The Bahá'í : The Religious Construction of a Global Identity
Michael McMullen
Rutgers University Press
9780813528366
0-8135-2836-4
The Bah Faith is one of the fastest growing, but least studied, of the worlds 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 religionwhich draws from the teaching of Bahullh, a nineteenth-century Persianencourages 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 Bahs and the wider culture.