Revisioning the Sacred

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Revisioning the Sacred: New Perspectives on a Bahá’í Theology: Studies in the Bábí and Bahá’í Religions, Volume Eight
Edited by Jack McLean
Kalimat Press: Los Angeles, 1997, 231 pages
ISBN 0-933770960
Order from kalimat.com, amazon.com, or barnesandnoble.com, or download below.

See also my contribution to this volume, “The Possibilities of Existential Theism for Bahá’í Theology” (online February, 2013), and see other articles online at bahai-library.com/mclean_revisioning_sacred.

About

This book is the first academic volume of essays which is dedicated to the serious understanding of Bahá’í theology as an area of Bahá’í Studies. It is an historic first attempt to investigate Bahá’í theological teachings and Bahá’í Sacred Texts using systematic and scholarly methods.

Revisioning the Sacred provides seven scholars with an opportunity to offer their views on some current issues in Bahá’í theology. For example, Dann May discusses some implications of the Bahá’í principle of religious unity, and Stephen Lambden writes on the historical background of Bahá’í teachings about God. Each essay in the book is argued thoroughly and is the product of scholarly research. Since the Bahá’í Faith has no clergy, the opinions of the authors are only their own. Of course, they are not intended as authoritative statements of Bahá’í belief. Yet the insights that these scholars bring to bear will impel the reader to a closer, more prayerful, reflection on the Bahá’í scriptures.

This is a pioneering work of Bahá’í scholarship and a must-have for all serious students of the Bahá’í Faith.

Reviews

• Review by David Piff, published in Bahá’í Studies Review 9 (1999), online at bahai-library.com/piff_revisioning_sacred.
• Review by Jonah Winters, published in Iranian Studies 32:1, pages 141-145 (Winter 1999), online at bahai-library.com/winters_sbbr_seven_eight.
• Review by Susan Maneck, published in Journal of Bahá’í Studies 9:2, pages 91-99 (1999), online at bahai-library.com/maneck_mclean_sbbr_seven.

N.B. Because of a publishing glitch, the wrong title of my article appears in the Table of Contents. The correct title there should be “The Possibilities of Existential Theism for Baha’i Theology.”