The Bahá'í: The Religious Construction of a Global Identity
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Book Overview
The Bah ' Faith is one of the fastest growing, but least studied, of the world's religions. Adherents view themselves as united by a universal belief that transcends national boundaries. Michael McMullen examines how the Bah ' develop and maintain this global identity. Taking the Bah ' community in Atlanta, Georgia, as a case in point, his book is the first to comprehensively examine the tenets of this little-understood faith.
McMullen notes that, to the Bah ' , Buddha, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed are all divinely sent teachers of 'the Truth', whose messages conform to the needs of their individual cultures and historical periods. But religion-which draws from the teaching of Bah 'u'll h, a nineteenth-century Persian-encourages its members to think of themselves as global citizens. It also seeks to establish unity among its members through adherence to a Bah ' worldview.
By examining the Atlanta Bah ' community, McMullen shows how this global identity is interpreted locally. He discusses such topics as: the organizational structure and authority relations in the Bah ' "Administrative Order"; Bah ' evangelicalism; and the social boundaries between Bah ' s and the wider culture.
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