Contents:

Report on Scholarship

Affiliate Associations for Bahá'í Studies Australia
Association for Bahá'í Studies —Japan
Venezuela
Institute/School/Foundation Reports Wilmette Institute
Reports by Individuals Christopher Buck
Diana Carson
Phyllis Chew
Rodney Clarken
Glen Duncan
Bronwyn Elsmore
Zaid Lundberg
Sepehr Manuchehri
Sen McGlinn
John Noyce
Payam Pakravan
Afsaneh Paymani
Brent Poirier
Tahereh Pourshafie
Ron Price
Martha Schweitz
Peter Smith
June Manning Thomas
Reports on Conferences held in 1998 Sixth Bahá'í International Politics and Law Special Interest Group Conference
Seventh Bahá'í International Politics and Law Special Interest Group Conference
Human Rights Education. Raising Individual & Community Awareness of A Culture of Human Rights
Mini-Course & Religious Studies (SIG) Seminar
The Fourth European Bahá'í Conference on International Law and Order
‘The Moral Maze’ The 1988 ABS (ESE) Annual Conference
The Lesser Peace and The Millennium: The 8th Conference of the Bahá’í International Politics and Law Special Interest Group (BIPOLIG)
Forthcoming Conferences Centre For Bahá'í Studies of Acuto
Returning to The Hague: The Third International Peace Conference
The Twenty Second `Irfan Colloquium
Publications in 1998

Internet Reports Bahá'í Faith Index
H-Bahai
The Leiden list
Bibliography of publications in Bábí and Bahá’í Studies, 1997-1998

In gathering together information on activities on Bahá'í scholarship in diverse parts of the world that took place in 1998 this Report on Scholarship provides an indicative survey of subjects under investigation, and approaches to research. Bringing together reports from individuals, institutions, courses, and Associations for Bahá'í Studies, will allow a picture of general trends to emerge. The report also acts as a 'clearing house' for information.

Affiliate Associations for Bahá'í Studies

The homepage of the Association for Bahá'í Studies of North America (http://www.bahai-studies.ca/~absnam/affiliates.html) lists affiliate Associations in Australia, Argentina, Bermuda, Brazil, Chile, English-Speaking Europe, Francophone Europe, German-Speaking Europe, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Also listed is the Association for Bahá'í Studies in Persian (established in 1987 to promote, support and propagate the study and application of the Baha'i literature in its original languages of Persian and Arabic).

This year just three affiliate Associations forwarded responses for inclusion in the report.

Members: Dr Ratnam Alagiah (from July 98), Mr Colin Dibdin, Ms Susie Haake, Dr Graham Hassall, Dr Natalie Mobini-Kesheh, Ms Sandra Langshaw, Mr Babak Mohajerin, Dr Golshah Naghdy (until Nov. 98)

1. The Association’s 17th Annual Conference, on the theme "Moral Development", was held at the University of Auckland, NZ, 11-12 July 1998. About 18 papers were presented, including 4 by Australians. The keynote speaker was Professor Dwight Allen from the USA. About 120 people attended. This was our first joint conference with ABS New Zealand.
2. The inaugural national symposium in Persian studies was held at Macquarie University on 10-11 October, attracting a high level of attendance. It is intended that this will become an annual event.
1. A conference on Human Rights, Faith & Culture was held in Canberra on 7 and 8 November 1998, in collaboration with the Bahá'í Office of External Affairs. Many high-profile speakers participated, only two of whom were Bahá'í.
1. A Scholarship Institute, 'The Role of Scholarship in the Bahá'í Community: Reflections on Practice' was held at Yerrinbool Bahá'í Centre of Learning from April 10-13, 1998. Professor Sabir Afaqi and Dr Seena Fazel were guests. About 25 attended.
1. The ABS Newsletter was produced in February, June, September and December 1998, and distributed to members and a large complimentary list comprising tertiary Bahá'í societies, national committees, Counsellors, regional National Assemblies, all ABS affiliate organisations, and Centres of Learning.
1. A second volume of papers on the Kitab-i-Aqdas, including a new paper by the Hand of the Cause Dr Varqa and four papers presented at the conference on the Kitab-i-Aqdas held in Sydney in 1993, was published and sent free to members.
1. Progress was made with the proposed journal, Australian Bahá'í Studies. In future members will receive two issues of the journal per year, along with the ABS newsletter, as their membership entitlement.
1. We had direct communication with all Bahá'í Societies at universities, with the assistance of a temporary part-time employee, Ms Ladan Rahmani, to whom we are very grateful.
1. The Bahá'í Society handbook has been revised and will be sent to all societies, and will be available on the ABS-Australia web site.
1. Regional ABS activities took place in NSW, where the regional ABS committee organised a conference on "Successful Morality" on 28^th March, 1998, and in WA where Bahá'í students organised a conference called "SPEAK" which looked at contemporary Australian issues.
1. The Board assisted a number of scholars with inquiries and manuscript development.
1. ABS facilitated the participation of Bahá'ís at scholarly conferences (eg. Chris Jones, Graham Hassall and Seena Fazel presented papers at the annual conference of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion).
1. Preparation for publication of Mr Furutan and Mr Faizi at Yerrinbool (CD of the talks given at the 1953 Summer School with an annotated transcript) is progressing.

1. It has been difficult to find volunteers who have time to support the various activities of the Association.

Hopes and Opportunities:

1. ABS is holding its 1999 annual conference on Arts and Culture in Victoria.

2. ABS is holding its third annual scholarship workshop at Yerrinbool at Easter 1999.

3. ABS looks forward to the development of more scholarship initiatives at regional level.

4. ABS is considering convening another studies conference in the Persian language, following on the success of the October 1998 conference.

8. ABS hopes to facilitate regular participation by Bahá'í scholars at the annual conference of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion. A scholarship has been established to assist possible speakers with the costs of attendance. The 1999 conference is to be held 30 Sept. to 3 Oct. at the University of Melbourne.

10. In the longer term, ABS seeks to increase the number of active interest groups. This development requires the active interest and collaboration of ABS members.

11. ABS intends to continue developing its use of the Internet, and requires collaboration with specialists in this field. The web site is at www.bahai.org.au/abs.

12. The new ABS journal will be an important tool to achieve the Four Year Plan goal of further developing university teaching.

 

Association for Bahá'í Studies —Japan

 

 

Annual Report, March, 1999

I Members of the Executive Committee

A. ABS-Japan is now divided into two ABSs, Japanese and English, with S. Fotos as coordinator

III Selected Reports

C. Publications

1. Proceedings of the 6th and 7th Annual Conferences to be published in the fall of 1999

2. Newsletter: two issues, April and September, 1998

IV Activities in 1998

A. Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

1. Seven SIGs: English, Arts, Religious Studies, Translation, Education, Moral Education, Community Development

2. Report from Religious Studies SIG. Two meetings at Tokyo Bahá'í Center in 1998:

a. Dr. Courosh Mehanian, physicist from California, showed a slide program of the World Center and talked on "high tech" aspects of the Faith (June 11)

b. Dr. Fariborz Moshirian of the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia, talked on "The Industrial Revolution versus the Spiritual Revolution" (July 6)

3. Report from Moral Education SIG. Many projects in 1998:

a.Virtues Project 12 hour workshop in Yokohama on January 17-18, sponsored by the Yokohama and Kanto area Bahá'ís. Ruth Suzuki facilitated

b. Virtues Project training workshop in Machida-Atsugi at Friberg's NTT Housing Complex (2/27-3/1) facilitated by Toshiko Tanikawa, Ruth Suzuki and Cathy Hirano

c. Conference presentation at 1998 Womens' Studies Forum on Gender Research, August 8, held in Chiba, at the National Women's Education Center, by Toshiko Tanikawa, Ruth Suzuki and Sodeyo Friberg

d. Virtues Project 16-hour workshop (2 hours per week for 8 weeks) in Sapporo in June and July. Facilitated by Ruth Suzuki with the assistance of Keiko Sakamoto and Kathleen Riggins

4. Report from Community Development SIG. First meeting was held in Machida on March 8 to consult on a proposal for Baha'i community development prepared by Dr. Mohan Narula. A checklist for the steps of community development was made:

a. find communities which have potential for development

b. determine needs of the community (needs analysis)

c. prioritize needs and determine which are most important

d. discuss ways to achieve results

e. develop a plan of action and a way to evaluate results

f. take action

g. evaluate the results

5. ABS-Japan representatives at ABS-North America conference in Montreal, Canada, September 24-27

a. paper by Stephen Friberg on "Abdu'l Baha and Evolution" was read at the Science and Religion SIG meeting on September 24

b. workshop for the development of a Baha'i-inspired ESL curriculum (as requested by the World Center) was organized by Sandra Fotos and Joy Allchin (ABS-North America) on September 25

B. The Seventh Annual Conference of ABS-Japan, was held Oct. 30 - Nov. 1, 1998, at the Sapporo Guest House, Sapporo, Hokkaido

1. Theme: "The Asia Pacific Axis: Cultural Diversity, Development and Human Potential"

2. Site committee

A. Chairs: Keiko Sakamoto and Kathleen Riggins

B. Other members: Ruth Suzuki and Terry Riggins

4. Guest speakers:

a. Michael Bond, Chinese University of Hong Kong

b. Nadia Marchuk, Yuzhno Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin

c. Jane Nishi Goldstone, National Spiritual Assembly

d. Kimiko Schwerin, National Spiritual Assembly

e. David Chittleborough, University of Adelaide, Australia

e. Anjam Khursheed, Singapore

5. Conference report published in Bahá'í News and posted to the ABS-Japan website.

http://www2.gol.com/users/sfotos

V The Eighth Annual Conference of ABS-Japan, 1999

A. Venue: Kyoto

B. Site chair, Mary Noguchi

Respectfully submitted, S. Fotos (acting secretary)

Tokyo Bahá'í Center 7-2-13, Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160, Japan. email: sfotos@gol.com

 

Venezuela

 

On February 13/14 the Association for Bahá'í Studies of Venezuela held its first International Conference on Social and Economic Development. Three international speakers presented the following development themes: Counsellor Gustavo Correa of Colombia spoke on FUNDEAC and the Rural University, Dr. Steven Gonzales on Bahá'í Education, and Mr. William Mahoney on microfinancing. Also from Venezuela the following presentations were made: Prof. Maxine Roth spoke on the Institute for Moral Education, Mrs. Susan McLaren on Development and the Arts, and Prof. Donald Witzel on the New Vision of Deepening of the Association. On Saturday night February 13th a public meeting on development was held with four panelists including the representative of education of the municipal government in Barquisimeto in central western Venezuela near where the Conference took place at the Wilma Thomas National Baha'i Institute in Cabudare. The public meeting was specially well received and some 86 Bahá'ís and over 40 other interested people mostly from development agencies, universities and women's organisations were in attendance. This was the most successful Bahá'í Studies Conference yet held, and the first attempt to significantly reach the public.

On July 3,4 and 5th this year another Baha'i Studies Conference will be held on "The Life and Work of Shoghi Effendi: Guardian of the Baha'i Faith". Its venue will also be the National Bahá'í Institute in Cabudare, Venezuela.

The New Deepening Vision of our Association for Bahá'í Studies was approved by the Executive Committee on September 25, 1998 as follows: (translation from Spanish) "To reach at national, regional and local levels, a greater erudition throughout different forms of systematic deepening using the Bahá'í sacred writings and teachings as well as their application for the welfare of society".

OBJECTIVES:

1. To promote profound study of the Bahá'í Writings in order to achieve individual and collective transformation.

2. To introduce the Bahá'í teachings and answers on relevant themes adapted to society's needs.

3. To encounter new means and ways to reach people of capacity.

4. To offer our services to help in the deepening of the friends and institutions at local, regional and national levels. For example: courses requested by National and Local Spiritual Assemblies, National and Regional Teaching Committees, Summer and Winter Schools.

5. To prepare materials for the systematic deepening of the believers.

6. To promote investigation of new topics from the Writings of the Faith, required for institutions and individuals.

Also we publish a yearly magazine in Spanish called "Imagenes" as well as two Newsletters each year.

With loving greetings, Donald R. Witzel

dwitzel@mail.sa.omnes.net

 

Institute/School/Foundation Reports

 

Wilmette Institute

 

The Wilmette Institute will soon be offering a two-month distance learning course on "Judaism for Dialogue and Deepening," part two in its series "World Religions: An Integrated Approach." This course will introduce Bahá'ís to the origin, founders, development, teachings, practices, and followers of Judaism from a Baha'i perspective. It is designed to foster

* Dialogue--that is, to help a Bahá'í understand the basics of other religions well enough to interact with their followers with confidence and carry out Baha'u'llah's exhortation to "consort with the followers of all religions with friendliness and fellowship." Such interaction is essential if one wishes to introduce the Faith to others and foster the process leading to entry by troops.

* Deepening--that is, to help a Bahá'í understand better the basics of the other religion and the Bahá'í Faith. It has been said that one of the best ways to learn about one's own religion is to study another one, because comparison is a light that sheds illumination on both. Since Baha'is see all the world's major religions as divinely founded, study of them allows one to understand the background for the revelation of the Bahá'í writings.

The "World Religions: An Integrated Approach" series studies other religions from the perspective of the Bahá'í Faith. Since the Bahá'í perspective on specific teachings or movements is often not defined, the student will be able to participate in the effort to explore and discover the Baha'i principles relevant to study of other religions. The series uses some of the techniques of the scholarly study of religions (often called comparative religion). The courses are "formally organised" and "systematic"; they are designed to be equivalent to a college evening course. There are no prerequisites.

DATES: Mar. 1-Apr. 30 1999. Further information from the Wilmette Institute website, http://www.usbnc.org/wilmette, or the Registrar, Heather Gorman, at Wilmette_Institute@usbnc.org.

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