Online Course Format
Our courses are asynchronous, so you can log in any time of the day or night to access the course materials, but they have a weekly Zoom meeting that all are encouraged to participate in (they will be recorded and posted). To facilitate the flow of discussion in the online course forums, each course is divided into units. You will be encouraged to progress through the course alongside the other course participants. A two-week period at the end of the course is provided for you to reflect on what you have learned, to consider how your learning can be applied to your daily life, to give feedback on your learning experience, and to complete any outstanding readings or assignments.
The Summons of the Lord of Hosts: Bahá'u'lláh’s Proclamation to Kings and Ecclesiastics will explore the series of open letters (“Tablets”) that Bahá’u’lláh sent to “kings and ecclesiastics” (the world’s political and religious leaders) and, to a lesser extent, to statesmen and scholars, beginning in 1867. Written after He privately declared His mission to select followers in the Garden of Ridván on 21 April 1863, these public epistles, according to the Universal House of Justice, “summoned the monarchs of East and West collectively, and some among them individually, to recognize the Day of God and to acknowledge the One promised in the scriptures of the religions professed by the recipients of His Summons.” Bahá’u’lláh Himself says that this Proclamation was unique in the annals of religious history: “Never since the beginning of the world hath the Message been so openly proclaimed.”
The study of these historic and momentous Tablets is encouraged: “As Bahá’u’lláh’s influence penetrates ever more deeply the life of the larger society throughout the world,” the Universal House of Justice has further written, “it seems especially appropriate” that the full texts of Bahá’u’lláh’s important letters sounding the themes of His revelation be studied by “a broad readership.”
Bahá’u’lláh states that His proclamation was delivered in three stages, in which He declared His mission to “mystics, then divines, and then the kings.” (Ishraqat 260; trans. Saiedi 2000: 241.) Nader Saiedi sequences these stages as follows: (1) first stage, 1852–1860; second stage, 1860–1867; and (3) third stage, 1867–1892. (Saiedi 2000: 7.) This course explores the third stage in Bahá’u’lláh’s proclamation. [Buck]
Learning Objectives
- To study the Tablets and associated course readings, which provide background information about the circumstances of their revelation and their recipients.
- To understand the relationship between these Tablets and the other works of Bahá’u’lláh, revealed before and after, as well as the major themes in these earlier and later works.
- To gain a sense of the cultural and social context of the Middle East in which the Tablets were revealed.
- To appreciate the significance of Bahá’u’lláh’s proclamation of His mission, how He did it, and what He said about Himself and His revelation.
- To develop skills to explain the Tablets and their contents to others.
Tuition: $150 (tuition discounts available)