Historical Dictionary of the Baha'i Faith [Hardcover]

Hugh C. Adamson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements Series | Publication Date: December 11, 1997

Existing for only a little over a century and a half and built on the beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddism, the Bahá'í Faith has been enthusiastically adopted by people around the world without benefit of paid missionaries or clergy. Still, it remains a relatively obscure religion in relationship to the other main religions of the world.

The Historical Dictionary of the Bahá'í Faith was created in an attempt to help clarify the foundations of the religion to outsiders while permitting members to deepen their own understanding. It presents the Founders and numerous leaders and pioneers, many of the basic principles and precepts, as well as aspects of its organization and administration. Timelines chronicle the lives of the Founders and give important dates in the founding of the Chief Stewards and the Universal House of Justice governing bodies. Appendixes list apostles, disciples, the genealogy of the Founders and various other statistics. A must for all libraries supporting religous studies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The excellent bibliography includes scripture, commentary, and even Internet sites...recommended for reference collections generally. (Choice )

The bibliography is among the best of its kind, and the many appendixes help the reader with detailed information. The dictionary is readable and comprehensive to the general reader. As an introduction to the religion, it serves as a gathering place for the data... (Arba )

This work is a useful source of information about persons active in the Bahá'í religion, the Persian terms it uses abundantly, and its basic ideas. (The Quest )

About the Author

Hugh Carswell Adamson is Secretary General of the National Spiritual Assembly of the BahD'a'D'is of the United Kingdom. He is Honorary Vice-President, United Nations Association UK; Vice Chairman, World Congress of Faiths; member of the United Nations Environmental and Development Committee (UK); as well as other elected positions and memberships.

Philip Hainsworth accepted the BahD'a'D'i Faith in 1938 and has served on BahD'a'D'i national administrative bodies for 43 years, lecturing in over 40 countries from the United States to India.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Scarecrow Press (December 11, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810833530
• ISBN-13: 978-0810833531
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,611,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some utility, but poorly edited, May 21, 1998

By 

William P. Collins - See all my reviews

This review is from: Historical Dictionary of the Baha'i Faith (Hardcover)

While this volume is lengthier and contains more information than "A Basic Baha'i Dictionary" (1989), it is less adequate in terms of ease of use. Preparation of a historical dictionary of the Bahá'í Faith is a daunting task. Librarians, researchers and publishers have significant knowledge of the optimal organization of such works, and ways to improve their usefulness. The prefatory remarks and appendices in this volume help to set a standard for what to include in future such dictionaries. This dictionary has the potential to be useful as a quick reference for basic historical events, people, and concepts. Scarecrow Press's incomplete editing of this work is immediately apparent, resulting in readers' frustration as they attempt to find the information they are seeking. Notable problems are machine alphabetizing which takes into account diacriticals, thus widely separating articles that should follow one another letter for letter, e.g GHUSN comes after GUNG; lack of criteria for inclusion and exclusion of topics; biographies often lacking in significant enough factual information; erroneous cross-references; double entries under different forms of an individual Iranian name; misspellings of names; and several factual errors. While this may be useful for the amount of content in comparison with other dictionaries, some readers may wish to supplement this with Oneworld's "Concise Encyclopedia of the Baha'i Faith", due in October 1998, and "A Short Encyclopedia of the Baha'i Faith" from the Baha'i Encyclopedia Project (projected date unknown at this time).