July 2015 eNewsletter

Celebrating Twenty Years Starting Today, and There's Still Plenty of Space! A new course on some of Baha'u'llah's earliest and most profound Web Talk No. 7: Susanne M. Alexander Discussing "Healthy, Unified Marriages as tablets Service to Humanity" on August 30 Mark your calendars now for a Web Gems of Divine Mysteries and Other Talk at the end of the summer by Susanne M. Alexander on the topic of Early Tablets by Baha'u'llah marriage as a service to humanity. Click here to continue>> One in a series of courses on the revelation of Baha'u'llah

Web Talk No. 6 Now on YouTube: Lead Faculty: Robert Stockman Dr. Sandra Lynn Hutchison Offers a Technique Faculty: Daniel Gebhardt, Daniel Pschaida for Accessing the Meaning of the Bahá'í Revelation Duration of course: Seven weeks (July 1 - August 18, 2015) Read a summary of Dr. Hutchison's simple technique for finding the In Gems of Divine Mysteries and Other Early Tablets by "hidden gift" in the writings of Baha'u'llah we will examine the Javahiru'l-Asrar (Gems of Baha'u'llah, the Bab, and 'Abdu'l- Divine Mysteries), a mystic work similar to both the Seven Baha, and then treat yourself to Valleys and the Kitab-i-Iqan. We will also study several listening to the YouTube video of shorter but very important works by Baha'u'llah, Sahifiy-i- her talk. Shattiyyih (Book of the River), the Tablet of the Holy Click here to continue>> Mariner, Shikkar-Shikan-Shavand, and Lawh-i-Ayyub (Tablet of Job), all of which exist in official translation or reliable Anniversary Web Talks, August through provisional translation. We will read background about the December 2015 circumstances of revelation of the tablets, read the tablets To plan ahead for the Wilmette Institute's next six themselves, and discuss their contents. Web Talks honoring its twentieth anniversary, from August (Susanne Alexander) through December Course Description Fees Course (Dr. Michael Penn), click here for details on topics Schedule Register Financial Aid and speakers (as well as links to previous talks-with

summaries of the talks and links to YouTube). Find answers about Baha'i dating, courtship, and preparation for Contributions to Public Discourse marriage

Summary and Commentary on Laudato Si': The Becoming a Couple: Preparing for Pope's Encyclical on the Environment and Poverty Marriage In the middle of June Pope Francis released a long encyclical letter on Part of a series of courses on courtship and marriage the environment and poverty with the subtitle "On Care for Our Lead Faculty: Susanne Alexander Common Home." Dr. Arthur Lyon Faculty: Alex Blakeson, Hoda Kemp, Wendi Momen, Raymond Switzer Dahl, an expert in sustainable development and the environment, has written a summary and commentary on the Duration of course: Seven weeks (July 5 - August 23, 2015) encyclical, providing a good jumping-off place for examining the Catholic position on its material and Have you ever felt a bit baffled about how to navigate spiritual views on the topic. through friendship, dating, and courtship on the way to Click here to continue>> marriage? Have you ever had difficulty, considering the current state of our society, in trying to figure out how to Photographs Needed for an Illustrated History apply Baha'i principles to relationships? You are not of the Baha'i Faith in South Carolina alone! This short but powerful course will help you with a Dr. Louis Venters, associate professor of history at number of topics: How do you really get to know his/her Francis Marion College in South Carolina, has been character? Why is friendship vital as a foundation? What asked by The History Press to write a copiously does dating look like when you apply the Baha'i teachings illustrated book about the Bahá'í Faith in South to it? How do you choose a potential spouse? How can a Carolina. He has put out the word for photographs couple apply spiritual principles in courtship and move to illustrate the diversity of the Faith in that state. toward marriage? Learners do not need to be in a Read the fascinating story of how the request came relationship to benefit from this course. We encourage about. couples to register as a group. Click here to continue>> Course Description Fees Course Interconnected Business: How Organizations Schedule Register Financial Aid Can Improve People and How People Can Improve Organizations: A Report Study a key Bahá'í authoritative text in its new translation Treat yourself to an unconventional "read" of an unconventional report on an Some Answered Questions unconventional ebbf (Ethical Business Building the Future) One of a series of courses on the life, ministry, writings, and utterances of `Abdu'l- conference. Baha Click here to continue>> Lead Faculty: Christopher Buck Faculty: Susan Maneck, Shahrokh Monjazeb News Duration of course: Eight weeks (July 11 - September 4, 2015)

Some Answered Questions consists of a series of questions that Laura Clifford Barney asked `Abdu'l-Baha over lunch in Acre between 1904 and 1906. The answers were recorded in Persian. `Abdu'l-Baha reviewed, modified, and approved them, thereby converting pilgrim's notes into authoritative Baha'i text. Barney herself undertook the task of translating them into English. The resulting classic Baha'i text appeared in 1908. Limitations in the translation have been a concern for some time, as Barney was not fully conversant with philosophical terminology. The translation, newly revised by a Committee at the Baha'i World Center, resolves many difficulties and brings the authoritative interpretations of `Abdu'l-Baha to an English-speaking audience with new clarity and precision.

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A Bahá'í-Inspired Radio Station in Arizona: A course that will help you understand the spiritual implications of Volunteers and Equipment Needed the changes in the Baha'i calendar in 2015 See how you might help bring into reality an FM radio station to be located at the Desert Rose Bahá'í Institute in Arizona, a new facility designed to The Badi` (Baha'i) Calendar: provide information, education, and spiritual sustenance to underserved rural populations. Click here to continue>> Reshaping Our Material, Social, and

Scholarship and the Bahá'í Faith: The Theme Spiritual Reality of the Spring 2015 Journal of Bahá'í Studies Another course in a series on Baha'i teachings on community and administration Read a short essay by Dr. John S. Lead Faculty: Robert Stockman Hatcher explaining how all Bahá'ís are Faculty: William Collins, Nicola Daniels, Mark Lutness exhorted to become students of the Bahá'í writings, whether through study circles in the Ruhi curriculum or Duration of course: Five weeks (August 1 - September 4, 2015) through higher levels of graduate study and research and also The Baha'i Faith has a unique calendar of 19 months of 19 introducing the contents of the Spring days each, plus 4 or 5 days of Ayyam-i-Ha to bring the length 2015 issue of the Journal of Bahá'í Studies. of the year up to a full solar cycle. Through this calendar, Click here to continue>> "sacred moments are distinguished, humanity's place in time and space are reimagined, and the rhythm of life recast." The UN Seminar on "Global Citizenship Education Universal House of Justice, in a letter dated July 10, 2014, for a Just, Peaceful, Inclusive and Sustainable has called "upon the Baha'is of the East and West to adopt . . World" Held on June 15 . the provisions that will unite them in the common Co-organized by five UN permanent missions implementation of the Badi` calendar." The House of Justice (France, Korea, Nigeria, Qatar, the United States) has also fixed the start of the year on the first day of spring and co-sponsored by seven NGOs and UN as it occurs in Tehran. In Understanding the Badi` (Baha'i) Calendar we will organizations, including the Baha'i International consider the purpose and nature of calendars in general, the organization of the Community and UNESCO, the seminar "engaged Baha'i calendar (created by the Bab and called the Badi` calendar), the spiritual diplomats, UN officials, and civil society actors in a significance of the names of "the periods and cycles, months and days" in the dialogue on fostering global citizenship," according calendar, and the purpose and timing of Baha'i Holy Days. We will also compare the to a Baha'i World News Service press release. Baha'i calendar to the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic calendars. Daniel Perell, a representative of the Baha'i International Community to the UN, moderated the Course Description Fees Course Schedule Register Financial Aid second of two sessions. Click here; then click on "Meeting & Events tab; then click through; then click on June 15, "Global Citizenship for a Just." A survey of the history of the Baha'i Faith from 1863 through 2015

Save These Dates! An updated list of 2015 calls for papers, academic Baha'i History, 1863-2015 conferences, and webinars. Click here to continue>> Another in a series of courses exploring the history of a developing community

Learners in Action Lead Faculty: Moojan Momen Faculty: Necati Alkan, James Harrison

The Badi' (Baha'i) Calendar 2015: A Learner Duration of course: Seven weeks (August 15 - October 2, 2015) Shares How the Course Reshaped His Material,

Social, and Spiritual Reality Baha'i History, 1863-2015, will explore the major themes of A learner from Wisconsin finds that the Badi' Baha'i history from Baha'u'llah's exile from Baghdad to the calendar is a way of tracking time and yet is outside second decade of the twenty-first century, emphasizing the time. He has also has started meditating on the development of the Baha'i Faith over the last century and a nature and concept of time and finds that he better half. We will cover the period from 1863 to the end of understands the mystical side of the calendar and Baha'u'llah's life in 1892; the ministry of 'Abdu'l-Baha (1892- the role it plays in enhancing the unity of the 1921); the ministry of Shoghi Effendi (1921-57); the ministry community. of the custodians (1957-63); the period from the election of Click here to continue>> the Universal House of Justice to the end of the twentieth century (1963-96); and the period marking a new direction in the teaching work and Reference Materials outreach to the public (1996-2015). In each unit we will be reading from God Passes By and/or Century of Light, supplementing the books with essays and articles on themes such as the development of the community, attracting minorities, the Online Catalog for Louhelen Bahá'í Library worldwide spread of the Faith, persecution, and more. The course ends at Ridvan Available 2015, one year from the end of the current Five Year Plan (2011-16).

An online catalog of many of the books in the Course Description Fees Course Schedule Register Financial Aid Louhelen Bahá'í Library is now available to

researchers, bibliophiles, and anyone looking for a copy of book no longer in print. An advanced course for improving skills in writing and painting with Click here to continue>> professional help Social Media Practicing the Arts: A Workshop Wilmette Institute Facebook and Twitter Discounts Course for Baha'i Artists Follow the Wilmette Institute on Facebook and Twitter! Doing so could get you a discount on your One in a series of courses on the arts next Wilmette Institute course. The Institute is offering discount codes for 10 or even 20 percent Lead Faculty: Sandra Hutchison for selected courses via those two social media. Faculty: Marjan Nirou Saniee, Peggy Caton

Duration of course: Seven weeks (September 1- October 19, 2015)

The Practicing the Arts workshop is a hands-on, learning-by-doing course that differs significantly in format from most Wilmette Institute courses. It is an advanced course designed for those who wish to improve their skills in writing (with Sandra Hutchison), visual arts (with Marjan Nirou Saniee) or music (with

Peggy Caton). After a review of Baha'i writings about art, learners will work on a specific arts project with the advice and support of their mentor. Wilmette Institute Links Course Description Fees Course Schedule Register Financial Aid Wilmette Institute Public Website Wilmette Institute Course Delivery System Wilmette Institute Student Projects A new course comparing the teachings of Baha'u'llah on peace with Wilmette Institute: Reference Materials those of a North American prophet Wilmette Institute: Twentieth Anniversary Web Talks Two Peacemakers: Baha'u'llah and Other Links Deganawida

Association for Baha'i Studies, North America A course in the series on world religions Baha'i Chair for World Peace Baha'i International Community Lead Faculty: Christopher Buck Bosch Baha'i School Faculty: Paula Bidwell ebbf (Ethical Business for a Better Future) Green Acre Baha'i School Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity Duration of course: Seven weeks (September 7 - October 25, 2015) International Baha'i Website 'Irfan Colloquium In Two Peacemakers: Baha'u'llah and Deganawida Louhelen Baha'i School we will begin by reviewing Baha'i texts that support the Louis G. Gregory Museum idea that Messengers of God were sent to the indigenous U.S. Baha'i Distribution Service peoples of North America. Native Baha'is (and many U.S. National Baha'i Library others) believe that "the Peacemaker" was a Messenger Washington Baha'i History Museum of God sent to the Five Nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), just as Baha'u'llah was sent to the entire world. The Peacemaker (also known as Deganawida)

Mark Your Calendar revealed laws and founded a League of Peace, which was the first democracy in North America. The Peacemaker taught: "Now it is arriving, the Peace. This means that it October 1 - November 18, 2015 is peace that will unite all the people. Indeed, it will be as World Federation though they have but one mind, which means that there will be unity. When they are functioning, the Good Message and also the Power and the Peace, moreover, October 7 - November 24, 2015 The Leaves of the Twin Divine Trees these will be the principal things everybody will live by; these will be the great values among the people" (Concerning the League 39-40). We will focus on the October 10 - November 28, 2015 Peacemaker's teachings, especially about peace and social order, and compare them Introduction to the Kitab-i-Iqan with similar teachings in the writings of Baha'u'llah.

October 15 - December 9, 2015 Course Description Fees Course Schedule Register Financial Aid The Equality of Women and Men:Application in

Private and Public Life Study the Zoroastrian religion to learn how to dialogue with October 20 - December 9, 2015 adherents of one of the world's religion The Life of Baha'u'llah

October 25 - December 13, 2015 Zoroastrianism for Deepening and Understanding Baha'i History

November 1 - December 19, 2015 Dialogue 'Abdu'l-Baha in America Another course in the series on world religions

November 10 - December 29, 2015 Lead Faculty: Susan Maneck Exploring the New Testament Faculty: Robert Stockman

November 15, 2015 - January 2, 2016 Duration of course: Seven weeks (September 10 - October 28, 2013) Century of Light Zoroastrianism, an ancient religious tradition founded by November 20, 2015 - January 7, 2016 Zoroaster, or Zarathustra, some five hundred to one thousand Science, Religion, and the Baha'i Faith years before Christ, is the focus of Zoroastrianism for Deepening and Dialogue. We will examine Zoroaster's life; December 2015 - June 2016 what has survived of His words; His teachings; the subsequent Course Schedule spread and development of the Zoroastrian tradition; references to Zoroastrianism in the writings of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha; and the relationship of Zoroastrianism to later religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith). We will study Zoroaster Below is the Wilmette Institute's course schedule and the divinely ordained religion He founded to deepen in the basics of for November 2015 through May 2016. The Zoroastrianism and its relationship to the Baha'i Faith and to prepare for dialogue schedule is subject to change. with adherents of Zoroastrianism.

December 1, 2015 - January 18, 2016 Course Description Fees Course Schedule Register Financial Aid

The Secret of Divine Civilization A timely look at the material and spiritual imperatives necessary for humanity's December 10, 2015 - January 27, 2016 sustainable development One Common Faith

December 15 - February 2, 2016 Sustainable Development and the Exploring the Qur'an Prosperity of Humankind January 7 - February 24, 2016 Studying the Baha'i Writings One in a series of courses on aspects of global civilization

January 10 - February 27, 2016 Lead Faculty:Arthur Lyon Dahl Marriage Course Faculty: Gary Colliver, Carole Flood, Christine Muller, Karryn Olson-Ramanujan January 15 - March 3, 2016 Baha'i Theology Duration of course: Seven weeks (September 15 - November 2, 2015) January 22 - March 10, 2016 Summons of the Lord of Hosts In Sustainable Development and the Prosperity of Humankind we will address the urgent need to make a February 1 - March 7, 2016 fundamental transition away from a society and economy Exploring the Book of Isaiah that are threatening our planetary security. From a Baha'i perspective, we will start with a general introduction to February 7 - March 29, 2016 sustainable development and seek to understand its profound implications in The Ministry of Shoghi Effendi achieving the prosperity of humankind. Our objectives include teaching ourselves how to think about sustainability by integrating both the material and spiritual February 12 - April 1, 2016 dimensions of life into a long-term systems perspective, how to apply that thinking to questions of everyday life and lifestyle, how to use it to start meaningful and Introduction to Sufism distinctive conversations, and how to incorporate it into our community action, reflection, and consultation. . . February 22 - April 10, 2016 Chinese Religions for Deepening and Dialogue Course Description Fees Course Schedule Register Financial Aid

March 1 - April 26, 2016 Climate Change Your annual chance to learn about archival practices and put them

March 7 - April 24, 2016 to work To Be Announced

March 10 - April 27, 2016 Introduction to Archives for Baha'i To Be Announced Archivists March 15 - May 3, 2016 The Baha'i Faith and the Arts Another in a series of courses on skills development

March 22 - June 2, 2016 Lead Faculty: Roger Dahl Economics and the Baha'i Faith Faculty: Lois Walker, Sue Rishworth

April 1 - May 18, 2016 Duration of course: Three months (September 22 - December 22, 2015) Understanding Religion: Conceptual and Experiential Aspects Organized by the United States National Baha'i Archives and taught by three Baha'i archivists, Introduction to April 7- May 25, 2016 Archives for Baha'i Archivists will introduce local and Christianity for Deepening and Dialogue national Baha'i archivists to principles that will help them to organize and maintain their collections. Registration for April 15 - June 12, 2016 the course is open to local and national Baha'i archivists Marriage Course (and to others only by permission of the National Archives). The course will include activities requiring April 22 - June 7, 2016 access to archival materials in a Baha'i archives. Two The Kitab-i-Aqdas units will cover basic archival principles; the acquisition, arrangement, and processing of records and personal May 1 - June 18, 2016 papers; nonpaper materials; reference services; exhibits; Baha'i Spirituality: Pathway to Mental Clarity, Inner quarters for housing archival materials; and preservation. Another unit will involve Calm, Awareness of God, and Physical Health your working on an archival project: either a survey of your archives or advanced work on a project of your choosing. A final unit will guide you through a final report May 7 - June 24, 2016 and proposal to your Local or National Spiritual Assembly. To Be Announced Course Description Fees Course Schedule Register Financial Aid May 10 - June 7, 2016 Preparing for the New Five Year Plan A new course on speaking and listening skills needed before and May 15 - July 2, 2016 after marriage Preparing for Interfaith Dialogue

May 22 - July 9, 2016 Communicating as a Couple, Before The Writings of the Bab and After Marriage June 1 - July 19, 2016 Baha'u'llah's Revelation: A Systematic Survey Part of a series of courses on courtship and marriage

June 7, 2016 - July 25, 2016 Lead Faculty: Susanne Alexander Islam for Deepening and Dialogue Faculty: Alex Blakeson, Hoda Kemp, Wendi Momen, Raymond Switzer June 15 - August 2, 2016 Dynamic Consultation Duration of course: Seven weeks (September 27 - November 13, 2015) June 22 - August 9, 2016 The World Order of Baha'u'llah: Selected Letters In Communicating as a Couple, Before and After Marriage we will learn how to apply Baha'i spiritual principles to our communication interactions. We will strengthen our speaking and listening skills as we practice truthfulness with tact and respect. We will build our couple connection and learn how to manage communication challenges. Interactive, practical, and spiritually based, the course will help us tune up our communication skills and contribute to unity, harmony, and love.

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ABOUT US

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The Wilmette Institute eNewsletter

The Wilmette Institute eNewsletter is published monthly by the Wilmette Institute, which offers quality online courses on the Baha'i Faith. The Wilmette Institute is committed to engaging a broad and diverse international community of learners in deep study of the Faith and to fostering love for study of the Faith. The Wilmette Institute was established in January 1995 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States.

Information from the eNewsletter may be copied or reproduced, provided that the following credit is given: "Reprinted from the eNewsletter of the Wilmette Institute," followed by the issue's date. Recipients are encouraged to forward the eNewsletter to friends. If you have questions, please email us at [email protected].

Editors Robert H. Stockman Betty J. Fisher Lynne Yancy

Wilmette Institute, 1233 Central Street, Evanston, IL, 60201-2886 USA Phone 1.877.WILMETTE (1.877.945.6388) - Fax: 1.847.733.3563 Email: [email protected] Web: http://wilmetteinstitute.org Moodle: http://courses.wilmetteinstitute.org

© 2015 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States www.bahai.us