A Celestial Burning is the winner of the Association for Baha'i Studies, North America's Book Award 2013 for distinguished scholarship.
This book is a comprehensive study of selected writings of Shoghi Effendi Rabbani (1897-1957), the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. The author has approached Shoghi Effendi's writings from two main perspectives: the Guardian as the divine interpreter, a man of incisive religious thought; and Shoghi Effendi the eloquent writer, a vocation that was inseparable from his sacred office as Guardian of the Faith. Based on years of careful analysis and research, the author treats such themes as Shoghi Effendi's view of providential history as divine drama, his effective use of rhetoric, his views on morality and spirituality, his understanding of the emerging world order as a modern-day apocalypse, and it analyzes the style and patterns that emerge from his epistolary prose.
This book will serve to inform not only scholars but also all those teachers, administrators, and general readers who seek a deeper understanding of these aspects of the writings of the Guardian, and who may wish to develop them in their talks or publications.
This book is a comprehensive study of selected writings of Shoghi Effendi Rabbani (1897-1957), the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. The author has approached Shoghi Effendi's writings from two main perspectives: the Guardian as the divine interpreter, a man of incisive religious thought; and Shoghi Effendi the eloquent writer, a vocation that was inseparable from his sacred office as Guardian of the Faith. Based on years of careful analysis and research, the author treats such themes as Shoghi Effendi's view of providential history as divine drama, his effective use of rhetoric, his views on morality and spirituality, his understanding of the emerging world order as a modern-day apocalypse, and it analyzes the style and patterns that emerge from his epistolary prose.
This book will serve to inform not only scholars but also all those teachers, administrators, and general readers who seek a deeper understanding of these aspects of the writings of the Guardian, and who may wish to develop them in their talks or publications.
A Celestial Burning: a gem of a book on Shoghi Effendi's writings
This excellent book, A Celestial Burning, examines the content and literary style of the writings of the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, Shoghi Effendi. While providing historical and rhetorical context to the beloved Guardian's writings, the book also educates the attentive reader that the same forces and pressures described by the Guardian continue effecting our civilization. Thus, the advice, perspectives, and spiritual judgements of the beloved Guardian show themselves to remain descriptive of the political, economic, social, and moral trends we still observe in the world. I can recommend A Celestial Burning unreservedly to those desiring to gain a more complete understanding of the power and wisdom of the writings of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. The book shines a penetrating light on many subjects covered in the writings of Shoghi Effendi that hopefully will attract the reader toward deeper study. The book is thoughtful and eminently readable.