God Speaks Again
An Introduction to the Bahai Faith
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
The Baha'i- Faith is a recognized independent world religion attracting increasing attention--and followers--in the U.S. and around the globe as people from all walks of life search for practical spiritual direction and meaning in these deeply troubled times. Founded nearly 160 years ago, the Baha'i- Faith is today among the fastest growing of world religions. With more than six million followers in 236 countries and territories, it has already become the second-most widespread faith, surpassing every religion but Christianity in its geographic reach. The history and teachings of the Baha'i- Faith center around the inspiring person of its Founder, Baha’u’llah (1817-1892). The character traits He displayed throughout the course of a long and turbulent life, His voluminous and comprehensive body of written works, and impact He has already had in the world undeniably qualify Him as a major figure in world religious history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the early 19th century, Persia was in a fit of millennial expectation, awaiting the "Promised One of Islam" who would establish God's reign in the world. According to Bowers, a member of the national governing body of Bah ' s in the U.S., this prophecy was fulfilled in a new religious movement. In the 1850s a figure known as Bah 'u'll h came to believe, while under religious persecution in the depths of a Persian dungeon, that he was the most recent in a succession of extraordinary "Manifestations of God" including Moses, Jesus and Mohammed each sent to guide humanity through its spiritual and political evolution to its ultimate aim: a harmonious, universal religion and an enlightened, united "world commonwealth." Bowers chronicles the struggles of Bah 'u'll h and his followers, known as Bah ' s, as they endured lethal persecutions, brutal imprisonments and the repeated exile of Bah 'u'll h himself across the Middle East. Bowers next outlines many of Bah 'u'll h's voluminous teachings, and then turns to Bah 'u'll h's legacy: his successors and their many instructions for the Bah ' faith, ranging from principles for establishing world peace down to election protocols for local Bah ' communities. Bowers is clearly a believer; the book is more faith-narrative than history, and at times becomes proselytizing, even preachy quotes from Bah ' writings are sometimes whole pages in length. Yet Bowers's comprehensive approach is balanced by an easy readability that makes the book both accessible and informative, a welcome introduction to the faith of some six million people worldwide.
