36 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Baha'u'llah 's Influence on 19th-C Muslim Intellectuals, January 1, 2000
By A Customer
This volume is an important study contributing to an understanding of
the place of Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Baha'i Faith, in the
intellectual milieu of the late 19th century Middle East. It is not,
however, a definitive or well-rounded study on Baha'u'llah. Dr. Cole
has been selective about what to emphasize or ignore -- such as some
of Baha'u'llah's more challenging claims to divinity and spiritual
authority, passages in Baha'u'llah's writings that undermine the
author's thesis that Baha'u'llah was strictly committed to a
western-style principle of rigid separation of church and state, and
other interpretations of Baha'u'llah's writings which are regarded as
authoritative by Baha'is. Nevertheless, Cole's is a useful study of
the liberality of spirit and wide-ranging influence exerted by
Baha'u'llah upon the most important of his Middle Eastern
contemporaries. It should not be read as a definitive description of
Baha'u'llah's doctrine or as a comprehensive intellectual history of
Baha'u'llah's influence, for it was not the Middle Eastern
intellectuals but ordinary people who accepted Baha'u'llah's claims to
prophethood and built the international Baha'i community. Dr. Cole's
book was not written to address Baha'u'llah's longer-range spiritual
influence upon ever more followers, the vast majority of whom are in
underdeveloped countries. ...
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25 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Non-Scholar' view, February 8, 2000
This review is from: Modernity and the Millennium (Paperback)
I found the book to be very ingrossing. I looked forward to reading sections of it twice a day. As part of my background, I have studied and participated in Sufi activities (1972-1976) and have been a Baha'i since 1972.
The book is, by-and large, very readable, very interesting and sheds some light on the circumstances and conditions of the time of the Babi and Baha'i revelations. I feel I have a better understanding of the culture, customs and history of that time. I also welcome the perspective which the author brings to the subject.
As for any controversy regarding this book or its author, the book contains a few points which may disturb the comfort level of some readers, but nothing that shakes my Faith in the essence of the Revelation, or cause me to question the author's point of view or motives.
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21 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Important Study of the Early Baha'i Movement, November 21, 1999
This review is from: Modernity and the Millennium (Paperback)
Juan R.I. Cole's *Modernity and the Millenium* is perhaps among the most important studies of the early Baha'i movement written the past twenty years. Cole's comparative focus and analysis of political ideas and philosophies in a nineteenth century Middle Eastern setting highlights the impact and relevance of various strands of European Enlightment thought such as democracy, religious reform and liberalism upon an Iranian millenarian movement such the Baha'i Faith. A must read for any serious student of the Babi/Baha'i movement and especially the Nineteenth Century Middle East.
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