The Baha'i Studies Listserv Dear David: I assume you are familiar with the UHJ's letter of 19 april, 2001, beginning: "The principal issue raised in your letter is that of the timing for the occurrence of the Lesser Peace, in light of your impression that the Bahá'í Writings anticipate its coming before the conclusion of the twentieth century;..."
On 2 Jan 2009 at 2:18, David Friedman wrote: > I was looking through the letter from the research department on the > Lesser Peace and found something interesting. They say that the unity > of nations should not be regarded as being synonymous with the Lesser > Peace, yet from a House letter from the 80's it appears that they used > to be of the understanding that the two were synonymous: citing this 1985 letter: > "We know, however, that peace will come in stages. First, there will > come the Lesser Peace, when the unity of nations will be achieved..." > (on behalf of the UHJ 31 January 1985) Here's another, 3 January 1984, addressed to "the Bahá'í youth of the world," It is online at http://www.bahai- library.org/published.uhj/messages.1963-86.html#614 A footnote appears to have been included in the text. I have inserted a [[ where it seems to be required. This is important because it is the footnote that equates the Unity of nations with the Lesser Peace. The UHJ writes: "The approaching end of the twentieth century is significant, for 'Abdu'l-Bahá predicted that the unity of nations will be achieved in the twentieth century." [[ For a discussion of the imminence of the Lesser Peace, see letter dated 29 July 1974 (no. 149). For Shoghi Effendi's explanation of the synchronization of the Lesser Peace, the development of Bahá'í institutions, and the completion of the buildings on the Arc at the Bahá'í World Centre, see message dated 5 June 1975 on the significance of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice (no. 164).] (The Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986, p. 615) and : "'Abdu'l-Bahá anticipated that the Lesser Peace could be established before the end of the twentieth century." (From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer, April 15, 1976) and: You will live your lives in a period when the forces of history are moving to a climax, when mankind will see the establishment of the Lesser Peace, and during which the Cause of God will play an increasingly prominent role in the reconstruction of human society. (letter of the Universal House of Justice to the European Youth Conference in Innsbruck, July 4, 1983) So yes, I think your impression is correct: up to about the mid- 1990's, the UHJ was expecting the Lesser Peace to be established by the end of the twentieth century. This expectation was quite general in the Bahai community of the time. Adib Taherzadeh writes: _________ "Having described the relationship between the completion of the buildings of the World Administrative Centre on Mount Carmel and the development of the Administrative Order, Shoghi Effendi ... continues: "This vast and irresistible process, ... will synchronize with two no less significant developments -- the establishment of the Lesser Peace and the evolution of Bahá'í national and local institutions ..." [36-8] ... It is of great significance that he associates this stage of evolution with the founding of the Lesser Peace, which 'Abdu'l-Bahá states will be established in the twentieth century. (Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, p. 413) ________ In the early 1990's this is nuanced: still expecting (based on a misunderstanding) that the unity of nations would come by the end of the 20th century, but no longer expecting the Lesser Peace at the same time. The first distinction between the two concepts I've seen is in 1993: "This process will produce, in God's due time, the Lesser Peace, the political unification of the world." (The Universal House of Justice, 1993 Nov 09, Promoting Entry by Troops, p. 9) My own take on this, for what it's worth, is that "unity of nations" is indeed the Lesser Peace, or a distinction without a difference from it, and that it has not been achieved, since it requires a world tribunal and agreement on limiting armaments. I do not expect to see it in my lifetime. I think that Taherzadeh and others are mistaken in saying that Abdu'l-Baha states that this will be established in the twentieth century. All the texts which say this are pilgrim's notes, and can easily be explained by Abdu'l-Baha referring to what will occur in this `asr (era, age), his interpreter translating that as 'century', and his hearers jumping to the conclusion that he means the 20th gregorian century. I do not think Abdu'l-Baha anywhere explicitly connects either the Lesser Peace or the Unity of Nations, or anything analogous, to our western 20th century. ++++++ Ron/Ursus Maximus: you said > " if a person were known to have this belief, could they be expelled > as say for instance Sen McGlinn was?" I've never seen anything from the UHJ to indicate that my expulsion had anything to do with my beliefs. I and my history are not important, but it is very important that the friends understand that the UHJ does not expel people for their varying understandings of the Bahai scriptures and teachings. It would be terrible if the friends lived in fear that their beliefs might accidentally cross some invisible line and get them zapped. Reason has to be free to be Reason, and if not for Reason, what distinguishes us from the animals? Sen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Happy are those who spend their days in gaining knowledge, in discovering the secrets of nature, and in penetrating the subtleties of pure truth! Woe to those who are contented with ignorance, whose hearts are gladdened by thoughtless imitation, ... who have wasted their lives!"(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions p.137) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Email: Sen.Sonja[at]Casema.NL ; sen[at]tele2.nl Webpages at sonjavank.com/sen Blog at senmcglinn.wordpress.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[email protected] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
