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.
Faculty
Gisu Mohadjer (gisu.mohadjer@gmail.com)
Summary
Shoghi Effendi’s dramatic letter, The Promised Day Is Come, was written in the early months of 1941, while the vast majority of the world’s countries were being drawn into the deadliest conflict in human history. The horrors of World War II could have been averted if humanity had accepted the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. However, the prescription by the Divine Physician had been met with “cold indifference” (par. 68), and the Central Figures of the Faith had been cruelly persecuted. The Second World War, then, was both a retributory calamity, punishing the perversity of the human race, and a “cleansing process,” welding the peoples and nations into a single, world-embracing community and preparing humanity for the future “Most Great Peace.”
In this course, we will study Bahá’u’lláh’s proclamations to the world’s rulers and their responses, the recipients of His message and their ensuing humiliation, and how “This process of deterioration . . . is still operating with undiminished force” (par. 190). Finally, we will reflect on the role each of us must play in “leading humanity out of the valley of misery and shame to the loftiest summits of power and glory” (par. 304).
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, the learners who have engaged with all of the learning tasks will have
- Read The Promised Day Is Come, paragraph 1–304.
- Shown some grasp of Shoghi Effendi’s explanation for the purposes of catastrophic events and how Bahá’ís should respond to them.
- Summarized humanity’s response to Bahá’u’lláh’ proclamation.
- Described the dual phenomenon in today’s world as defined by Shoghi Effendi.
- Named ways in which Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings have become the spirit of the age.
- Characterized some of the destructive qualities of the world political and religious leaders, the downfall of one of the social orders of Bahá’u’lláh’s time, and the qualities that future rulers will be expected to exhibit in the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
- Explained the “essential prerequisites of admittance into the Bahá’í fold.”
- Considered ways the study of Shoghi Effendi’s guidance will help us to give "hope to those who know not where to find it."
- Completed confidential course quizzes for personal feedback
Tuition: $150 (tuition discounts available)