REPORr ON ... BAH.A 'I á- STUDIES IN EOa:>PE (1981) Thie report la compriaed of accOUDt• of personal inter• i•v• engaged. vi th • mi•- ber of indiriduale aw of who• actiri- ti•• relate th• ill aom• var to th• in- teuiv• hietorioal or doctrin•l atu«17 of - - the Bibi and B•bi'i r•ligione, •;ncl of dee- criptiona of certal! prin.te, pu.blic, u- ai•ereit7 ancl Bebi'i inetitutio-al libra- • ri•• •ad archiY&l colleotione containing Bibi •nd B•bA't related literature, the indirldu•l• and librui•• located in Eng- land, Wales, Belgium, France, Switserland, Weet Ger•án;r~ Den•ark, Sweden, Horḥa1' 1 Finland, Italy, Austria, •nd encountered between NOY•ber 2'1-, 1980 and July 141 1981 bJ the author of thie report, Peter 'fraffard Terr7 Jr. I If D B X I. 1JNITED KINGDOM IV. MORWAY 1)Dr. Moojan MOll9n 1 7>Tcm labbock 2)Peter Smith 3 8)0elo Uniyereitete- 3)Robert Parry bibliotek 63 9)0.lo Menighetsfakultets- 4.)Dr. Deni• MacEoin 8 bibliotek 63 5)Dr. 'Abbas Amenat 10 10>Teologiskfakultet- 6)Viva Perdu T•lin 11 bibliotek 64 ?)Stephen Lámbden 12 11)Báb8•i Senter Bibliotek 64 8)Jan .Jeeion 13 9)Britieb Behi'l Archives 14 V. IUJARD 10)Iancaeter aeeting 16 1)Sirkka Salai 65 2)X.•ran Rudar 65 áII. MIDIUM 3)Mosatar \t..dar 66 1)Dr. Loni Brwon 25 lt)llllrri Peltola 69 5)Dr. Babib'u'Jlab Zebi.hiap 71 III. F!WCE 6)David s;nnone 72 1)Dr. Alline Heabah 2:1 2)Dr. Maurice Bemiol ,,. ?)Helsingin Yliopiaton Kirjaeto .,, 3)Andre Brugiroux 36 8)Slavonic Collection 4)Bibliot~que Rationale UniveraitJ of BelaiDki et Uniyeraitaire de Librarr 73 ~traabourg 37 9)1Canaallieen Kirjaaton 5)Bibliot~ue Rationale SieilJ.7e 74 de Paris 39 6)Bibliot~ue National• - - de France des Bahii'ia 41 VI. SWEISN 1)Sven Mlrde 75 ?>conference on Bahi •i Political BcontA117 42 2)Bene Od9111r '17 3)Ezzat Dja~eri 78 IV. NORWAY . 4)Paul Stolpe 83 1)Mrs. Gerd Strand 45 2)Misa Gudrun tffetegaard lt8 VII. IErDfARK 3)Bj.-rn Bubendick 49 1)Dr. Margit Warburg 85 4)Berald Thiia 51 2)Liebeth Andereen 85 5)Bolger Bagan 54 3)~ Bolek 86 6)Dr. Arild Ranarheim 57 4)Dr. .&lee OW.ton 86 I N D E X VII. IEflllRK X. AUSi"llll 5)Dr. Fereydun Y•hm•n 89 1)Dr. lent D. Beveridge 1lt1 6)Univeraitetebiblioteket 90 2)Ja•bis Pooetchi 1"6 3)0sterreichisbe llational,- bibliotbek 148 VIII. GERMllfY 1 )Dr. Udo Schaefer 91 - lt-)Mational B•bi 1 i Archi••• of .luatria 1lt-9 2)Rana J,ange 'Tl 3)Buecbm•nd Sabet 101 XI. SVl'lURIIJfD lt)Dr. Farahid A8hraf 104 1)Gita Steiner Kh••ai 150 5)Dr. Iba•n B•labi 105 2)Maged llerous 152 6)Peter Mllhlechlegel 106 ?)Ursula Muhlachl•g•l 112 4)Dr. Christine Se-endari- 8>Erik Blumenthal 115 Bekim 153 9)Univeraititabibliotek 5)Dieter Me7er-Scbmid 154 Heidelberg 116 6)Z.ntralbibliothek 10)Wiasenecbaftlichen Ziirich 155 Theologiach•• Semia•r 11? 11)Staats Archiv 11? 12)Wiirttemburgiache l•ndeabibliothek 118 - 13)Ger•n B1hi'i Archive• 119 IX. n'ALY •• 1)Dr. Paul Ojermark 120 2)Dr. Aleaaandram Bauetni 123 3)Profeaaor Huaayn Avarega.n 128 4)Dr. Badi'u'llah Para 134 5)Fondazione Caetani per gli atudi 138 6)Biblioteca Nazionale Central• di Firenze 138 ?)National Bahi'l Library of Ita.17 139 Peter Trafford Terry Jr. (J•nu•17 1982) Pond Road, Bridgton, Maine oltoo9 11.S.A. Work iA the ti•lcl ot Bibi •ncl Beb&•l. ltud.iea, 197)-1982, incluai••• Paper• tor the UDiTerwity of Mein• at Portl•nd-Oorbem on 'TY Greatest Nw in th• Bible,• •A Nev Eoologio•l Re- ligion,' •eomparatiTe Mynioim, • •PolitioeJ Socialis•ticm,' 'COlllP&r&tiY• Comologys Babi•I/Bopi/Dagon, • •Eq11•lity of Opportunity in Eduationi A B•bi 1 I Perspective-' 1'll5-:ZZ. Papers for the Uni•er•ity of M•eaechueetta inAmh•r•t on 1 Th! Per!li~n, ,B ayḥs, • •cwpsriaon of th• AHISA Model and Beba 1 ! Teachings,• 'Iii.De Pioneera in World Educations one obapt•r on St•DWoocl Cobb~' Began o ntal-7 cm the Bidden Words of Babi'u'll•h; SbayJmI./BibI/Beba 1 I bibliography& etudy of Behi'l proof•. Helped organise conference at the UDiver•ity on the •Spiritual Lite,• with partioipation by !lhiyyih Ad••a, Mari•n Lippitt •nd Do'A. 19'n-78 Papere for the UDiveraity of Chicago on 'The Personifica- tion of EYil in th• Old Teeta•nt, New !estwnt •nd Holy Qur•in, • trmlation from Arabic into Engliab vith intro- duction ..,.. .. - and notes with fellow student ..... 'Abdullah Zaid of Alá rieala min Hae•n al-Beeri fi al-amir al.-mu'minim 'Abd al- Malik ibn Marwin.• Edited pa:per on Chriet in the Gospel.a and • by Coptio the Qur •an • Obri8ti•n fellow .etudent. Aeaiated Persian Bah&•I iD stud)' of Bebi 1 l administration. Contimied r r••!•rch OD Báhi' proofs; cc.apilation of ~wkllf/Sib- - ba'i bibliogr•Phr• 'frenalatiou of Lee Se~ Preuv!a du from Nicoles' French into English. 12'!8-80 Translation of Le B;v~ .A.rabe from the French of Nicolas in- to Engli.eh. Continuation of compilation ~bayk.bi/Bi.bi/Bahi.' i -- bibliography; reee•rch on Baha'i proofs. Began study áof wo- men's history end literature; events of the year 18lf.4; com- munal lifeetJles in the United States in the 19th and 20th ceniuriea. Writing of philosophical eaeaya coloured by Ba- bi 1 i teachings. November 1980-July 19811 Europe: Interviewing Baha'i schol- ars and 'aourcea' , compiling §bay\WI/B&bI/Bahi '1 bibliogra- phy, collecting infgrmation for history of 1844, organi.&ing conference on Bahi'i political economy for June near Pari6, participation in Lancaster meeting in July. Jul7...A.ugust 1981: Maine to California to Wu!lington to Maines - Interviewing Baha'i scholars, meeting vi.th K•limi't Preas in - L.A., with L.A.Bahi.'i Study Group. September 1981-January 1982: Maine and Maa•chuaetta: 'llrit- ing first and final drafts ot rep,Qrt on Bahi'i studies in - Europe, correspondence with Behi''i scholars, organizing pho- tocopy service, pl•nning weekend on Buddhiec, perticipation - in programmes at Green Acre Bahi•i School, etc., etc., etc. I. OIIfED JCilliDOll 1 1)Dr. Moojan Momen J,•nga-sea: Inglish, Perei•n, Arabic, •OM Prencll, acme Ger- an Degreea: M.A., Cubridp lJDiYer• •it7 1 Orient•l ltudiee; 11.D. IaterYiew: M7 fir•t contact vith Dr. Homen waa in earl1 Deceaber 1980, renewed bf correspondence during . , traYele on the Continent in winter •ad spring of 1981, ud then at the L•ncuter ...ting Ju17 ll/12. On our firat ••ting, be adviaed •• to reque•t a COP1 of hi• bibliograpbJ' from Al•n Coope, who incorporated Dr. Momen's bibliograph7 into hi.a ova iD 1975. Aa he baa ..de a number of additioDS to his bibliograp~ •iace tben he of- fered to edit "7 completed bibliographJ, theáaooaer the better. Be ahoved • copies of •n inco!Pl•t• collection of Sba11mi literature recentl1 pub- lished b7 the ab•1Jmi group iD Xer•aa, frii, and later asked M to ApplJ' him with the liet of taaciail• literature at tb• Bibliot~que lation•le de Para, which I did. !'hi.9 li8t will be included in 111 forthcoming biblio- graphJ. Be ia one of three pertie• responsible for eatabliahing a libra:17 based upon the collection of the late Band of the CauM ot God, Besen II. BalJUSi, to 'be called tbe •Atn;n LibrarJ" or wociated with the Afnln fa- .Ur t deacendante or the Bib •• r•latio•á l fev 110lltb8 ago I WU to1d b7 Dr. Homen that tbe foreation of the libr&17 u a legal identit7, and u a cbaritable foundation 1a well on its n.r. •nd tbat .lbu'l-Qaaim Atn•n, for- •rlJ' caretaker ot the Bouse of t~t 8lb in Shiriz, lri.n •nd nov resident in Ozford, Bngl•nd is nov at vork cataloguing the contents in Persian •ad Arabic languages resident in thi• rare collection. When this collection le bouaed, catalogued and legal.17 and financiall7 constituted it will be -- - opened tor the uae of ecbolare viehing to research the hiatori and teach- ... Faiths and the Perai•n Gulf area during the inp of the Bibi and Betia'i nineteenth and twentietháceaturies. Dr. Homen •eked .. to aseiat him-=at- ter I offered to be of eervice--on the Continect and in the United States in co11ecting information on the folloving topic• (I share thia information in the hope that some other scholar 11a7 be of service to him): a)Austria: to find the diaries of Prokesh-Oaten for the 7eare 1865-18?0, to locate his person•] •nd official papera in the Austri•n Foreign Minis- try Archives, and to go after the uncatalogued material in particular; and to consult the Bau.a-, loft- and Staata-.Archiv •nd the Politischea Archiv in Vienna in search of the paper• of Austrian consuls end ambassadors ••- aigned to the Ottoman Empire in tbe 7ear 1868. (Please refer to report on Dr. Kent hveridge of Austria tor details of this research.) b)Scotland: to-~ocate the original COPJ of Behi'u'llah'• Tablet to Queen Victoria, vhich he believes to be kept along with her other personal papere in Delmoro Castle: for tbia an official introduction would be neceeaarJ, •nd I vaa unable to •esiet him at thie time. . c)France: to determine what Dr. Ami.De Meebah (see report under France) h•a accomplished through working iu the Archives of the Mini•tl'J for Foreign Affairs in Paris and the Gobineau collection at the Universit• de Stras- bourg; to locate the Oriental address book of the comte de Gobineau; to de- termine the origin of the copy of the Mugt"tu'l:,,-!,af now preserved in the Bibliot~ue Nation•le de Paris; to find out what Dr. Mesbah h•e diacoTered in studying the commercial records of the Chamber of Ooawerce in Marseilles, lrance, looking through the commercial correspondence of French consuls in Iran and the Ottoman Em~ire duriA~ B•hi'u'll•h'• lifetiae. (Por details on research into Gobineau •nd !;ugtatu'l-Kaf, see reports=- Dr. Meabab, Biblio- teque Rationale de Faria and Bibliot~que Rationale et UDiYeraitaire de Straa- bourg, all under France.) L •• flit ' 1)Dr. llooju . . .Jl laatert18VI d)lvadeas aooardt111 to Ilia jnfOl'9Ati011 1 the 8wd1•h goww••nt tr•1=a4 ••cl offioerecl the Iruian ution•l polioe taro• fr• 1890 ••til 1919, end lie •-ked • to ~h for refareno• to l•bia ••d l•h• '1a iD the diepatch•• of t!ae • Swdieb police offioen to their goterwat ia ltookhola. (Plew ••• report Oil pt ofeaaor Djua,er_i la Sweden for cletall••) e)Finl•nd1 look for literature •ationbg Bab:l ar l•be'i 'J'aith written :la ar plblie!a.ed in Bwia, ill tbe librarJ baring the largMt collection of Rae- •ian literature pre-dati.Dg tb• 1918 rewol11ticm oat.ide of t1le u.s. •- .• (I ..a giwea two copi•• of J•n Jasion'• partial lieting of ti. oontenta of thi• librarJ,Slatonic áCollection of ti. VDi.Yereiq of &.letnkin Libr&J7 1 •nd for report on it• contata, plea•• ... cl98Cription ot Libr&rJ ancler Pin'land.) f : look into the nt archi.,... of Vurtenbur~tuttprt, of th• Germ.a Templ•rea FOCUN con of BeilharsáChronik, encl oopi•• of pic- ture• of Baira during lifeti.M of .Bebe'u'lleh. (I dicl •11 of tbe aboYe: pleaae 8M report.a OD J•nd. .bibliothek •nd Staataarohi'f' iD Stuttprt •ad •l ao ~•mJJ•lse•••ll eeh•ft in Shttgart, Oer1te ft1 •) g)United Statee of America a find refereDCea to Bebia and B•b•' ia 1n reports "1 AMric•n mi.uioaeri.. in " • Irudan and Ottom•n Bllpirea during tbe lU•- tiMe of Báb•'•'llab and á' Abcba'l-l•!te, in the following locatious America Board of Cwi•eionera for l'areip Jlie•iom, ArchiTN at Boughton Librar'J', •rtard Vtrl.YereitJ (including •i••ionari.. who were ill Cbihriq, ia 18't8 end in Iran until 18?0)1 1Jnited Preeb,.teri•a LibrarJ in Kev York, Persian •nd Palestinian recorda for 18?0; docwnte of the late In. B•ll, aiuioner, iD AdrU.nople fr• 1868 (&Yailable iJl the firet-Mntioned col- lection); docu••nte of th• Ir•nien ..b&88J at Conetenttnople, kept at !ale UniYerai~I Burgeae lettere in the Archine and M•nuecript DiYieiOD of tu Nev York Public LibrUJ 1 thoe• letter• refering to Babia; reporta fr09 tbe Americ•n ub•aeador• ill Iran tr• 188o onvarda, and the report• of the Yioe- comsul ill Adri•nople frOll 1865 to 1868, •nd of Yioe-cOD8Ul Scb11macher, l••d- á er of tbe Gex m•n ~empl•r•, with whom Beb•'u'llah at~ecl iD 188o and from 1890 into 1891, all of which are iZl the United Stat•• lrchiYH of the De- partment of State, Wuhington, J>.C.; the reports relatin to the eesaMi"•- tioa of hbrie, Aaerican conaul ill !ebr•n on ground.a he waa a Baha'i ill 1926, in the •=e depoaitory; the collection of uncatalogued M.Dlwcript• at Princeton Univerait,', aaeociated with Jelel Azal •nd Said lb•n XurdS•á tani, including a cop;y of the !'3tatu'l-ICat, and a doc\11Dent p>rporti.Dg to be the diary of the Bab. CI have not 79t investigated 01 of .th• abOY• but intend to 4o ao vhen time pezaita.) Dr. Momen regar0a the esta.bliabment of a Baha'i Studies Au0cia:tlon in :am-- ope as premature end nnneceaaery and unlikel.7 to advance academic work on the Baha'i Faith end u euch of little consequence to '9rioua Babe'i schol- ars. Be insiata that there is much vork to be done before an EncrcloP!c\~ Baha'i can be suitably formulated, that an encyclopedic project ia tertiaey and Beha'i echolara must be occupied for the foreseable future with primary and aeconda17 source en•l;rsis and 111nthesia. An excellent idea but before it• time. Papera: 'The Social Besie of the Babi UpheaYale (1848-5}): A Preliminar:t AnalysiJI', 20 pages, 1979. ''l'be Tri•l of Mull• 'Ali Beetami: A combined Snnni-Shi' i fatwa against the Bab 1 1 Je.2 pqee, 1980. Publications: Dr. J.B. Eaalemont, London:Beb•'i Publiahiag tfruat, 1976. ':'he Babi and Baha'i Reli ions 181ti.-1 : Some Conte rar :á:estern Accounts, Oxfo~d: George Ronald, 1 1. I. DRii&U .• • t t. ' 2)Peter Sllith Iánpageai 10gJ1u, i&e-o'll, - Persian. DegreM: Ph.D. ill , Vni- Yereitr of I áneuter 1 D9»art.nta of Sociolog eud Religio118 Studiee, topic of reaearcha "A Sociological StudJ of the Bi1>I •Dd láb'i'l Reli- gion•"• htertiev: Mr. Saith •nd I haYe been corresponding aince apriDg of 1978, and so it vu with great pleasure indeed that I •de tbi• achol•r'• acquaiD""" tanc• for the firat tiM ill Deo•ber 198<>. At thi• time we di•cuued a m- ber of topic• but I did not 7et ha•• •"1 aort of queatiou in •ind and so this occasion paeaed without • garnering much inforu.tion abOllt bia work. Our subsequent Meting Jul.1' ll/12 of 1981 did not aupplwnt the gleaniDp of the first ri..llit ea th• •esembled acholare di•cuaaed utters of mutu•l and general interest •nd b•d but little occas,!on tor irivate conTersations. Mr. Smith was kind enough to 8end • a "BabJ.'i Studiu Vita", tram vhich I vill draw most of the materi•l for thia report. Another source ia tbe re- - port I -.de of our Jul7 11/12 ••ting, which ia aTailable ill toto upon re.. quest. Mr. Smith'• accC>11pliabmenta in the field of Baha'i ltucliea to date include the folloving: Lancaster Bahi•I Studies Seminars: convener of the 19'n-8o Bebl'I Studies Seminars held under the aggie of the Deparbente of Socioloa •nd Religious Studies, UniTerait7 of Lancaster. "Copies of all ext•nt papere have been depoaitecl at the Bahi'I World Centre Libra.?7 at Haifa. Unfortunately, I •m unable to supp~ copies of the papers, but several of them are like~ to be published." 'fbie is the statement of Mr. Smith. Iáhaye copies of several of these papers end vill •ake them available upon dem•nd and at coat. For copies of reports on th••• aeminara write to .. •nd I will supply same at cost. For short accounts of the 19'n •nd 1918 Seminars Me the United . Kingdom Bahl•I Journ•l, no. 245 (June 1978), pp. 16-1? (•nd the erratum ill no. 248, Jan1aary 1979, p. 11); •nd tor the 1979 Seminar ••• the Bulletin ~t the Briti~h ~pciet7 for Middle ,r,aster~ ~tudies, no. 6 (19?9), PP• 119- 23. Ae mentioned above, for copy of rq report on 1981 Meting of Baha'i echol~a in Lanca.ater, write me. ~á i Stu,di.~s Regist~r: compiler of two (1978 and 1979) editions of •n 1!- ternational Register of those involved ináthe academic atuc:IJ of the Bahl'i Faith. I have copies of both editions and can make them available on de- mand. This project ia DOV in the bands of c.A.s.B.F. (nov A.B.s.). ~ibliogra:ePI of Doctoral and Mas,ter:!!, tbeSt!:!. on Ba.bl"' i topics: First list- ing published in Bulletin of the British Societz for Midd.f1' East Studies, no. 6 (1979) 1 .pp. 129-30á Mr. Smith is presenti, preparing a aupplement&rJ list and would be grateful for •Dy other titles. _ When asked whether he approved of the establi~hment of a 'Babi'i Studies As- eociation in Europe, the cooperation of Bahi.'i scholars in the compilation of an Ency~loped~a.~•i and other cooperative efforte between Baha'i schol- ars, he replied, *1No, No, Yes,'' making it clear that he regarded the former tvo •s pre:nnt~e anti the latter u an excellent idea, when it work.a. Papers: 'The Routinization of Charisma? Some comnents on Peter L. Berger's ''Mot i:f Messianique et Processus Social d•ns le Babaieme"' , 2:l pages, 1CJ77. 'Nillemrianiam in the Bibf and Babi•! Religions', 29 pages, 1'T/9. - Articles: ''Motif Besearch: Peter Berger and the Bahi 1 i Faith," Bel!sion, vol. 8, Aut11n1n 1979, PP• 210-34. I. IDtftED KlNGOOM 2)Peter Saith Interview: Article•: "Hilleurieni• ill th• Babi and Beba' 1 Religiou," The Sociolo- 57qr Kellf Religious Movement!I ed., Roy Valli.a. Forthcoming. ;; he Americu B•ha • i Con11unity, 189'+-1917: A preli•i1:1at") eur- TeJ'," Stu~iee _in ~bi !'"d sBalul' i Bistoa; ed., Moojan Homen. Forthcoming. "ieviev: H.M. Balyuzi'• Beb••u 1 ll•h: 'l'be JC!D.6 ,of Glou,'' Inter- national Journal of Middle Eeat Studies. Forthcomi1:1g. s I. UNll~F.O JCDIJOOM 3)Robert ~ t.nguagea: Engliah,.Sanakrit, Pali, some Persi•n, •o• Ara- bic, some German Degrees: Ph.D. in progress, Uni•er- si t7 of L•ncaster, Departments of Pbiloaopby and Religious Studies; topic: comi-rative •nalyaia of cog- nitional theOJ7 ot two Jesuit phi- losophers and the !heravadin Bud- dbieta Interview: My first exchange of leteere and tirxt visit with Mr. Parr.r occured in December 1980. Subaequently we met Jul7 11/12, 1981 in J.ancas- ter, and have not ce•eed to correspond. During the couple ot days we spent together in LlandudDo, North Wales, much of the time vith hie wife Mitra, we diacussed a multitude ot topica, moat of them philoeophical •nd theolo- gical. ~ese notes are drawn from the record ot those talks •ad from the minutes of the Lencuter •etiDg •nd'Mr. ParrJ'• letter in response to the minutes, filling in the holes. We diec•>ued collaborative efforts between -- Bah&'i acholara, •nd it vas hie view that the categorie• for collaboration belong to the already predetermined categories of intellectual studies such as the f olloving: a)the difference between religioDB experience and ecieutific methodolo11, and cODUDon sense activities; b)the role of authority in human developaent; c)the role of Revelation in the hiatoric•l proceae and in the bn•an cogni- . tive process; d)the nature of various t1pes of diacourae, e.g., 11Are religious atateHnts descriptive, evocative, poetical, pertornwtive, proscriptive or combinations thereof?''; the nature of religious lang111ap: symbolic? how considered true? e)free will in relation to God 1 a Will; t)relationship of truth and meaning iD the Babi•I Faith' g)hermaneutics--the interpretation of the Holy Texts in our lives: theol"1 and practice by the individual and by the group; h)the nature and scope of rationality; i)mapping out of the relationship between the Bana•I Faith and Eastern re- ligious traditions, especially u Ba.hi'u'll'•h never mentions Buddha, Krish- • na or Rama; _ j)is there a role tor altered states of consciousness in Bahi 1 i experience? Are the stat,ments of a person who bas undergone or i.a undergoing states of altered consciousness truth-functional? Mr. Parry notes, regarding this liet: ''the philosophical bent here, 'these tasks are by :110 means exhaustive.'' - Relative to collaborat~on be!veen Babi'i . scholars, Mr. Parry recommended - that papers written by Baha'i scholars be reveiwed first by fellow scholars before sent to a Bahi 1 i r•ri•Vine committee so that they are correct tact= ual ly an~ professional in style prior to their formal eubr~~iasion to Be.hi• i authorities. lie also recommended that Balia'i scholars publish bound papers as !t dCl'i... by the Royal Asiatic Society. Speal~ing of dialogue between Ba- hi' is and Christiane and members of other religions, he stated his opinion that if there is co?Dmon ground, dialogue is possible, and if there ia no - com.-:ion ground dialogue is not possible, only preaching. When asked for bi• . cl•- fi.D1tion of Baha'i apologetics, tfr. Parry answered that this is the corr4t- lation of questions implicit in t~e human situation which has not beard or responded positively to the Bahi'i Revelation, and the answers given b7 that Revelation. T~is is an heuristic structure which simply anticipates a task witbout specif~ring ite content. I shall now have recourse to his most recent letter to clarify further points, Inter,iev: - surely of interest to bis fell.av BáJii'i 8Cholaraa a)Baba•r acholare "•hould not try to be áawv•ata of agnostic or potential]J -- atheistic ..thodology, but to be aware that we are B•lia'ia enp.ged in •aca- demic' research. Hot enr,.thing that c from the pen of a peraon who i.e hODest~ counnitted to a particular horizon ia propagandist. !'bough B011ebody vho ia etraining tor acceptance in the vide academic world could well be ill- plici tl1 propagandist and dishonest to bia ow be•ic hori&on cb•nge. All iD all let ua not tr,. and hide oar experience under a cloak, ~ co-1itted acholara- Marxists, atructuraliate, procees theologiam, etc. write accep- table and accepted work. Even known. atheist acholara wáite work that is ac- cepted bJ' at lea.at one pereon. Being accepted. ie not the criterioa. It all depends on •tyle. A~, what aomebody calla propagandiat somebodJ else vill call apologetic.•• _ b)Mr. Parry abarea my interest in th• compilation of an J;ne:rcloP!dia .!'ahi''i, and here he expi esaea aome of bi• Yi.,,. thereon: "An enc1clopeedia by any other n•ne would do. For it to work there doesn't have to be a reservoir ot clearly defined priury aourcea- who ia to define them? The work could contain abort pieces on Yarioue theme• fr-am Absolute to Za.yn al-Huqaribin. 'fbe7 co_!!ld be written fairly quickly and wwld give the direction in vhich ve Báhi.'ia move. A fixed arrov is al.WIQ' on the way, •nd ia a good analog::r for our liYee in all aspects. The m,yth of prima1á1 aourcee could quite eaeil- 7 halt any attempt at a summary b7 eimpl.J' questioning the validity of that ewama...?. If we acknowledge that the articles are provisional, like the ar- row alway& in a certain direction, then w can be sure that the,- do not ex- haust the truth about an iasue. !he encyclopaedia would provide an entrance into the Bahi•i 11niverae via thumb-oail diecuaaion.s. It'a still viable for me.'' c)On the T&lue of the rational facult,.z 'Trca 1 Abdu 1 1-B-ha's writings we can gather that he was very opti•iatic about man' a rational power&••• so muat we be. How if rationality has a green light, ao to apeak, then truth •nd coa11uitment mu.st be aeen in a specific light. Then people who lea•• the Faith for vhat they consider to be fact11al reasons, llU8t be spoken with •nd not considered as those vho have been blinded by ego and consequently strayed ott the airat--l~taquim. The point iJI that rationality presuppose& shared - meanings which constitutes objectivity. Being a Baha'i does not occur in m:s head onl~" but •lso in my language. A lot more could be said 011 thu.'' d)On the lioitations ot Western thinking: á''Seven 7eare of academic research and study U;l Eastern Religions have made me very aware of the limitations of certain type6, of philosophical analysis, ••I•, linguistic analysis and ordinary-language philoaop}\T. What I think ia good ia that people expose tbemselVeS to ena]y iCal VigOtar••it'& good for the ' á&Oul I and is ap antidote to several types of complacency: 1)I'm a Bahi•i and that's it; 2)I'm a Baha'i áand I've got a lot to learn tho~ l'Te learnt nothing vortbwhile yet ••• •• e)On comparative Buddhist/Baha'i studies: ''As regards Buddhism and Babi•l- a lot of worl~ to be done. However I don 1 t think appealing to famous people who have accepted Buddhism and Christianity i.e such a good argument. For each of those you haTe cited thereis someone famous who wouldn't agree vith the union. There are plenty of people who feel that a modified Buddhist ethics could be wedded with a Marxist philoeo~ does that make euch a union Yia- ble? There is no doubt that certajn Christian mystics and Sufi mystics had similar described experiences as their Ind].•n and Sri Lankan compatriots. But ve must reoember that withiJJ Christianity for example such mystical ex- periences were regarded vith bubeity. Mystical. experience vil1 often be up for comparison vith nr1stical experience, but what happens vhen IDY'&tica.l ex- periences differ? Wblcl, is tal-;en as paradipatic? And what happens vhen a I. UNITED KINGOOK 3)Robert Par?7 Interview: mystical experience goes against the teachings of prophetic religion? 'a:lho wina? It depend.a on vbat you believe. As tar aa I know, Buddha in the Pali Canon did not eay reality i.a indivi.sable-- that sounde like a statement trom Mahayana••• Buddhism and á~ontemplative Chriat- ianity or mystical Christianity aha.re a point ot contact. ilotice it is not the obediaace of faith (St. Paul) in Christ's aalvitic ro: ~ in the individuaJ•a lite which i.a the point ot contact; the contact lies i.n t ~e mystical tradition which requires a suspension ot normal consciousness. Zen Buddhism and Christ- ianity' are placed side by side. Because Zen is relativelv weltanscha11ng-tree, it's basic message ia sitting meditation tor Soto Zen an1 the Koan for Ri.nzai Zen. Such a technique can be grafted onto Christian pra=tice and advocated by 'westerners aa being valuable in 'Widening the experienc~ ot the CrJ-i.stian. Fair enough. But I hardl:! see it aa bridging a áconceptu!il. gap which I feel is very important. The concept and the experience it both expresses and brings about are linked.• ~ - Mr. Parr/ favoured t~e esteblie~e?tt of an European Balli' i Studies Association, with some reservations, that ia conditional upon its dedication to academic and academical~-viahl• work. He is tull1 in favour of the compilation of an EncycloJ:?!d.ia Bahi'i aa •lroady indicated, and hopes to be peraonall1 in- volved in ita organization and execution. Papers: 'Phenomenology, Methodological Agnnaticiam and Apologetics•, 1979• . 'Revelation •nd ff11maa Nature: •a ea~ on Existential Theology', n.d • .. I. UlrtED ID«llX>M ,. )Dr. Denis MacEoin teqaagee: Bngliah, Arable, Per- •iu, French Degreea: II.A., Edinburgh Vniver- •itJ i Ph.D., Cambridge Universi- ty, á1;ag•a College; diuertation - - 'T_ topic: ''fr.om lh•~illi•• to B'i.b:usm: -- - A StudJ in Ch•riematic Renewl in §lli'i Islam" hte~iev: Dr. HacEoiD •nd I bave corresponded tittullJ' over the past fevá 7ears, eince I 'began ~ graduate studies in lalimic CiTilisation at the Uni- Terai~ of Chicago, in fall of 1977. It ws hence with mch pleuure that I •ade hie acquaintance in December 1980, Ti&liting him in South Wal•!• At that time he vu writing a nove1, an introduction to the BibI and Bab'l'i religions, and seeking a publisher for hia full-length biography of rahirih, tbe Bibi heroine, and for hia translations and adaptations of eevera1 of her poems. After our di.sc11ssion he was hired as a lecturer b7 the Universit,. of Bewcaa- - tle upon 'fyne, and now has a graduate student \1Jlder his inaediate advisement, Stephen Lambden, vboae area of etudy 'will be Balii'i doctrine and JudeosCbriat- ian religious tradition with special reference to the Baha'i interpietation of Biblical texts. Dr. HacEoin ia, according to a letter from Mr. Lembden - dated 1}/8/81 ''lecturer in Arabic and Islamic studies''. Dr. MacEoin and Mr. Lambden are plannins a conference on "The Baha'i Religion and the Great World Religions'' for April 1982. Are there nine letters of Balii'u'llah at BNUS? Du.ri~ our conversations together Dr. MacEoin agreed to review my bibliography tor publication, ud I consider this •n honor as he ia very V!ll preP!red for - ascertaining the completeness of those parts entitled '~baylslli', •Bibi', 'A- -- zali' 1 and for much 'Baha'i' material aa well. Be personally bas a large col- lection of Bab! manuscripts. Be ie fa•orable to collaboration between schol- ars but declined to suggest specific apherea of cooperative effort. Be i.s in favour of the publication of small runs of translations of scholarly articles about the Babi and Baha'i Faiths, such as those authored by Ivanov and Gia :Ro- - berto Scarcia. He is interested in the comparative study of Babi.'i Faite!nd o~h.!r religions,_particularly in the analY!i! of_t~e role of megic_in .§!ii' ism, Babisn and ~!ism, in th! study of Ismi'ili Shi'i.sm, of the Zaydj.s, the Illa- .Allahi, of ~~i 'i&ci and ~ufism in general, of Baha'u'llah ••as a fufi''• Dr. MacEoin showed interes~ in the etudy of twentieth-century Bah'i 'i cor?n•zni!Y but affirmed that access to information and to material is difficult. Bah'i.'i na- tional histories must be collected and published in some form 80 that es!en- tial materi~ is not destroyed. He suggested~hat I contact Vahid Rafati for a bibliography o~ the recent edition of Sha~i literature. We discussed many. issues of concern to_Ba.11a 1 Is, most of them highly controversial and hence a- voided by most Ba.~a'is in discussion, especially in public forums. Be asked whether Dr. Beveridge plans to translate bis dissertation from German into English. (See D.r. Beveridge for his anewerl) - Dr. MacEoin prefers ad-hoc seoinars to the forzuation of a formal association for_Bahi 1 i studies. If such an association is formed, he feels that non-Ba- ni • i scholars inte::-ested in the Faith such as William •tcElwee Miller ( Rever- e~d minister of the Presbyterian Church) and Dr. Mangol Bayat Phillipp (pro- fessor of Middle Eastern History at Harvard University) and himself ahoul2 be invite~ to participate. I did not ask him about an Encxclo;p;edia ~á.i and so am •anable to represent his views thereo11.. Papers: 'Analysis of Sources for the Words of the Bib, Baha'u'llab and 'Ab- du'l-Bana•, 2 pages, n.d. 'S'iblsm, BaJii•!sr:: and the Irl.nian Constitutional ReTol.ution•, 19 pat;es, n.d. I. 1JNl'fED KINGOOK 4)Dr. Deni.a MacEoin Interview: Papers: '!be Concept of Jib•d in the Babi •nd Baha'i lloT-nts' 1 31 papa, 1979. . 'A Critica1 SUrTe~ of the Sourcea far Eer~ Bebi Doctrine •nd Bietor- 11 with particular regard to the Jrobleu of authenticit7 1 eapecialq in the case of the Rug,tatul.-Kaf', 52 pages, 1976. 'Bitu.l. Ulll Semi-Ritual Observances iD Babin and Báha'i• (Part One and Appendicea), n.d. á 'The Sbay'khi Reaction to Babim' , a.d. 'From Sbayt..hiam to Babim: A Stu••wsr 1976. ''Ravi.ah-i muta1i' •-J'i 'il mi va karburd-i •n dar tahqiqba-yi Baba' i, '' ~h&M-i Badi', :rear }2, no. }45. 5)Dr. 'Atábas Anar.at Lan~s: English, Persian, Ara- bic De~ees: Ph.D., Oxford Universi- ~y; topic o! diseertat ion: ''Bab- is in Ir1.n in the 1840•a with historical background of 1t30's and 18lto• 11 in Iri.n'' Interview: At the time of ~.. interview Yi.th Dr. Amanat he 1-Ad not yet been awarded his Ph.D., •nd he was still at work paring down his dissertation to the licit o!" 1201 000 words. He said that he would w&.nt to participate in Ba!-la•r Studies se~ina.~s after the completion of bis dissertation but was un- able to attend the July 11/12, 1981 meeting of Baha'i echolars in Lancaster. - He a£;?'~3d with me that B&-~i•I scholars need to come together, &nd also af- - fi~~ed tbat Ba.hi'i scholars need to expand their field, publish articles in academic journals and in otbe~ periodicals and otherwise acquaint aeadeoics with t~eir field of etudy. He stated that there has been much and good re- search on the historical period of the Bab's 111inistry and following, 18'1'•-52 but so far very little substarititive work on Baha'u'llah'a ministry, 1852- 1892, and that C".JCh research needed to be done on this period. Bahi'i stud- ies should not be limited to study of history but should •lao address impor- • tant issues includinc the following: a)future o! the Ba..~'i Faith; b)Bahi•I vie~ on world i6sues; c)dialogue between Baha'is and world on the growth ot socialism, on nuclear war, on environmentalá problems, on technology; - a)discussions of essentials or Bahi. 1 i teaching: view of God, whether corresp- - ondinG to th~t of old religions or something new; the roota of the Bahi'i conception of div1De ~ifestation; e)study of the .Bana•I 'Faith as phenomenon of past and treatment as live sub- ject in prese~t and future; !)future stud á 2s in ~eneral; g)Ba.~a'i invc:ve~ent in politics; b)Bah'i•i attitude: open and ir~vestigative or evangelical and fanatical.? - !>:-. ~anat feels that access to sources fo~ :Ba.bi and Baha'i studies needs to - be liberalized. lie recom.'7"tended that the next several seminars held in the U.K. be open for free discussion of specific tteme5, open consultation, dia- locue rath~r than the readins of pape~s. H~ !eels that the establiehment or an ac.ade:-.ic centre !or Ba~a' i studies would be too controversial and cost too much money_to be appropriate for the preoent. Dr. Amanat Rointed out that what Baha 'is bene~ally acc~pt as the 'official history' of the Cause is not infaJ.lible, ~d tlJ.at Bali.a' i sc~olars, reg-ardless of tbe-ir religious affiliat- ion nrust use 6cientific methods in the study of the past. Independent inves- tisation of reality, th!-oubh use of reason and scientific method is supported in the Baha'i Writjnes and this should be the meti1od or B:J~á i &eholars. We need to detach ourselves froc the Weste~n rationalistic and Eastern irrational- • i6tic perspectives and find a trc.nsce!ldent~.l vie\.: a."ld approach to scholarsr~ip. He is inte~est2d in acquirint: rep~i~ts of old anj copies cf new articles on Baoi an:i Ba'1e • i topics ll ?.ussi?.n la.r.itUace. Dr. h r:Ja:'lat described the conte!lts o~ t.is Plá.• D. dissertatior, as :f'oll o\1s: It is about the situatio~ in !ran in the 1f30's ii!lj 184o•s, a socie..l fii~tory related to the ~istory o! the Babis; t~e responce of t~e 'ular.~ to the B~bls1 tte rol~ of me~chants1 the ecor-o~ic situation in Irar. i the conve!'sion of the early Babie in 1(i44; the Bat.I an:i general histOTY o~ fil:u!"~an, ncrt~ :cast provi:,ce of Iran; the faa.ily baci;r,rour.d of the B~ jJ'!"io!" to 1844; a..'l intro~uction to rries s i&.:li c movements in the nine- teenth century; t he Bib's pil~ir:~ce; the i~tellectual, relicious, political, econo~i c, social preconditions f~: BibisM; interp~etations or Bibisr.-•• P -~ • .. .... ~ .~ . ..,.. ...;,, ;0.• "'' 6 e • e ' t , 0-T",I r.• c! • I. 1JNrrED KINGOOM 6)ViYa Perdu Tomlin Lenguapa: Bngliab, Perei•n Degree11s Ph.D. ia propeu, Os- ford Uni.Yeraitfl topic,_compar- illg Cbriati•n and Bábi'i OCNlllOIOJ11 Interview: Mr. •nd Hrs. 'fomlin kindly accepted • u a guest ill their home when I stopped into Oxford to visit Hra. Tomlin and Dr • .Amenat, both graduate students at Oxford UniveraitJ, iD December 19&>. Hrs. TOii] in did not offer detailed descriptions of her studies, papers or publications. Nor did al!e answer ~ of my questioll8 about cooperative efforts, ~~yclopedia Ba."ia'i •nd Baha'i studies. She prefered independent á research to working vith other Baha'i scholars resident in the u.K. •nd ao ahe seemed to be relative- ly unaware of their work (as they were quite ignorant of here). She invited me to sit in on a claaa tor adults offered through Oxford_lJnivereity'e exten- sion program, and I vas avare that her depiction of Babi'i cosmic theory bore distinct similarities to that of Mrs. Marian Lippitt, chief compiler of The Worlds of God compilation with vhom I bad atudietl for a few months. It is my hope that Dr. Tomlin, for soon eball she be, u aoon aa her diasertatioD is completed, will Uke a name for herself as a Bab5•I theologian. She cer- tainly has acquired first-class training in theology at Oxford University. I. OIHED mfGIX>M ?)Stephen Lambden I.anguagea: English, aOlle Arabic, eOM Persian, lebrev, SJriac, Qr"k (for Rew Testament readings) Degrees: M.Litt./Ph.D. iD progreu, Univerait7 o~Bevcaatle upon fJD•, -- Department of Beligioua Studies; topic: llahi'i doctrine and tTudeo- Chri.atilln religious tradition vith special reference to the !alia'i in- -- terpretation of Biblical texte Interview: Mr. I,ambden •nd I corresponded prior to our meeting and woad•• ful, heart-warming and mind-stretching coD.versatione on Jul7 11/12, 1981 iD L•ncaster. Since then we have also exchano...d a few letters. In Lancaster we spoke of ~ 11V1ttera á~d I did ~ot keep notes, eo w~.atever I 88'3 here ia based upon a stale r.lemory, corrected b7 Mr. I.ambden b'!.:nselt. Be showed h!Ja- selt enthusiastically in favor of the publication of a §..ha1'kl!t/Bibt/BahK•i . bibl1~a~, end iD the publicatioQ ot primary aource materi•l• tor Bibi •nd -- Balli'! studies, in the original tongues. Be ia a prolific writer, but baa not 7et found a benificent and coura.geoue publishing patron, and ao hie •anuacripte remain for the present beyond the pale. One of these 'books explores the cri- teria for investigation of realitJ cited b;J 'Abdu'láBahl-the senses, reason, tradition. ir.&Spiration and revelation; another book studies some of the mani- teetationt ot $..~piration. Hi.a interest is primarily in Bahi' i doctrine and - the Bani'i inter~etation of Jew'!.sh, Chl!ieti•a and Islimic scripture and tra- ditio!• In the future he hopes to write varivus bool:& designed to expo11nd the 1'ab&'i understanding of Judaism and Cbristi.8Dtt7 from both a acholarl7 and a- pologetic stance. He is working on llis M.Litt./Ph.D. having a]rea~ cc11apleted a desree in Biblical and Religioua Stu4ies at the Univer•ity of ftewcastle upon Tyne, and ia under the supervision of Dr. D1nie Hac~oin, lecturer in Arabic and Ielimic .Stlit.':! ~• (eee report I ... )). Ire is vork.i.ng with Dr. >'.acEoiD iD or- ganizing a Baha'i ati1diea seminar tentatively scheduled ~or .April 1982 and l:..aving the proviaio:lal subject-heading "The Babi•i Religion and the Cb'eat World Religiona". In a letter dated 15/5/81 1 Mr. Laobden listed the topics ot a number of papers he hopes to vzá:lte in the future, based upon collections of notes compiled over the past ten years: a)lote-tree motif in the Q~'~n •nd Wr!t;ng& of Bahi•u'llahl b )T .K.Cheyne, Biblical scholar and Ban&' I; • _ _ c)Bibli2al texts applied to M~inmad and Islim b;y Muslims and Baliil'ia; d)Baha'i Christologr; • )Sabeans I l1c:tndeans and !Jani rs; t )Ba.hi.' u' lla.h • s ~i!,\tGt.::.i-~g.9.as; _ g)Paraclete in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and_Bahi.'i Writings; b)Old T!,atar.ient texts applied to Jesus in Bahi.' i Writinss; i)Balii'i estimation of St. Paul; - j)Jalii'i view o~ the Bible; k)'J,,YJca in the Bible, Islamic tradition and Ba.hi'i ~riti~; l)G~~ek p~ilosophe~s and Jevish p~ophete: notes on a Bahi'i doctrine; m)Biblicu (\uotations in Balii' u' llah' e EsE-enee o_f l~isteries; n)Bana 'u' llah on Hebrew and S:;Tiac, langu~.::es ot Revelatio.c; o)Job in Bahi'u'llfdt's La,:~h-i-A,.,:y!t~. _ Mr. La'!lb1en i.s eaoer to tal:e 1'<áá... t in any so:-t or association of Ba.lii' i scl1ol- a.rs in Eu:-orie ~d to contri~:;tf. :.ic expertise to the compilation of an ~r.,c:r- ., _~. c_.ci.::.e 1:.á-áá .... ia _,a_l'}a 1. P~;>e:-s: - 'Heroeneut'ics and tht -,a..~a'i 'o!rit~s', n.i. '.:J.i. ~-~.n-! S;áá e:. á!cur 1-Ic:t l.fs in the Bil: le and t."ri t~s of 3a1ii 1 u' lla.."1 ••• • t "Z.7 "-- .-1 •• ,,... ~~---t ""a•-)~ I~ . .le 8)Jan Jasion Languages: English, Polish, some - Assistant Librarian 3aha • i ':/orl1 Centre Library Russian De~;:-ees: B.A. in History, Univer- sity of .lináisor, Onta.cio, Canada; aiploma in Polish language, Jagel- lonian University, Cracow, Poland. Interview: :1r. Jasion participated in a meeting of Baha'i scholars from. the United States of America, Belgium, England (and, in his case, Israel), held July 10-12, 1981, in the home of Pe~er Smith, Lancaster, U.K. (See report on Mr. Smith 2)), and on the evening of July 10 he ga 1e the assembled persons a report of his work at the :world Centre Li- • brary. I here reproduce rny notes ot his remarks, along ~ith_inforr.ia.tion gleaned fron ?áIr. Smith's 'Register ot Academic vl_2rk in 3ah'i'i Studies,' second edition, 19?9, p. 5 and from ~tudes Ba~a'i 5tu1ies, Vol. IV, De- cember 19?8, ''Three Stu.iies on 3ah•'1' £1istor:r''. During his July 10 dis- cussion w!,th es ;.!J-. Jasi~n passed around copies of the 'Desiderata• of the Bahi'i './orld Centre áLibrary, dated 5 July 1981 9 and we were impres- sed with the nU!!\ber and variety of titles that are being actively so~ght. Copies ot this list are available fro~ me at coet--I want to encourage all efforts to stock this collection, already the most comprehensive and valuable of ita kind in the world, with every conceivable book, journal, article, pamphlet or unpublished manuscript that contains important re- ferences to the Bib! and Ba.hi•! religions. This 'Desiderata' liJt was ma.de and is kept updated entirely on unpaid oá.rertime. The Baha'i ~lorld Centre Library has very few staff and very little space for the tiny staff to work. Thia list includes a number of books not specifically -- related to the Baha'i Faith but considered good reference ~orks for re- lated studies which are indispens.able for an international library of t~e future status aa this collection, establis~ed formally by Shoghi Et!endi and expanded to well over s.ooo titles by 1948 and to more than 20,000 catalogued titles by 1981, there being t~ousands ot uncatalogued items and hundreds flooding in every month from all over the planet. Mr. Jasion is in charge of acquiring new materials tor the World Centre Library, and in pursuance of this sacred mission he has been assisted by Dr. Kent D. 'Beveridge (see report under Gerrlan.y) t Mr. David Sir.anons (see report under Finland) and Dr. tfoojan 1-fomen (see report under u.K. 1)). At this July meeting he gave copies of t~e July 'Desiderata' to Ox-. Loni Brar.ison, Mr. Peter .Smith and myeelf 9 in hopes that some ot those attending oight be of some assistance to him. Mr. Jasion ex- pl3.ined how \•re could help hi::t locate and procure books and other mat- erial tor the h'CL: place this 'Desiderata• list with book dealers and sellers, and it we are able to locate any of the items thereon, write láfr. Jasion to ask whetl1er or not he has since received a copy ot the discovered item, and it he writes back and indicates need for the item, t~en order it from the book dealer or directly from the publisher it it is in print, purchase it and send the invoice to WCL. Be asked that tl1e invoice not be sent to ?-tr. Jasion in a personal letter--it compli- cates the paperwork. i,áfuenever possible Mr. Jasion orders books direct- ly trom publis~ers and sel~ted book sellers. The 'Desiderata' list has been in existence tor a little over one year, and by July 1981 nine lists had been compiled, the first in Septembe~ and October ot 1980. It is also my understanding tr•t every month since October 1980 a list has been compiled of the literature catalogued for the first time and included in the ~./CL. and that there is no list of literature cata- logued prior to that date, nor is there any list of book review or of material written by Covenant-brea..~era catalogued since that ti~e. The I • U"lI"'i:'D • J;.,. •-~Il'G;"w':' • • ;.JI<_ •• 14 8)Jan Jaaion Interview: list of catalogued ::iaterial is eo~piled 3nd photocopied !or dietribution at the World Centre alone afte~ ~or:salworkinJJ ho!lrs and by volunteer la- bour. There is sh~Pl7 no time to ~a.~e ei~her of these liats generally a- vailable to 3a~~ is. It there are enori.~h á1olunteers ot assistance an in- strumentality for distribution My be \~-.1:-ked out in the tcreseable future. ~ecently, subject bibliorrraphies ~ave b~en compiled at the request ot the Universal ;:ause of Justice and t~e !land!l ot the Cause of Goii. Mr. Jasion asserted t~l8.t at present, because of the ahort~ge of staff people and_ lack of space, t!le only indiviáiuala with unlimited access to the World Centre Library are the nande of the Cause. So tar subject bibli~graphies have -- been completed tor á~olstoi and the Bah~'i Faith' and 'Townshend and the Ba'li.•t Faith' and one is cut,rently in preparation on•the subject of 'Ru- bi:r.rih Kbimam and the 3ahi.' i Faith.•. Ot course r.iany Bat~3..1 ia have been given peraission by the Universal IIouae ot Justice to consult the Inter- - national Bahi•i Archives and the World Centre Library, but only tor li- mited periods of time and.tor researQh of a specific and well justified nature. • Mr. Jasionáshoved the assembled scholars copies or letters which are sent - regularly to the Bahi • i flat ional Spiritual Asse!"llblies asl-ting them to send copies of all newly published literature, and occasionally asking for cop- ies of rare items published in their host countries. He said t!'l.at the WCL gathers material and builds its collection in the following ways: ac- ceptance of gifts including photocopies ot rare materials; receipt of the deposit copies ot new publications requested of the NSAs; purchase. Hr. - Jaaion, who is an assistant librarian at the Bahi' i ~'iorld Centre, working with Mr. \áfilli•m Collins, head librarian indicated that the 1:/CL ia in need of expert advice; in library science, in archives management and procure- ment, in Bibi and Bahi•i bibliography, in Persian and Arabic language mat- . erial, in Hebrew literature, in comparative religion and in the Scriptural libraries of the various revealed religions. The ~pose ot allá or this ef!ort is th.e establishment of the International -- Bahi'i Library to be constructed on the Arc of Mount Carmel within ten to ti~een tears and intended to be the world center for the doClL'lMtntary study of Baha'i teachings and history. There will be space enough for about fift7 schol•re to atu~ at one time, and so opportunities for use of this Lib~ary vill be limited but undoubtedly it will work with public and Ba.- hi' i librariee to make rare materials available through photocopy, photo- atat, microfilm and inter-library loan and hence have a oonsiderable im- pact upon the field of Bibi and Ba~i•I studies the world over. All of the assembled ae~:ed Iáfr. Jasion if a volunteer might make a catalogue of all material now available in the '.'1CL collection, based upon the card catalogue, and t~is is being looked into. When such a catalogue ia avail- able it will constitute the largest and moat valuable bibliography of Ba- - ha' 1-related literature in the world. 11'e all wished Mr. Jaaion the very beat in his work at the Baha'i World Centre. á Mr. Jaaion, when not wor~:ing for the !ál:L, ia pursuing research on the tol- lowillg topics, according to Mr. Smith's 1979 Registert _ Leo 'l'olatoy and the Bah&'{ Faith; Izabella Grinev~a, Russian Bahi'i dra- matist; BahA' i Faith in Poland, 1871-1943; Baha'i tra,1el teachers in 'East- ern Europe, 1912-1940; Iiiat2_ty of Bah&•I literature in 'Eastern European languages, 1914-1940; D~lii'j. bibliography generally. -- We did not discuss either an Europeea Bahi.•I Studiea Association or an En- czc}.ol)!dia Bah!a'i. Publication•s '!'A.J.' and th• Introduction of the Bahi•'i Faith into Poland,'' Etudee BahK'i Studies, vol. IV, n.ceaber 1978, PP• 30-37. r:'J i••; T"'.' I • tJTJo11~ .L'_á I_. J...: 1~ !V"' .-.J á• ~l '..A.J4 9)British Ba!ia'i Arctives - - This ~áras the fi~st lJational :Jaha' i Arc '.1i~1es I ~.ad the privilege of sa~p- lins, and it is equi:ped ár1it~: a large eon!'erence table, per:1aps two 11undred 1looks bound in protecti•1e plastic coá1ers wit~ cards and si.gnatuiáes and kept in a glass-doored cabinet, anti hundreds of ot:1e!' boo!:a a.'1d articles a.n:f pam- phlets stas~ed in wooden cabinets ,,,it:-iout or.zanization or protectiáre cover- ing, and apparently of little appeal to anyone. This space is core lavish than that provided for t~e Frencll, German, Danish, Ilor•..1egian, Finnish, Aus- trian or Italian Bar~'l •T t~rchi ves. I ~..ave seen many b~xes of boo1~s and other literature in the cellar of t'he British f!azira.tuá'l-'1ud.s, and so I ass,une t 11at this collection is actual!:'! r.rui:r tir.ies lar~;er t 11an it á.-1 ould first see~ to be. iá!~r list ot its holdings is representative onl~r of t hose selections found on . the second floor of t!1e r.i:azi!":.:t.tu' 1-'iuds and in t:1e ~oom in which the cata- ~ lo;~ed arcl1ives are kept (eá1en as tl1e treasures of our soule, some dressed up for public display and ot!1ers, just as ~raluable pe!:haps, s11oved into the obscure background, shut up in a box and forgotten unt i l discovered by some bibliomaniac in his search for t:1e 'rarest of t~e rare' ) , and al tl1ough I have listed all of the catalogued works, I am not confident that my list includes all of the uncatalogued r.iaterial in those wood cabinets. In any case, the authors repi-esented in this collection include the following {too many titles to cite here--please order the complete list if it can be ot any value to you): Ba.'la'u'llah, in English translation; 'Abdu'l-Baha, in Englis~ translation; Shoghi Effendi, in English; Rands of the Cause residing in the Holy I.and; 1-~aye Ha.r1ey Gift; National Spiritual Aa~embly of the BaH'lt'ts áot Canada and - the United States of America; David !Iofman; Zoe !-1eyer; Brigadier-General Per- cy Sykes; ?álirzi Assad'u'lla..li, in English tr~lation; :!.?~. "Balyuzi; Lady Blomfield; Thornton Chase; Thomas Kelly Cheyne; Stanwood Cobb; Hippolyte Drey- fus; John E. Eaalemont; Mirza Abu'l-Fa~l, in English translation; John Fer- raby; l-1ary Hanford Ford; :-1 arzieh Gail; Julia r.f. Grundy; 1.ál.'t'I. Harmon; Eliza- beth Herricki Gayle Woolson; Albert Durrant Watson; George Townshend; K.J. Spaulding; t-tirzi. AJ;!mad SoQ.ri.b; '.'lilliam Sears; Cr.arlee f1ason Remey; Horace Ilolley; ?azel Mazanders.ni; rrational Spirit1~l Assembl:':' ot India, Pakistan and Bu..~; Beatrice Irwin; láf anchester 'Sa~a'i group; !á!ay 4á- iaxwell; Ruth_J. - f.:loffett; ?'1ary Perkins and Philip Hainsworth; Florence E. Pinchon; fáfabil-i- Zarandi; M. ~idayat Hosain; Martha L. Root; Peter Essle~ont; Isabella D. Brit- - tingham; Paul :ached by ~á!ssrs. Euck and .S~holl just prior to this meetinr, to write articles tor the proposed book, to be publiaheái by Kalirnit Press in the not too distant future. T11ere is no re..!son w LY un,iveraity libraries w!ll not buy a volume such as s.t;u_dies in Bib,i; a!ld ~ahi' 1:. ~istcry. No Bani' i publisher ll!lJ!I r.a~e an all-out effort to r.t.arket their books to libraries and in par- ticular to academic institutions. It was eonceeded that capital is the - necessary foundation of marlceti:ig and 3a!la ' i publishers are endo,.,ed with precious little fluidá capital. George Ronald Publishers will na.~e its first serious attempt to r.iar!at! a book to_acadernica with the publication in 1981 of Dr. :-tomen' s T111e ~~i ,and Ba~• i R_!l.li!)ions, 18l1 1 t-19'~1, Sor.ie Con- te~norar ~ecou..~ts. á c Dr. TAr.i B::áMson suggeated that the NS& of Belgium might print a vo- lume of scholarly articles and t~t it might be bound into a book locally, in . Englan1. Mr. Jan Jasion insisted t 11a.t printing can be done more cheap- ly in Canada than in the United States or England • . Dr. ?1omen rer.iarked that 1? I. UNITED KTI7GOO?át 10)Lancaster meeting, July 10-12, 1981 George Ronald ia1,rinting his book in the United States becaua~ costs there are so ~uch less than in E?li~lan~, even including the price of oversea.a pos- - tage. Itr. Ter?'y promised to price the coats of printing in Ife\4 England, and to supply tl1at information to the next convocation of Ba!la' i scholars in the United Kingdom. á (2)~egarding the holding ot annual seminars with presentation ot scholarly papers: . a)Propoeed organization of an European Bah8. •I Studies Association-á - Investigate the operation of the Bahi'i International Esperanto League as a possible model for such an Associationinobody volunteered. There are mixed feelings and thoughts on thia subjeot but the .views most • often voiced are: •. -That Bah&'{s should be able to meet to discuss Bana•i and Bibi history and teachings without inhibitions, among themselves and with individuals .. . - who are not enrolled members of the Ba~ 1 i cor.ununity • 'á -That there is conaid9r!ble resistance to the organization and carrying out ot such meetings on the pert of some enrolled members of this comnunity. -That the conferences, surmner schools and other of fieially planned com- munity convocations have not allowed for an open and yet disciplined intel- lectual. exchange of information and perspectives and interpretations. -That those instrumentalities which have been ostensibly established in - order to encourage Baha'i atudiea have ao far become what one participant called •an advanced deepening institute probably combined with propaganda . . . . among the universities', essent~ally and exclusively subjective rather than objective, ideological rather than dispassion•te, dogma.tic instead of scien- . ., . ; tific in method. - .JThat individ11•l Baha'ia have jealousl1 defended and oftea irreconcilable views ot. intellectual enquiry, of open and •scientific' study of their own religion, and that we are not ready to listen to each other and to reach a higher ground that can be shared by all • .rlot all of rq colleagues would agree with all of these statements, but all of them will agree with some ot them. The discussion ot the last topic, ot our differing viewe waa particularly ricn with contraat, colour and convic- tion. Mr. Smith championed the phenomenological approach to tge etu/ho will revi•v? Who will publish? Who will choose topics to be included, length of articles ••• ? Mr. Parry, in a letter refreshing my memory after the meeting and upon his re- ceipt of the first draft ot this report, wrote that 1 An encyclopedia by any other name, would do. For it to work there doesn't have to be a reser- voir of clearly defined primary sources--,.,ho is to detine it? The worká could contain short pieces on various things from Absolute to Zayn al-Muqar- ibin. There cguld be written fairly quickly and would give the direction in which we Bana'is move. A fixed arrow is always on the way, and is a good analogy for our lives in all its aspects. The myth of primary sources could quite easily halt any attempt at a summary by simply questioning the vali- dity of that summary. If \'19 acknowledge that the articles are provisional, like the arrow always in a certain direction, then we can be sure that they do not exhaust the truth about an issue. The encyclopedia would provide an entrance into the Bahl'i universe via thumb-nail discussions. It's still viable tor me.• t-t r. Terry ventured to assert that th• compilation of an en- cyclopedia could serve as a rallying point for Bahi'i scholars, a.a a tocua for their collective energies, for the d7namic expression and formation of T!tár~n v-á IáG~'á I• Ji. ~.l:J ro..l• !.A.I.'! 10)Lar.caster neetins. Jul7 10-12, 1921 spiritual unity of t :1e learne:i of ~a.~1a and of t~e entir ~ eo!':l."'lUnity of :\1- Ab:i.ai :m,j t :~at in cor.ipilinrr 5tlC1:t a ,.,or!-:, á.11.ich mi ,: h.t •:1e J.l ta~á:e decades, an entire :;eneration or eáren t •.-10, t he indi •ri átual scholar '...rould contrioute c!l.1.:r ..,~t ~.1e o!' s ~:e can r!o best, not'.'li?i.;! bl.it t'1e !)est, á..1ith !l.n understandi!l.']; t~'l t e•.r entuall•r• t .1e co":lnlete • at!'-uct,.ire •á1i 11 be rai3ed llnd t~e full \átor!-: ~1ade a ár'!i lab le to t~ e inquisi ti á."e rearter. ?á!r. S::?i t :1, 1Jr. J:""a.rison and Dr. '.!endy ~!o~en ~roi.ce1 t ~-: eir a,~eenent •.á1 it i1 :>r. !toojan '.-lor.ten t 1.!at such a project is pre~.1ture at t ~1i3 ti :~e. 1 .!e a~eed to disa~ee. :tssrs. Parry and Te~ry are still 3ttac~ed to the conce~t. - ( 5)Zuropean !!iator'IJ Project ~!r. Terry understands t!i.at the Uniá1ersal Iiouse of Justice !las t-1ritten a nlL'!l~er of .i:uropean I13As asking them to underta~\:9 the C')::lpilation and. \-lri te- U!] of t '.1 eir respecti,re national 3a:ia• i histories, that is ot the de;relopi.tent ot the °"3(!1.:-:.a • i Fait:1 in thei~ specific countries. As far :is he kno~á1s, such ":listories are bei?lg á.-1ritten or :1ll~1e been completed in ~\ustria (by Dr. Kent ). Je 11eri1~;e and iá1r. Kat:ibiz Poostchi and others, see reports), Norway (by iá! :-s. Gerd. Strand a!ld :•i iss Gudrun Ofate~aard, see reports), .Finland (by I1r. !Iarri Peltola, see i"'eport), S\ofeden (b~r f.fr. Paul .:itolpe and Iátr. Ezzat Djaza- :reri, see reports) 1 Den.':'larlt (by !lies Kaya ~lolclt 1 see report), Spain {láliss 'lfi?... ~inia Orbiaon, Casi ta Rosa, :tonte de Sanoha, J.'!alaga, Spain), Italy ( ~á~ •. Feri rtazl...m, via. S. Yorio, Locarno, Switzerland), and France (rlr. David ~red Blacl~er, 8, rue Gaston l(eller, 57000 lletz, France). !>r. Bramson a .:1. ..YJ.ounced tliat sl1e plans to study 3elzian 3aha. 1 i history and to receive perr.1isaion to consult currently closed port:i.ons of the ~\r.ierican Ilana' i ~!ational Arc!1ivea collection in ':lilmette, Illinois. In pursuance of her air.i she has already undertal~en some intervie\áTS ~.,it~1 ''old belieá1ers'' and has discove:-ed a fair nw:1ber of relevant docu.~ents. She mentio~ed that t!1ere are Ishqabadi !3a!'!.a' is living in Belgium. :átr. Terry mentione~ encoun- tering soMe Ishqabadi ~aha'is in Finland, or rather be~~1 encou:-age1 to tape in- terviwa with t~l!"ee Is!1qabadi 3aha' is by a iátoscovite Da~1a. 1 i whilat in !Iel- sin!::i. Dr. 3ra"'.!son also :1opes .t o write Ba}la 1 i histories for the D1ltch, Lux- embourgish and French comotmities. Dr. rroo j an llomen avered t '.'lat no one person could compile a comprehensive history of the British Baha'i community inasmuch as there are big gape in t~e historical accounts whic~ presently exist and comparatively little and diso1~ga.nized documentary evidence. :!e noted that o.z. ~.'l1itehead and l~ichard Beale r.iay be ,,,orking on the '.o/riting of a British 3aha'i history, • and that Continental Counsellor Setty ~eed has asked for information on the Ishqabadi ~1a'is to be collected. ':le discussed the idea of an European llistory Project to which Baha' is from the various European national eoanunities could contribute and as a locus for t1.e pooled talents of a number ot Ba..'1a'i historians, and Dr. Bramson indicated t!:.at slie would talk with !á! r. Louis Henuzet and also write a letter to the Continental Board of Counsellors regarding this proposal. (On August 9, 1981 Dr. Bramson vrote oa froo B~ussele to the effect that she had recently talk- ed .,.,ith !áIr. Henuzet and written the CBC and th.at the future of this proposal \IBB aq1aarely in their hand.a.) (6)Guidelinee tor the review of sc~olarly literature a)Problema with the review of manuscripts beinr, submitted for publication and written by Baha'i authors, by Jeview Committees appointed by the Nation- al Spiritiwl Asaembliea-- Loaing of manuscripts; slowness of response; insistence of reviewers on exclusive emplo71Dent ot stock ''Baha • i'' terms in scholarly articles, regard- leais of their audience; ad~erence of revieá..rers to one system of Perso-Arab- ic transliteration, regardless ot the readership; inadequate theological and 10)Lancaster oeeting, July 10-12, 1981 h isto~ ical and acade~ic pre!)aredness or reviewers; double-standards: review- ers •. r:10 criticize in academic articles and books in the field of BS.bi and - - Baha'i studies 'trhat t l1ey t ~1 er.1se1~1es practice in t:teir respective professions and fiel1s o! specialization; power politics: t~e position o! the reviewer s1.-1 ella not a few lteada; there is actually no committee: onl:,• individuals R!)pointed to review, no consultation bet~-1een revie•.1 ers; anon:rr.iity of review- er so t~at no personal rejoinder and dialogue is possible; failure to dis- tinr;t1ish in many cases bet•.áreen editing, á.-1hich is the 2re!'o0t ... ~."e o~ ~h.e '!:J1.lh- lis!ler, and review for accuracy of port:::-a:ral of 3a~tiá i teaci1in~s and history an:i 't'lit!1 t11e aim of protecting t~!e Faith from its enemies and the believers f!"or: controvers~r. M b)Letters from the Universal House of Justice on review-- T11ose \'1110 attended !'ead copies of letters on árevie•..t 't1ritten bi tl1e Uni,1er- - sal !Iou3e of Jt1stice an1 by the Jesearch Department at t~e Ba.!1a' i \á/orld Cen- tre, one of \lhic~ "Jtas publis:1ed in part in an issue of lah~' i l'Teltrs, a..'l.d - ot~ers aent directly to individual 3ahi'i scholars and then circulated by t 11er:? to eac~ other. All of tl1ese letters t'lere most encouraging to Ba..lta.' i sc:1olars and carefully explained the need for revie'" !t t l1is time, in order to protect against the misrepresentation of the Baha'i Faith by its own fol- - lo\'1ers, •.'/ho are often not fully informed ot the facts and ot their correct in- terp:-etation; to correct tite misconceptions of 3a~' is and non-Bahi' is; to - alleviate the occurrence of scornful attacks ,.,hie~ take ad,rantage of these ~i~e~esentations ~~1 miseo~eeptions voiced (and published) by Bahi. 1 is. All - tl-1ose present were impressed by ,the tone, the reasoning and measured voca- bulary of these letters from the Uni"rersal IIouse of Justice. Tl-:.ere vras lit- tle discussion--my feeling was that further discussion would be fruitless: tl1e ~Iouse had spo!'.'..enl á c)Characteristics ot certain Review Committees-- - Ea.ch Bahi'i community has its o~n standard~ for the review of material submitted !or publication by Baha'ls on B!hA'i-related topics. Df• 3rar.taon affirmed that in Belgium and France Ba..i.i' i scholars never have an}\ diffi- culty with Review Committees, that, in fact, it is difficult to get them to review material written by scholars; in Belgium the lTational Spirit\1al Assembly told Dr. Bramson that it !eels there is nobody in Belgium quali- fied to review her academic work. :-1 r. Smith noted t11at review \'18.S an is- sue in England a few years ago but t~at now the knowledu"'8 . and judgement of - individual Baha'i scholars is more consistently appreciated, :t.nd, at the ti1lle of this meeting, five out ot the twel,re reviewers were participating in this conterencel Dr. l~oojan tfomen said t1'..at he looks through whatever is submitted to him for review and it it is acceptable, he sends it back to the committee secretary recommending approval; he has yet to turn down a manuscript. Several or those present pointed out that review takes less than two months on most occaaions in the United Kingdom, and that t11ey also have an ''emergency review'' proceedure to hand.le books and arti- cles which must meet a publisher's deadline and soon, or else •••This in - - contrast to the Review Committee ot the American l~SA which has yet to res- pond to Stu~ies in Bibi a;i~ Ba..118•~ His~orx, vol._I, t~o years after it waa offered !or review prior to publication by Kalimat Press. ?á!r. Terry men- tioned the difficulties whicn ásome Germ•n Baha'i scholars have encountered with the Review Connnittee of the German NSA as presently constituted. Participants agreed th&t there must be personal contact with reviewers in order to change the sometimes rigid and dogmatic views ot some of the individuala appointed to pase judgement upon the written compositione of their co-religion!sia. All admitted that review will go on, like_i~ or not, and that Ba..~'i scholars must accomodate to thi.a tact ot Baha'i life, I. UltI'rED Kn?GOOrI 10)Lancuter meeting, July 10-12, 1981 one ,.,a,, .. or ~other. :re started t~11s discussion iárith the idea t~t '!.•re, a group ot Ba'ha' i sc:á.olars, might draw up a set of guidelines tor the review of sc~olarly literature in the field of 3~bi and Ba~a'i studies, which we r.ti~ht t\?en propose to the Universal House of Justice, ani/or to the indi- á1i iual tlSAa &."ld t:~eir ~eview Comittees. By t~1e ti:ne we finished reading t~e letters from the Universal !!ouse of Justice our enthusiasm for drawing 11p any sue!\ guidelines á11as entirely dissipated; ,.,e seem to have, at least teaporarily, resigned ourselves to the way thin~s are nov, to put up and s~ut up, or try to c~ange policies by getting to know the reviewers per- soMlly. We "'ere moat impressed that the Universal House of Juatioe praised the intellectual eftorta ot a Baha'i scholar, Iáfr. Jtaan Jicardo Cole, whose specific conclusions in one of his articles (published in Uorld Order on the subject ot the Manifestation of God) the House did not itself entirely sr.:.are and agree withl Paranoid scholars, ta?te heedl (?)Baha'i Studies Centre . Participa..~ta asked whether the Association !or Baha'i Studies has es- tablished a .!laha'i Studies Centre in Toronto, Canada, and 1'1r. Terry pro- mised to c~eck on this and make a report. (Mr. Terry haa since tall~ed ,.,ith ti-10 merlb•re ot the Executive Board of A.B.S., Dr. Husain Daneshá and Dr. Williar.a Hatcher, and the representative of t~e American ~ISA to that Board, Mr. John v/albridge, and accordir.~ to the information he has been able to collect so far, the A.B.s. headquarters is located at 224 Fourth i\venue, Ottowa, Ontario, Canada K1S 2L8, and it comprises an entire build- ing, adjacent to the campus of the University of Ottawa, and is intended to become a Baha'i Studies Centre under the jurisdiction of A.B.S and the Canadian NSA.) . }le also asked .Dr. 1~toojan Momen whether such a Centre tor Baha'i Studies might be associated with the Afnan Library in the future, and Dr. Homen said that he and the other two trustees of t:1e Libra.r:r have considered this eventuality in a positive light, but that such a Centre will not be coming into existence in the very near future. T.aetly, tie aa.l(ed Mr. Jasion if the Universal House ot Just ice contem- plated establishing an Institute tor Baha'i Studies in Haifa and connected with the International Ba.~• i Library and the International Baba' i Ar- . chives, and I.fr. Jasion said that the International Baha'i Library, which will be able to accomodate approxi:na.tely fifty Baha'i scholars at any one time, will not be completed, t~t is the structure tor this.collection will not be raised for ten to fifteen years yet, and that, properl:r speak- ing, this would not tu.Dction as an Institute for Baha'i Studies, but rather as ~ other reference library. (8)Publication of prima17 source :nate~ials Dr. láloojan Moman noted that Kalimat Preas is reprinting Tahirih the Pure, by Martha Root, with an introductory essay on Martha Root by l.farzieh Gail, and three Appendices and tour pages ot Retea, in 1981, and that the American Bal1a'i Publishing Trust is publishing a reprint of E.G. Browne's translation of •,\bdu'l-Baha'a history ot the Ba.bi and Baha'i Faiths, en- titled A T~avele?"'s liarrative, without the tlotes and Appendices which char- acterized the second volume of.hie work, and without the Persian language origiml text edited by Mr. Browu published in the first volume. I.fr. Lambden insisted upon the need for circulation of accurate copies ot primary sources, p•rticu1arly of Babi and Ba1".a' i Scriptures in their original tongues, •nd alao of histories and photographic copiea and care- tull.J edited tranaoriptions and scholarly trea•lationa of original docu- ments. T~e other participants in the meeting did not indicate much in- 10)Lancaster ~eeting, July 10-12, 1981 tere.st in t'.1is :'"latter' ,_.,ith tli.e exception or :tr. Terr)"' 'rlhO has becor.te pain- full~r ~~á:are of t':'.e need for i.lore efficient circulation of such r.iateriala t ::.rou:;h his cons1.lltation.s \á1ith s,!:\:1i'l sc:"?olars on t~e Continent (and subse- q•.1ent1~~, i:i t::e United States of Aoerica). Jr. ;too,jan ~to11en noted t~mt E. G. 3roá.me Gt!:died t 1::ree ;.'lanuscripts of t:-..e n('\•ran-i-~!'"sI, and that it \iOuld be relati~1el~r ea.s:r to cor.ipa.re his copies •:1 ith t ~:oae in !!aifa and hence to pre~e a carefully edited and authentic edition or t l1e i-lotrler Book of t11e 3~b} ~evelation fo~ eventual publication and ~eterence by students of the - - labi and 3ar.a'i Faiths. Professor Browne's careful study of hie three manu- scripts is stored in a box in the Cambridge University . Library • ( 9) :.:eport on t~e .ft:f'nan Library by Dr. tloojan =átor.ten á.r.:1en I!and of t~~e Cause of God IIasan ?-t. Balyuzi passed away, his \~ill pro- vided for his private library be established as a reference library and re- search facility for students of the Bibl and Bahi 1 'I :t'aiths and Persian Gulf region. !le appointed his 'rlfe, his son }obert and hi.a research assistant, Dr. iioojan Ito;'jen, as tr,1stees of t:"?.e library, and provided that a cember of eac11 family continue to ser11e in concert to ~overn thia institution. !-lr. ~alJ'l.lZi intended for his collection to be the hub of a research institute, not just a librarz. At sooe tir.ie in the future the Trust may be able to establish a Baha'i Studies Centre and also ta..~e part in the publication of scl1olarly literature in the field ot BabI/Bahi'i studies. As provided for in llr. oalyu.zi'e will, his collection is being established at present as a Trust; a~d the trustees hope to have it registered some ti.me thereafter as a charity. At t11e time of this meeting the .~fnin Library was without legal identit;r, and a draft trust ~ed was bein~ considered by the British NSA. This Librar;r does not cor.iprise only the personal papers of tálr. Balyuzi but ,.,ill eventua1'ly include docu1nents associated ~"ith most if not all members of t~1e Afnan .family, l1ence its identification as the Af'r..an Library. r:!r. ~hu'l-Qasim Afnan, formerly custodian of the House of the Bib in S,Jtri.z, I::.1~n, and no,., a resident of Oxford, England, has promised between six and seá:en l1undred volw:es along wit!1 c:tests of Afnan family docu.~ents now in - ~iding in Iran. After these docW?Jents are smuggled or shipped out of Iran they r.rust be cataloblled and the only person wl10 can do r.ruch of this \otork is iátr. Afnin, as he is the only living r.ieober of the Afn.in family who can distiil.GUish the handwriting of his various predecessors. He is also the only person who can i~entify the handwriting on t~e envelopes of docur.ients \át~ich !Ir. Balyuzi r.ad collected over the years and which he did not identi- fy himself. At present l-'ir. Afnan is going through t l1ese documents and i- denti!'jing and cataloguing t~ern. As to the care and organization of the entire collection, a prof'essior.a.l librarian has been consulted b~r the trus- tees, and not~ing is being touched, everything--exeept for some of the Per- sian and ;\rabic ~uscripts being identified and catalor;ued by :.fr. Afnin-- is neing left as i.t \á1as at t~e tir.ie of ?'!r. Balyuzi' s decease. Mr. á Bal- yuzi' s library is not so impressive for its selection of published C18.t• erials but rather for its invaluable collection of manuscripts in Persian a.."ld J\rabic script. :~r. !3alyuzi B.Bked t h e Universal Howse of Justice to set asiá:le a covJ of ever:rthing sent to the Janda ot the Cause of God un- til tl~e ter~inntion of that institution 1:1ith the passing of the laat Hand, so t!i.a.t t!1e Afnan Library mig~1t ~18.ve a complete collection ot all oaterial sent to t~e :!ands. The Afnin Library '"ill be under the le'S&l jurisdiction of the lTSA of t'."le United Kingdom, as is required bf British statutes, but t :1e Universal !louse of Justice has indicated t :1at \.,henever the r1SA should be required to exercise its legal authority, it ~ill take instructions on this natter from tI~e Uni~1ersal llouse of Justice. As soon as the Library is constituted as a Trust, its truatees can begin to raise funds for the 10)Lancaster meeting, July 10-12, 1981 provision of operating expenses and acquisitions. It is probable, said !>r. llor.Jen, that t~e collection will continue to be housed in 11r. Bal~~zi 's T..1on- don home. 1e;a~dint; t~e man&bement of the Library, !tr. Jasion recommended t'hat the trustees consult á.*itil a orofessional - archi,riet. 1á!r. Terry suscest- ed that the Af~!.~ Librarv adopt the sane system and call numbers and letters for the classification of boo!r..s L"ld manuscripts adopted and in use at t~:e "3a!,_i • i 1.lorld Centre. :át~. Jasion described that ayster:i aa being related to tl1e u.S.L!br&?T of Congress ~Jstem, \iith sor.ie innovations required by Sao{ and Bahi' i literature. Dr. ll0C2en indicated that the trustees of the Af!tan Library might adopt the sa.~e system, and indeed the verJ same call numbers and lette~s for books and other literature in its collection which is also to be found in the World Centre Library and has been classified according to the above-mentioned system. Mr. Jasion also indicated that he could ar- range to sen~ duplicate copies of books in the World Centre Library to form part ot the Afnin Library collection. - (10)How to assist young people who are thinking of going ,!nto Bah&'i scholar- ship fro~ becoming alienated troo the Faith and the Bahi'i comm~ity Dr. llomen suggested that we conceive of guidelines tor Sa.hi.' i scholars so that t~ey will not be lost to the Faith, either that or we should dis- suade young people troni devoting themselves to Bahi•i studies. He cited - a number ot fine Bahi•is who became students of the Faith in pursuance of an academic program, aa aociologista ot religion, Ialamiciets, Iranologists, -- theologians, co1nparative religionists, lltho were alienated from the Faith and the Baha'i coamninity in the procesa. Dr. Br•meon asserted that_the guidelines for Bahi•I scholarly endeavour are to be found in the Bahi'i teachings. Aa ah• reiterated for me in a let- -- ter in response to this report in first draft, 'All one b•ls to do is follow them, i.e. live the Baha'i life. Moderations should especially . be observed. Don't get so involved in studiea that one cuts oneself off from the Baha'i community.• Ifr. Lambden avered that it is always risky for a religionist of any per- suasion to undertake an academic or ostensibly eoientitic study ot his own Faith. ?áIr. Smith noted that the central problem ia that of the controversy bet- ween the rule of Revelation and the rule of Reason, and he suggested (joke) that ?-Ir. Parry wark on th.is matter and work it out somehow and to everyone's .satisfaction. - . ltr. Terry suggested a cooperative nett'1ork of Bah&' i scholars, mut11ally supportive, through thick and thin, emoti~nall:r aa well aa intellect11ally,' and then we quickly adjourned for lunch. Ct.fr. Parry's excellent t!1oughts on the matter are well represented in lll'J report devoted to hie work. They refer to the problem of Reason •nd Revelation, not to saving the souls of Bahi•I scholars.) THAT'S ALL FOIKSI II. BELGim1 • 1)Dr. Loni Bramson Languages: English, French Degrees: Ph.D. in History ot P.eligion, Universite de Laval, Bruxelles; disser~ation on his- tory ot the Ba.Iii' i Faith in the U.S.A. and Canada, 1922-36 T!tte!"'!i~.-t: 1'r. ~r!l.'!!Son, whose ciissertation ~á!as accepted and degree awarded with high honors shortly after our first meeting in December 1980, hopes to have a reciaed version thereof published in French and in English (perhaps by l{a].imit Press of Los Angeles, California). She is also deter- mined to write the Bahi•I history of Belgium, and possibly that of France, Holland and Luxembourg. Dr. Bramson recommended. my recourse to the ~ook­ atoree on Russel Street in London in search for rare titles in Baha'i-related lit!rature. She mentioned Ann!_-Marie Mazgani in Holl•nd as a specialist in Iranian history and a Baha'i scholar. Dr. Bramson is interested in doing some translation.a trom French into English and vice versa it there is ae- surance of publication and if such translations are related to her work. - She haa taken part in the Babi'i studies semin•ra at the University of Lan- caster (see I.2)), presenting one paper (listed below), and will continue to participate in scholarl.J' meetings of this nature. She describes her philoeopby' of research aa tollovss she ia a pioneer first and foremoet, and this colours all of her work; eh• aima not to teat the taitg of others; ahe affirms that the Jiivulgence of trutn can not hurt the Bahi' i Cawse; and she feels that she hae no problem in being objective in her acr.,J1&rly work while - reraainl.ng loyal to the Bahi' i Faith. Dr. Bramson is open t-) collaborative - effort with other Babi'i scholars, but only with those of a poeitive atti- tude, tho!9 who do not separate faith trom reuon, who are not critical of the Bahi' i Cause. She is particularly a!tracted to collaborative effort with nonáBaha'ia and believes that Bahi'i and non-Bahi'i scholars can com- plement each other's studies. She ask•d me to send her a cow of my biblio- gra~ upon its completion for her cu-efUl review prior to its tinal pre- paration for publication. ~he noted in conversation regarding sources tor the stu~ ot European Baha'i history that the archives of the International -- Baha'i Bureau in Geneva, Switzerland, trom 1925 to 1955, and associated. vi.th Shoghi Ettendi eeem to be lost. Dr. Bramson spent some six months in search of a university poeition teaching history of religion, appl7ing for positions all over the world. Dr. Bramson, in tu.11 agx eement with Louia Henuzet, Continental Coynaellor in Europe, resident in Belgium, regar~ the eatabliabment of a Bui•i Studiee Association in Europe at this time •a inappropriate and untim~. In a let- ter dated 8/9/81, Dr. Bramson vrote that ''I think it would be better to let things evolve here naturally. It a Euro~an Hiator1 Project get! ott the gro1md, then I feel that it vill be •n •mbl"J"O for a tuture Babi' i Studies Asaociation••• It would be much more logical to have such a society be born from neceaait7, that ia from •11 these projects, than Yice-veraa. It th• foundation of the aociet7 ia academic, and its history of activities ia a- cademic, then there vill be no problem••• :t a Europeen BS.A. were auociated with a univereit7 there wOuldn't be •D1' probleu about it not being acadeá mic.'' Dr. Bramson aleo feel.a that it is premature tor Bahi•t scholar• to undertake the compilation.of an Enc;rclopediA; Babi•I, ~ad that it would be - Paith. cadeaica vill lemra to ~speot the B•h•'l - preferable tor collectiou of achol•rly article• to be piblillbed eo that a- II. BELGIU?.f 1)Dr. Loni Bramson Interview: Papers: 'Jlisto?7 ot the Baha'i Faith in the United States ot America and Canada', n.p., n.d. (Ph.D. dissertation) 'Internal Opposition to 'Abdu'l-Baha's Will and Testament and the Establishment of the Guardianship', 4 pagee, n.d. Publicationas ''La foi baha' iei un apercu introductif, '' article in prepar- ation tor Belgian scholarly publication. ~ rsl,is~on baha!ie, book in preparation tor Belgian publication• • III. FR.UfCE 1) Dr. Amine :.fesbah Languages: Persian, .Arabic, French, some English Degreea: r.f. D. Interview: Thanks to the hospitality and generosity of Dr. Amine Mes- bah and his wite Jeanne Mesbah, I \fa8 able to talk with him three times and for several hours without interruption. So what I will write is gleaned not from one interview but from several. The first took place in January 1981 ana the second and third in May of that same year. I \-la& interviewing Dr• tátesbah chiefiy because I had been told by Dr. Moojan Momen that the former - -- had engaged in the study of French documents related to the Bibi and Bahi.'i religions, in the Archives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Paria, the Gobineau collection of the Univeraite de Strasbourg library, the Biblioteque Nationale in Paris and the Chamber of Counnerce in }larseillea. Dr. Mesbah explained to me that there are at least twenty cases of letters, correspon- dence between the comte de Gobineau and 11is friends and colleagues in the Gobineau collection at the Biblioteque Nationale et Universitaire de Stras- bourg (B?IUS), and that he looked through all of t':lese letters searching for references to the Bibi and Baha'i Faiths, their Founders and adherents, that all of those which contained such references were included in the corresporvt- ence of the comte de Gobineau and the baron Prokesh von Osten published some time ago. As tor the letters which he wrote to his mother and to his sister, and to other persons, he did not tind a single mention of such topica in ~ of these. (For information of a more precise nature on this subject, please refer to reports on the BRUS and the Biblioteque Rationale de Paris (BHP).) Dr. J.feabah aseured me that Dr. Beveridge (see report on him under Austria) ha.a a larger collection of letters written by Gobineau with references to - - and Bahi.'is than does he himself. Dr. Mesbah 20ssesaea ph~tocopies the Bi.bis and microfilms of letters of Gobineau mentioning the Bibia and Bahi'is in hie home, and he offered to have copies of these made tor me, aa th• Univer- sal House of Justice gave hill permisaion to do so. I have not yet taken ad- vantage of his kind ofter aa I am not immediately in need of auch copies. If &n1' ot my correspondents or colleagues would seek copies of these documents I mq be able to arrange this with Dr. Meabah. In the BRUS, Dr. Mesbah did not seem to be sure of how many letters to the cOl!lte de Oobineau on behalf of Bahi'u'llah (that ia attributed to Him or to His representatives) were ex- tant and available tor perusal. During my first trip to BKUS I discovered onl7 on• sue~ letter, but Dr. Meabah shoved me copiea ot fiY• othera, and I now have photocopies of all au of these. Dr. Meabah also •lloved me to pho- tocopy a letter on behalf of Bah&'u'llah or attributed to Him, written in the Ottoman Turkish l•ngw1•g• •nd kept, along with its translation into Prencb and the responee it received, in the arohivea ot the Ministry of Foreign At- fairs in Paria, in which Dr. Meab•h h•• spent: a number ot houra looking through the filea. Th• aiz letter• attributed to Baha'u'llah at th• BNUS are addressed to the comte de Oobineau. It appears trom the comt•'• cG1Tea- pondence with baron Prokeah von Oaten that h• received other letters troa Babi'u'llah: we have no record of theae, and if tlwy are included in hia personal papera they are surely lost or destroyed •• all of hie person•l pa- pers are kept at mms. Dr.- Hesbah sent copies of all of these letters to the tra.iversal Ilouae ot Jutic•- as he was asked to undertake thiAI reuarch by the Reeearch Depert•nt- end to Hand of the Cause of God Raa•n H. Ba.l.J'u- zi (which rill nov be catalogultd and 111&de aTailable to acholara at the Afá nan Library: see report OD Dr. Momen, in the United Kingd011). Dr. Meabah told me that the Reeearch Departmen~ in Haifa waa unable to locate the aeal used to identity the lettera aent to Gobineau and to the Ministry ot Foreign Aftaira, that the• lettera are neither in the handwriting of Babi'u'llah . 1 )Dr. Amine Iálesbah Interview: nor in that ot his secret3ry at the tiQe ot t h is correspondence. It is Dr. Mesba.~'s opinion th3t while these letters are not proven to be authentically Baha'i in source, they are probably so. The aeal affixed to the letters in the B?tu3 ruid Archives ot the Foreign Ministry is composed ot two i\rabic words, !J~ and 'Alf, but their arr.'.U18ement OD the seal is different from that employed on the seals which survive to t~ia day and whi~h ar! assoc- iated with the Founder o.f the Bahi'i Faith, 1-firzi IJusayn 'Ali Niiri Bahi'u'- llah. Dr. Meebah haa round no trace ol an Oriental address book tor the coeste de Gobineau in mros, and neither have I. Dr. fáfesbah did not himself atud7 the documenta at the Chamber of Commerce in Marseilles relative to - Perso-French 00111191'cial relations during the lifetimes of Babi'u'llah and 'Ab du' 1-Bahi to locate references to Bib is and Ba.hi.' -ia. He did however ask Mr. Sabet, cousin of Buahmand Sabet of Stuttgart, a resident of Marseilles, to 11ndertake such a stud7. This reeearch is not complete but whoever elects to continue this research should consult \tith Mr. Sabet firat. Dr. Mesbah ~ ----- -,_., spoke ot a collection of lettets written between Mirza A,gh• Kb.an and ~fal- colll, the British diplomat in Irin, •nd of letters of ~adr Azim, Persian en- -- voy to the French government relative to the Baha'ia. These letters, he in- timated, are preserved in the A.?"chivea or the French Foreign láf inistry, and he baa copies of all of them. He baa studied all or the documents relative to Persi•n11 at these Archive• in Paria, but not all of those relative to the - OttO'DeD Empire and there~ be references to Bah& 1 ia thereia which have yet to be diacOYered. During one week he studied th• Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affair• in Brusaela, Be!siU11, and h! aupN>See that b• saw everything there which pertain• to the Sibia •ncf Babi'ia. Bveeything h• found of rele- vw• he photocopied or microfilmed and send copie• to Mr. 'Bal.Juzi and to the tfnivers•l Ho11se of Justice. Dr. Mesbah wrote a letter to th• archivist• of the Sviaa government asking if thq knew of ut'f documents pertaining to B&bl'a or Balii.•I. during Babi'u'llah'• lifeti1ne, and they replied that there - - we no Sviaa embau7 in. Irin until after the lifeti• of 'Abdu'l-Baha, hence DOU. at al] during the miniatrJ of Bábi'u'll•h. He did not indicate whether or not the Helvetian confederation maintained embauie•, constilates or other diplomatic ties with the Ottoman Empire, and whether Svi.aa travelers or meár.,._ chant• might have bad opport11nitiea to contact and to report on encounters -- - with Bitbia or Bah&'ia during this time period.. Dr. l~sbah thought of writ- ing to the Sviu national archive• because ot his discovel"J' of a letter writ- ten by Auguste Forel, the celebrated scientist of Sviaa national.it7, to the 1)-ench Poreip Ministry asking the cause of the persecution of Bahi'la in Irin ( thia letter ia in the Archives of the Foreign MinistrJ, and Dr. Meebah, the Univere•l House of Justice, the !fnan Library and I have copies thereof). Aa to other Archival eourcee tor Bibi and Babi•l studies, Dr. Meabah confided to me that there are certainly Dlan1' documents of relev•nce kept in the Ar- chivea of the Ottoman F.mpire in Istanbul, Turkey, that Shoghi Effendi did eome research there and .found a great deal himself. Dr. ?á~esbah spoke of a - portrait made at the behest ot the ~isaian consul in Tabriz, ot the mangled remains ot the bodies of the Bib and His disciple after their martyrdom, and of a portrait of theJ.iving Sib, that is prior to ~tyrdom made by an Iran- ian Jainter in Urrtimiyyah - during r .- Bis passage to Tabriz. .. He indicated that the portrait of the Bab and Mirza MWJ.ammad after their execution might be iil Leningrad (St. Petersburg tormerl1 and capital of th• Ruasi•n P.apire). When I mentioned this latter sketch or painting a second time, Dr. Meabah •llowed that he might be able to find a reproduction of it among his papers but that it vOJ].d take him some time to dig it out. I await a vord from III. FM?ICE 1 )Dr • .i\mine I1esbah Interview: hiJ:l. In Sweden, whilst visiting Sven Mards, I could wind or the publica- tion of a pi1otographic reproduction or the sltetch o! the Bab's remains in some S\-1edish periodical. Please see rePort on Sven ?átlrds, Sweden, for more information. Dr. Amine l~eebah has copies of virtually all of the published Tablets of Bahi'u'llah aod 'Abdu'l-Bahi in the Persian and Arabic tongues, as well as photocopies ot Tablets hia father and grandtather received from Bahi'u'lla.11. and 'Abdu'l-Babi, and ot manuscripts ot the i,a:a§gu 'I-Asma, Tatsir S\iratu'l-'Aar, Baz:a8!>-... ~l~Aral?, and BaI,in-:_i-Fir.~I whicliil ia father and grandfather had collected. 'rhe originals of these manuscripts are in sare- keeping in the International Bahi'i Archives in Haita, and at least one a- mong them i.a of inestimable value, the copy of the '?,a;ct§nu'l-.As~ , as it was copied in 1850 and ia in perfect condition and beautiful handwriting, and may indeed be the oldest copy of this work that has survived to this da.Y• Dr. lfeabah made a tour-year study of Biblical. prophetical passages and the interpretations thereof by Christian and Jewish theologians, and á.n wrote a book on the eu!!ject entitled eu;iiar,in, Qharb~ C,, 1 c!á .: á.~:,~) in Persian, published in Iria.. (I have a copy which I will"inak• avai.lable in photocopy.) The baaia ot hia research on thia nbject ia described in an article he wrote for La Pense'• Bahi 1 Ie, entitled ''L'Eeper~e et l'Attente••, one of his eeveral articles publiaged in that Swiaa Baha'i periodical. He told me that several Persian Baha'i acholare have written on theá Islamic prophetical literature tulfilled by th• Bao and Bahi'u'llah, and he .men- tioned I-trtzi Abu'l-Fa~l, Igllriq-~viri and Jeni.be Afibh in partic111ar, including Atahir'a book, which I am unable to transliterate but represent 1! !_ta Persi.U character!, ~á2~!1~\1;1 • He also mentioned that §houi g:p- dimi, the este~med Bah•' i vriter and scholar resident in Belgium and aleo ib p author ot a ma" er ot articles tor La erlBee Bah& i• bas w-1tten on the 61' ,,.... • subject of Iali•ic prophecies related to the Baha•i Cawse. Dr. Mesbah ia a poet of eouae r!,PUt•, who b•a published man7 poema in the Persian period- ical, Ahapp;i ~di, •nd at the present time and tor some 7eara to come he will be working on a series of tour volumes of Persian poetr7, each vol11~ written :ia a different atyl• of verse, dedicated to the aanfolding of Bibi and Babi'i history. The tiret of these volumes ia now complete and it ia devoted to the memory ot the blessed Bib and Hie companion.a •nd adherents. ~ aecoRCl volume of thia projected epic history will be centered on Baha- u 1 llah, the third on •Ab du' 1-Bahi' and the four th on Shoghi Effendi. He baa taitten much .poetry which remains to be published. Dr. Meabah mentioned a_tew publications which woul.d "8rrant careful study for reterencee to Bi- b~s and Bahi'is, including Courier d'Orient, c[o~iiaJ d'Or_i,nt and Les De- ~.s:he:!,. ~iPl...or3a~ iTuea dl! ~.ornte ~á.Gob ine:iu ei;i. Per.a!.• {Please see notes on mlP tor details. He also mentioned certain individuals whose personal papers should be searched, along with their official correspondence: Roche- chouard, the French charge d'a.ffairee in fibrin during the 1860'a; the let- ter ot Dr. Tollozan, a report to the French ambassador in Tihrin regarding the arrival ot Bidi before rraar--Din Shah (Dr. Mesbah sent copies of this to r-tr. Balyuzi and the IBA in Haifa); and letter• ot Mirzi. igbJ. .Qll.n •nd -- 4talco1!, of )l_!dr Azam, aa ~entioned before. Dr. lwabah spoke of four book• ot B'ibi/B•hi'i hiatary to ~e found in the BNP (se• report for details): two copies of the Nuqta~u'l-Kaf, of which one ia complate •nd the other ia incomplete and is pre.f'aced b7 a philoaophical th••i! on the aignificao~e ot the letter ''kat''i two copies of the history of Mirza V:~ ffamadiini. Dr. Meabah inaiate that Mirzi J&nI KannanI, who ia identified b7 E.G.Browe as the author of the Nugtatu'l-Kaf waa martyred in the Bibi year 10 (1853), III. F:l:\l?CE 1 )Dr. A::iine :tesbah lntervi.ew: anlesbah, at an evening gathering of Behi•Ia in Basel to meet Rand ot the Cause Zihkrullah .Kbadem, riaiting hi.a relations, brought out the COP.1 ot an article published in the periodical Dernierea ' Nouvelles d'Alsace, pibliahed in Str•sbourg, 'Fr•nce, vith a long article complete with excel- lentl.7 rendered origiMl illwstratione of th• martyrdom of th• Bib. Thia issue waa diecoverecl in the Archives of thia periodical in Strasbourg, it ia dated 19 janvier 1961-9 mars 1961. Dr. l.feebah retains a microfilm COP1 of the isaue and sent the origin•l or hia firat copy thereof to Jean-Hare Lepin of the Comit. Rationale de Pre•••, RSA of France, who ie ' assembling as CO!P!ete u poa,!ible a collection of artic~e• published iJJ. l'l•ance on ~he Babi and ~' i Fai the. We •lso apoke of I1mn•nuel Lacqn•a' a book La V~ida del láLessiaa !Jl Glor\fa x Majesty , a con of vhioh Dr. Kesb•h be- lieved to be at the BNP and p.ibliab.ed in Paria in 1825. Thia ~ook, writ- III. F:WlCE 1)Dr. Amine Mesbah Interview: ten by a Jesuit priest after m~ 7eara ot careful study ot the Bible was banned b:t Papal decree ~ Dr. ?álesbah said t~t no copy ot it could be found in Italy or in Spain, that lie ~.ne'tf or only one copy and that in the I3l1P. (See r!f1J report on the BliP.) Dr. ~!esbah took a great interest in the little bit I could tell him about the Afnan Library to be established in England. He mentioned ~áfalJ~m ~in, his journal, ~iniirn, found at BNP under Sltr>plement Persan 1996 1 said tl1.at ?álalk8m ~an encountered Baha • u' llah in - - Bacildid, that he had a correspondence with the Babis in Conatantinople and . the Azalis ot Ker11lin, that Browne waa able to profit from ~is letters and _ that _this tias a good man. Dr. :feebah attiroed that Af'ghi!:!i and the Kerr.Wii Azalis we!"e responsible tor the assassination ot N~r-e-Din §b,ab and ?fajor Irnbrie. I hope you my readers will exc\ise me tor á this haphaz.vd manner ot representing Dr. Mesbah's commentB-it so happens that I am relating more or less exactly what he said and in the order in which he said it. At aome point in our conversations Dr. t-tesbah reoa.rked that he had read Qarn1rau'•- Aspi, his tather•a manuscript copy and had compared this with Ri4win 'Ali's copy of the work in the mw, and that he had tound the two manuscripts to be exactl1 alike. He did not make a thorough comparative study of the two, but what he read of them he recogn!zed to be exactly alike. Alt~ough a manuscript in the handa ot an Azali can not be regarded by Baha'is aa be- yond suspicion, Dr. ~lesbah noted that such manuscripts may be, in ma~ caaea, entirely or for the most part accurate. In a letter Dr. Mesbah repeated thia statement and_•lao dated the entirety of this work, Qa;aiin!u'l-,Asrni as issuing from the Bab's pen in 1260 A.H./1844 A.D. He noted that . theá Sahifat ~ -- ba:n al-qaramarn waa written during the Bab• a trip trom Mecca to Medina, in - the first moilth of 1261 A.11./181+5 A.D. When asked regardiq the Kitab al- Asmi' , Dr. lfesbah said that he could not say anything regarding the tour- vol\lllle work at the BHP, aa ~ubl)-i-Azal had also written a book with this title and he had not read the m•nuacript at BNP and so could not say- wheth- er the Bib or Azal is author ot this work. He affirmed that he read a com- plete and accurate copy of Kitib al-Asmi over a period of 9 months and took some interesting notes, sen.ding then this manu.ecript to IBA in Haifa, and that the Bib did w1áite a tour volume work entitled Kitib al-Asmi. Regarding the question ot whether or not to establish a European Bahi'i stud- - ies association, Dr. Mesbah admitted to having no time or funda or energy for taking part in conferences, but he encouraged tho1Je scholars who could - participate to do ao. When asked it he approved of the compilation of an - Ef\c.z.clol?;!.di!l !Jajii' i, Dr. lifesbah c~ented th~ Fa~ lfazanderini had al ready written his five volume Aar~aá~J.sḥ ( ,\J 'J~'r=' ), in Persian, and hia J\.V , . k}la!g. ( • ( ~!!: I ~1 5, a compilationof Bahl.• I writings from Persian and Arabic sources. Nelther of these tvo vorke have been translated into English or av other European language. Dr. ltesbah tám.s able to assist me and my fellow scholars in one r!gard which deserves particular and SJllCial attention: he was the last Bah3'i to be in contact vith A.L.M. Nicolas 1 French translator ot Bihl scriptures, biographer ot the Bi'b, lite-long student of Bi.bl theology and history. The folloving ia a full account of Dr. Mesbeh'e comments OD Nicolea, noted on Jan•uu-y 2 •nd M&7 30. 1981 in his home in Hegenhein, France. '?he text ot this accOUAt was read and approved by Dr. ?~esb•h himself prior to this publication, and such ia also th• caee with the above-cited notes OD various topics. To begin with, Dr. Heabah assured •• that he sent a letter to H.M.Balyuzi telling hi.JI this entire atorr, •ad hence he retered Dr. Momen, who wrote aeki!!g me to record Dr. Mesb•h's story to this letter. Dr. Keabah went to ••• M1colu on th• inatruction of Shoghi Etfendi. He went to this ti.rat meet- III. FRA!ICE 1 )Dr. ~\mine :átesba.~ Interview: ing ..,,ith a letter 'Written by his father ,\zizullah :á! esbah to ?~icolaa before tl1e latter's publication of his French translation ot t!te '3ayh ~.-'ḥab, in ...,hich he took. it upon hiMel.t to correct eert~in errors which ?Iicolas had made. It i.a not at all evident that Nicolas received this letter or that he followed Azizullah's advice regarding corrections. Dr. ltesbah still has the ori8ioal ot this !_etter in his possession. i\zizullah r~eabah and ?Jicolaa knew each other in Irb. Azizullah was fluent in French and Arabic a.a well as Perainn, and so when Nicolas had problems with his trana- lationa he would consult his f'riend Azizullah. Dr. lálesbah recalls seeing a copy of the &:rin_Jll.-'.:ḥ.!lll at Nicolas' apartl!lent in Parie with two cor- rectiona thenin made by Azizullah Mesbah. Azizullah also helped Nicolas obtain copies ot Bi.bl manuscripts. Ae his father Azizullah had known Ni- colas, and aa the Guardian bad asked him to seek out and befriend the aged FrancbJDant Dr. rtesbah viaited Nicola• several times in Paris. In this time the Bahi• a thought that Nicolas waa a Bib{ and that he waa againat the Bah&1 ia, so Balii1 Is did not read hia books or have ~hing to do vith hinl. - resident ot Paris at the time sent Hiss Sanderson, an American and Bahi.'i - a COPJ of Dawn-Breakers, ?labil's Narrative, in Engliab. translation and re• Yiaion complete vith quotations from Nicolas' tranalationa of the B&bI scrip- ture to Nicol•a. Nicolas wrote Mis• Sanderson a reply, thanking her tor her generous gitt, which vas subsequentl:r published in one ot the volumes of Bahi•i ~'1orld, probably in 1953 or earlier. Shoghi Eftendi wrote Nicolas a letter following the presentation ot Dawn-Breakers to the French sayant, and Dr. Meabu read this letter when be went to visit Nicolaa in 1937. Ot hi• t•lks with Rico'Jaa in 1937, Dr. ?-fesbah remarks that when they spoke of the Bi.b, Nicolae wept, that he vaa trul.y in love with the Bib, so much ao that Or. ~teabah asked hiám w}Q' he did not become a Dahi.' f. . Nicolas replied - that he waa not a Ba""bl, that he was Catholic. (Roman Catholic that is), and ''I became th• leader of the Bibis becauee Dreyfus had become leader ot the Bahi1 Is••. He and Dre1tua were antagonists, and not surprising :so (this is me speaking, not Dr. Mesbal1) for 1'icolaa• work on the Bab is unparalleled in any other European language while Dreytus' work on Bahi•u'llah was also of coJUSiderahle stature. Dr. Hesbah remarked that the best, the finest translations ot Bibi scriptures imaginable issued tr<>11 the pen ot Nicolas,. and that the moat beautiful and accurate French translations of Bahi.•1 acriP- turee to date were penned by Dreyfus. B'1t why rivals instead ot collabora- tors?_ Dr. Meebah explained that during the ministry of • Abdu' 1-Bahi the Baba' is did not recognize and know the Bao as a ?-!anif'e,gtation ot God, they did not speak ot !lira, Re was almost forgotten even in Ii--in, and it waa the Dawn-Breakers and the letters of the Guardian which revived His memory and - His station among the Bahi. • ia. So Dreytws did not know the Bib, not \fell enough to appreciate Nicolas' devotion to His commemoration. The corres- pondence ot Nicolas and Hippol,.te Dreytua is in the collection of ?áfme. Drey- tua-Barne1 and H. Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney which waa collected and organized by Dr. Mesbah and then sent to IBA in Haita under the supervision of the RSA ot Fr•nce. '!'here were only two or three letters among tho11sands, not much of a correspondence but vorth mentionning. Nicolas \l?'ote an article on ''Le B&b astronome,'' tor Journal Asiatiaue , and during one ot his meet- ings with Nicolas Dr. Mesbah told hi.JD that the Tablet upon which Nicolas h•d baaed the arguments made in this aboye article waa not written by the - Bah. Subsequently, Nioolaa wrote Shoghi Effendi to ask him several questions, including the me•ning of the Bib's expxáeaaion ''al-Muat~as'' and the authen- t~city of the Tablet which he •aal.yzed in his article. Dr. Mesbah read Shoghi Effendi's reply to Nicolas' questions, and the Guardian said that ''al.-.'luatagtJ,as'' :night perhaps refer to the next t1ani!estation of God, that is after R~ha' 11' llah , to make ;áIie a1'pe9.rance in 1000 :rears or '"!lore, and III. nurcE 1 )Dr. Amine ?~esbah Interview: tl1at the authenticity of the Tablet centioned '.faB suspect as the' Guardian diá.i not _have confidence in the cororist, as the individual might have been an 4\zali who might have misrepresented the Bib's teachi?lGe for reasons ot l1is own ..J>Urposea. Dr. ltesbah thinks that the án-iting .,., aa perhaps that ot an Azali with his own ideas which he wished to attribute to the Bab. Dr. iáIesbah affirms without 11eaitation or equivocation that ?licolas were neither BabI nor Azal{ but born and buried a Roman Catholic 1 t?i.at he waa an histor- ian, and that he spent a year in ~y~rua i1ith !?ubl).-i-Azal. Dr. ?fesbah re- calls ?licolas saying that the Bah&' 1 Cause developed in Europe because of 'Abdu•l-Ba..lta, and that if ~ubti-i-Azal had had a son like Him, it is he who .,.,ould have wonl Nicolas told Dr. ?'lesbah that the sons of ~ubl].-i-Azal ~ere reason stupid, imbeciles, and one day he told him a . storz.. Ri9win 'Ali went to IIaifa to spy on 1 Abdu 1 1-Bahi, oaaquerading as a Baha' i, and he was shiP- ped hol'~• to Cnrus by • Abdu 1 1-Babl'.. Rif'in 'AlI explained to Nicol.aa w}\y he had to leave Haifa& ''One day after duuier I vomited a atone ot three ki- - loa in weight,'' said Risiwan 'Ali one ~. Nicolas, incredulous, asked him, ''How is it,10saible tor a atone of three kiloa to issue from your mouth?'' Rig.win 'Ali replied, ''You don't Ja>ov 'Abdu'l-Bah&-he does what he wantsl ' 1 Nicolas read a very important and impressive compilation of Bahi'u'llah'a \a-itings, the famous ~P.istle ~o tl}.•_ Son !'!..•t.h..e. ~:lol~ ( á:,a1'>, <..'.Y.' ~~ ). In a letter dated 30 mare 193? of which Dr. ?.fesbah bas a photocow and ot which h• sent a copy to TBA in Haifa, Nicolas asked Shoghi Effendi some more questions. Nicolas died in 1939, after Dr. Mesbah and hia wife Jeanne had left for Iran. Aa to the sale ot Nicolas' papers and booka, with which Dr. 1-Ieabah waa well acquainted, at least one letter trom 'Abdu'l-Bahi to Nicolas •nd at leaat two from Shoghi Effendi to him along with ~.oka writ- ten by Baha'u'llah (printed editions) and translations of Sabi•i writings by Shoghi Effendi were included but did not figure in. the list of books for sale upon hi.a decease. Dr. Meabah still haa a copy of th• list of booka sold at Hotel Drouot upon bi• d~ease , but waa taubl! !o locate it for lffT perusal. He remembers that Saleh Nunoo and ~}Jahab Ala'i went to the sale, aa Dr. !-teabah waa not in Fr•nc• at th• time, aa repreaentati vea ot the tJni- versal How of J!:!Stice, and that the7 bought everything that might have an interest to Bahi.'ia at that sale. Th• Research Department of the Univers•l House of Justice, to whom the entire collection waa refe&-ed b7 Nt1noo ud Ali 1 i, assured Dr. Meabah that the two letters of Shoghi Effendi and one letter of 'Abdu'l-Bahl which Nicolas showed him in 193? were not among these documents. The location of these articles and of other books and papers cited b7 Nicolas or seen by Heabah •nd not included in the sale list ia a r.rystery to Dr. Mesbah and to me a.a well. Dr. Meabeh ramembera that in Hia letter to Nicolas, •Abdu'l-Babi praiaed the French scholar for trans].ating the B:iyan-i~FysI into French, and urged him to write that the Bahi•is ~o­ not follow the laws of this Book (that these laws are abrogated for Bab•'ia by the lava ~t the Kit~b al-A9zd!l8),that Bah& 1 is do not follow the Bazig , that the Ba;ran we.a written to prepare the people !or the coming ot Baba'u'~ llah, this being its only purpose, and that Bali&'ia had enemies e_cauae are truly revolutionary and violent. Dr. ?á1eabah assure me that Nicolea told him that all of the documents and books of the comte de Gobineau are located in the fonds Gobinilnne at the mrns. So, asked Dr. Mesbah, vlq is the ~ugtatu'~-~f in the BNP? (See report on BNP tor details.) He said that the mant1script entitled Bavi.n-i-F&rsf in the BrlP and inscribed with . =ááá- 4• Oobineau's name and made tor him according to Blochet•a note in the Ca- - talogue des Manuscrits Persaos is act118.lly the B~an-i-Farsi in its tirst part and the t!uqtatu '.1-~(af thereafter, but only te pliiiosopriical portion. III. ~"::.CTCE '' Interviev: I also !i:1d tliat the Gl.13.rdian's letter l1hich explained '':l.1-tátustaghas'' also retered to ''.\;;h:raa'', and 11ere he explains that tl1e Bab rncans that it you do not accept one ~t~ni!eetation ot God you have the opportunity to o~cept the next 1á! anitestation or the next ••• Dl". :iesbah recembers that Nicol~á.s '..1as mar- ried and had two or th:ee chilJren, that his son h3d a e"lr&ge in Paris in 1937, but tl1at he haa lost track ot him since and now knows the whereabouts ot nobody in that family. In 1937, tlicolas.. \-1aa 90 years old, almost deat, . read ctost of the major books re9ealed by átl'Mr - so much that one had to cry into hia ear to. be heard at all. Dr. lfesbah has . ~Bab and also lficolas' transla- tions of these books, and he haa found tho8e translations to be of very high quality, and remarks t~t Shoghi Effendi pretered to cite these translations rather than nake his own from the original Persian and Arabio texts into Eng- lish. Dr. Meabah recalled that the Guardian praised the translations of Ni- colas. ft.a'bli cati.on.as •" • , (~i;c:• (,' Jtr::4 :, , .,. - á Iran, n.d. ,-i)Jr•n, ,. .. ' ., , Article• in French tor La Pens'• Baha'ie. Poems in Persian tor Ah!Mi. ~fti.- III. FR\llCE 2)Dr. i-'1aurice Esmiol Languages: French, English, some Arabic Degrees: !-t. D. Interview: It was my great good tort11ne to spend nearly one month in the c~ of Dr. lálaurice Esmiol in Paris, and during that time we spent many hours discussing various aspects ot psycholog:r and psychotherapy, the - situation ot the Ba..lii'i Faith in France 3t this time and tor the la.at ten - years during which Dr. Esmiol has been a Bahi'i, áand about the conceptions - of h11man being and ot b11man life in the Baha'i Writings as related to the conceptions of society and of psychologists ot the major schools known in Europe. Unfortunately though I was so ardentiy caught up in these conver- sations that I did. not take notes, nor did I think ot turning on a tape recorder, and so the insights and dis-illusionments of those exchanges are now buried iD. the ,mcoaacioue from which they immerged. Dr. EB1Diol is pqtting together hie theaia and a book to expand upon his theaia as a psy- chotherapist, and when thia comes out it will bear the imprint of some ot the exciting ideaa he and I leYeriehl.J' and often ecstatically shared dur- ing thoae long evening houre in Paris. Dr. Esmiol in particular told me a great deal abou~ the particular training he ia undergoing and may nov baye completed, vhioh ilm>lvea the synthesis, the reconciliation, the uni- ty of vari011•• diapuate approaches and schools vi thin paichotherapy • and relating tbie training to hie understanding ot the Babi'1 Writings and vice versa. For two or •ore ,.eara he baa been studying with Yves •nd Madeleine Dien•l, a achedule •nd 8'lftlllilrJ ot vhoee program will be exerpted U. this report • . Dr. F.miol hae made hie ow conceptual and methodological disc v- eriea alre~, after leu tban a fUll 1ear ot practice, and these diaco•- eriea are i.D.timatel.7 related to hia own peraon•l experience, to hie per- -- eonal_aooi•l •ad spiritual lite, •nd to hia ongoing relationship vith the - .. .... Bahi'i Writings and th• Baba,!i cow•unity and Baha'u'llah. Hence I think that h• ie involved in Bohi'i atudiea, and indeed that hie contribution thereto ia potentiell7 ot considerable significance, for he ia concerned vi.th how religious hiate>rJ •nd divine doctrine are refiected in real, ~ to dlq living of hUM!l beinp in relationship to each other. We spoke of DSJling, of being named by God, of naming one-self, and of being name4 by other selves, •nd ot beiDg named by an impersonal, amorphous heritage or rule of tradition; of the difference between the knowledge and perception of lite AS áIT rs, ill. PEAT.IT'!. and the knowledge of th• 81JDbola, th• names, the images which serve ue u explanations of lite without being life them- selves, and which haY• realit1 onl.7 because we endov them with realit7, for we are oreated in the image ot God, so that we too are creators, but as these 'realities• are not RF.Al.Ht, th91 are actually illusion.a, tabrica- tion.e, and eo when we lift wnget and through these a,mbol.s, our s1mbola, the n.amea which we choose tor ourselves, ve do not live in Re:ax.rrf, ve live in illusion, in the a;ymbol. The complication.a of language, jargon- ification makee ws feel comfortable, so that we can preoccupy oureelvee with what we can ee•il7 underat•nd 1 that ia to_,. what we _cen admit th• existence of, what we can accept without having to change, without chang- ing, without ad•itting fll\Ything, without divulging ourselves, without re- vealing ~bing about ouraelvea, •nd thie jargonitication marks a lack of true knovledge of lite. Dr. &smiol spoke of the neceaeity ot keeping - oneself open, •nd for belining Bahi'ia, to always be re~ to comprehend and to live th• J'aith ia a nev ••nner. It i.a aboft all important that be- -- lieYing Baha'i.a not became sectarians, symbolists, that they liY• tbrough III. ~-,CE 2)Dr. ?áfaurice Faniol Interviews jart;on, and it is essential that the jargonifi.!:a!ion and the sectarianism which ha• alreadr established itself among Baha'i• be transformed into ac- t1aal ~nowledge, true understanding, that the tor• of jargon be destroyed - •net that in its olace be built the REALrrY. We spoke ot the statement of Bahi'u'llah quot~d by Nibll in Daw-Brealters to the effect that the parents of Bahi 1 fa are considered to be believers themselves by God. It ie Dr. Esá miol'a viev that this may be aa reward to those parents who have brought us to the Faith, toward.a our knowledge of REALrrf, of God and of Ilia worlda. We also spoke of the projection ot one on another, the projection of one's hopea •nd e44ctationa, belief •nd aa.dnesa, wisdom and knovledge, joy •nd of one's ow feare and fascinationa. Brien,-, Dr. Esmiol'a training consists of the following, as translated from an introduction to ''psychologie psychanalytique•• of Tvea arui Madeleine Dien•l: ''Prom Psychopathology to the Technology ot the Health of the Spirit'' ''Kiera of clusical thought, Psychiatry and PsychoanaJ,ysis in their orthodox varieties have remained occupied with pathological processes (organic or JeYchological) taken aa realities in themselves. ~e:r have, at the same time, forgotten to knov what the spirit wu in gQod atate, and the lave which govern ita health;, functioning. Leaving this polarization over the pathological, we lean upon the aum of the work of the diverse Schools, per- haps w• have already entered into the following one. A trouble of the spi- rit ia nothiDg but the reaponae to the underdevelopnent of all or of part of the structures ot the personality. The expansion of the pereon in•void- . able involvH reduction and suppression of the problems. Fundamentally, the trouble of the spirit lifts, not frona a therapeutic art but from a dis- cipline seeing into th• general knowledge of the spirit, of its structures, of the conditions of its developnent and of its ex1'9neion. á To the tradition- al relation 'phyaician-patient' succeeds that of a vork iD common in Tiev of a psychological develop•nt.•• There is much more tbat could. be aaid but it does not translate well or eaail1' and I am not confident that ID81'J' of J"1 readers are real.17 intereeted iD these sort of detail.a. If •'11' of 1ou wish to know more about the program, please addreaa 7ournlna direct- ~ to1 Yvea and Madeleine Dieul, 10, Rue Edouard ~t•ill,, 92á8oulogu, Paris, France. Publicationa1 Hi.a upcoming book on the regeneration of th• unified per- 80Ml it71 using the insights of J'reud, Jt1ng, Adler, Diel, Rogers, Le Senne, Diena] and Esmiol and othera, and strong= 17 influenced by the writings ot Bab'i'u'llah •nd 1 Abdu'l- Babi translated into Preach, for the most part b7 Hippol.Tte Dre7fwl• • • llI. FlWlCE 3)Andre Brugiroux I,anguagee: French, Englieh, Ger11wn, Italian, others surely. Degrees: unknown Intervieva I didn't interview Andre Brugiroux••• I W&8 staying iD Paria with hia friend, Dr. !.fa.uric• E•iol, and Dr. F.amiol asked me it I'd like to talk with ltf. Brugiroux, •nd I said, ''Yea i.ndeedl '', and he called M. Brugiroux •nd it wa• arranged. So ve vent by train to Quinc7- aoua-Senart, outside of Peria, and walked down to Andre's apartment, eat and talked and sipped juices and then bad a 8WDPtUOWI dinner, mixture of Ee•tern and Weetern. cuisine, and then talked aome mare, and walked awhile •nd had to 11p1nd th• night becauee we missed our train, •nd then get up at dawn and take th• first train beck to Paria• . Delighttul.I Now, who ia Andre Brugiroux •nd vh;r • I including hill in thia report? M. Brugirouz ia an original., a wanderer, a talented pablio speaker, a popular writer, cinematographer and photographer, student of aatrology and comparative re- ligion and culturea, •11 cultures, any cultures, collector of artifacts ••• In short, M. Brugiroux iJI a •en vho spent 16 1!&r• hitch-hiking •nd hiking aro,1nd the planet, ? of thoe• 1•ar• •• a Bahi' i 1 vbo returned to hi.a na- tiT• Franc• •nd wot• a beetaeller about hie trip the oloaing chapter of which go•• into a little deaoription of the Bahi•traith, and the title ot tbia, bia first book ia La Terr• n•eet q~'qn seul P!18 (The Earth ia but o~ country). He follo~d this book vi.th La Baute et see chemina, •nd baa vritten one or two book11 einoe then, in bJbeen tripe to hare end _ there all over th• globe, lecturing about hia '. trip and about the B1hi'i - teaohinge and showing hi• fil• of ec•n••t!ir all over th• planet and sel- ling hie book directly to people rather .. '. . .r•l7iDg uoluaiYel7 oa retail •1 •• through bookator•• •ad other ooe•erci•l enterpái•••• . I f0t•nd K. Bru- giroux to be charming •nd eloquent, aiuoere, honest •nd aware--avare of the world •• a vhole and u a multitude of diYereificatiou, of utounding beauty and integrit71 aware be70Dd hie 7eare, beyond ht.a nationalit7 1 be- yond moet of hia co-religionist• nen, and they AN rather unusually vorld- mt n . .d, at leut in them-1. Be ill a world oitisu in re•litJ', in practice I recomend that you. reacl hi• books, and, if you o•nnot read th• in French J'iench, help M. Brugiroux to coarinoe a British or Amerioan or Cenadian pabliaher to traulate and pabliab hi.a book8 in Bnglieh• ... Mlication.1 La Terr• n'eet gu'UD ~ J!!:•• Edition•Robert t,effont, Paria t 1975. ,,, La Rot!t• et JM• chellin.t 1 F.ditiona Robert Latfont, Pari.8, 1978. Book on the sr-•t prophet• in the Mkiag, tor cowroial publication in France& l•et prophet mentioud will be Bahi'u'llah 1 of cov... 3? III. F!WlCE ~)Bibliot~~ue Nationale et Universitaire le Str3Sbourg Fonda Gobineau, Section 5ciences H~.i.-'les :-rme. Zehnaclter, Conservateur, Service de la Reserve In the !irst week of January 1901 I waa able to spend two days in - - the Biros searcl1ing for books and then letters of the comt• de Gobineau men- tioning the Ba.bi and Bah&1 i Faiths, and to look for the letters attri- b'!lted to ~'u'llah and in the possession of as addressed to the comte de Gobineau, !entioned b7 Dr. Denis i-lacEoi.n (see report I.4)) and other British Bahi'i scho:ars. During this s~ort period of time I was able to locate only one letter clearly catalog.1ed a.a emanating from the pen ot Bahi'u'llah or from one of Hie secretaries, designated Me 3534, 6 and locsted in the Fonda Gobineau. Actually áaccompanying this 1!lanuscript was a French translation thereof denominated •~s 3534,?. árhe Conaervateur of t~e Fonds most generoual.1 allowed me to purchase a ~hotoco.PJ' of Ma 3534,6 which consisted ot a prefacatOl"')' note in French affixed to a single page letter in Pereian, and of Ms 353'+, 1 containing 5 pages ot long-hand French translation of the letter in Persian, and of OM letter of Mme. Reynaud, dated 16 juillet 1967 and one letter of Mlle. Lily Greiner on b\fhalf of the Service de la Reserve, aims in response, dated 24 juillet 1á~~?, both of thee• on th• subject of Ms 3534,6. Dr. Kent Beveridge kind• l.f supplied• vith a photocow ot hia letter from Mme. Reynaud, tiated 2 aout 1981 !:•gerding aource• tor the study ot de Gobineau•e relationship to the Baha'i Cauae. l..fme. Reynaud sent him copies of Dr. E£neat 'lickers- heimer•a Cat,!llogue !Jen•.~al _dee Manuscri.ta de.!' Biblj.ot!gu,s.?ublj.,S.'!,e• ie France, , Dipartementa-!o• , XLVII, Strasbourg; P~ia: tibrairie. Plon, 1923, PP• 010-019, which list• the abo•e-mentioned letter on page o1tl, as 11nder 3534 (Gobineau 59): 6-7, '~ttre de Houeaeyn Aly, en pers•n, avec traduct- ion francaiae de Gobineau•; nd Ludwig Sohemann•a 9_uel\en und Unterst1ch'!M- en.zum Leben ~bineaua, Erater Band; Strasbourg: 1914, pp. 417-35 1 of which PP• li'.29-35 are de"roted to ''Religioeea, insonderheit zur Anplegenheit der Bib{", written almost entirely in French, with some English and Ger1un, citing two letters signed by Houaseyn Aly and translated into French, pp. ~Js o~n 73'+14 PP• 1l.i, 25, 32 Comte de Gobineau, Adelbert TOA leller 1 Brie!wechsel Gobinea.ua mit Adel- bert Yon Keller, hr. Ye Ludwig Schemann; Straabourg, 1911. --BNP: a•z.18250(2) PP• 29-32,35,56 It anyone of you ia in a good poaition to have access to •11 of the comte de Gobineau•a papers and publiahed materials and to write up a report on his connection vith the Bibia, Bah&'ls •ad vith Belii'u'llah Bim 1lf, I 0 will gl.adJ.7 turn over th• frllita ot mf research, and comm•nd you into the banda ot God. Onl.J' a God-int•icated and meticulously preoiae •nd inez- hauatible scholar could poasibl.7 collect all the looae ende in this 11nraY• elled &te>r7 •nd vean th• back together into a believable •Dd teubl• pat- terD. - - Dr. 1-f!sbah described two copiee of an history written by Hf.rs& IJ~ Ha- madi'ni in the Oriental maa11ecript department of the BNP. What I found were two manuscripts, both repr-eeented aa being th• work of Abu'l-l'atjl (Gulpq- ginl), th• on• without title or author marked, deacribed in the unprinted, handwritten catalogue, f,onda f,!trsanea, Nouvelles Acsui~itictne u Suppl. Pera. 2128, and aa identical to Suppl. Pere. 2129 1 which h•s neither title nor author but a card inserted vith ''Rietoir• •t refieotion wr la aituation de l'lrin a la fin du XIX8 ai~l•," and it ia dated 1311 A.H. whereaa the other (2128) áa not dat•d). Both volume• are represented u b•ing the vork of Abu'l~adJ. ~ th• CatalofSU!, although the leather bindbg on one reade á á \ tJ\ ~ . \a' while the leather binding OD the other (2128) read.a ~ ~ ( 1\ .. • '!'he beginnings of 2128 •nd 2129 cor- respond but not • end • • Meabah f583'8 that these two vorka are OOP- ie.s ot a. work written by- Hirza Jlusa.yu HamaMnl, but wb1 there should 'be no mention of Hwdini, •nd prominent mention of Ab!!'l-l'a~ (vbea Dr. Meabah affirms that Abu'l-Facp. aimpl.1' served •a Jlamadini•a adV'i.aor •ncl not aa bis mentor or aaeiatant), vi th inscription in French on 2128, ''Hiatoire dit de l~oukehi'' ia a Jqstery to me. 2129 contains the personal et•111p of A.L.M. Nicolas 011 ita first and last pagee. I hope that 1111 fellow acholare will help me to correc:tl.7 ident_!ft theae_ tvo volume_!• . The complete list of the Bahi, AzaJ i and Baba• i maza1JSCripta contained. in the BllP ie cited in rrcr bibliography. In addition to thi&I collection, the BNP has a fairl1 oonrplete edition ot ~f literature in f•ecimile, al- .so listed in my bibliogra~. / á Dr. l-tesbah mentioned La '!enida del Mesias en Gloria Ma estad, b7 En•a•n- uel Lact1nza (paeudoiv111 uan osa a: ben a , and ound one copy in th• BNP, published in five volumes in Paris in 1825, with moat ot the pagea III. F1.i{!'lCE 5)Bibliot'&que Natior. .e , pub- .e:..k lished in Chicago in ~912, all copies ill excellent con&itiob; 5 copies of Thornton. C~' a The 3ahai Revelation, four of them the firat edition, dated March 1909, Chicago; and 8 copies ot the \GHHfA HrA.H. . (,:;'A:' ~) in Russian l.ang\1age. undated but with th• tolloving title-page phrasesi DgP~~Qa ' neec.;M8~~oTo. 'IUJTQT;ga~IJ.S. 4 :3rinMfHf!n•~~.,. ~•ga. •.• I have not yet even ecratched th• .aurfacel Thia is a tre•BU-r7 of Beha'I literature. The mra in conj1mction vith the E~ JDakee Paria, Frence one • ot th• choicest sites ror the pursuit ot Baba 1 i stud.i••á _ I must thank Mr. Behn•m Attar, eecretarr of the Centre Baha'i for hie •a• aiatance and hoapita.lit7, tor hi.a generoua and aolicitoua aid iJS mr re- search, and a]ao Mr. Pierre Spi•rckel, .Secretary of tti.t NS.A of France. In their company I have quaffed at lea.st 19 samovars cf chi'll III. FRANCE 7)Con!erence OD Bahi•i Political Economy: Theory and Practice Country villa, former~ of Mrs. Arthur Terry Jr. Whilst in Italy in late Hay 1981 1 I vrote to all ot my fellov scholars in Europe and to Kears. Anthon_y Lee and Ju•n Ricardo Cole in California, inviting oue and all to a Conference on Bahi•i Political Economy: Theory and Pra.ctiee, June 22-299 1981, in my late grandmother's villa outside of Pa.ria, France. In Italy, Awstria, Svitserland and Fr•nce I collected lit- erature related to the subject, and ended up with a sizeable packet, of selections in Engl.iah, French, Germen and Perai•n. All but one ot the threescore scholars invited declined, and Mr. David Simmons joined rne in Gourvi1le tor a. round of philoaophiming and assorted country delighte. The list ot readinge collected by myeelt and Mr. Simona in the course ot our preparationaá tor thia conference are cited aa follows, and all of these read~s are a~ilable in ~~.~OPf - ~~me and ~t ooata .. \I 'Abdu'l-BabA, and Baha'u'llah, .&!:->~~ ~~ U->J r;á-,,->:rtrc:dt. ~ A..f'.-..) _, Arabic a~cl Persian language eKerpta, !rom Payame, ~~t, PP• 1á24::51. •Abdu'l-Bahi:, ''Industrial Juatic•, '' Bah~' i Reprint No. 3, Wilmettes Baba' i Publishing Coonnitte•, third printing,- 1946. á á 'Abc:tu'l-Báb"i, ''EcoM11io Happiness for the H12men Race,'' ,Th~ Ba]lai Maga.zip!&; . Star á o:C ~.he W~, 'f'ol. XIII, December 1922 1 No. 91 reprint July 1978, George Ronald, pp. 227-31. á _ 'Abdu'l-B•bi, ''Tll• Baeia ot'" Economioa,u World; Order 1 Th!... E!a,ha'i, M!g!•ip..•á1 voi. án;, March 19lf.61 No. 12, Wilaettes B•bi•! Publishing Committee, 1946, PP• 35}-5it-• . . : á . á . . . Hippolj"te Dreytwl ''Bahaiam andá Society-the Baitu' 1- 'Adl, '' PP• 126-51 1 'Work9" áa . 164-1s1 The UJdtersaI Re1igfonz::~ Bahai•••• I1l• Riseáá and !oei:Al Iml'<'rt~ á 'London: Coi- and ..Fenviok," 19()9. á • ' "" á • á- - Jq_h n ~nesar F - E~lemont, B-.h1"~'1~1á}-,lah,•nd th•ááá Ne,v i!;a;• oftená Qit~ 'Abdu'lá • . .-á . Baba and Baba'u'llah9 Vil.mette1 Babi' f Publiuiq Trust', 1974 1 PP• 13)~ 39 . 216 .. 252. . . . . . .á. . .. . I I .. - - ~~~F~tt.~h1náá, á :!'J'i' ~ ~~ae}!i ys • Eeon,-t~á~á .LoJldO':' 1 ~-b~ ri .Pu.bliah{Jlg ..L~-ua•t • á4 • Jobn F~--~~ á "Soci~ aad Eoonom~o T~achinga.-" . ~lf..1.'lt.i!8! !fa,~~- !"• Lond~a Baba' i PUblisbing !rust; 1975, PP• 100-10ff. á ~id Hofman, ''.$ocial Economy~'' ft.• R•uwaláá ef, Girilintiont o~t()rdt a.tors- ... Ronalc;l, 1972, PP-. .110-:1264' . á á á á áá ... Horace ~o~lq~ ''Th~ á~ahai Mes-. to Politics á~d Economic!!~ Babat.á 'l'h• S2!r.1~ of_Ft~• Ag!, ?_few Yorka Brentuo' a, 1921 j pp• . 125á»á á Horace Holfey. á rtif!iie-~or1cl Economy of Babi'u'llah, 11 Be~id'5!1 tor.Jtank\P4 1 Londans Geor§! áRonald:, 1956; PP• 13~?1--. á,,,, ,,. á á á á H~A. Kamr•n, . ' 1Diti aa. Chaos Eoon~iqu•t • La Peneee Baba' ie, Juin 1915, Mo. 52, pp. 2-19. / / / Amia s. Kb•••i ''Lee b•aea du nouvel ordre economique, '' La Pens•• B•ba'ie, Decembre 1980, No. ?It, pp. 11-18. P•ter Mlihlacblege1, Dar W.ltHntralb!!}knui~•nt,, Darm.etadts Druck-Service, Ju}3 1973. - - Shogbi Effendi, DireotiYea frca th• Guardian, India1 Baha'i PublishiJJg Trust, 1973, PP• 19-21. _ G•rhard "I. Schveter, 'Di• Loaung der Wirtach•ftlicheu Probl•me aua Babi'i- . Sie.!lt,' Wien, 1975. _ Gerhard P. Schveter, 'Di• Wirtachattel•br• der B•ha'i Religion,' Wia, 1974. Gerhard 'f. Sconterence on Baba' i Political Ecoaomy: Theory and Praotice Mr. Sianou and lllJ'Hlt read all of the prim•ry source• in. translation and diecuaaed these throughout our time together, restricting oureelvea to the vord.B ot 'Abdu'l-Rahi and of Bahi 1 u 1 llab in•emuoh ae there were plent7 ot these •nd theee are atter all the baeia upon vhich the edifice of Ba- - hi 1 i political eco~ must be built, both theoretioall7 and iD practice. We did our beet to discern the spiritu•l •net social principle• involved, and I took copious notes, ae usual. At the end of our con.terence I penned thia cr;rptio note: 'SOLUTION IS UNITYI • Upoa my return to Paris from Gour- vill• and after Mr. Simmons returned to J'inland (aee report 'enhi•-wader. that country) I made up a liat of fourty-nine principles gleaned trom our etud;J of the primarJ aourcea available to WI in English translation. I sent Mr. Si•mnona a copy of these taurty-niJ!e theaea, rq 'Manifesto' ao to speak, and he advised me of their u.setu.lness, ao I offered them alao to Hr. William Pyle, professor ot buainese administration at the Univereit,. ot Mae88ohueetta at Amherst, and he read thea. notes with interest and shared them with other Babi•ia in the field subaequentl.1• Aa my notes are twelve pagea in length and band-written, I vi11 not burden 7ou with their citation here. .dome dlq, if there is a demand, I will tJ1)9 them up, but tor now I will cite the principle• aa abbreviated in 'tttl' Index to the Note.a, a atre•á- limcl liat of salient points, and here it ia, tor what it'a worths á I. No more poverv II. All ab•r• ia comfort and vell-bei:ag according to rank •nd atati• III. None overburdened with riches IV. No abeolute equalitJ' of meana ~. Where there is starvation there is tyrann;y VI. Ro del~ in altering .situation VII. Rioh must give voluntari]Jr VIII. Rich soften hearts, cultivate compaeaionat• intelligence IX. X..wa to limit extremes of veal.th and poverty--equal juetioe I. Not t•ntil eqlutl juetioe vill Law of Goel be observed XI. Graduated tax on protita XII. Public aid when lacking neceaaitiea XIII. Sources of Ta Revenue XIV. Public Expenditures XV. All mu.at engage in art, trade or occupation XVI. Occupation ia worship XVII. Waste not time in. idleness and indolence XVIII. Beggar ia moat despicable of men XIX. Ocaup,y selves with what will profit aelv•• and other• XX. Interest allowed on loans XXI. Slavery forbidden XXII. Claaa coafiict á vill not solve probl•M XXIII. Vol11ntarJ' good-will: between capitalists and worker• XXIV. No fortunes amassed through nploitation XXV. Znployeea partners in •Vflr'J work XXVI. World government enact lave XXVII. World government resiat strikes after ju.et lava enacted XXVIII. Causes of strikes XXIX. Pension mu.st be prorlded b;r employer XXX. Wapa muat be satiafaoto:ry for the varkera .XXXI. Pia.ea if tranagreaaion of right• after fixed by world govern•ea.t XXXII. IDtertereace ot gOYerment •nd oourta ia labor diaputea iJI legal III. FRANCE ?)Ciaference on Bebi• i Political Econcel\) 1 Th•or1 and Practice XXXIII. Co•wuerce, induatrJ', agriculture, general affairs linked XXXIV. Yearg giving of rich is th• foundation of religion xxxv.-Bahi•I Faith cover• all economic and social queatioD.8 XXXVI. Must know B•hi't principles iJa order to imprOY• the econOlllJ XXXVII. Rank and station, etc. based on spiritual qlaalitiea not money XXXVIll. Wealth ia praiseworthy if... á xxxrx:. Greatest undertaking ia to enrich the maues XL. Cauae 2t God i• not an economic system XLI. Baha'i economiata will establish eoonomio institution• XLII. Not enough mOMJ yet to establiab imstitutiou for Baha'i econom,y XLIII. Excellence XLIV. Spiritual attitude to work XLV. Prerequiaitea of wealth XLVI. Harvest for •11 - - XLVll. Baha'i ecoacnic teachinp mu.st be systematized by Bahi'i economiats XLVIII. Happinesa ia impoeaibl• if eome are poor and miserable XLIX. "Yet to be poor ia all eave God ie a wondrous gift ••• •• Th• aouroee tor these prinoiplee are th• Tablets of Babi'u'll•b, ~:the telk• of 'Abclu'l-Baha and th• letters oa b•h•lt of Sho1hi Effendi, cited ill the bibliosraphJ' precHding these principl••á Thia list ia by ao me••• compr•- he:uive, ia fact it 1.9 nothing more tba• fragm•n!&rJ'• And 1•1: it will ef• fectiv•l.7 silence thoee who claim that th• Baba'i J'aith h•• no th••l"J of political eoo11.0llJ't or that thi• th•ory ia euentiall1' capitaliatio or ao- oialistio or ide•11-tio ai- whatever. Let'• take a look at what ie beiDg taught u and.let pot our preoonceptione, of ourátim•-honor•4 traditioaa, - our preoiou ~•judioes ••• I hope to hear from aom• of you reprding the . stu~ of Bahi•i political eooncw(f. I hope to collaborate with Beb•'ie ure - ia áNwBqland to orpni•• a conference on thie topio at••• uraiv•r•it)', and if tbie project everá pt• off th• ground or rather off the•• air ••d ellto the grouncl, I'll be eur• to take copious not•• and ebN'• thea vith vb~ver"':ef 10u 8how . an interest. How c•n ve aet tak• ••á. iatereatááa. th••• atr•r •tateaea:ta of 'Beba'áu'llah, 'Abdu'láB•ha ud Shoghi Effendi? , ~ ~ r:v. i IO'J. ':J.~ Y 1 )~'f!"s. Gerd Strand L angua.")e.s: Nc:-á~eg -. á1n, Gá.~edish , ~ . . , . . .. , G i..-8.nis.n, .: ..n.g ..... isn, .r _ e ncn. erman, E ~ perant~ Degr ees: License from Universite de Paris Interview: Mrs. Strand does not regard herself as a scholar but s he is quick-witted, knowledgeable and al'.v~-~:ra eager to assist, anj as such. s he l1as helped this scholar considerably, :~at just :is a source for Baha'i á stud- -- ies, but in her loving concern for all t~e beli~vers and particularly for me, as my support and inspiration, re~a:dless of the distance which separ- a ~ es us. Her judgement is excellent, á::.er memory clear and lucid, !1er speech f:;_.ie:J.t and descriptiye, a...11d she c an re á~o11nt countless tales of the first á;ene1,ations of 3a~: i' is in Europe, most l!Spac i ally in S can~iP..av ia. :-irs. ~trand is aiso ab].e t .o put pre sent - da y ::i:-,:.t.. pre v i ous oaha' i events and per- sonalities into an historical perspect~v~ engendered through almost 70 yeara of continuous residency in Nor\o/ay, mar.~1 years of service on the .J~gional !lativnal Spiritual ..\asembly of Scandir.a.v!_a as Secretary ( 1957-62), on the lli:itio:r.al Spiritual ~\5sembly of t~e Ba:r•.i'ia of rl.: ::-way as Secretary (1 ;,:)2-63), and as a ~ember of the Auxiliary aoard for Norway (1968-prese~t), first in Propagation and since 1977 in Protection. As 9.ll active Baha'i since 1951, láJrs. Strand knew virtually all orá the .:'irst generation of Norwegian Baha •is and was aole to tell me a n~oer of stories about them during oar few d~s together. She told me much about Jot:1nna Schubarth, who became a Banali in 11innesota in 1919 and then heeded the call of 'Abdu • 1-Bahi to pioneer to her native_landt to Nor~ay, where she spent the rest of her life, teach- ing the Bahi.' i F:ii th to all and aund.ry, and t:-anslating ~rarious ho:Jks and pamphlets from English into NorT11egian, such as Bahi'u'lla h and t he :rew Era. She also told me th.at Harald Thiis, cá.irrent member of the NSA of Nor\<1ay and co-founder, co-director of the Mandal ~ Institute (see report IV.4)) receiv- ed his university degree (the equival~nt of an A~erican Bachelor of Arts) in Religious History, and that he included the ás tudy of Bahi'i history; that Enger Dybwad, lecturer at the grmnasium in Bodo, Norway, and former li- brarian was familiar with most Baha'i literature available in Norwegian; that Tom Arboe Hbeg, a librarian at the Universitetabibliotek in Oslo (al- so the National Library of Norway and repository of every book and article published in Norway) and Esperantist, edi t 3 a periodical in Esperanto and recently published an article_therein written by Mrs. ~trand, and appended to it a partial list of Baha'i-related literature available at UB0f that •• Dr. Adelbert l-tuhlschlegel, Hand of the Cause of God, t~;rne á:i from the prac- tice of conventional medicine to naturopathic medicine; that Benedicta Thiis, wife of Harald Thiia, is a naturopathic physician; that Loyce LaWEenoe was an Ameri can pioneer to Norway, an1 that she left her extenai"Ve Bahi:'i - library to the Baha'i comrnimity of Svolvaer on Lofoten Island (Mr. Jonsson made a list of the books and pamphlets in this library and s ent me a copy rec!ntly--anyone on their way to Lofoten and vant t he list~), and t he Ba- hi'is ot Trondheim established a library in that city in honor of her; - that Johanna Schubarth's Baha'i librarr is kept in the Haziratu'l~ud.8 o! Norway, in Oslo; th.at Martha Root's visit in 1935 with King Hc>:on II of Norway is reported in one ~f the volwnes of 3aha•I World; that she present- ed a COF.f ot Ba.ti.a' I ~lorld to the UBO; that many pamphlets and selectioP..a from the writings and talks of 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi have been translated into Norwegian and eirculat~d privately; tl~.:it there are a nuc.ber of sources for information on the Grea :.est Name of God, including the fol- ~o~ing: ~tatem!_.n~ attributed to 'Abdu'l-Bahi,1 article by Abu'l-Qasim Faizi printed in Ba.ha' 1 t.Je•1s, no. 451 , October 196b ; Thornton Chase, ''Tne Teach- ing on the Greatest tiame''; Isabella Brittingham, compiler, ''The Rosary,'' 1 )I1rs. Gerd Strand . Interview: attributed to 'Abdu'l-Bahi; articles on the Gr eatest Name in La Pensee Ba- !1£' i e; Epi stle to tq,e Son of t !1e 1~olf, pp. 79-80; Gleanings,, p. 100; Daily I. esso~ g i ven in '.AY~1-{a. She also mentioned l-iatth ew Arnold as the author of ,,A l)eraian Pass ion Play,'' in Essavs in Cr itic ism, 1st series, London: ~fac­ millan and Co., Ltd., 1902; Sverre Holmsen, Swed ish writer and Baha'i, auth- or of a book on the Bahi' i Faith. ~áIra. Strand also told me of the Catholic prophecy regarding the Papal succession, according to which the present Pon- • tiff, Pope John Paul II is the next to last Pope, part of a chain of prophe- cies regarding the Popes attributed to a monk named Bartholomew living in the 12th or 13th century A.D., and also believed to be represented in the painted medallions depicting the heads of a number of Pontiffs and which adorn the vaulted ceilings of an Italian sanctuary. Mrs. Strand suggested that the famed Sybilline oracles might be preserved in t he Vatican library, and t hat with the unsealing of Vatican documents in 196? for the year 1867 it became possible for- the first time to try to trace and ultimately r ecover the -original Tablet written by BaM'u'llah and sent to the Pope, Pius IX, in that year-to her knowledge no such Tablet had been diaoover.ed si.nce 1967 (I was unable to look into this while in Italy but will write Italian friends in search of information). She remarked that Pope John XXIII prior to his passing proclaimed a Papal encyclical entitled ''Pacem in Terr as'', the program of which is almost identical to that of the BahI'I teachings-- ~nd ot the Cause or God Dr. Ugo Giacheey has written on this subject. Mrs. Strand also spoke of the Jante Law which operates in Norway, invented -by an author an4 descriptive of the Norwegian attitude, that they are superior and non-Norvegá are inferior, and we discussed the way in which this re- latee to the Bib ácal depiction ot the ''devil'', the personification of evil as ''the. accuser'', ~d the injunction of Christ to ''judge not lest ye be judged'', to the effe t that the condemnation and criticism of others does not assist them to t scend their limitations or overcome their imperfect- ions, and that it ma. even drag them down into yet more debilitating and destructive iniquities. We also discussed the relationship of judgemental- ism to ''levelling'', in which we are expected to follow a mediocre norm, to conform to the ''level'' mean, hov we want everyone to be on the same ''level'' and this ia not at a11 constructive but rather it inhibits and suppresses divine attributes such aa dignity and humility, refinement and simplicity, culture and liberality. Humankind can not be liberated by all assuming the lowest level, by descending to the lowest common denominator, but rather through all aspiring towards and working cooperatively towards the highest principles, without the ''levelling'' ot class warfare or the ''levelling'' ot class stratification. Mrs. Strand also mentioned an Australian opera sing- er who lives in Britain and is a Bah&•f; a compilation from the Baha'i Writ- ings on ''Art'' published by the Universal House of Justice; and the role of Esperanto in the earq Bab•'i community of Europe. She pointed out the ac- tivities of the Baha~i International Esperanto League, and the opportunities for :Baha•Is fluent in Esperanto to cocmunicate with intellectuals in many countries and to inform them o! the Bahi•I teachings, in other vorda, Esper- anto is alive and well and worth learning and using. Mrs. Strand pointed - out that during the first and second warld wars, trom 1919 to 1939, more Baha'i literature waa written in, translated into .e nd published in Esperan- to than in any other European language. In Iran and in Germany many be- lievers studied Esperanto, and many of the earliest believers in all ot th• European nationa were F.sperantists. In fact, some of these early adher- ents dropped out of the Bahi""l community when they perceived that the forth- right and often headstrong American pioneers were merely using Esperanto in order to attract people into th• Bahi'l Faith and ignoring its role in the '+7 1)Mrs. Gerd Strand Interview: establishment of an international, a world civilization. She also pointed out that m3.ny of the first believers in Scandin/iv ia were Theosophists and tl1at they láem.a.ined members of the Theosophical Society as well a.ti becoming Bal1i' is until tne Guardian insisted t lut they choose one or the ot:her, and, along with the Guardian, t~1e governmel!: s of tiorway and Finland (and perhaps also S\veden and Den,,ark) required th ál~ ráeligious affiliation be singular and not multi:tile, this applying to rner:~".Jership in t~i.e state church aa well as in ot11er re:..igious societies. Man~r ot the ea:liest believers did not - choose to rerna~n Bahi'is when faced with t~e choice of membership in the - Theosop::iical Society, the Luti1eran c :1urch OR the Baba' i Fai ~h. In our con- tinuing discussion of the Bible, with a young Norwegian Methodist friend o! mine, látrs. Stra.r.d mentioned a book written by herr Keller, in German, the English translation of which is enti.tled But .the !Jibl~ was Right, and reoornmended it for its masterful and scientific explanations of phenomena reported in the Dible, recommended it to any student ot the Bible and par- ticularly to the Ba.ha.' i who seeks to rec0t1oile science and religion, scrip- ture and empirically verifiable tact. Gn ti"te subject of the ''Calamity''- very popular topic of concerned conversat ~..;:t among Ba..11i' is and many others in Europe-I-Ir~. Strand á affirmed her vi~w that it is f'~itleas and even harm- ful. for Bahi'ie to dwell on this theme, and that Baha•is must concentrate on t~e positive work of the Cause, on ouilding a new world order, confident that the way will be cleared for the aatablishment ot this new system, and . . that ''Calamity'' vill strike when it strikes according to the plan and will of God and not according to our imagicatione, our fears, hopes and expecta- tions. Her answer of ''what to do1t ia not to stockpile essential.a and head for the vooda or to announce the end of the world and exciát• ''the masses'' suppoaedly in preparation fer the terrible time to come--nB.3' rather, her solution is that we continue to do what one does normally, which is to build the beat and make the beet o! what is already built. On the subject of lead- ership, Mrse. §.trand said that ''There vere 'Abdu • 1-Bahi Bahi' is, then .Shoghi Effendi Baba' is1 nov what are we?'' She calls herself an European Teaching Committee Babi'TI She admitted that it is difficult for people to be with- out a personal leader, a h11man ''head'', to be loyal, loving and obediant to . '. . au institution, but that this is our task. On the subject of women and mem- bership on the Universal House of Juetice, Mrs. Strand commented, ''Would women WAI-ff to be elected to the Universal House of Justice? MEN mostly -- ask why there are no women on the Universal House of Justice, NOT \«>MENl '' Mrs. Strand recommended th.at Batm'is organize conferences and workshops, meetings vith other groups with similar interests, such as ''New Age'' and ''social reform'' groups, and that Bahi•l pensioneera of Norwegian ancestry resident in Minnesota and elsewhere in the USA be encouraged to pioneer to Norway to spend their last years there, and that these would conotitute probably the most effective pioneers to Norway. _ . I did not di.acuee either the prospect of forming an European Bahi' i Studies .. Association or of compiling an En~ycloped; .=-~ Bah!i'.1 with Mrs. Strand, and BO I can not represent her views on these _ ; '..lbjects. She ia most supportive of cooperative ~!forte, and has been en.:;aged in so many throughout her ser- vice aa a Babi•i in Scandinavia, but she is also realistic and well aware ot the foibles ot b11mankind. She would caution patience and dedication, •~en a• she ha• alva;ya empbasized the virtu.ea ot loving kindneaa and stead- faatri.esa • .Papers and publie~tiona1 Mra. Strand ha5 written a short sketch of Norwe- gian Baha'i histuryt in Norwegian •nd translated into English, and baa translated Babi'f literature from Engliah into Norwegian, but her modesty prevents us from knowing the details of her services. 2)Miss Gudrun ~fstegaard Languages: I{or'.-regian, Swedisht Danisl1, English, some Finnish, bits of other European languages Degree: u.nlcnown Interview: 1-lias Gudrun .0fategaard is_a dedicated servant to the Bah'i. 1 i - Ca~se who has served on a nUI?lber of Bana'i administrative bodies in Scandi- . navia_including, until thia year, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Ba.hi.' is of l'.-Torway. She has pioneered to Sweden and to Finland and in well acquainted with both countries and with the history of the Cause in all of Scandinavia. She told me a few stories of Elsa Matilda Vento, Inger Hjelme and other early believers during our short hour together a.t lálrs. Strand• s apartment shortly after my arrival in Oslo, at the end of January 1981. Iáiiss .dfstegaard informed me that ahe had written an history of the Ba.ha' i Faith in Scan1iinavia and that she would translate this from Norwegian into English for ce. I am eagerly awaiting receipt of that document. Regarding Elsa Matilda Vento. Mrs. Strand and Miss 0fstegaard recounted a number of personal. anecdotes including Miss Vento' s experience of almost drowning, or rather of drowning and being brought back to life, and of her description of her state in the spiritual world; and of sitting with her during meetings of the Regional National Assembly of the Balii'ia of Soandiá navia, when she would occasionally pipe up and in a single concise phrase or sentence sum up what the members had been discussing for an hour or long- e::.'. r!iss flfategaard, like ?-Irs. Strand, has vivid cemories of the early be- lievers and I urged her to either write down or tape-record everything that she can remember. She recommended that i,n order to find out about Danish Ba...1'.i.' i history I should contact Inger Rjelme, living in Ka.strup near Koben- havn. (I \'1as not in Kobenhavn long enough to follow her advice but hope to do so upon some later occasion.) Miss 0fstegaard spokeá of the gypsies of Helsin.~i, Finland with gre1t tenderness: there a.Te about 3000 in the city of Helsinki and also many iD Abo; they are a dark•haired, short peoplef the women are generally large and wear long satin dresses; they have some de- lightful customs such as the sharing of sweets--children when offered sweets always pass them out equitably, returning the surplus; the Helsinki gypsies are ma~ of them wealthy, they live in • section of the city apart frorl_ the .Finns, moat ot them are settled but some áare itinerant peddlers. Miss .iraz and the French Foreign Ministry, \./& may b! able to trace Farguea and find out what happened to his collection of Balli ~an'J.Scripts and it he left any letters - or f or~al records of his Ba.bi studies. Emilia Fogelklou, F-r:.an LS;,ngtansvat;,anna, J.r!annisl;col". pch Rorel,aer; Uppsala: Sveriges f:Z.istliga Studentrorelsea Forlag, 191'1. • _ Mr. Hubendick noted that the primary spiritual. centres of the Baha'i Faith in Scandinavia are also the cites of the major cathedrals erected by Christ- ians to the Glory of God several centuries ago. Uppsala in Sweden and T~ondheim in Norway were two of the three most important spiritual cegtres of Christian Scandinavia; almost all of t~e new converts to the Ba..'ta'i Faith in recent years have issued from these two oitiea. He reca1led that 'Abdu'l-Baha or Shoghi Effendi attributed special spiritual capacity to cat::l.edra.1 cities, but could not recall 4:he source of these statements. Mr. II~-~bendick showed me a book and a r:.:.. ."luscript, both of which were sent to the NSA of Norway by ~iyyih Gabrielle, the author of both, the former bei~ the self-published (in California} !i~e Ca~e _1982..:. The Crimsoq. Ark,•and the latter a manuscript dated Jal'il, 137 B.E., and descriptive of Miss Gabrielleá' e plan for 'saving t:ie vorld' before the ''cal amity'' strikes. These volumes interested me for more than one reason: Miss Ga- - brielle is a poet, a Bahi'i and an apocalyptic herald• completely con- vinced that the ''Calamity'' will come in 1982-33, and that action must be taken now if we are to mitigate the consequences at all. Aa for Miss Gaá brielle, Hr. Hubendick told me that she ha.a a.lseady migrated to New Zeal- IV. !.fOP.'1/.t~Y 3)Bj¢rn Hubendick Interview: and,believing herself to be out of danger there. Mr. Hubendick, very aware of and sympathetic to the apocalyptic rumblings ot ''Ne-.,1 ..\.gers'', astrologers, certain scientists and military experts, psychics, Pentecostal Christiana, - selected Catholic intellectuals and an increasing nur.iber of Bana'is through- out Europe, recor.tmended that I pe~use the following titles a~ong others: .. - Shoghi Effendi, láfessa es to t he Baha'i '.1 orld . 19'10- =)7, pp. 103-1o4, and Shoghi Effendi, Tl1e Citaciel of Faith, pp. 125-2 • He also told me that according to pilgrL~'s notes he has read but could not show me, there will be a great 1t1ar, much more destructive than the la.st world 1r1ar, and that the ice and snow of Greenland will melt, the oceans will rise, and t~ese ter- restial ''calamities'' will require survivors to cooperate, to work together, to build a ne ..r ,..,orld order. He pointed out a book •11ritten by a Dutch in- tellectual entitled The Comin' Ne"" Man (J. ,,an Rijckenborgh; Netherlands, Haarlem: Rozekruis-Pers, 195? • ~. raen I showed interest in following up - leads \á1hich ciight fill out our view of Baha'i histor;, he note t hat Shoghi Effendi, in T!1e ~ omi_s!!d Da.I _1:.._s Come, p. 52, mentions the French translator and conveyor of Baha 1 u'llah's Tablet to Napoleon III, who lived in 'Akka and who became a Baha'i after the fulfilment of Baha'u'llah'e prophecy ot the do\mfall of Napoleon III. Then Mr. Hubendick mentioned that one of the Norwegian believers, Bettz Kohl, living in Lillehammer, has a copy of the diary of one of the Baha'is who accompanied 'Abdu'l-Bahi to the United States in 1912-13. - Mr. Hubendick and I talked for several hours regarding the need for spirit- ualization both in the world at large and in the Balla' i community. á He ad- dressed the topic o! spiritual education, of mystical life, of the practice of the presence of God, of the spiritual exercises, disciplines, techniques - of Baha'u'llah, supplication, recitation, meditation and instruction among them. He affirmed his view that Bahi•Ia, like all others seeking to spi- ri tualize their lives, are in need of personal guidance, exemplification, -- support and encouragement, and that we need Baha'i teacher s whose role would be that of a spiritual guide, one who dedicates his life to the as- - sistance, the service of others in their spiritual growth. Mr. Hubendick mentioned one Baha'i whom he could imagine as his personal apiritua.1 -teach- er, and this is the Hand of the Cause of God Dr. Adelbert Muhlschlegel. f.fr. Hubendick told me that Dr. ?-fiihlachlegel was a profound mystic, an ac- complished student of astrology, naturopathy, Antr..roposophy, Theosophy and world history, literature and religion. Mr. Hubendick has him.self studied the lives and words of mystics !ram a number at religious backgrounds in- cluding Catholic Christianity and !slim, and he is particularly i.'llpressed - with the ~ufia. Mr. Hubendick would liek to be informed regarding any and all effort~ being made in the direction of developing the mystical life a- mong Baha'is, so I aek my readers to help me apprize him of the situation. Speaking of aatrology, Mr. Hubendick mentioned that there áis a world ta- mous astrgloger, resident in Los Angeles, of Swedish name, who mentions the Bahi'i Faith in nearly every one ot his books. (Upon rrry return to the United States I soon discovered that he was refering to Dane Rudhyar, one of whose beautiful books is Gifts of the Spirit; ?lew Age Publishing Com- pany, 1542 Glen~ale Boulevard, Los Angeiles 2~, California, 1946, 1956, 1!.!, which the Baha'i Faith is mentioned on pages 128 and 130 9 although Baha'i teachings seem to pervade the entire text.) _ • I did not mention the establishment of an European Baha'i Studies Asaocia- - tion, compilation of an Encyclo;E!dia Baha',i, my two pet projects, to Mr. Hubendick. Also, to my knowledge, he is not a_writer and so I can credit him with no publications in the field of Baha'i studies. ••1980. 4)I1a!'ald T~iis Lai1~~1agea: tlor~á1egian, Danish, Mandala Institute :::nglish Degrees: colle~iate (B.A.) in Relig:ous 1liscoey Intervie\-1: }fr. Thiis and. I did not talk r.i~1ch. I met him a!ter a NSA :?ieeting in ( ..!!.a at the end of ?ebru~y 1981, .~'1.d he invited me up to vis~ it h~~ni and 'his associates a..t tht~ir new healing centre in the hilly dis- trict 23 ki!{,:;ieters from Gausdal ar:ái l four or five !á.)~tr drive from Oslo, to l'lelp clean and paint and otter\~ise :>-:-epare t"1.e facility (an old resort hotel) for worl-:shops to be held over t:á:e Easter \á1eekend and durins the sub- seqt1ent surncer. I spent a !e,., days wit:1 the ~áfandala group, mostly ~á1orking, ar.d. th.e -participating Bar.a' :~.::--tr~e:-e ,~1ere a hal.f :in recognitio!l from the med:.cal establisnment and that he is not interested in l1elpi.ng ti1em - ;.y lon:!e=- because thdy have drop::1ed their original psyc'b..o-spiritual or:.entu~ion and. noá:r a:e entire1y concerned with ~hysical heal::..::~~ and l1e!lth. In spri.ri..;; 19?') he move ::i to Trcndl1e:.m, to ,.,ork ~vith another BallK' i li,rin.G there a.l'l.d o}'.)e:::-ating The~is Publishing and ,.,.:th ancthar zone t~era?ist, Bj~rn I1~-:;e Johnson. He liá1ed above the healt:á. :.:ood st.:>re. rte and :Sened.icta m~ried, 5:1.e a naturopath a.::id rnasse1.:se. 3:7ern Inge Jo:1n.son cio~ted to the cot:ntr:-side, so .:4=-. Thiis had to work on his own. Re ~~red an app!áentice, took t ~=ne oft to study acupuncture aná-! táá.!?n hired anotrte1' apprentice, then ...,o!":~ed E".S a. natu:-opatá:-i for one or t\fO ~á3a.rs. ~rith 211y people coming a..."l.d going all the \á111ile. In early 1" ..,3 he aild nis fam.:.ly noáred into a fi~.re-room :....part:::en~, and soon afterá.:r. ~ fo~ ot~ers who practiced natural ~ed~cine joined them, some working pa~t-time and ~aisting hi~ w~en they were not earning wages. He became the founder an1 di~ector of the Norwe~ian Naturopathic Association, and this apartoent 11eca áa his off~.~~. Ria Association '"a.> called t:ie 1'1ar..d.a1a I:istitáiite from Dece~ner 15, 1q73, complete with a new set c: rules. ;:'Jld ~oth have stood I "(r"' • ááácá ")' rá'Y ... • •.......11. 4 ):Iaralá:i Ti:.i is Int e ::-,1ie\á/: the teats of time. T:;.e i.~a.'"11.ala Institute offered cou::ses and the"!."'apeutic sessior:.S in 1:f!olistic t::e:=-apy, reflexoloGJ, herbal the:.,apy, natural diet, !'Syc:1osynt:1esis, intuitive ~assage, raeditation. For some time one of t:ieir co-worl:ersá, who contributed equally as a spii.,itual psychologist - ar.:i n.s a carpenter, á:1as an A::ierican 3aha' i named Sta.ry.islav Ojack. This fi~"'st centre in Trond.hei:J •,1as 110 square ~eters in size. In r:ovember 1979 tl1e iá!andala Institute r.lO"'.red to its larger facility in T:::-oacll-ieim, oc- cupying some 300 sq1.tare :-ieters, á.'lhich is now to 'be converted i.nto a cul- tural centre for trle alterruative and fol.!{ culture of TroncLli.eim. On I~o­ •:e::iber 17, 1980, the Iáiandala Foundation ,.,as registered as a non-profit or5anizaticn, and as of January 1981 the ~resent site of the Institute is in Gausdal, a fo~r.rer reso::-t l~otel, ;á1ith capaait~r for 125 over-night s.iests. The centre is co!nposed of two tJ-iree-sto:::-y buildings and an inn á.!iáth con!'le:::-cial J.:itchen, t~ee li~1ing rooms, a large dining room and base- :JC?nt 3..!'e.1, and an upstairs ~part~ent for tl1e T!Liis fa.:~1il~r. For t~1e 9res- ent, iá!andala :árill contir. .ue to conduct cou::.~ses in T~"ondl1eim, I3er.;en and Oslo, as •,rell as in t1:e ne1.á1 facility in Ga11s.ial. ?á!r. Tl1iis spo~:e of i:.ia Plans a..11d drea.'!ls fo:- t!le ne1á1 centre in G.'lusdal--to create an atrnosnhere -conduci,1e to á..1:'lole l~ealing, of t:-ie bod~r and soul, to li~1e in :ia.:r::'lon:r - ~1ith tl:e ideals of the iá!e'" ll3e, t11e spiritual and social teac~1in;;s of :Sat.ii• u' 113.h, to be free fro:'!l !'e:ntal fees, to have a :place á~1'b~ere '-''or!~shop p~ticipants can f~eely and easil~r gathe!", in '11hicn the environoent itself is 1-1ealing, cur '.ltive, to be able to accomodate patients ,,,ho are in need of a. •...reek or more of total relaxation and therapy, of more th~"'l a quic1'= office visit, to l1a"1e a comunity from \á1hich arts and crafts can naturally evolve, and a.~iculture also, as they have 5 r..ectarea and. r..ave already leased another 6 l1ectares from a neighbor, ~ḥJ.d a book.store and library of ~le\1 Age and health and healing related literature. !áIr. Thi is said that there is as rnuch a need for pioneering within as out- side of the Baha'i corn.'11uni ty, t~at Ba...\.i' Is are in as rnuch need of learning fundamental as ''non-Baha'is''• and that ideological distinctions bet•..1een people do not define their spiritual and physical requirements and capa- cities. He ha.a á\árorked alot \árit!.1 1'tte'" Age'' :9eople, those ~rl10 are convinced, for one ~ea.son or another, that 1.-.re ha'tre ente:-ed upon a l~e,., Age of spirit- uali ty and uni~... ersality, of cooperatJ;on an:i unity. He finds tl1tlt such in- divid1ials are very open to the Baha'i teac~1i!l(~s an1 generally synpathetic - to them. l-ran~r lle,:1 !1.E;ers live acco!"£ing to Ba."1a' i principles and la'1TS l.Jith- out i•ien.tifying tl1emsel,1ea as Bal1i' is or even !:no\árint; anything specifically about :3aha' ,.l 'll:..:1 • s teac~1i:1~s. -, ~áJ'hen asked if the !á!a11dala Foundation has a...~y provision fo~ !>Brticipation by individuals who are neither healers nor :!,')atients, or ~á1!10 ma~.r be too far aá.:ay f:ro!!l the present site of the Institute to be able to :>a=-tici:9ate, bt1t •..:ho á,.;a~t to support \áthat t!1e7r regard as a ,,,.. ,_~00 .-~~ th" . ing'' 1 1.,.,.. •• • ~i::LlS rep iá Ti.... le d th••a t ~i. v•-ey d 0 ..., á ...a:1e áti .•ey C a11- ''frien 'N •• a. t th . ds of !áfaná::iala' 1 1-ih.o ~;_ tre thin3s (from furniture to food to boo~:s to money) and ~-1~0 spread the ,.,ord. "!e has done sor.ie net~á1orking (that is forging cor.t'!IU- nication lirJ:s ...,it:i r:i~r.ibers of' like-minded gro•..rps) and is interested to ~:~oḥr ,.,!lat otl1e:r "3a~a' is !'lave been able to ac~ieve in brinGing the peoples - of t:.1e á110""."11 closer to eac~ ot11er. ::e exnlaine~ t~1at the !á!anrlala Institute - :.s a ááror!:i:i.g coope::-at i ..,e :"'.a.de uy of Geveral Ba~a' is a~d. one or t\vO healers ~1!10 identif•r t 1á.enselves as ~Te"' Aá~ ,J 1'ers but not as Ba11a' is. ~á!r. Thiss aaked i ! t:-te:-e á.'lere an~r ~-10;:-kir.g cooperati~1ea o! 13aha' is in the United States, whether ~~at1!:::"er.;ra.ph Press or Kali!'!lit P!-ess •:rere cooperatives. He also asl-:ed for infor~ation recB!"ding the iUlLSA !fodel and the A!álISA schools in the United States. 4 ) ~!arald Thiia Inte!'á1ie'.-1: As p.3.!'t of his net~á1orkir-G efforts, and i !'l sea:ch of kno\..r~. }~e about natural and spi!'"i tá~tl :i..eali~, :-tr. Thi is spent tá.10 á11ee'ks at :Find!.!orn, the -;.á10.::-ld- frunous f{e,.,, .'..ge spi:-itual centre in no".'J.:'1ern 3cotlan-!, Sf-Jlá:e \'1ith man:r peo- ?le the~ e a nd made a fil:i and sli!'.:~ £ :á11 of 11ia t "':"' ~- P • I :eg!'et not seeing l;ne or the ;Jt:ier :iurir~ ~r visit t ~ Ga.usdal L"'l á};inter 1981. !á!r. T:1i is said t t:at he didn • t see an'r ooint in staá,.. in,- for morr-- t. 'á. 1n t•110 -,.,eeks because he " - OJ didn't naed t!'!.e instruction of a_n:ro!'le ~ á ere, he ~1. read,y 1'.'.~ev everything they knew. time. body, spirit, and balance bet eta healt In bal IV. llO~/AY 5)Holger Hagan Languages: ~rorwegian, English, German De t7eea: ~f.A. in English langi1age and literE!ture Intervie\i: ?-fr. Holt;er Hagan and I had a very brief meeting in Oslo, after a tiSA meeting and before his return to Krokelvdalen, in the far north of Norway. lioat of the information contained in this report has been glean- ed from his letters to me. Regarding my research into the histOr"J of the year 1844, Mr. Hagan informed me of Lara Levi Laestadiua (1 800-1861), a S\•1edish minister, who began his adult life as a botanist and became a re- vivalist preacher among the Lappa. He opposed the sale of alcoholic bev- erages b y Lutheran ministers, especially to the Lappa, for alcoholism was as destr11ctive to the natives of Lanpland .- as it \'las to the nat i ve d•4ellers of Arizona or ?v!aine in the United States. ''Alcoholic beverag es \-Jere not only sold by Lutheran ministers, but t~ose cases where a man affiliated with t~e Church was involved were particularly objectionable to Laestadiua be- cause he felt such a practice and its results to be contrary to the Christ- ian message \.,hich those very same clerg:,nnen ~-1ere preaching .'' Laestadius 1 religious career, according to his own statements and to t he c onsidered judgements of hi..e biographers, received its spirit and for~ through h is meet- ing with a Lapp maiden nained Maria on January 10, 1844, t he date on which he claie to have discovered true Christianity. Mr. Hagan easily recalls this date as hie birthday is January 9, 1944. Laestadius was a popular preacher and his particular brand ot Chrietian belief and life quic!~ly became a wide- spread Pieti.st movement among the Lappe, in northern Sweden, Finland and Norway. In 1852 :there waa an uprizing in Kautokeino by á some of the Laestad- ian Lapps, all membera of the Lutheran {th á state) church,á perhaps against the dominant influence of the Swedea over the Lapps: ''Exactly what the UP- rising was 8.t)1ritinc paners on the Baha'i Fait~ in Notodden. . - Mr. Hagan's e~ployment is related to Ba...'ia'i studies and in quite a unique fashion. He is working independently and on his own project, using two com- puters, the lJORD 100 and á the CYSEJ 171 for research into the use!ulness ot cornp~te~a in linguistic a.~alyais. He is e;nployed by the Data Section ot the !;or~á:egia.'"l Computir:ig Centre for the H::::anities, located in Bergen, Nor- way, t~e ~air.. office &f which is in Oslo, and he is working at the Universi- ty of Tr-oms,. In his project he uses th!:á ~e p!"ograr-..s as his main tools, one purchased fro:n outside of Nonray (?-iOVA •ST.:'.TUS on the NORD 100 computer) and two ~eveloped in Bergen (~'i, and KV!K!{IS on CYBER 171 computer). ''IIINDAR is the programme !or sorting according ':o any variable. Its main use is for coding data ae a preparation tor statistical analysis under SPSS or si- milar statistical progra":'!.":ies. KVIKKIS can produce a variety ot word lists and concordances. riOVA*5'TATUS is a text retrieá~pa1 system where you input the worda or parts of words that you want to locate and get a list of all occurences in the text. It is particularly usefu1 for those who need to sift through á1ast amount.a of texts (like la\"Jers, for instance, or hiatoriana). These three programs ~e in FORTRAN and COBOL. ''In addition I have devel- oped simpler programmes for specific tas!r.s.'' ~''The University of TromsJf baa an optica~ ~eade~, which accepts text written in OCR-B font. The output from the reader is t~en stored in the ~emory of one of the computers. The optical reader ie no computer in itself. The brand name is CONTh~..<:T ••• 0 Hr. Hagan notes th.at ''There á is a cornmercial ~~irm in Stockholm \át hich has at its disposal an optical reader "rhich ,.,ill accept not only OCR-B font characters, but a wide variety of character types. 'I'~1e output from the reader can then be passed on to a computer. Optical rea~ers do only one thine: REA~. The coaputers receiving the data read can then in t~n use the data as input for a suitab:e prograr.Ir.le. It is therefo":'e the programme that deci:ieeá what you can do ,.,ith the data that the optica.:.. reader has given you. Using KVIK- KIS, for exa..":ple, you can r..ake word lists and concordances. Please note: major universities in all parts of the wo~ld can be expected to have their own prog!'ama for preparing °l'Tord lists and concord8.L-ices. !he,!"e.. is n_.?t!lir!Q spec}s\ aRout ~h~ ~~nco~~~nce-~e~erati~; !J.E..O"'!'a"'l.~~s }evelo;ee_d fJ!:..d ~sed in llo!"á.-: ááá... Ot!lers have ~ade sueh prograor.tes be:'o!"e, an:l r.iay have made them bett~r.'' So then, what is unusual about !1r. Haga.~' s project? F~st ot all, he is working on a three-~ear project of co~9uterizing and computer-analyzing the connective descriptive prepositional p~ases ao ácommon in Shoghi Effendi's beautif,ll tran.alatione of Ba..li.~'u'lla.'1-i's Tablets, phrases such as ::1llow: ''pearl3 of t'fiadom'', ''horizon of certitude'', ''storme of teats'', ''va.1 ley of search'', ''f'ounta..in of divine inspiration' 1 • ?1r. Hagan ia impressed by the contribution computer-analysis mav be able to make to the scientific study - of the Bah.a' i Wri tine-a. Secondly, he sees that the programs with which 5 ) F!ol ger :~agan Inter'trie•..,: - he is u..'1.dertaking this study of the Baha'i '•lritings, and similar progra'llS bei~1 develoned at other uni~1ersities will be able to sai1e scholars and r ~ál!"i ters on ~na' doctrine and history a great deal of time and effort' in sorting material, in L.'1.dexing, ar.d eventually in providing source nat- erial from any nu~ber of textual sou:-cea a~ost instantaneously. 5? rJ. If0R .1AY .... iánr.- l ,~., . . T. ., ri...,~ c.u - ; ., . 1~ --~ ( >. ' - sá• rroááá • •p :-1á :">"n 4 - ., • á' ;..r..., ' ~ (~ -- --- á1.' certainlár' ot !-. e~s Interview: In the 3a~' f Senter 3i1Jlio-:ek and in t!'le Cslo >!eni.~hets­ !aJ.:u~ tet 3ibliotek I riisco\rered conies of D~ • .~rild. ~omarl1eim' a :ro--ter!'.le . ~ reli;;io-.sitet; Oslo: Forla,c;t av H•.!\schehoug & Co. t 1977, ~~hich. sur're:rs á1ar- ious ''r.eá,i-religious r:io-.,ements'' afoot in !{or".-1a:r, includinr.; a fe\t/ pages ( 167- ?1) á'ievoted to 1"9ahai''. After trying r:r1 best to decipher the lar:.gua,:;e-- Dr. :=::o:"'!arhei.m t.'II"ites -...áer:1 nicely in tá! or.á1e.: ;ian: w~at a !)ity that I don't read áá ()~<1egia.'1! But I tried, and I á.\•as e!l.oug~ i::terested in \vhat I read to ca:l upon the ~rofessor during his o~fice hou~s at the Meni g~etsfakul­ tet. Tie ::?ost genero:.1.::;ly aceorded :ie at least an hour of his time and 'tTe spoke casually and affably of new religious movements in general, of spe- cific oover:iants including t!1e Children of God, the International Societ:r for Kriahna Conseio'..l.Sneas, t !le -~~dir,;aJ-:, the rival associations of Tr~...s­ cendenta.l !á!ed.itato~s, t~e TJnification C!'iurch, and, of course, th~ Baha'i laith. Dr. ~c~ar~eim admitted t~at he had not studied t he Ba~a'i move~ent since the publication o! his boolá: in 1977, a!ld t~at he had focused his at- tention on the most popu:!.a.!'" ~e,á1 religious nove!'!'ent in l'Tor\.,ay since that tme, on the rival T.M. O!'ga.nizaticns. I-!e nointed out that •:1hile t here - - are sone 200-2;-0 Ba.lia' is in Nor..ray, while the TI'nification Church is banned alor..g 1!1ith the Children of God (alt!lourrh .a former ~ember of this group told ~e that a fet'l active members still e~~ist in No~áray) a:::d. devotees of • Sri ~~.rishna, and trthile only the Pakista:::'.. iraznigrants are Ahmaidists, in I'Tor•.:ay there are over 50,000 initiated T~anscendental ~1editat o!"s, and that in coo~iaon with o!lly about 6000 Met~odists, the only Christian • cbtl!"ch 'llhich is at all •.-tell established besides the state church, \'1hich is Lutheran. Dr. Rornarheim stated that there is a hi:;her :percentage of Ti:3.!1Scendental Z.ieditatore in Nort.-ray than in any other country in the world, and tr.at it is the only serious ''rival'' of tr~e state church for reliE;ious affiliation. Although he haa turned his attention to this much nore influencial ~ovement, he indicated to me that he •,ra~ld appreciate being ~ept informed ~egarding the onward press of the Bal-A 1 i religion and in narticular the developnent of Baha'i scholarship, and accepted when I off~~ed to send him an invita- tion to participate i.!l any conference on Baha'i studies. I mus~ qualify this staternent--he seemed pleased to be invited but did not ind icate that he would participate. ~':r-a. Strand clearly :iescribed Dr. 'Ror.-.3.!"'-: ei!'!l' a attit ~tde to\árards the ~aha' i - religion as antagonistic and conden.'l.B.tory. 1:/ith all due respect be :;h to . 1áfrs. Strand and to n:-. 2or.iarheim, I a.":l sure that this is an acci.~ate (les- criptian, but also that it is entirely le:i t i r:i.ate for I'ir~. Stran'"i. to feel that sunh an attitude is ina:pprop~iate a."1.d uná...r~:-anted, anC. t~at it is al- so legitimate fo!" Dr. :?or.iar'1eir:t to :-erio:ard his attiturte as cor:ipletelj,. ap- prO!l!"iate and ':iarranted, and in0.eecl. ".":~cessa!'"y a..'11.~. u...~avoi:iable. !';.:"ter :-=lll, ?'lrs. Strand is an i~sioned, ar1eá:1t e~ner.t a.'1.d rief~n:!er o! t1-:.e l?-J.ha' i - Faith .-rho stro~_;l:r disapproves of t á"\.e att-:.tu~e of the C~ ::.á.; sti.a..'1 intelligent- sia ,_.,hich :-ejects tte Foun;.1.e:- of ~e:- :-e: ~. gion a.a a false !'!"Ophet or rnu:id.le- ~ea-ied O!'portunist or at best a.."?. i:!.eali!:!t ohsessed á,-1i tl--~ :1 is c•.-rn i:-:1portance; a...~d Dr. Ro~ar~ein is a dedicated, e:l.!'nest expo~ent an1 ~efender of h is re- lig ion (I am not sure of w'-:et°::e!" '.1.e is :1 ~~etho~iist or a Lut~eran) á :'.'lo stronG- ly rlina:pproves of the attitu.:ie of t 1:1ose •:rho cto :::ot n.ccept the Fou.'1der o~ hie religion to be the onl~r Son of God, : á:e o!'lly Sa,1iour, and ctr.er concep- tions 1.á1'.1ich r.:i.itigate again.st the acce!'ltance and. :-eve!'ence of the Founders of other religions aa on the same suirit11al and cosmic le~rel as Jesus Christ. ~ IV. NORWAY ?)Tom Lubbock Languagea: English, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, Spanish, French, some FinPiah, some Chinese Degrees.: • M.A. in German litera- ture and language, Univerait7 of California, Berkeley; topica 1'?hom- aa Mau and Naturaliem'' Interview: Hr. Lubbock and I t•lked almost continuously tor two da1• over the course of a weekend in March 1981. Mrs.. Gerd Strand introduced me to his •nd helped me to arrange thia •isit with him and hia fami~ in Mose. Mr. Lubbock is u. English teacher at Viarli• Videregaende Skole, in Moss, a school tor the handicapped; he ia certified aa a teacher ot Eng- lish and Spanish at th• gyumaeium level in Norway, but 11ntil now he baa taught only English. He read.II wide]Jr and voraciowsly in Spanish and Lat- in American history and literature. He brought to my attention a verit- able mo1mtaiu of sources for 1111 atud;y of th• year 1844, •nd I have not yet been able to go through all ot my notes and organize them. We addressed ouraelvea to a multitude of subject• and so this report ia going to be mul- tifaceted, perhaps even contuaing if you c•n not keep up with the frequent changes in subject matter. Mr. Lubbock recon1mended that Bahi•I scholars write papers OD 1".rangent Religioua Philosophies" or some other aimil•r sub- ject so they 1JllJ:1' touch people who are sesrching for meani:n.g. ia life and who are no1 satisfied with th• atatua quo. He is eager to.receive viaita from Bahi•i echolara, especially psyohologiata and educators and writere, - and to correspond with Bah&1 ia vho ehare ~ of hia intellaotu•l appetites. He resides in Norw&J' during the winter, spring and ta1.1 áá aaaaou and ia , Spain duri.Dg th• a••mer months. He would also be interested to~ticipat• in some manner in a conference OD Bahi•i paycholoa or of Baha'i psycholo- gists. He shoved Ill.! a world history which reaches conoluaiona similar to those which a Rabi'i might arriv• at& Richard Carrington, A'Mtllion Yea.re of !4an 1 ~á .at,ory of Rupan. Dttvelol!!!!At u. ~ ~a:r:,t o{ N~~~t Nev American Library, Mentor Booka, 1%3. Mr. Lubbock ia desiroua o~ obtaining a 00111 ot Baha'u'llah and th• New Era in Chinese, •nd for Bahi"'i literature in Spanish and Ge!:man. He ia •l•o wanting to read the German and Spanish ver: aioDIJ of Bahi'i News and voul.d appreciate 8111 aaail!ltance that other Btbi 1 is can render. He is eager to do research but b•mpered now by the abaenoe of literature iD his immediate area and hia present indispoaitioa to travel. He also c•~ not afford to buy many books aa he bas tvo children and a á spouse to support and all four of them live oft of his teacher'• meager aalllrJ'• Far u isolated Bahi•1 he ia r•markably knowledgeable. Among other things h• vaa able to supplJ' me with the.address ot a Bahi'i P91'- chologiat in Norway and another in GerM.ny: Dr. áHal Sexton in Kriatan- sand and Erik Blumenthal iD Immenataad/Bodensee, German;r; and with th• ad- . dreae of a distinguished. 'Rabi•1 achol ar reeident in SpaiD.1 Mr. Kehrabkhan- eh, Ramire de Maeetu, 33/21A, Valenoia, Eapana C.3234-274). Hr. Lubbock ia interested to knov mare about North and South and Central h'ariou Ia- diane who have become Beb.A•Ia. He would like to correspond with Ir. lJd.o Schaefer •nd with Dr. Kent Beveridge and read their diaaertatioae and oth- er diseertationa in the Germen ]..engt1age vhich deal with •apeota of the Ba- hi•I Faith. Re ia a tireleu reader of psychological literature •nd nn- tioned reacting b-oe th• tollovi.Dg renovnad peyohologiata, in Bnglielt, Gerz un áor Spani aha Hear,. Al der Murrq, Karen l!oruy, Har1'J Stack Sulli• van~ Gordon Villum Allport, Raymond. B. Cattell, Williaa Herbert Sheldon, Ge.orge Alexander K•ll7, Albert B•ndura, Kurt Goldstein, Med•rd Boaa, Vik• tor Frankl, Karl J••pera, Eugen Bleuler, SchuJ.te-Tolle, Thomas A. Harri.a. IV. NORWAY 7 )Tom Lubbock Interview: He mentioned Svami Akhilanenda's HiJ!.du Psych,olqgyL ,Ita Mea,ning _f~ _tp• West, toreward by Gordon Allport and Erl~ .:>. Brightman1 Schulte-Tolle, Ps;rchiatrie, Springer Verlag, 1973 (covering auto-~oaia, meditation, ;yoga, applied to paychotherapy)1 Eugen Eleuler, Le~bueh der Psyehiat,rie, ed. and r••á by Manfred Bleuler et. al., Siringer Verlag, 19791 Viktor . E. Frankl, Der Mille ZWll Si.nn, Verlag Hams Huber, 19?2, with i.ntroductiaa. by Gordon Allport. Karl Jaapera is Mr. Lubbock's favorite au~horit:y on psychology, and here he will explain vhyt Jaapera recognizea ''faith11 ae an essential constituent ot mental health; hia concept ot the aubconaciOWI mtq be likened to that of intuition in Bah'i •l vritinga1 he regard.a intel- lectual habits aa influencing and delimiting or expanding our abilit7 to make decisions, to interpret, to give meaJ>ing, aa guiding factors& he . affirms that the greatest 30ula are those vho have expanded the outer limit of consciouaness farther than othera; he eees that the soul grove á throughout life, not the body1 what we do and what ve create are exprea- aiona of the soul, they are the actions of th• aoul, so we perceive th• soul through vorka (or ae Christ aays, ''bJ their truite ah•ll ;rou know them••). In Allgemeine P9cho:pat1'0'.!-ogi!t, Springer Verlag, 1973, Jaspers makes a strict separation between philosophy and science, valuing both but illsisting that they are not to be mixedf he inaiata on clarity, that we not hide behind muddled concepts •nd language. Psychotherapy require• medical training but it ia an art not just a science. Hr. Lubbock asked me to put him into contact with other Ba.hi'la •tu~ing peychologr or in practice .. psychotherapists. He .suggested that the interested pa.rtiea correlate the discoveries of th• phyaio•l, social •nd spiritual sciencea relative to h,rman nature and behaviou.:-. lI• conjectured that Behi'l ps;r- chology might be denomin•ted the ''aciance of the soul''• He mentioned two monumental worka ot ''modern psychology'' written during the ministry of Bahi'u'llah, the first being William Strange•• Th• Seven Sources of Health, 1864; •nd the second Wilhelm Wnndt's • based upon the opening of his tirst laboratory for pqchological research á independent of philoso~ in 1879. Mr. Lubbock askedá for material on P81- choayntheais, on Adlerian pBJ'Chology and on Erik Bl1amentb•l '• work to be sent him, and •eked it there were opportunities torá training in Pf11Cho- . synthesis in No~. He said that he_wauld also be in.tereated in vritinc an article on psychology ftom a Beli&'i perspective tor World Order or á á some other scholarly Ba.bi• i publication. áá á. á. á - Related to 1981 aa Year of the Handicapped deol•red by tM United Nation.a - 1 i lite generally Mr. Lubbock stated that he felt the moat ef- and to Bal:a fective w~ to impreej upon people the significance of the ~ahi 1 l á teach- á ings of love and unity and service is to think about 'o ther :People, their needs, and to help them, and not think all the ti=• of the Baba•Ia only, -- to forego selfishness •nd •IQ' kind ot selt-centeredneea. Baha'i.a 8hou1d act, g_et things done, not just átalk, philosophize and proaletyse. The Bahi' i con1m1nity ia very small, •t>d it it had practic•l projects ot ser- vice to people it would have a more exalted reputation and attract more interest. Service ia understood and appreciated by many people. He apw proved of the Mandala Institute because it• members are ''doers'', they are doing something practical and tangible to asai.st their fellow b11man being•. He •eked to be put into contact vith Harald Thiia and other members of Man- dala, in hope that they might be able to lend a hand to the handicapp•d youngsters at Varl.i. á á á While I vaa visiting hia in Kosa, Mr. Lubbock bad a Jli.dnight riaion o~ ex- traordinar)' clarity and powers it was ot vriting tba atoI"J' of a Baha'i "ril.á 6o IV. NORWAY ? )Tom Lubbock Interviews lag• (pueblo) somewhere in Latin America, deacribing_ita pre-Col11mbian, Catholic, Republican, Socialist and subeequent-Bahi"i influences and charting its social and spirit11al and cultural developnent. He told me about this vision the next morning and indicated that he wiahed to be- gin research on this immediately and he asked that I !ind people in Latin America to collaborate with l:i.im, supplying him with the writings of Latin American (especially native) authors, of etbnographere, of .Spanish explor- ers and merchants and adventurers, of archaeologists, and so forth. He thought that perhaps an American pioneer could aaaist him, by collecting material and mailing it to him. This book could be written as a dooument- ary or aa a novel or aa a mix of th• two, and b• published in English, Spanish and the native l&J'>guage of the people depicted. The aim of the book would be to demonstrate that neither capitaliam nor comnnmim works to solve the problema ot villagers, and as moat h11man beings are villagers this applies to the bulk ot mankind, and to show that Babi•f áteachings and institutiooa (not just LSAa but alao educational• social, economic and political institutions subsidiary to the LSAs)are operable and even ideal .J!tOblem-eolvers. Mr. Lubbock would visit this village •nd do on the apo~ áresearoh such as interviews, sketches and paintings sometime when he waa on bis way to California to see hia family, or on his WtJ:3 baok and heading for Norw81'• He would ne•d photograpba, documents and interviews aa well aa bookll and artiolea and memoirs--aa much material as possible. We briefly diaouased the need to find a publisher e~er and able to devel- - ope a oommeroial market for booke written on Bahi.'i-related topics. Sti- •• mulated by this conversation, Mr. Lubbock suggested that he might be in= tereated in writing •n historical novel or compelling biography of the Agl>Mn, or the Afnin, about the P.n•w temple ar the journey of the Bab•s corpse in concealment, from Tabri& to Haifa, perhaps trom th• point of viev of one of Sam Kh•n's soldiers. Mr. Lubbock would prefer to write instead' of teaching but-~annot even dream of writing t,or a living as hi.a - - interests are ao Baha'i-related and at- present there ia no collWOrcial mar- -- ket •nd gen•ral readership for Baha'i-related literature. It be could be guarranteed acme eort of income tram translating literature into English from Spe1'~.ab or Getman or some other langiiage, be could realistically con- sider embarking on a literary career. Prior to teaching he worked IUI a 001nmeroial artist, á in Berkeley and San Fr•nci8co, Californi• 1 in Germaiv, Denmark and Sweden, and he continues to pain !_nd would be willing to do il.luatrationa for Baha'i News and other Baha'i publications. He is also willing to esaiat . in the developnent of Bahi.'l schools, 'given hie exper- ience in teaching, in art, advertising and in langtiagea. á It is very dif- ficult for a writer to concentrate entirely on his craft, hie ar.ti Mr. Lub- bock cited the example ot Thomas Mann, ca1ling Magic .!loutl:tain áa eymphoey, and stating that all ot Mann's books fit together beautitully, ~á al~a had time to walk and write and think, and suggested that i:t' h• bad not al- ways bad such a self-effacing, supportive vi:t'e, who took care ot all dia- tracting details and encouraged him always, cheering him out ot hi.a depres- sions he vould not have become such a maaterful writer. Then again, he mused, there are :t'ew women in this age who a.re "illing to spend their livea ministering to the needs of one man- end this ia a good sign, for increas- ingly women are realizing that they potentially have a.a much talent aa their spo11sea, u azuch or more, and that they deserve su.pport and freedom from distraction and tot•l acceptance aa much aa their spoll!les, and that they are not willing to wait on anyone hand and toot in any case. Marriage i8 difficult in this age, but Kr. Lubbock believes it to be better than IV. ?«>RWAY ?)Tom Lubbock Interview: singleness, for the single person becomes either an ascetic or a profli- gate, and neither is satisfying or natural. We shared the dream of a 'Baha•I Bus'' which would accomodate a group of Bahi 1 Is as the1 traveled about, sbariDg expenses and experiences, :.iving like gypsies and providá ing entertainment t musical, poetical, theatrical, finding ingeneous au""~r•r ir1 t~~ •,,,r~- 1 .-1 •áv-~,...t '~:ráh.~"':'~ fn;. t-,..~~ !?..•\s V. FINLAND 1 )Sirkka SaJm1, SecretarJ National Spiritt1•l AsaembJ.7 ot the Bah: I's of Fjn j and Corresponden.:e: I vrote Mias S•lmi a letter, dated 3 Februar1 1981 stat- tiDg rq intention ot undertaking biblio~aphica.l research in Helsinki over a period c~ five ~a in late Februar1, •nd aalcing for permission to atud1' •nd catalogue the contents ot the Finnish Bahi' I Archives •nd Librar'J' (FBA) aa well aa stating tf11 hope of meeting ~1: . ifartmut Groeauaann, Mr. Harri Pel- tola and áMr. Kami Namdar. Miss Salmi re~ 'JOnded ,. in a letter dated 15 Febru- ary 1981, welcoming m• varm.ly to Finla~.:! and sending me the addressee of Messrs. Groasmaon, Peltola, and Namdar, •nd enclosing a liat of •Bab.i•I Lit- erature Printed in the Finnish Language, Published by the Nation•l Spirit- ual Asaembly of the Bahi'ia of Finland'. I did not receive this letter in Calo, but upon 1111 arrival in Finland, Messrs. Namdar and Peltola both gave me their copies thereof. I am deeply gTate!ul to the NSA ot Finland for this courteous and informative reply to my letter, and particularly to its Secretary who discharged her God-given :esponaibilit7 with such alacrity and amity. And I am forever tbanktul to the NSA tor its loving hospitality, tor sheltering me in the Hasiratu' 1-Qude during JJJ7 short vi.sit. A. photocopy of the liat encloaed by Mias Salmi is available troa me at coat, and •11 titles cited therein will b• included in my bibliography. 2)Kamran N•mdar L•nguagees Persian, l'innieb, Engli.1Jh 1 Swedish Degreea: M.A. in English litera- ture in progreaa Interview: A tev hour• after ft1Y arrival in Helsinki, Kr. Kamran Namdar greeted me warml.7 in the Mtropolit•n bus station •nd took •• to the reei- dellO• of hia parents •nd biznMlf in nearby F.spoo, to dine and talk and at- tend a fireside. He !mediatel y began to urge me to pioneer to Finland, 91q- ing that there a.re many positions available for .A.meric•JJs to teach English, á that salaries are good, qualifications are no problem--a?Q' college degree ia sufficient- and that university programs are free •nd top quality. There are excellen-c programa in Arabic and Islamic Studies at t:ie University of Helsinki, all the way through to the Ph.D. level. He pointed out that in' - Helsinki proper there ia on• Finnish Babi'i studying Arabio (Mr. Mat"t:. ~reea- maa, currently member ot th• NSA), an '!raqf Baha'i pioneer ~eaching Araoio, and a Persian Bahi•f pione9r who taught Persia.~ at the University of Helsinki for a number of yeare •nd ia still a member of the Orientalist Society in Finl•nd (Dr. Habib'u'llab Zabihien, see report). Fiul•nd .ia the home of a number of world-famous Orientaliete because the Finne have no prejudicea a- gainet Middle 2Atstern cu1tmee and people. According to hia father, M:-. Mo- zat~ Namdar, Kami (aa he PE"!..f•r• to be called} .mowa a great deal abou~ Ba- hi.' i literature, Qur•in, lJadith and other Iali"mio subjects. Unfort11n•tely tor me, Kami left shortly after I arrived, so I waa unable to quiz a im on these matters. Kami ia int e:eeeted in Rabi' I scholarship •nd baa a number of scholarly t.riene1.11, but r.e is not hi•••lf engaged in researoh related to Bil>I or Rabi'{ etudiea. We did not speak of •n European A.seociation for Ba- b&•! Studie• or of an En,~Y~lopedia Bah~•.f, but I d•re~ that Kami would be _ in support of both if ha thought they could reach more people vi.th the Bahi'i meaeage. V. FilnAND 3)Mozafar Namdar Languages: Persian, Russian, English, Finnish, Swedish Degrees: B.A. in Engineering, University of Moscow Interview: Mr. Mozafar Namdar and I met on tvo separate occasiona, the first soon after rrry arrival in Helsinki, and the second a couple of days .. later. My notes follow no particular pattern--! will cite them as they stand. Mr. Mozatu gave me a copy of Jan Jaaion's December 19?7 li.at of - 'Articles on the Bahi'i Faith Originating from Ruesia and Eastern Europe found in the libraries of Hel.ainki Univerity,• another copy ot which waa given me by Mr. Harri Peltola. Mr. Namdar showed me some books and arti- cles not listed in this summary, and which may not be in the above-men- tioned libraries, as they have been recently published in the u.s.s.R., and he obtained them during his frequent business trips to Leningrad. Mr. Namdar, who reads Russian nuently, having spent hia childhood first in Ishqabad and later in Moacow, said that the Russian scholars who have - studied the Bahi'i - Faith often quote quite inaccurate information, based upon_the diplomatic reports of Russian consuls and ambassadors in Tjhran, Tabriz and other Ir•nian cities, and that these documents are, most of them, kept in Moscow and not in Leningrad as he haa previously suspected, this being th• Imperial Seat of the Czar fro• Peter the Great until the assassination of Nicholas Romanov and his family in 1917. Mr. Namdar clearly stated that he does not regard himself, nor c•n he be regarded aa a Babi't scholar, but that he collects literature on Bab4 1 Ie and by Ba- .. bi.1fa in Russian and that he would be willing to me.ke a fev translations from Russian into English from time to time. In Hoacow, he and his broth- er Faia 1 u 1 1J.•h Namdar (who lives in Switzerland, see report) were trienda of the Kazemzadeh family and particularly of Firuz Kazemzadeh, now a mem- ber of the NSA of the United States and professor of history at Yale Uni- vers ty. Mr. Namdar recalls that as a boy Dr. Kazemzadeh waa a tine poet in the Russian tongue, that h• composed long and beautiful poems, and that he al110 played th• violin. Faiz'u'llah Namdar also played an imstrument, but Mou.far listened, just listened. He muses that both of these talented boys could have become musiciana, and that Firuz could have made a mark as a poet, but each has chosen his respective career and Dr. Kazemzade.h ha• become an historian, an academic and a leader, while Faiz'u'llah is an en- gineer and a leader (and the same could be said for hia brother Mozatar, who is a member of the NSA of Finland). Mr. áMozatar Namdar studied the Bahi•I Faith in the ~ihran municipal library, the first time with no in- terference but the seco~d time one month before the Isliimic revolution in 19'79 •nd at that time the librarians were suspicious of him and would not give him free rein. In any case, he did not find many books on the Behi 1 i - Faith there. He va.a for years a real film buff, while he lived in Abadan working for the oil industry he sav a new film every tvo ~a. Since mov- ing to Finland some twenty years ago he has seen only three filma, but he does watch alot of television and ia aurprized that he doesn't have equarea around hia eyeal I can not convey thia man's wonderful, warm humor ••• sut- fice it to say that I have not yet met a Bah&•i brought up in Ru.asia who lacked a hearty sense of -the ridiculoua. Mozafar, Faiz 'u 1 llah and Firus all share this attribute--ia it a Russian Bahi'i coruspiracy, to keep ua laughing? He paraphrased Shoghi Ef!endi in ~ing that th• Guardian sent Persians p!oneering tor their ovn sake, not !or the sake of the Bah.i 1 i Faiths in Irin one learns of the depth of thia Faith, but onl.y in pioneer- ing can the Persian learn of its universality, understand ita breadth, ita expanee, its reach. Mr. Namdar mentioned Erik Bltunentb•l ' (see report under V. FINLAND 3 )t.fcza.far Namda;- Interview: Germany), said t r:.at he is a gra:p::ologi st, and the le.a .!ing Eure ?ean Ad1er- ia:i psychologist, á- ith offices in b c>th .Svi tzer Land a .:... :. Germar.--. Ii~ , /áf,u i- d~ _.. has great admiration for the Ger man capacity for work. Ci ':::1;: Mr. B:...m:enthal as an example of thia capacity, Mr. Namdar remarked t i-ta+á }~.e h is been a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors since its e~~abliah~ ment, .: i practicing ..\:ilerian psychologist, an author, and President of the Association o1 Indivijual Psych~logiats in Europe for many years. What follows ia a full list of the bov ,.: 3 and articles Mr. Namdar recommend- ed to ar1 attention, u a bibliographer and a.s a scholar ot Baoi and Bahi' I bistor.. and doctrine: Isabell.a Grinevskaya, Bab, St. Petersbur.; , n.d. w. rPuHt::e~ Ka~ , ~; 1'J: 1 , ~\)( J 'J ~. , a Garman-language translation ot which was made y Dr. A. Ah.me ";adeh as 'Babi und Bah.i'l in der rusaischen Literat~•, an unpublished manuscript 19 pages in length. which Mr. Kan:.t iz Pooatchi copied for me (sae ~ep,~ :át un- der Austria). William McElwee I.filler, ''What is the Baha•I World .Faith?'' Incite . vol . 2, no. 3, December 1975. Atrapet, Babism and Ea.:á.aism 9 Titli.8. 1910. Berisofski, §abism, Tifiis, 1909. ( ;..,-.~). á.kKiMi... ~' PA-4 a!t Ter:ir'b: ) Marshall Leon, ,': 'he StQ,rY pt ~unan fy cr;::::::a. A.Q.Nia.g Sufi, The, Ba"t?,~e and .~~~AflE?..~ Re~ l. . ;. gipn, Ahmacli17ih Muslim ?oreign Mission, w. Pakistan, 1 á?66. w. ivjanzykl!lJ>!.die, 1. Aun., Bd. !, Moskau 193"l. s. 95. B. Kandidov, Cerkov i a;piona~ (~irche ~md spion!gf!_)t .. oakau 1935, s. ~. 9r.os~e S owje~&k,lopa4i~, 2. Aun., Moskau 19501 Bd. V, s. 89. Abu 1 l-Fa41 Gu1pa.ygani, Kiti.'b al.-Fara' i -i. R. Mehrabkhaneh, biograpey of Abu' 1-Fa9J_ Gulpayganf. Mr. Nandar recommended that Baha'i scholars study th.e developnent of thia Faith, to see who assisted the 3aha 1 Ia end who ignored or attacked them; that a group of Bahi.1 1 schol.ara try to locate and atu~ the diploma.tic correspondence of the Russian I=:perial governmen~ related to the Bibia and Bahi•{a, most of which i.8 kept in Moscow according to hia careful peru- sal ot recently-published Russian texts thiok with. tootnotee. ae mentioned R• .Mer.rabkbaneh in Spain and Shosthi Gru,dimi in Belgium, and that the lat- ter gentleman is from Ishqabid and hae translated Nibil's Narrative ( Dawn- Breakere) from English into Russian. He recommended that I ' interview Dr. i{abib'u'llah Zabihian (see report) and also Measra. Alizat, Izadi B!ld Mehra' in, the first and third residents of Tu.rku and the second of Oo- 1.i, in 'S'in.land. All three. of these gentlemen are I.shqabadi Ba hi• fa and have rich memori es of their residence i~ Russia, memories which have not yet been recorded. Mr. Namdar a.eked me to go to Turiru and Oolu to inter- view these three and I had to decline at that ti.me dUJt to commitments in Osle, but promised to do my best to return \fl.thin a year or two. &. Nam- dar mentioned that Dr. Kazemza.d~h he.a a copy of a compilation of Bah2.'u'- 11ah'a writings translated into Russian by Aleksandr , including .t he Kitib al-Aqda,a and the Ishraqat. V. FINLAND 3)Mozafar Namdar árnterviev: Mr. Namdar has •n interesting collect.: ::11 ot books aM artiolea l.D Russian, Eilglisht Persian •nd Arabic, and h• g~ve me a three page list áof what h.• h•• in Rusei.e.:i, a one page list of English, German and French, aa well u citing in con~rersation ( pre~1~oual1 rec~rded) aome of thl) booka he baa cop.. iea of (not all of those listed). One of th• most interesting documeate á . ia the PQrcion of a r:eoent publication entitled O:Jer,K~. . , ttoBqM .~'Da~ HPAllA. (>C~g--:.:!Ma.aa..ia.,.aa) u3~ATaA1>treo c-WA'lr take r~.T dreams too tezTibl.y seriously. V. FINLAND i.)Harri Peltola Langtzagee1 Finnian, Swedish, - Engliah Degreeei licentiate in socioloa and comparative religion, Universi- ty ot Helsinki; topic: 'HiBtory of the Babi'i Faith in Finland' Interviews . Mr. Peltola and I spent several hours together talking, al- though, u with so man1 other of the Bahi•Is I interviewed, it teals as á á á if we have knrndl each other and intimately for years. Mr. Peltola majors .iJl Sociolog •nd Comparative Religion at the University of Helainki but ia .tocwsing mainly on Sociology because he bas little opportunity to teach at th• university 1evel in Comparative Religion i.J1 Finland while there are more opportunities in Sociology. In Finland, Comparative Religion ia a genera1 program compriaing courses in psychology, phenomenology, sociology, anthropology• history •"d sometimes philosop~ ot religion. Related to thia field are Oriental studies, the theological study of comparative reli- gion, .. and .folk1oreááoral tradition-ethnology. He has now completed a thes- á.~ áon 1:be-: Baba~ i Faith, the first general introduction á written in the Fin- ni sh language, with some sociological. analysis therein, for hie diploma. J'or hia licentiate de~•• he will writ• an hiatGl") of the Finniah Baha'i comunit7 9 also a tirat. He gave me copies of Markku Tuomi and Peggy Trot- to•s ~KanaaJliaen Kirjaston Sis8llya (sharaf 13?) •, 6 pages long, list 9f Sabi' !~related literature in the FBA; and ot his 'Bibliography of Bah&' i Lit- erature. Published in Finland. as ot 15th March 1977', 6 pages long, both of vhiqh I will iDolude in my bibliography and wh1oh I will make available to anyone who requ•ata. I have also prepared a supplement to the first list, tvo pages .ill leJlgth. and this ia also ~vailable. Mr. Peltola urged IM to oontact Dr.. Habib' u 1 llah Zabibian and David Bergen, serving •• m:a1nbere áot th• I • •• • • • • • • •- • • • • • • • BSA of Finl•nclregarding research, indicating that th97 would be interest- -- tdá in hearing of the -work of Baha'i schol•ra outaida of Finland.. In e11a.mer qt á1980 Mr. Peltola compiled a bibliography for the comparative etu~ ot religion. librery of the University of Helsinki •• a funded research pro- ject Oil ''new Nligiona 11 • He showed me ~he oarda tor tbi • bibliography and I ••de a li.at of •11 th• á ~ái-related . entries. I have thie bibliograp!Q" alao. He mentioned- th&t na,.1d Sim1nons (see report) baa done some reeearch ia_áthe.:Slav.onio. Collection of the University of Helainki Library (eee re- ápo%'°t1áon: thia Colleo-tion). Aa a matter of interest, h• noted that hie pro- _teaaor in .eooiologr at the Univer1111t,. of Helsinki, Dr. Arne Koakin•n ia studying the philology ot the Tuvalu Island lang11age and that this Island .á. (perhaps one of the Gilbert_and Ellia Ialand.e he conjectured) ha• the á bighen percent~ of Bah81 i residents in th• world. about 10%. He men- tioned that Rlfi Oja, daughter of a member of th• NSA of Finland is col- leoting article• in Finnieh language on the B•hi'l ?aith and that ahe might be able to be of acme aasiatanoe to me. Mr. Peltola.' told • that th• firat translation into Finnish of Baha'u'llah and the Nev Era ll&8 made 'b7 an 11nidentitied á1!heoaophiat and published in Helsinki by Myatica, a !heoeophica1 px eaa, in. 19"0. When we di.ecu.saed 1113 historical interest in th• 1tar 1844, he atated that the tirat Finnish langt1~ n~paper was pibli•bed in 1844 bJ Snellmann and thAt it was probably c•lled Pi.ivamiea. 11• aPoke of a novel. entitled Sqm Tu.sen Lil:lor, in Svediab, vritten by Valdemar H;y1'•n (paeudoeym?) and published in 19"- vith reprints in 1944 end 1945,. whereof 18,000 oopiea were sold, mostly in SvedeJl, written by á a Lutheran mini•t•r liYing OJl an ial•nd situated between Finland. and Rua- •ia1 ona of tn. ob.aractera in this novel ia a Bibi named Mustafa • Ramagbin, á em exile trca Aserbqjan to Finland in 1854 at the decree of the Ruaaian - Im:perial gover1J11ent 1 vho iii represented ae a Mualim 'alim, •nd his reli- V. FINLAND 70 4)Harri Peltola Interviewt gion, Bihism, as a major sect of Islim with revolutionary teachings, and its leader, the Bib, a Manifestation of God. A number of Fi'Onisb Baha•la have wondered whether or not this book is based upon specific hiatorical incidences... All editions of the Finnish encyclopedias mentioned the .ea- bia and Bahi1 is, from the 19th century to 1940 and the beginning of World. War II; this is also true of all universal histories and geographies iD Finnish. For some reaaon after 1940 such citations have been few and far between. Mr. Peltola haa cardaáwith Babi•i-relat$d entriea for the Reli- _gi,on !ndU:, #1 of the American Association of Theological Libraries, and he recormnended the Sci.a.nee C?,.f... ~eligi~n A..1?str~g,~.£!,-~nd Index ot Recen;t••Ar- ticles, published by the Institute tor the Study of Religion, Free Univer- sity, A.msterdam, Netherland.a and the Theological Faculty 9 University of Kent, United_Kingdom, aa the beet bibliography of recent academic articles on the Bahi' i Faith. Mr. Peltola baa written an article on the Baba' f Faitjl in Finland which will soon be published in a book on ••nev religion.a'' by Ibo Akademi, an ac!_demic publisher. Over the years he baa translated a great deal of Baha'i literature from English into Finnish, and hence there ia a large body of translated literature available to the Finnish populace. Unfortunately, there do not seem to be ma.tcy" readers yet. He knows of a friend of Mark Tobey (recently deceased Babi.•i and world-renown- ed painter) who lives in Finland and has some paintings by Tobey--he otter- ed to introduce me to this individual but I did not st~ long enough in Fin- land to meet him. He says that freelance joilrnali.sts have written articles on the Faith in Finland several times in recent years and that they are ge- nerally sympathetic although not to the point of endorsement. After all, it, .is foreign.~-not so? áá . - Stud- Mr. Peltola and I did not diecuaa the formation ot an European Baha'i - iea Assooiat!on, nor did we discuaa the Canadian As~ociat;on for the Stu~ ot the Baha'i Faith, nov called the Association tor B~'i Studiea , nor did we discuae the compila.tion of au Ency1clOP.z&~ia ~ái. Mr. Peltola ia moat interested ia taking part in Babi.•t=studiea seminars and he baa at- tended one of theee at the University of T.ancaater and hopes to continue to participate in the future. Papers: - 'The Babi'i Faith-An Introduction', in Finnish, theaia, 1981. 'The Babi 1 l Faith iu Finl•nd--an HiatoX"J"', in Firmiah, licentiate thesis. 1982 (?). 'Bibliography on Nev Religions•, Comparative Religion Library, University of Helsinki, summer 1980 ('l). - 'A Bibliography of Baha'i Literature Published in Finland aa of 15th March 1977' 1 March 197?. Publicationai Article on Bahi•I Faith in Finland for Ibo Akademi book on ''nev :religiona''• (see publisher or Mr. Peltola) Editor and translator or writer of all articles in Maailmankan- salainen (World Citizen). a Finnish Bah&•I mega.sine, fall 1975, s11111aer 1976, vfuter 19771 dates of subsequent issues 11nk»own to me. Translator at a great deal of the Bahi•i literature now available in Firmieh--none of it identified aa iesuing from bis capable ~n, print•d or mimeographed. V. Fil'ILAND 5)Dr. Habib 1 u•11.m Zabihian Languages: Persian, ~.rabic, English. Finnish, EGperan~o, Gr du Degrees: M. D. Interview: I •.t1as privileged to meet Dr. Zabihian and to recei~;e t~-10 lettera from him clarifying his in~olvement in .Bahi'f studies and impro7- ing upon the snort rep\.~t I made ot our conversation. Dr. Zabihian is a student á of the BahA'i Faith in its Arabic and Per~ian sources, has lect- ured in Europe on a number of topie8 selected directly !rom the original texts, and baa taught Persian language end literature at the Un1.-1ersity of - Helsinki tor fourteen years; he is eager to see the vork of Bahl:'i schol- ars receive more attenti.on in Euro-pa and in Finland in particular. A.s a member of the ?~SA of Finland ha pointed out that in Finland all Baha'i - activities :nu.st be approved by the NSA--this is the law ot the land, not just of the 3ahi 1 [ community. Hence, an association for Ba.h.i 1 I stadias in Finland wo;tl.d have to be á organized by or with. the explicit approval ot the NSA of t~t country, and all of its activi~iea would be supervised by the NSA, aa only the N~A could be legally responsible for its actions. When asked reg-u-ding the com?ilation of a Bah&'{ Encyclopedia, Dr. Zabihian replied in a letter dated 5/4/81 that ''It will be a great encouragement it the work ot the Baha' 1 Encyclope- dia could etart, and I shall be glad to assist with its development when- ever possible. After careful estimations and preparations the Universal House of Juatioe may give permission to start the work ••• Then the research department o! the House ot Justice among others can provide :~any docu- ments and requi-::-_e d materials, besides that the Baha'i A.v. Centre may provide with ScJle of the required pictures as well.'' Papers: 'Analysis of the lite after death', n.d. 'Spiritual worlds', n.d. 'The destiny at man', n.d. 'Significance ot Qur'in', n.~. 'Significance of the Kitab-i-I~an 1 9 n.d. 'Significance of tt~ Kitab-i-Aqdas•, n.d. 'Significance of the Mill and T~stament of 'Abdu'l-Bahi', n.d. 'Significance of the Hidden ~oras', n.d. 'Significance of the 19 Day ~~ae~•. n.d. 'Oneness of the Holy Famili~s ~uJ. 'B1ind educators•, n.d. 'The Writings of Bah&'u'llah'~ n.d. Talka: About medical ca.re, on radio Ln U ~umiyyih, 1958-59. Publication.a: ''Physiology and metabolism of the Brucella.e bacilli,•• Faculty of ?1edicine~ Shiraz University, 1957. Work in progress: Ma.jmu'.ah-i-Asar., 136 B.E., 300+pp., looking for pub. Calligraphy of the Pers~an Hidden Words (just received from the book-binders) v. FINLAND 6)David Simona lianguageai English; French, Fin- nish, some Swedish, some Rwssian Degrees: B.A. in Ethnomwsioology; Teacher's Certitioation in Social Studies Education Interview: Mr. SimmoW!J and I have exchanged several letters and we spent the better part of a week delignttully together in Paris and Gou.r- ville and Cbartrea and in-between, the laat week of June 1981. I in- vited hia •long vith some thirty 0th.er Bah&•I ac~olara to Gourville, a village outside of Paris, for a week-long conference on "the political econom:f of the Balii.•I Faithl' and Mr .. Simmons ia the only scholar who showed up. So ve sat around and read a number ot article• and talked, and then vent for va1ka to nearby castles and hitches to nearby cathedrals, and altogether I have hardly ever spent such a stretch in earthJ.1 paradise. Kr., Simon.a ia a teacher ot Engliah in the Language Center ot Lappeeara.nta Uni.Yerait7 ot Techno1ogy, •nd one of hi.A numeroua academio/intellect1ml in- ter•ata ia:- in the . ''growth of the Behi'i Faith'' and everything to do vith his religion. He h•a repeat•dly ineiat•d to m• that he ia ''not doing any reaea.roh of my own. I aa presently only helping Jan Jaaion and I haye ci.ff•red sr aervioea to th• Canadian Association tor Studies on the Behi' i Faith. •• I am more interested in actively' teaching the Faith and helping other researchera th•n doing •nythi.ng .rqaelt. I do read alot though,, eapecially intormtiv• anthropological-like works on varioua peo- plea.•• He ha• •l•o b••n aaa:iating •• in 1111 reeearoh sino• March ot 1981, auppl.p.ng m vith addreuee of people I wanted tC:"t contact. vith informa- tion . about eTenta which transpired in 1844 and with photooopiea ot a num- - ber of aourc•• on the Baha'i - vieva of political econo~, •nd I am gratetul. for everything. Mr. Simmone ia alao interested in Georgian history (not the atate, the nation), iJl Jevieh hiJ!ltory, in Northwest Coast Indi•n• (that'• the Horthw•at Co.at of th• United State•), •nd in ht•man behaviour. Far mor• intorm•tion on th• Gourrille Su•1it Sff report ill France1 á apd á for d•tail• oa Jan Jaaion'• vork, ••• report in the thdted Kingdom. Mr. Si«naone i• very good at vbat Kr. Harald Thii• would call ••networking''. In. bi• MCond álett•r to• he sent m• the title• of a á number of book• I waa seeking . . well aa th• nam•• and addressee ot several individ11ale . vb.om I contacted_upon my return to th• United Stat••• For information on Ruesi•o Bahi'i ~iatory he_>etered me ~o á article• by A.A. L•• and A.K. Gbadiriaa i:n !JapA;'i s~~diesJ'!tude• Baba'~. Yol. 5, Janu&J•y 19791 011 L:ydia Za•enhof and Bahi 1 fii in Pol.and he retered u to the RSA of G.rman.YI :for - . Raui•n litc-ature on the B•b'i'i Faith, aa well •e giving me a cow ot Jaa Jasion'a bibliogra~ of th• oontenta of the Sla-.onio Collectioná at th• UniYeraity ot Helainki Library (eee report) he mentioned that Dr. J'irua Kar.eradeh h•• also done aome research ill this librar.r áand that hi• bro!her K•aem K•zemzadeh, a r•eident ot Hamburg, Gerraa~, ha• vrittea a Bahi' 1 puphlet in RWi•n1 for information á on 18'1'4 in Buddhin he r•- fered me to Jem•hed lo•dar, 'l'h• God ot Buddha• end B~ddpa Maitr!'!,:-Aplit- abha .Ba!' Appu!t;•d1 for reference• to 1841t and áto Americ•n Indiana he re• cownded that I react ~~iou ,o,t .~h•. Rainbow, ~~ Goame}.. of. th•. Redma~, áá Four Re1!!9r,k•bl,!t .In.d..~~n Propl1eciea publiahed_by Naturegraph Preaa !ii Cali- torni •i -and interview Native áAaericn B•be' ia Phil Lucas ( Ie11aq11ah, Vaeb• ingtoaJ 1 Blu Kopd91' (Al•aka), Phil Tau (Alberta, C.nada) •nd Fruklia Kahn (-ber of the RSA of the U.S.A.), oontaot Christopher Buck (now of Jlaneau, Alaaka) regarding Zoro•etri•n •nd Altaio propheci••f oont.ot Burl Barer (Wall• W•lla, W••hiqton) oii pro~eoi••• other intorm•tion on Judaia. Mr. S i"'IOD• ia nppartive of both B•hi"' f atudi•• and encyclopedic scheme•, i f th97 go through tu right cbano•la and Hrve the int•r••t• ot Báhi'fa. V. FINLA:~D 7)I!elsingin Yli~pis-::Jn Kir jasto hel.singfors '(.:iiversi tetsb ib liotek Unioninkatu/linionsgacan 36 00170 Helsinki;1Ielaingfors 17 nere is one of the locations of the U:: ~ •1ersity \.~ Helsi:r:...~i Library, and at this locatic~ I found a lor...g list of titles i~1 German, English and Finnish and a couple i3 Swedish, ~ll of them translations of ~orks by Bahi'u'llah, 'Aodu'l-Bahi or Shogni Sffendi from Englis~. In addi- tion to this there á,o1ere also copies of a number of becks listed on my bibliography, such as of Hermann Vambery, ~-!e~pe .W~3.Ilderungen llD;,c;, ~l~!>­ nisse in Pers::en ••• , and Dr. Ignaz Goldziher, ;/or.led.uni.se1!_ uber cten _Is,:: lam ; a.r.d art~clas :.n Estonian, Hungarian, ~tL"!:.mian, Lith1.la11ian and German encyelopedi:...a and lexicons. T'.-:is list ~ill be incorporated in- to my bibliography and is also available in photocopy. The University of Ilelsinki Library has a '-tumber of locations, this being t~e central library. I was able to vi3it only two of the libraries in the system, the HYK and SC, and from the card catalogue ot the ~aculty ot Compara- tive Religion, Univeraitv of Helsinki, which I went through on 23/2/81, I know ttl&t there are a n..'"1!r.ber of other s1gnifica;:.t collection.a, both in the University system anc outside of it including what Finnish schol- ars speak ot (in their abbreviated forms) as HY-Paak; TT.{K; SKS; Steiner bibl.1 HY Utj.(varasto)--Ut-70 tesasem.-mappi.; Uskontot. laitoskirjas- to. Liihdeteokset. 8)Slavonic Collection University of Helsinki Library Neid.aydpolku 1-B 00140 Helsinki 14 - Several of the European Baha'i scholars have represented this collect- ion as the largest of its kind outside ot the u.s.s.R.: I've been told that it baa more literature in Russian langua~ pre-dating the 1917 re- volution than a:n.y- other library outside of Russia itself. Be that as it may, it bas an i~pressive selection of literature in Russian and Bulgar- iaD, Polish,t-:11 1890-1907', and he wrote me October 24, 1981 that h• hopea to have it publiahed sometiu next)year, iná . 1982. Thia theaia will be published in English and by the UniversitJ of Gotehorg. He ha• found, through hi.a thorough, hie exbauative atul'.17 of tu Peraian preae, that from 1896 to 1914 there were a great 1111mber of article• written. about the Beha•I Faith in Perai•n periodic•le, that B•bi 1 i litera- ture waa_ueecl in Beb'i 1l acboola aa stu~ text• and that attacka(a:nd defense•) of Báb•'ill api:eared in the pariodioala 'vhenevv the olerg w.nted to mobi- . li•• tu •••• of the people for a oertain purpose they •imPl.7 relatet the qu••tioa ia aln&l to th• Faith, and therefor• undeairable1 Tobacco R'gi•, t~ achool. i:!irm ml.•••1 ot M H 1 tu Preu aativiti••, th• Comrtitution•l ,&evol!!.ti~n 1 dis• Khan, th• Muahlr od-Davlih, dismiaa•l of Mirs& •nt '-!'gU.r Kliin, the" oasáSultin, were a fev e:xamplea. á hea th• moet recent '?9 VI. SWEDEN 3)Ezzat Djazayeri Interview: - revolution in Iran, which may well ba ::: ~ ~d.ed. as the severest attack on th.e Cause of God in ita 137 year history, á....d planned to upr oot it from the country of its birth, demonstrates the c lergy's hostility towards the Revel- ation of God.• This is orA ot 1:1an.,v exc.:::.:-pta from letters written to me by Mr. Djazayeri subsequent to our meeting in GotehJrg, ~d sources ot much of the detai~ in this report. ?-tr. l)jaza.~:~!"i noi: .;a that Mirza ij.usa.yu ~ an and t.fulla 1 A1.. i Asgb.8.r K:.;.in ii/ere 1 two c.bl$ .á~á ime r-t~nisters, the f'or1er di.sniissed by r-l~erid Dfn Shi:b., the latter asaasinated by a Constitutionalist.' At the Departmen~ of Inda-European Fhilolcisy, University ot Gpteborg, Mr. Dja- _zayeri is in the final stages of comple~ing, with the assistance of his col- lea.iu.es, a S~edish-Persian/Pereian-Swediah idiomatic vocabulary, to be com- puterized, consisting ot some 20,000 sentences declamatory ot the actual vernacular spe~h expression o:.c" Persians and Swedes. Some ot his scholarly interests include the follovin.c: 1. his'tory of prominent Babi - and E:.lh& 1-i wo- men: he has already written 15 articles, soCT& 30-40 pages in all, on the life of IC'l.adfjih Ba.gum, one of._the tllo .w ives of the Bib, and_ her influence upon the unfoldment ot the B&bi Faith, for the Swgdish ~l!A,a'i Newa, written in English and translated into Swedish t-y Mrs. Ann~argaret Kashef; 2.. hi.s- t~ry ot the Bah.i 1 ái Faith in Sweden, based on documentary sources; 3. biogra- P'.lY ot the !ather - of Hand of t :1e Cause of God H~M. Balyuzi; 4. early hi.story of the Baha'i Faith; 5. hiatory of Scandinavia and es-pecia..lly that o!' Sweden; 6~ history of i'ran tor the last 600 years; 7. h.iBtorY ot Bahi. 1 1 Faith in Scandinavia; 8. history of Western Baha•f wor.nen; 9. cooperative effort among Baba•r scholars to study the Heroic Age ot the Faith, from the birth of Ba.hi> in 1817 until the passing or 'Abdu'l-Baha in 1921, the study o! thie pe:: sonal - life and Writings of the Central Figures ot the Bibi and Baha'i Faiths, with - the establishment of a centre where information and literature cc1~ld be col- lected and the formation of a committee of persons to study this naterial un- der ithe guidance -of tn• Universal House or Justice. He has writ~en a.:"ticles for Swedish B::á~~á i i'rews, translated into áSwedish. by Paul Stol~, on the lives of Dr. Sama:1iari and Professor ~akim, mart,'.-" red in i..ran in 1980, and an ar- ticle entitled ''Dedicated to the memo.ry ot the Hand of the Cause of God E- - noch Olinga, '' aJ so published in Swedish Bah~' i NtJws. He has been studying Egyptology tor many years, and went on a. tr:.-p to Egypt _with Dr. -3odttrberg, one of the foremost Egyptologiste in the world, where he found himself even more i.mpres~ed by Egyptian .; á..tl.ture than he had been previously by the civil .. ization of ! ran. When asked for his attitude toward.a the :t."9lationship bet- - ween Ba.ha•{ community and Baha'i scholarship, Mr. Dja.zayeri stated his view that Ba.M•I society should be open, res-pectful nf learning, knoá~ledge and wisdom~ as this is specifically cal: ed !or in the Writinga of Baha•u•!lah; he empnaaized that Bahi1 Ia all called upon to be knowledgeable, and t :r:at \-:.g must learn from everything and everyone. When asked aoout Emmanuel Sw~den­ borg, the grea.t Swedish scientist, mystic and philosopher, Mr. Jjaza:. ~ri reported that ~ouis~ Erickson told Paul. Stolpe who told him (th.ere' a a nice chain of Baha'i ~adith!)that 'Abdu'l..Ba.hi regarded Swedenborg~ f~rerunner to the Bab and Bo...1a'ullah, but could not substanciat• this assert ~ á ~ wi th an authenticated written source. Eu alao quoted the following frá--á 1.orld Order, February 1936, vol. I, number 11 p. 413, in a letter ill tall 1981, •In a. Tablet addressed to an American ba.:.1~' i~ z.E. "'restli:..g-Br~-wster, ' .';."o- du' 1-.aani gave to Emmanuel Swedenborg the significance o~ minor prophet: ''As aoon as a bird is fledged,'' He aaid in that Tablet, ''it ca?Ulot t-~ !tep it- se1f on the ground ••• in reality Emmanuel waa the forerunner o! the second coming of Hia Holiness the Christ and the herald of the path to the King- VI. S'NEDW 3)Ezzat Djazayeri Interview: dom••• I hope that thou wilt arise to perform all that which His Highness F.m.- manuel hath predicted••• '''. Thia article, quoting 'Abdu'l-Bahi, was writ- ten by Olivia Kelsey, also author ot a poem entitled 1 'The Advent,'' and pub- lished in World Order, April 1936, vol. II, no. 1. Mr. Djazayeri quoted ~lehru, former Prime Minister of India, as saying that all Indian women should follow the example of Tihirih; he said that Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter and also a Prime Minister of India for many years (presently serving in that capacity) repeated this exhortation; that Sul&YTJU!.ll Nazim Bey, the Turkish. poet vrote that 'fclhirih was worth 1 ,ooo Naw-i-Din §_hi.ha; Sarah Bernhardt said that her career would not be complete without portraying ':t'clhirih and commissioned Catule Mendes to write a theatrical piece which she could per- form in this role; relative to iihirih, Mr. Djazayeri made a. marvelous and á :inspiring statement, that ehe 'had divine authority such as comes every 500, (X)() yeara. 1 What a magnificent tribute to this star among ataral In a later letter he explained as followa, for my first reaction to this statement was incredulous, •I am sure I meant divine insight and vision. However, when you read what the Bab, Bah8. 1 u•11ih, 'Abdu'l-Bahi and Shoghi Effendi have said about rihirih, you realize that she was far above her fellow-believers. She was in fact the very first person who recognized the station of Bani•u•- llan. P1ea.ae read God ~as.~s B_y, page 72-77, and Memorials of the Faithful, pages 190-205. The course of the history of her life, her poems and odes, her conduct and extraordinary manner of speech, her total. attachment to the Cause of God, her overwhelming force ' of argument, her towering strength of personality, certitude, con!idence ••• demonstrate so clearl7 that she .must have been invested with auch authority that saints, mystics and the ~oat en- lightened believers sought in vain. Concerning Nehru 1 a tribute to her, I - - - read it in a Persi!n Baha'i Youth Magazine call_!d Ahm,;g-i-B!!..c:ti~, and also heard from Hrs. Shirin Fozdar, our famous Bahi 1 i woman in South East Asia when I pioneered to Vietmam and Thailand in 1964-5.• Mr. Djazayeri baa di.8- covered interviews of a Persian journalist with 'Abdu'l-Bahi while He waa in Egypt, and according to the first article by thi!I journalist, he went to A- merica and Europe with 'Abdu'l-Bah~. 'Th• paper reported that it would try to report the talks of 'Abdu'l-Bahi in Europe ancl America. As I have not yet found the following ori,inal copies of that pa.per, I can not elaborat• on the subject any furt~er. á He asserted tha! many Persian authors have written about the Ba.hi'! Faith and that .Bahi'is are more or less unfamiliar with theee reaponsea to the Revelation. When asked which ot Baha'u'llah's Tablets ware revealed in pure Persian, without Arabic intermixture, Mr. Dja- zayeri asserted that i-rhey are so beautiful, astounding, and breathtaking beyond description.• He al'Jo mentioned that 'Abdu'l-Bahi wrote some Tablets - - Abu'l-Fap.l Gulpaygi'ni also penned letters in in pure Persian, and that Mirza a Persian utter1y wi!.hout Ar~ic word.a, in addressing the Zarduahtia (Paraia or Zoroastrians) of Irin. - á We di'! not discuss an European Bah'i'i Studies Association or an EncycloP!,dia - Baha'i, but he is in favour of all cooperative enterprises among Bah.i'l scholars, and is an enthusiastic member of the Association for Babi'i Stud- ies head<11iartered in Toronto, Canada, and favours the establishment of a cen- ter for study of the Heroic Age (1817-1921) ae mentioned before. It an En- cyclope,_dia Baha'i were launched, with the permi8sion and supervision ot the Universal. House of Justice, Mr. Dja~ayeri wou1d be a valued contributor there- to. When asked about Persian Bahi'i scholars, he wrote m• about a number ot these, and I cite his worda, prefering them to my ovn: •The Persian Bah.i•! community produced a large number of very learned hialor- ians and scholars such asz Fazel, Iahriq Kh&vari. Niiahibadf, Thabet..Sharqi, á::J .. Ul VI. S \.JEDEN 3)Ezzat Ojazayeri Interview: ~ ~ _ ~ ~ ..... _ - _. Rez_yaE-1, .Faizi, Farid, •Ala.vi, Yazdani, Bakhta~rar, !:!olaku' i, F~utan, Varqa, Qadimi, A!nin, and ••• (only to have na:ned a few: Farid and 3akhtavar á.-1ere mar- tyre.-.: recently). Each of these luminaries was and is (some of them l1a 1e passed away)a unique expert on one aspect of the history and the Writings of the Faith. They held courses, conducted regular seminars, wrote bcoka and . articles for so many :áears (all the ye~s put together exceed two-three cen- turies) in order to acquaint the Baha'i with th9 \•/riti!'lgs ot the 13 i'.:I , 3ana'u • • llih, 'Abdu' 1-Baha and Shoghi Effendi. á. at has so far been achieved is on- :1 ly the beginning. Shog.."'li Effendi translated that amount which he considered suf!i~ient for humanity for a long period du..-ing the Formative Age of ~h! Bahi 1 i Era. He would have loved to translate more, but as stated by Ru.l:liyyih !\~"in.um, in The Priceless Pearl, the Guardian simply did not have the time to de so. There ie also the question ot priorities--What is essential to know, answers to the needs of humanity, guidance for the betterment o! the lite of mankind, and a deeper insight into the Writings of t he twin Manifeetationa of Gad and the Interpreters ot the Revealed Words. To know that t ~~ Bao had two wives i.e not a solution to any h11man problem. We need to ~:..::.: \l how the 'Wards can be avoided. I:lov prejudices could be eradicated. How unity and har!Dony could be .firmly established. And questions of this nature. But 1á .~ at assured that 8n:f baffling question and perplexing problem, be it histor i cal, social, spiritual, factual., political or others have their answers in the im- .:nense Writings of Bah"i'u'll'ih. We learn a bit from it. Next generatic~ a oit more, the generation after the next still a bit more 8lld so on tor another 500,000 years.• By the way, he al.so informed me that the second wife of the Bab was named Fa~imih, and that she is mentioned in Bah.a •u' llah' s Ep~stle .t2 ,the S_on of the, W~l~, PP• 176-71 ot Shoghi Etfendi' .s Englishá translation, and on page 2~9 of volume I of Adib Taherzadeh's The Revelation of Bali.3.'u'llah. Publications: ''?-fadiyen va F.akandar •it 'series ot fifteen articles, actually a á a~ort sto:y of love, --published in a newspaper called Qal~-: i-l.fa, !~tahan, in 1953-4. (In Persian)' ''Some historical. monuments ot It!ahin, '' 'ten article& wr ~.t­ ten for the nevapa.per Farhang, published in 1955. in I?fahin. (in Persian)• á ''Louis XIV and Europtt, '' •95 pages, written for the Department of History, University of ~ihran, 1958-9. Available at Teh- ran Uniá:ersity Library. ( I n Persian).' ''First tlroup ot Western Pilgrims to the Hol.7 Land, ' 1 by Ma7 El- lis B2llea, translation in!o Persian, 'Published in the Ah8J1S.- i-Badi', the Persian Bahi.'i Youth Magazine, 1963.' '~ i t~b.- ~ Agdae. A historical background,'' 'writ ten at the in- struct ion of the NSA and pub ~ ished in the Swedish News Letter on the anniver sary of its hu..~dreth year revelation.' ''rh! Purest Branct1, '' 'an article published by the Swedish Ba- na' i :lews on the occasion of the centenary of the m2rtyrdom of the Purest Branch••• June 2,, 1870 ••• published in June 1970 ••• I wrot! the article at the request ot the NSA.• tBaha• i History,'' •three artiolea published by the Swedish - Bah'i.' i ?iews, 19?4.' ''Swed ish-Iranian Relationship, 11 •an artiole written for tl".e Bc;>n;r~d C!l°l;~ur.al,l'\aga.zi:_ne, Tehrin, May 1977. • - ... - ''The Illumined Stars--the women who made history,'' 'artic l es - on the Babi-Baha'i women of the Heroic Age. So far 14 arti- - - cles on the wife of the Bab ••• Kh.adijih Bagum ••• pub!ished 1iur- ing 1977-80. • In Swedish translation, S \<1edish Ba .4 1 I f~ewa. VI. S\r/EDFll 3)Ezzat Dja~eri . In.terviewi Pttblicationsa ''Historiography ill Europe: a briet stu~ ot the Swedish and English historiography,'' •An article written for the !"&Jalleh- ye Dineshk~deh, the quarterly publication at the Univerait1 ot Tehre. PublilJhed in the apring iaau• ot 1978. • ''Swedieh-Iranian Relationship,'' •an article written for Bonar va Mardom, a Cultural review ot th• Kinietry ot Cu1ture and Arta, á frin, tor their spring iesue of 1978.' ''Dedicated át o the memory of the Hand of the Cauae ot God E- noch Olinga;'' •a asonth after his tragio paaaing, • in Swedish Bah&•f Newa, 1980. á . ''Profe88or Hak!m, - '' in honor of hia mort)TdOlll in winter 1981 Swedish Baha'i Newa, 1981. : ''Dr. Samana&ri, '' in honor of hia martyrdOlll in winter 1981 1 Swedishá Balii'I Neva, 1981. á áThe Per.s ian Preas and Reform uestiona in Iran 18 , University of Goteb,irg Preee, late spring 1 2, projected. • - Paper• a.á.- 'Ial d •nd =Ir•n, • 'Seen by the Persian eyes. Essay, 12 pages. :o.- partment of Hiat017. University ot Gothenburg, October, á1966.• ''lb• Anglo-Russian ConYention of 190?, Part One• Persia, 1 'Bsaay 46 pqea. Writtea átor th• Department of History, University of Gothenburg, March, 1968.• '!rb.• Co.n11titution of Persia, Sources and Literature,• 'twoá~•• 16 P.P••.á Depu-tmeut of Hiat0%"7, Univerait7 of Gothenburg, Hil1't 1969. I . á'Th• Persian Jom•li• 1 1850-1907,• •ea.say, 40 page• (3 obarts, ou mp). Depsrtment of Hiatory, University of Gothenburg, Novem- ber, 1969.' 'The Peraian Journal!•, 18.50-1907,• 'eesq, 22 page• (9 tablea). :0.i-rtment á of Hiator.y, University ot Gothenburg, April 19?0.' ~k ill. p:-ogr••••á. Cawse 1 BiograpQ' of Muvaqqarud-Dawlih, father of th• Hand ot ~. Bal.yuzi. (In Persian)' á 'A study á of th• range of the Writi.nga of the beloved Guardian-.- (In Persian •nd English) 1 •SvediaháP•raian bibliography. (In Perai•n and Svedi8h)' 1 Persian...Swediah idiomatic vooabularya joint project. •swediah Babi'i - (~In Persian and Swedish)• hietory. (In .. Swedish and English)' ' Future projectal •rt rill take sometime to make an aeessment ot ácontec- plated. pl"ojects. '!'hey are ma?Q' and depend greatly on rq contemplated research which in turn depends on ever- preeent question ot finsnoeaa th.,- inoludet early history o~ the Faith, all aapecta of it1 a broader etuq of Swed- iah-Ir•Di•u relationahipi hiator,r ot th• Persian art, car- pet in particular1 history of th• Faith in Sc•ndin•via••• ( iA Peraian and English I r•aume ill Svediah) t 4)Paul .Stolne Langua~es: Swediah, English - Degre~s: um:nown Interview: My three meetings with Mr. Stolpe in Goteborg, where he nor- mally resides, at Harald St&kegatan 38, tel. 84-38-69, yielded a great am- ount of infon:iation about Swedish Baba•I history, natural medicine aod oc- cult literature. This man ia a veritable national Ba.hi• i treas :rel I wish I had a month ~r a year to spend with him, just ~bsorbing what he r.~s care- fully assimilated 3.Jld classified into his marvelous memory, and ~oJ.iected in his extensive library. He began by telling me about Aqueli, a g,..,edish painter who lived during tqe lifetime of 'Abdu'l-Baha and died in Bará.:e- lona, around 1915. This 1'!1BD spoke mtich of world peace, learned sixteen languages in libraries, operated a newspaper in Egypt for awhile and lived while there with two Babi:•ia. A museum in Sweden has a collection of some - of his paintings. He was definitely infiuenced by Ba.hi:' i teachings, b á~t Hr. Stolpe does not know vb.ether or not he was the first Swedish Bahi'i. ft.ugust Rudd, who is reputed to be the first Swedish Ba.ha•[, wrote to '.'Lbdu'l- Edha in 1919 :rom Kenosha, Wi8conein, and asked to be accepted as a Baha'i: 'Abdu'l-Bahi sent him as a pioneer to Sweden in 1920. Rudd wae an inventor, like bis brother Edwin who also lived in WiscoMin and in llorvay, who i :!.vent- ed a typevriter and a boat motor (hence, the 'rudder•?). Mr. Stolpe aa~ed me to find sources for August Rudd' a early lite in !,lisconsin while in the_ United States, as ne wants to write on this e';)i.sode tor th' Swedi..eh. Ba.--. á:• i News. He recalled that at one time Olivia Kelsey was living in Monaco and - writing Baha,i historya he urged me to look her up if she were still there and living. He said he would like to have tape-recorded reminiscences of the first generation of American pioneers to Sweden who have, most of them returned to the United States. He told me that August Rudd's wife translat- ed the Kitib-i-fqan into Swedish from the English translation of Shoghi Ef- fendi. He reeoDDDended that I talk with Mr. Paul ~jermar~, former Secretary of the NSA of Sweden and now resident in Rome tor more in!ormation about T •• Swedish Bahi'1 history. (See report on Mr. Ojer!nark, in Italy.) At my re- quest Mr. Stolpe told me briefly the story of his life, and I cite it here - aa an aid to whomever might be the next Baba 1 i ac.~olar to interview or cor- respond w::..:h him:He began to pray at the suggestion of a nurse while in . the hospital for treatment of his left hand which had been burned black and severely disfigured. He worked at various kinds of manual labour 1 ?ursuing in his leisure time research into natural healir--6• He has an excellent me- mory and remember:e in detail what has trans?i=ed over the years, including all of his Baha'i contac-cs, and he ha.a a guest book which haa been in use since 19'+9. He is a pa.inter, a realist and expres.-Jionist, who ~ins sometimes used a purple spiritual haze to bathe ais images in. He had flashes of re- alization, of recognizing tru~ha whicn were Baha'i- principles, ~ut he also believed that there must be one man wiser tr.an all the rest, ac~ so when he - tirst heard of the Balli' i Faith he responded posit ::rely. Since t he develop- ment of the Admjniatrative Order in Sweden and around the world he has taken á- little initiative for fe ;'r of being in conflict wlm otr. er Ea.ha' is, a.n:i he knows little about the A :~inistrative Order beca~c ne na.s read but little of the literature descriptive thereof. After he completes a number of ar- ticles on water cures he intends to devote his entire energy to Eabi•i work. VI. SWEDEN 4)Paul Stolpe Interview: His research into the variows uses and significances of water, material and spiritual baa yielded much that ie of value, to Bahi•ie and others. He has thought ot moving to the Middle F.aat to teach water technology ao that the desert may be arrested, recovered and changed into a fertile and richly productive land. He was the Bahi•I teacher of Sverre H•lmeen, - the Swedish Bah&'i author, and he introduced Harald Thiis, he says, to zone therapy ( sondtherapi). Regarding the principle of .unity in diversity, he -stated that one must have diversity for 11nity to be possible, for without diversity there is no attraction, those who are too similar can not be attracted to one an- other. Mr. Stolpe reported that while Dr. Albert Schweitzer lived in SwitZ!,_rl.and he studied the Bahi'{ Faith, without having_ any contact with Ba.bi• is, and then he ~ent to Africa 'inspired by Baba' i •. Later in life whei; Schweitzer was old and staying in an hotel in Paris, he told a Ba- ba' i that he had bee.! inspired to go to Africa by the Bahi'i Writings, and he and the Baha'i talked all that night. He affirmed that Nathan - Sederblum heard about the Baha'i Faith in Africa, and that someone in Goteborg heard about it from him while he was a professor at the Univer- sity of Geteborg. Mr. Stolpe baa an interesting and large collection of books on the sub- ject of natural medicine and healing, most of which are kept in the home ot a friend--Ruhaniyyih Golmahammadi, Lj11ngkullen 37, 43366 Partilla, Sweden (031/26-69-33), also a student of the subject. He also baa an assortment of books on pyramidology, and he mentioned in passing some of the experts in the field which he h.ae consulted, including: John Greaves, profeesor of astronomy at Oxford,á 16J7; Colonel Howard Vyse; Sir John Herschel. astronomer; John Taylor, mathematician and publisher, 1859; Piazzi Smyth, professor of astronom,y, 1864-5; Sir William Petrie, archaeologist; David Davidson, engineer, 1924. To cite but a few ot the titlea he baa collected whic~ struck me as exceptionally rare1 Max Freedom Long, Gr~win,g i~~o ;Light, 1955. J.W.Dunne, ~ E!P!,r~ent with Tj.me, 1934 new edition. Adolf H1mgry Wolf, The_ SJ?iri t .at, Hidden Val1=_ey. A G,?o~ _Medic~n~. Storz, á 1972. Health,, Its ~ec9ve.rx &?ti:! Ma~t!t_1,1&pce. Abdullah Latif, ed. R.H.Saundera,n.d. Dr. Thelma Moss, Th~ P_robabilitL of th.,!._Im,Eoss,iplt!, 19'74. We discussed neither a BSA in Europe nor an ~nczcloE!,d_ia, and this was ap.. propriate aaáMr. Stolpe does not regard himself aa a scholar, although he is willing to help others to do reBearch in the areas in which he_himeelf has become knowledgeable. Publicationas Mr. Stolpe has written a number of articles tor alternative medi~ine periodicals in Sweden, which he declined to enumer- ate; he has also translated some of Mr. Dj~ayeri'a articles tor Swedish Baha'i Newa from English into Swedish; and he baa written over 50 pages in successive issues ot Swedish Bahitf News on his memories of the Swedish Bahi 1 Is, charac- terising hia perspective as that of •a living body of the inside' and insisting that 'all the details and things you have in archives and written down, real historiaoa wil1 till in and add to it in the future, it is easy for them. so it then will be aevera1 hundreds of pages. It ia high, far, above my ability.• One of the distinguishing characteristics of this soul is his endearing humility and another his .dedica- tion to the service of others, with no thought of personal gain. 8~ .. 1 )Dr. Margit ~4arburg (.~sa.ncier •) ! !.ngua;es: Swedish, D::r i.:;n, Institute o~ Scciolc~ of Religion Ei:glish, Ge ::-man t ot :...ers University of Copenha~en DegreeJ; Ph.D. in : r i.sto~y of Reli- gious I!lStitl.itions, Stockhols _ UniverGitet, 1974; to:~i.c: •Bahi' i- Ismen, ~ 1974. • Interview: Dr. '.iarburg is extrer~ :!ly busy with teaching courses and conductL"'lg her research. She is on a three-year fellowship at tne ~niver­ si ty of Copenhagen granted by the Danish government, -md for the '.: luration of that fellowship ar~e will be spending most of her ti!!le studying the Ba- ba' i comcnmity of Denrnarlt, through reading of literature available in Den- á- r..a.rk, interviewing of individual Baha' is and the anal.,.rsi~ ot 'iata collect- ed through questionnaires sent out to all enrollad Ba.ha' is. I was able to tal-1.c with her for only a halt-hour, during her lunch-break, and so could not ask her a.a ~á3:IlY questions as I did others. The NSA of Denmark and the indi vidual 3a.rui•is ..,ho know t'!". Margit seem to have total confidence in her capaoit:r tc a.rry out an objectiá:e ~'"ld sy-npathetic appraisal of the past and presen:á fort11nes ~f that Bahi 1 i community of less than 200 adult member.a, scattered all 0•1er the Danish i.slands. '../e await the publication of the results of her enqairiea so thai: :..ie may jUá:l~e for ourselves. In my update and revision of this report (which will be expanded to include the activities of scholars the ~orld over), I will cite all of her papers and publications relative to the Bahi•f religion. 2)Lisbeth Andersen Languagee: Danish, English Degrees: unknown Interview: Mrs. Andersen invited me to tea and dinner in her home, on March 22cd,1981,and there I talked with her and another Baha'i !or a few .ours; ve had 11et in the evening of March 20, for dinner and then had pro- ceeded to attend the Feast of Baha~in the company ot Dr. Alec Culton, in the home of Miss Kaya Holck; then we met again at the Naw-Rii.z gathering on March 21 in the Haziratu'l-Quds in Hellerup. But it was not until the afternoon and evening of the 22cd that ~• were able to talk openly and free- ly for more than a few moments and about thin..:s ot consequence. This lat- ter meet á~.ag le ft me with a lasting impression of I-trs. A!"~dersen as a remar- kable soul, well. worthy of inclusion in this report, alt~ou~ she is neith- er a scholar nor the a.asiatant - to a scholar, and even though there are se- veral ind.ivid11al Bahi is in Denmark who have a more comprehensive knowledge ' ! the Bahi•I history of that country than her. She is a longtime member ,.,: the Danish NSrt, translator ot literature rárom E~lisll into Danish, il- lustrator and writer ot li~arature tor Ba.~•l children, tal á~nt~d designer, painter, aestheticiau, and Baha 1.l since 1952. She manage.'! to raise a fa- mily, paint and design, and remain a staunch and steadfast Bahi.'l all of these years, notwithstanding the dif~iculti'!S po.eed ~'Y rler own buM3-n linil.- tationa, by those of her co-workers, and those ot h~r society. I will in- clude a tull bibliography ot her translations and illu.st~ationa in a revi- sion ot this report. VII. DENMARK 3)Kaya Holck x.anguageal Danish, English Degreea1 unknowa Interview: Mias Holck mentioned in passing that ahe is researching a documentary history of the 'Rabi' i Faith in Denmark, painatakingi,. going .á through the t: .. ea ot deceased individt1al Babi•Ie whose papers have been turned over tc the NSA or who are in the handa of sympathetic families, and through those of LSAs and of the NSA. She did not indicate to me at what stage she felt herself to be in her research, and ao I don't know whether thie ia something that we'll see the fruits of, in five years, ten years, or ever tor that matter. Hopefully Mias Holck will supply me with more information on her project and I will be able to write more about her in a revised version of thi.e report. 4)Dr. Alec Oulton Languages: Engliab 1 Danish Degreeas Ph.D. in P;ysohologr, Univereity ot Londont topic: 'The Role of th• Hippooampws in Memo17 Neuropaychologia,• 1977 (?) Interview& Thia account of rq encounter vi.th Dr. Oulton ia based upon two conversationa,one in the Copenhagen llWlicipal railv&J' station, and the other in Hyde Park, London, and upon three letters, one ot which comprised hia •xtenaive revision of 'fll1 original report, to my great d.elight and en- tire ap:iroval. Dr. Oul~on and I disouaeed ma~ matters, including the pre- sent state of the Babi. 1 1 comanmit1 of Denmark, but he would prefer if I were to record on.17 his remarke related to research in paychologr •nd re- lated aubjeote of study. Firat we spoke of the predictions of varioua psychics, aoientiata and religious writera that a planetary conflagration ia i••nent, and Dr. Outlon pointed out that he had heard from a number of indivich1ala the view that th• year 1990 would see gr•a.t commotio:a ill th• world, while others looked to 1984 •nd 1982•. 'I've only dipped into th• á Americ•n, Edgar Cayce,• he wrote me, '••not at all sure whether he is . so11nd but remember hia prognostication on event• in the world which h• saye will begin around 1984 •nd involve dramatic changes in the geograp~ • of th• world. Not until the 1990• will Ewope 11ndergo a sudden ch•nge. H8Jl1' people seem to inuagin• that 1984 will be a year of sipal events••• Aa a psychologiat I know that the human. mind takea in a great 4,.eal vithout alviqa being aware of what ia being input •. : There ie al~a thel daDger of imitation. even though we feel sure that.it is our very own special intuit- ion. There i8 •stronomic•l, geologioal, and other data on the probabilit7 of earthquakes occuring around 1982, on a scale hitherto unknown to ua. So- lar. winds appsrentl7 can cause earthquakes, •nd ohange• in solar wind• concur vith planetary aligb•nt. Read The JuEiter Etrnff!C\ by Stepha Plage• man, a Cambr.!dg9 phyaictst.• I had brought up this topto u I found a n1•m• ber of Baha'ia, Nev Agere and ev•ngeliatio Protestant• as well u clerical- ly trained Catholics in Europe expectiDg great ''cala•ity11 in the near tu- ture. Am to Dr. Oulton•a research u a psychologist, carried out ill Ens• l•nd prior to hi• pioneering to Bornhola Island, betveen Sweden •nd Pol•nd •Jld Denmark, tram vhioh he returned to England in March1 thence to l•&V"e for South Africa in Jul.7 (on both occasion• I spoke with h:ia onl.1 da7• be- fore he waa du• to leave), I quote traa one of hu letters,. followed by '~)Dr. Alec Oulton • Interview: cor.m:~nts recalled from our conversations: 'My own research arose out of in- terest in the ~volution of certain b .ál.in ,structures, the hippocampus being pri~ary 3..rea o: concern both because i t iáncreases dra."lllltically in size when animals fir.st invaded the ]and, and áin Yfian this site has been long associat- ed with long term asorage of in!ormaci~~. Arthur Koestler (author of The .S le~uwalkers, ~ogi ~d _Co!!Dtaar, etc.) :...,imself researched in this area, suggesting that there was a part otáthl brain which wae the repodi:ory for current experiences, whi ~h included remembering 1•episodes1' in onef.:: lite, replete with sensory ccá áponente. Other brain parts may be conn t: cte ~ with learning material, i.e., formal memory . I suggested that the midbrain may function to organize episodic memories i~to ti.me and apace coordinates. If the midorain ot epileptics is stimulated, memories ot an episodic nature are evoked but only in epileptics. This brain area also seems to be connected with hallucinations and visions, also the images of dreams, as LSD injected into the midbrain of cats "':"l~oducea ... visions and hallucinations . of LSD which do not occur at other brain sites. so~~, mind and brain are intjmately as- sociated and it seems li.!~~iy that the sou1 experiences, and that these ex- periences are laid down in the phyeical substrat11m of the brain. At death, when the physical instrument is destroyed, it is possible that the sou1 re- tains its own non-material duplicate. This is pure speculation. á~he physi- cal memory in the brain seems connected with electrical and chemical energy but energy itself is not a vary tangible ~oncept ••• The e is no proof ot ge- netic aemory. It is still a logical hypothesis, as I understood it but I finished researching more than two years ago. We know that DNA. and RNA• c ontains memory which enables each cell to ?rogramme itselt. It ia logical that as long as h11man beings have exist;ed, there have been gene.a, and chro- mosomes. What exactly is carried in eai.;h cell, as information from one ge- ner ation to the next, is not known. Be3.d Stanislaus Gret, Den Inre R,!jsa (The Inner Jo_!lrneyt vols. I-III).• Rela:ed to the subject of genetic me- mory, Dr. Oulton spoke ot Wilder Penfield' s 7.fy~_te.!'z..9..i ,~he ~ind, and of Dr. Ruth Brown, mentioned by Tomkins in The Secret Life ot Plants, and related tor its trsnsfoxámative etfect upon contemporary- scientific thinking, The !~o of ?pysics. Dr. Oulton is also interested in alternative medicine, in Kirlian photography (etheric field photography), in research on ether (possibly comprised of energy fields, electro-magnetic forces), and gener- ally in parapsychology. Dr. Oulton intends to continue his research into h11man memor:-," in the future. We discussed the possibility that t.1e collect- ive unconscioua conceived of by Dr. Carl Jtlng 1 the racial heritage implicit- ly believed in by our forebearers and substanoiated in their literature, their arta, their social and even le)'n; al forms, and in their religious con- victions and institutions for thousands of yeare, the cosmic unconscious posited by Dr. Sigmund Freud may have a. solid baaia in cell chemistry, and that the history of 118Dkin<1 may indeed be recorded in the DNA a:id RNA which are then passed on in the sex-cell chromosomes, from generation to genera- tion. Dr. Culton insisted that wi1ile this is an attractive hy::othesis, it is not yet aubstanciated by an irrefutable body of evidence. In his last letter to me, Dr. Ou1ton spoke of his discovery o! an Afril(aaner who 'lived among the chacua baboons and alIáeady laid down everything ....e have spent years researching and he presents a convincing refutation of Freud and I always thought Freud' 8 t heories fallacious. F1~r1etic memory ne maintain.es is what is commonl.y called instinct and tenda to b~ computer-like in its flmC i:: ions . while indivi:iual cause and effect memory ma.Kea its appearance in tr:e ape. The more pronounced individ11al.,. .~ntellii_::ent'' memory, the more b'.lri ed and lees accessible the phyletic but,~ he :~intains that this is what Freud VII. DENl-tARK 4)Dr. Alec Oulton Interview: cal led ''unconscious''. Eugene Marais suggests that the human unconscious is but the same old animal memory which we retain but have repressed. He cites hypnotic experiments which give to humans a far, far greater sensory power than we normally possess, i.e., people under hypnosis pos- sess sight, hearing, smell, etc. which approximates that ot lower maam~­ lia and the ''homing'' instinct. The more intelligent the memory, á- the poor- er the sen.sea. Essentially what 'Abdu'l-Ba.hi sa.ys •••A Baha'i here from Canada ia very interested in the study of the family from a Baha'i view- point and has been counselling in Canada (Charles Frindlay), and he is interested in the mind, so we hope to put our heads together. My hope is to conduct research as soon as possible on the African mind, which a position as lecturer at the University of Zul11Jand facilitates •••The hy,.. pothesis is, that an unbiased study of the mind ot different ethnic groups, their potentials, idiosyncraciea, weakness possibly, vill give us that picture of diversity which should characterize our species, showing hopefully the principle of complementarity, and providing at the 58.me ti.me a key to the understanding process across cultures.• Dr. Oulton hopes to set up a clinic in Zululand to study the Zulu family, village economy and the value and purpose of the witch doctor and natural heal- er in family life. He reports giving a talk 'on rhythm, the brain and African muaio to the music department, which I think went down well aa they are interested in the role of the medicine man, visions, and the brain•••Atrican music and its role in the traditional African society was to me much more interesting. These people breathe music and break out in harmony whenever there is occasion to, harvesting, weddings, births, deatba, even in the middle of a university lecture, they suddenly break into beautitul harmonies ••• ' We have not discussed an European Baha'i Studies Associ3.tion-vhat'a the point vhen he's in A:t'rica- {and I knew that he was headed to Africa when we first met in Denmark)--nor an E?\cyclopedi~ B,!lha,•I, for I know that his great contribution will come in the field of psychology and not in that of Bahe If SChOl&rahipe Bah& 1f SCholarS t students Of the Bah&1 'f teachings On mind, soul, spirit and other topics in psychology, would do well to work with Dr. Oulton, •nd he will certainly appreciate all offers of assistance. Papers and publication•t 'The Role of the Hippoca•pus in Memory Neuropsy- chologia,' 1981 {?) 'Four papers in J!:Ocess of publication.• áá. VII. OElá™ARK 5)Dr. Fere;r !•m Va!i..can l.UlgU3.gea: Persi3n, Eiiglish, Danish. German Degrees: Ph.D. in Persiar:. Liter- ature Correspondence: Dr. Va..11.man and I were not able to talk in p~rson iur- i.ng J1l:f brief stay in Copenhagen and so what little information iJ cited here ia derived from t1-10 letters and a. Resume sent aince my retl.rn to the United States. Dr. Va~..man ia an Associate Professor in the Department of Indo-Europeen Philolosr-1, :Jniveraity of Copenhagen. ?or five yeara now he has been working to prepare 'a critical edition of the Kiddle Persian (Pah- laá1i) text of Artay l1/i.;a.?; N~g, or a sof Amer.:..ica, Chicago, 1913. Rel. 1 7 . Huseyn Hilmi Isik, The Re]..igion Refor,m~rs_ in Isla"!, pp. 313-316, Istanb\ll.I Isik Kitahevi, 1970, 6th ed. {Rel. 16570]100) The librarians I consulted with, particularly the dear lady in the reading room were more helptul and friendly, and I make a point of mentioning this because those who spend many hours in libraries know full well that atmos- phere is very important, and that librarians go a long way to creating the particular ambiance in which scholars undertake their long hours o! research. Not only did the reading room librarian help me to locate reference mater- ials and card catalogues (there are at leaat two distinct systems by which books and periodicals are catagorized in this library, and, as with all col- lections, it take• one awhile to become accustomed to nev systems), but she made aur• that I had the books and periodicals I ordered almost immediately and that photocopiea were made ot the pages I chose also within áa very short period ot time--no red tape here. I am so grateful. VIII. <£~1 1) ~ ~. Ujo Schaefer Languages: Germa~. English. French Degreea: LL.n •• Heidelberg Univer- sity, Faculty of Law, 195?; topic: 'Die Grundlagen der Verwaltunga- - - i,' 1957. ordnung der Baba' Int•rviewt á How does one describe the conver.sa.tiona one has had with an intellectual of a superior order, with whom one h:1s had the luxury of spending preoioua parts of ten days, discussions ,:,! tr~n.alation, of review, ot ''c•laznity'1, of old world order, nev world order, Yi ddiah humour, Ebion- ite Chri.stianity, German philosophY and theology, classical mus1a 9 the_mya- tical significance of n11mbera and dates, the work of • nwnber cf Baba' i scholars, plans •ad hopes for the future? I shall d:. ::ry level best, but wbatever . I write vill be incomplete, although not diatort•d, tor this re- pori: hae been carefUlly reviewed by Dr. Schaefer himeelt prior to ita pre- sent publicatiOD. Let me introduce Dr. Schaefer to - these ot you vho are not t•miliar with this giant in the field of Baha'i apologetic .scholarship. Dr. Schaefer ia Senior Public Prosecutor for the Heidelberg region, reapon- .aible tor prosecuting political crimes .and drUg-delinq,uency, a lav aDd or- de man to t~ ., core (and me a foraier hippie, yippie, retel to the_corel). Dr. Schaefer is the author of several books and articles on Baha'i topics. tllO of whioh have been translated from German into English and published 'by George Ronald Preest Dái e Mis~.";1:.~r!t!r-;dene _?~!igica~ ( 1968) u ~.e. L.ignt SA_;;t_eth in f.ar~eaa in 1&city of th• speaker. A• bove all• Dr. Schaefer is resistant to aJl atte~pta to standardise BahA'i - behaviour in ways not delineated in the revealed atatementa or in the in- spired interpietationa ot splendid and prolitic Authors of t:t.i.IJ F.U .th. I • quote rq l•st letter tram him.1. •My ide11 ia that ther• are aoa long-cherish- - - - ed assertions about th• Bahi'i Faith which are wrongs for iDetance, th• Baha'i re!_igion bas no t:ieologr, the Baha'i religion hae no cult, •nd in the Bah&• i religion there ia no interpre~ation of th• revealed word (in reality: no authoritative interpretation ), the Ba.hi•! religion ia a reli- - gion without dogmas, etc.' In the aw letter h• writea, ''Conoerning Ba- ha'i- th.eologyt Of course ve have a Babi'1 i- theology ae ve bav• tea.chinge about God, reYelation, the messengers, the human being, hie responsibili- ty and ao on. These teachings will be dev•loped over the centuries. But I doubt very much that the Cause of Baha'u'llah vill produce that kindá áot speculation like Christian theology (with its discussiona likes hc>V ám&D7 an~els2can sit on a pin-pc.)int). 1 5-Dr. Schaefer ia no longer writing about Ebionit~ Chriatianity and its ai- . - milaritiea doctrinally to Baha'i teachings, but he cited various sources useful to th• student of this tield (that is, of comparative religion, or of Christi•n sources) including: Hana Joachim Schoepa, a Jewish scholar who vrote on Jevtah Christianity and on Islam; Adolf vou Harnar.ck, Das Califat des .Jacobus; Jack McLean, 'The Deification of Jesus,• published in \;?r,l.d P£ be_iuforMd about. Dr. Schaefer particularly urged. me to visit Dr. ?!labi,, for whioh,_I •• !tern.ally grat•ftll to h:f m. (See report• on Peter Mubl~legelt Dr. ijalabi •nd Mr. Sabet in thia aeotion; I waa ~1na.bl• to "'~itááá with á Ih'". Berdj,_. on account of hie buay aohedule, and vi t:r. Mr. Goll- .JIU._ Má vu ia the.:proceee of moving trom one acldreea to £.other and so could not be reached.} _8-Dr.á: Sohae~&l' vritu me that 'in the tuture I eure17 will write a trea- t~.•• about the r•lat~onship between law •nd api.rit. The inif-áá mderstanding of that -relation.ship ta áre.epoaaible for .moat of tlw covenant ...brdkera ~ike Ruth .White, Zi111ner, Ficicchis, eto.' Thie ia certa!_nl:r good n•va, u thi.8 probl• vexes virtually a~ l of the Western Babi • ia I have bac:! the ple•aw-e of spe•king with intimately. I-le continues that •At the mo- ment I am very occupied by the reviaion of the '!ableta of Bab'i'u'llah, bT the revision of the h enoh translation, eto. ' 9-In hi.JI exoeption•l generosity, Dr • .Schaefer permitted m• to mk• pho- tocopiM of ..-ioua manuacrip-:s, letters and articles in his poAeuion. Moat o! the• are m•d• available to one •nd all througn my photocop;y ser- vice, vhioh I ba,,-e •atablished vith all of you in mind, and, I uirur• J'OU:t with no thought or int~ntion of personal profit. I have .eo piti!ul.l.y lit- tl• to give you iD recompense for the enormows apiritu.al, intellect,1111 •nd p)qaio•l rionea -yo11 have bestowed upon ::e. There are a nWllbe:r of rare booka •"d man11eoripta in Dr. Sch•efer'• privat• library1 I will mention 0»ly a. veryfew of t .l.eae aa an a.saiat•nc• to those acklolars vho mig~t vieb to correapond with Dr. Schaefer, or to Yiait rith him and conault the~• =teri•lal Page 95 does not exist in original paper VIII.. GE..1X\NY 1)Dr. Udo Schaefer Inter"Viev: Dr. Hermann Grossmann, Dḥ B,tµldnis G.ott~s .in_ d,er ,9ft:,enbarunga-Relig:io.a, 3aha'i-Graundrisse 1, Baha'f-Verlag, b,rankfurt am }iain, 1956. Dr. Hermann Grossmann, Umbrucb zur Einl1eit, G?t,t, >tensch ~"lei.. ':lel,t ap d~r Schwelle einer neuen Ordnung, August Schroder Verlag, Stuttgart, 1947.} Dr. Gernard Rosenkranz, Die Baha'.f Ein re Qnly a scholar aitting at • desk in~estigatillg very ~tty details ot Ball&'i history, etc. That is the task ()f tuture generations.• ' Pa.~rsz 'Di• Grundlagen der 1~erwa.l.tungsordnung11 der Bah~'l,' Hej.delberg Universitet, Ph.D. dissertatio~, 1957. Publicationa1 - - pie Bapa'i-Relip;!on im Spiege~ c~ietlich~~ Betrachtun5, Der Nationale Geistige Rs.t der Bab&'I in n.utschland e.v., Frankturt am Main, April 1960. pie, Mi~!!6arst~deD:_!, Religiof!, Baba 1 f-Verlag, Frank.turt am Main, 19 • á !h• Light.. Shinat}l in Datj; mo.dernen '! felt, Baba' i-Verlag, FrarJkfurt am Main, 1978, 1st ed.; 1§81, 2cd expanded edition. R_!tligio~, J<;ir~he-1, S~kte, Ku.:L,t.? Zur r!!.igi9nageechicht1:,ich~l! Einord.nung der Bah.a' i-Reli5ion.• ,Ba.ha.' i.-Ver1.ag, irank-furt am Main, 1982 (?) The authoritative interpretation of the Bahi'i Writings, or ot anything for that matter ia the interpretation mad• by Be.hi.'u'1.'lah, '~bdu'l..w:?>abJi and Shoghi Eff!ndi. Any ~terpretation made by an individual Balia•i or group of B•hS'is or Bah&li institution (other than legislative interpre- tationa made by the Universal House of Justice, and, under ita supervision the Nation•! and Local Spirit11al Aasembliea) ia relevant only to that in- divid1ial, group or i.natitution •nd ie not binding on others. "2.rhi• i• a typographical error, but I have left it in the terl because I find it ch112á11ing •nd original. ~Dr. Schaeter generousl:J gave me a. cow of th.ia 'tfork bJ hi.a untor. • 1 sm not yet quite sure which will be the final title.• VIII. Gl'2-!ANY 2)Hans Lange, Director Languages: Germ.an .. Arabic, Tempe1gesel1achaft in Deut4chland English freie chriatlicha Gemeindea Degrees: unknown - . . á !4terview: '!he Tempelgesellechaft ia denominated, in Bab&' i litera- ture, th-. ''teat•nt ohuroh•• retu.d h•lf mainly tor dogmatic reuona. In th• end the Society had to go it alone. In 1868, Christoph Hoffmann a.nd G. n. Hed•gg, l.ef'\ far Pal.e-ine vi.th thei.r fdili••• four wl.1 'femp1w . •ttlemente were e•t•bliehed ou after the other under great initial herd- .á . •hip at S.i.ta, Jaffa. Jaroaa and Jarueal•; tvo hr'Cher zsettle•nt• at tlil• ,helma •nd Beth.le~• followd amoh. Iat•r; variou Templer• had .eettled at H•ureth, Tib•rill•, in the plaia ot A.ere, and el•ewh•r•. The ntt1era r• 1 • . t•ined their 0.1 11•D lenguap 1 cuetOllSt and n•tionalit7 9 both ut1.der t~e Ot• VIII. GERl.fANY 2)Hans I.ange Interview: toman regime and the British Mandate.' I think it essential that I point out that the Templers, members of the Tempelgesellachaft, were for all in- tensive purposes Unitarians, regarding Jesus Christ as a man, an inspired and divinely guided man, a prophet, not a.a the incarnate Son of God or God Himself, and that they moved to Palestine ready and willing to live with people ot various faiths without trying to convert them to the Temple Soc- iety' a brand of practical Christianity. Dr. Hoffmann writes that •Mr. G.D. Hardegg was the leading Templer personality at Haifa.• In 18?1 he received - word that a group of Persians waa resident in 'Akka, and he requested an audience vith Babi.'u'llah, the reputed chief ot this group of eruigres. He was denied this request but met 'Abdu'l-Bahi., eldest son ot Bllha•u'llah, - and it is apparently trom 1871 that the relationship between the Tempel- gesellschaft and the Bahi •is ot 'Akki and Haifa became established. This Society has been, since its inception, Unitarian and humanitarian and not Adventist. Dr. Hoffmann writes, 1 Te~plers are not connected with the Seventh Day Adventists.•á The leadership !_mputed to a certain Leonard Kelber in Ba- - ha'i literature--written by Baha'i believers, not from authoritative sources as far a.s I know- ae well as the claim that the Templers are Adventists and emigrated to Haifa ill order to await the coming of the Lord ''in the glory ot the Father'' at the foot ot Mt. Carmel seems to be mistaken. This is - certainly a scenario plea.sing to Bahi 1 is• but it seems to be untoun.d ed, in short, it proves to be fictional. Dr. Hoffmann vrites, 'I cannot identify ''Leonard Kelber''• There was a Mr. Fritz Keller. Keller and Kelber might be one and. th• same, but Fritz and Leonard are certainly indicating differ- ent persons.• _Dr. Hoffmann kindly offered to help me find Mr. Keller. As fer .. . , I fo1md on1y one trace-I discovered that a Leonardá Kelber had writ- ten a book published in Stuttgart in 1844, but I could not locate a copy ot the book• and I don't think I was even able to !ind the title! I certainly can't find it right now. If any ot my read.era simply do not believe my ver- sion ot this story. I invite you to begin by locating Mr. Keller, then pro- ceed to read Christoff Hof'fmann's Oceident und Orient, published in 1875, the definitive statement of Temple Society theology, and see if you can find anything even faintly Adventist in thie thoroughly Unitarian text. A copy of thia work has been deposited in the Afnin Library, in care of Dr. Koojan l•tomen, along with introductory and historical literature given me by Mr. Lange. When I asked Mr. Lange wey ''Der Herr i.Bt t{ahe'' was inscribed in the door lintels ot the Haifa settlers, he explained that many ot the á Templers inscribed such Biblical phrases over their front doors, and that, in an:y case, it was their conviction that wherever there are godly men and women living a life of service to each other and to their neighbors, there ''Der Herr ist Nahe''. After al 1, didn • t Chri.tSt say that ''wherever two or t1ore of you gather in my name, there am It•? Now to tell the story ot my meeting with l1r. Lange, as it may amuse some ot you. On April. 51 1981, a Sunday afternoon, after attending a Christian com- munity (Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophical Society) m.orning service in a la- vender and pink chapel, a tx-iend and ! wandered over to the Tempelgeaell- schaft in Stuttgart, a pleasant tram ride and vaJk away. Mr. Lange was introduced to ua after we had listened to the last fifteen minutes of the SUll