ronald, 2001), ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in France (English 2016 and French 2017); ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the West (English 2012 and French 2015); Táhirih In History (2004). His latest article was a bio-bibliography of John E. Esslemont for The Book Collector (2020).

Climate Change is about survival, one world...and our future. with Gary Reusche

Climate change is already adversely affecting people in many parts of the world and seriously threatens the survival of human civilization. The present-day world order is disintegrating before our eyes, and increasing climate change impacts are compounding social problems. At the same time, we can see the integrative forces in youth climate action, interfaith collaboration, and constructive high-level discourse at the United Nations. Discourse starting at the family level, to neighborhoods, to groups, to friends, even at work will catalyze the groundswell needed to initiate change, and mitigate the catastrophic events that we see on the horizon. We’ll consult together about how we can change the trend, from disintegrative to integrative!

This webinar is part of the Wilmette Institute’s activities for Global Climate Change Week 2020.

The following video, created by Gary, was included in the Association for Bahá’í Studies 2020 Poster Presentation: Global Governance, Climate Crisis, and Youth. https://vimeo.com/429353350

Gary Reusche, PhD

Mikhail Sergeev, "The Issue of Self-Identity in Transhumanism and Bahá’í Writings"

Transhumanism or H+ is an intellectual and cultural movement whose ultimate goal is to achieve “singularity” – the merging of human biology and computer technology in order to enhance human capabilities and, in the long run, to make humanity immortal. The concept of singularity applies first and foremost to the brain, which is the conduit for human mind, consciousness and self-identity. As a result, transhumanists find themselves at the center of millennia-old polemics about the origin of life and the nature of human soul. What happens if a person’s brain is irreversibly damaged and replaced by its artificial duplicate? Will it be the same human being or a different one? Where exactly can the seed of human identity be found? In this web presentation we will examine, from a Bahá’í perspective, these and similar questions arising in contemporary technological discourse that involve various competing theories of the human self.

Presenter:

Mikhail Sergeev was born and raised in Moscow, Russia, where he received his bachelor’s degree in international journalism from Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) in 1982. In 1990 he moved to the United States to pursue his doctoral studies. In 1993 he received his master’s degree in religious studies and in 1997 his doctorate in philosophy of religion from Temple University, Philadelphia. Sergeev works as an adjunct professor of religion and philosophy at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he received The President’s Distinguished Teaching Award (2010). He also co-chairs and serves on the faculty of the Department of Religion, Philosophy, and Theology at the Wilmette Institute as well as on the faculty of Temple University in Philadelphia. The author of more than two hundred scholarly, journalistic, and creative works, Sergeev published and presented them in Canada, Europe—the Czech Republic, Greece, the Netherlands, and Poland—Russia, and the United States. Some of his articles were translated into Polish, and his books were reviewed in Germany, Japan, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, and the United States. He has authored and edited twelve books, including the monograph, Theory of Religious Cycles: Tradition, Modernity, and the Bahá’í Faith, (Brill, 2015) and his latest, Russia Abroad: The Anthology of Contemporary Philosophical Thought (M-Graphics, 2019). In 2017 at the International Festival “Visit to Muses,” in Greece, he was awarded the Nodar Dzhin Literary Prize for the best work in philosophy: Grand Prix in the category “journalism/scholarship.”