Bahá’í World/Volume 25/Introduction to the Volume
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INTRODUCTION
he year 1997 marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of
Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith from 1921 to 1957. The occasion provides an opportunity for The Bahá’í' World to take up the theme of community, since it was through the leadership of Shoghi Effendi that the Bahá’í Faith grew to embrace the wide cross—seetion of humanity that it counts among its members today. This volume thus includes a retrospective essay, “Shoghi Effendi: Guide for a New Millennium,” by Glenford E. Mitchell. It reviews Shoghi Effendi’s inspired work as the builder of a unified global community, as interpreter and translator of Bahá’í sacred scriptures, as aesthete, and as a thinker who combined a broad, incisive grasp of history with a keen Vision of the future.
The selection of excerpts from the Bahá’í sacred writings also focuses on the theme of community, and “World Watch” takes a critical look at some contemporary Challenges facing community and the response to them found in the Bahá’í Faith. An account of Amatu’l-Bahá Rt'lhiyyih Khánum’s Visit to Brazil to mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Faith there, a report on a
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TPLE BAHA’l WORLD
social and economic development project in Zambia, and an article profiling five moral development activities around the world all provide further glimpses into the life and concerns of the Bahá’í community. Matthew Weinberg’s essay on the contemporary human rights discourse presents the Bahá’í perspective on a related topic of central concern. A report on the Bahá’í presence at Habitat 11 provides a window on the Bahá’í commitment to creating sustainable communities. Finally, a short article on the Bahá’í International Community’s launch of its official site on the World Wide Web tells how the Faith is using the new information technologies to acquaint the peoples of the world with its message, in a medium where the truth of Bahá’u’lláh’s statement “the earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens” is abundantly clear.
The Bahá’í World 1996—97 is the fifth in the new annual series of volumes that provides a public record of the Bahá’í community’s activities and achievements—a chronicle inaugurated in 1925 with the publication of the original Bahá’í World series. Readers will find it a useful source of accurate information. In addition to featuring the theme of community, the current volume contains a number of regular elements: highlights from maj or messages written during the year by the Universal House of Justice; “the Year in Review”—a Chronology of the activities of Bahá’ís around the world throughout the year; an update on the situation of Iran’s persecuted Bahá’í community; an account of the work of the Bahá’í International Community and a selection of statements made by it in United Nations fora over the year; a report on progress made on the Mount Carmel Bahá’í Proj eets at the world center of the Faith in Haifa, Israel; an introduction to the Bahá’í Faith and its community; and the usual selection of resource materials: statistics, a directory of Bahá’í agencies, an annotated list of selected new publications; a basic reading list, and a glossary of Bahá’í terms.