# Baha'ism, by Albert Vail: Review

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Henry Bentson, Baha'ism, by Albert Vail: Review, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Bahá'ísm, by Albert Vail:
> 
> Review
> 
> Henry Bentson
> 
> published in Philosophical Review23, pp. 705-706
> 
> New York: Longmans, Green, and Co, 1914
> 
> 1. Text
> 
> Bahaism. ALBERT R. VAIL. Harvard Theol. Rev., VII, No. 3, pp. 339-357. [online here]
> 
> Bahaism is the name applied to a great spiritual movement in southwestern Asia. At first it was called Babism in memory of its founder, Mirzi
> Ali Mohammed, but later it has been called Bahaism after Bahá'u'lláh, its
> greatest leader. It is not so much an organization as a spiritual attitude,
> not so much a new religion as religion renewed. It supplies some rather
> universal needs since it wins men of all classes. It grows and persists because
> it gives regeneration to men. Its value is spiritual; it offers no material
> prizes. It declares that the supreme height of spiritual attainment is revealed
> when man is enabled to meet sickness, poverty and death with perfect joy.
> It exalts social betterment, making its appeal to the high human instincts for
> spiritual, social, universal redemption. It attempts to educate men out of
> the image of the earthly into that of the heavenly. Education is its watch-word. Material education builds up the body of our material civilization, but
> spiritual education is the only power which can bring to birth that divine
> civilization which is its light and soul. It is the proclamation of spiritual
> truth which sets free the spirits of men. This truth must be rediscovered and
> restated with each new age. Religion and science must harmonize. Religious
> truth, however, rests ultimately upon spiritual intuition. All four accepted
> standards of truth the sensory, the rationalistic, the intuitive and the
> traditional must be combined before we can be certain of truth. The Bahai
> movement affects the lives of its followers through the one supreme concept
> the inherent unity of the universe. The dynamic power in the method of
> presentation of the Bahais lies in their firm belief in their message. The
> spiritual teacher shows his belief in his own teaching by himself being what he
> recommends to others. In general, the Bahai movement is but a new statement and a new demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit in the education of humanity.
> 
> 2. Page scans
> 
> METADATA
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> Views5999 views since posted 2015-03-05; last edit 2026-04-17 01:22 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../bentson_vail_bahaism_review
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> Citation: ris/4509
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> — *Baha'ism, by Albert Vail: Review (Used by permission of the curator)*