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From: Juan Cole <jricole@my-deja.com> To: <talisman@umich.edu> Subject: station of scholars and historians in the Baha'i faith Date: Thursday, June 10, 1999 1:52 PM Quotes from Shoghi Effendi: "Bahá'í scholars and writers will, no doubt, gradually appear, and will as promised by Bahá'u'lláh lend a unique support to the Faith." Directives, pp. 75-76 Shoghi Effendi surely hopes that before long the Cause may produce scholars that would write books which would be far deeper and more universal in scope, but for the present this is the best we possess to give a general idea as to the history and teachings of the Faith to new seekers. Dawn of a New Day, 38. It is for the future historian to appraise the value of the mission of each of the four chosen messengers of `Abdu'l-Bahá who, in rapid succession, were dispatched by Him to pacify and reinvigorate that troubled community. His will be the task of tracing, in the work which these deputies of `Abdu'l-Bahá were commissioned to undertake, the beginnings of that vast Administration, the corner-stone of which these messengers were instructed to lay--an Administration whose symbolic Edifice . . . WOB 82-83 The historian of the future, viewing more widely and in fuller perspective the momentous happenings of the Apostolic and Formative Ages of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, will no doubt be able to evaluate accurately and to describe in a circumstantial manner the causes, the implications and the effects of these Divine Messages which, in their scope and effectiveness, have certainly no parallel in the religious annals of mankind. Promised Day is Come, 29-30 -- Juan Cole, History, U of Michigan jrcole@umich.edu https://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai.htm Buy *Modernity & Millennium: Genesis of Baha'i* https://www.kalimat.com/ Sent via Deja.com https://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't. Homepage |