Reform Bahai Faith
2008-03-07 14:23:41 UTC
Friends,
I'd like to share with people that I have a new book
forthcoming April 15, 2008.
It's been difficult for me to decide which press
to bring it out under, the Reform Bahai Press or
my Earthrise Press. I've never been able to
compartmentalize my life and experience, but, in the
end, I decided the letters especially lean toward my
personal intellectual, literary, and spiritual battles,
though I would like to think that my earlier concerns
ultimately are relevant to the Reform Bahai Faith.
Since it may be a book that not all Reform Bahais
will therefore be interested in, while I hope people of
intellectual and literary bent will find much to think
about and reflect on, I've decided on Earthrise Press
as the most appropriate publisher.
In addition to the letters written to an older Bahai from
my hometown of Rochester, Michigan, during the late
1980s to mid '90s, reflecting on literary and cultural
matters, as well as Bahai, the book includes the 95 Theses,
On Bahai Liberty, the Reform Bahai Articles, Abdu'l-Baha's
Covenant, and book reviews of Juan Cole, William
Garlington, and Sen McGlinn.
Bahai regards,
Frederick Glaysher
www.fglaysher.com
---
Letters from the American Desert: Signposts of a Journey, A Vision.
Frederick Glaysher. Preface. Earthrise Press, 2008. 172 pages. $19.99.
10-digit ISBN 0967042119 13-digit ISBN 9780967042114
Publication Date: April 15, 2008
Frederick Glaysher invokes a global vision beyond the prevailing conceptions entrenched in postmodernism and postmodernity.
In Letters from the American Desert, Glaysher reflects on the cultural, political, and religious history of Western and non-Western
civilizations, pondering the dilemmas of postmodernity, in a compelling struggle for spiritual knowledge and truth. Fully cognizant
of the relativism and nihilism of modern life, Glaysher finds a deeper meaning and purpose for the individual and the world
community in the writings and global vision of Baha'u'llah, as expressed in the Reform Bahai Faith. Confronting the antinomies of
the soul, grounded in the dialectic, Glaysher charts a path beyond the postmodern desert.
Alluding to Martin Luther and W. B. Yeats at All Souls Chapel, Glaysher calls Reform Bahais and others to embrace the universal,
moderate form of the Bahai Teachings as interpreted by Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah's son, who had spoken throughout the West in Europe,
England, and the United States from 1911 to 1913. Abdu'l-Baha's message of the oneness of God, all religions, and humankind holds
out a new hope and vision for a world in spiritual and global crisis. Far from a theocracy, the Reform Bahai Faith envisions a
modest separation of church and state as the will of God, in harmony and balance with universal peace, in a global age of pluralism.
Frederick Glaysher lived for more than fifteen years outside Michigan-in Maebashi, Japan, where he taught at Gunma University; in
Poston, Arizona, on the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation in the Sonoran Desert; in Normal, Illinois, on the central
farmlands, and in Godfrey, Illinois, on the Mississippi River, ultimately returning to his suburban hometown of Rochester,
witnessing everywhere the maladies of modernity, as only an inspired writer can.
A Fulbright scholar to China in 1994, Frederick Glaysher studied at Beijing University, the Buddhist Mogao Caves on the old Silk
Road, and elsewhere in China, including Hong Kong and the Academia Sinica in Taiwan. While a National Endowment for the Humanities
scholar in 1995 on India, he further explored the conflicts between the traditional regional civilizations of Islamic and Hindu
cultures and modernity.
I'd like to share with people that I have a new book
forthcoming April 15, 2008.
It's been difficult for me to decide which press
to bring it out under, the Reform Bahai Press or
my Earthrise Press. I've never been able to
compartmentalize my life and experience, but, in the
end, I decided the letters especially lean toward my
personal intellectual, literary, and spiritual battles,
though I would like to think that my earlier concerns
ultimately are relevant to the Reform Bahai Faith.
Since it may be a book that not all Reform Bahais
will therefore be interested in, while I hope people of
intellectual and literary bent will find much to think
about and reflect on, I've decided on Earthrise Press
as the most appropriate publisher.
In addition to the letters written to an older Bahai from
my hometown of Rochester, Michigan, during the late
1980s to mid '90s, reflecting on literary and cultural
matters, as well as Bahai, the book includes the 95 Theses,
On Bahai Liberty, the Reform Bahai Articles, Abdu'l-Baha's
Covenant, and book reviews of Juan Cole, William
Garlington, and Sen McGlinn.
Bahai regards,
Frederick Glaysher
www.fglaysher.com
---
Letters from the American Desert: Signposts of a Journey, A Vision.
Frederick Glaysher. Preface. Earthrise Press, 2008. 172 pages. $19.99.
10-digit ISBN 0967042119 13-digit ISBN 9780967042114
Publication Date: April 15, 2008
Frederick Glaysher invokes a global vision beyond the prevailing conceptions entrenched in postmodernism and postmodernity.
In Letters from the American Desert, Glaysher reflects on the cultural, political, and religious history of Western and non-Western
civilizations, pondering the dilemmas of postmodernity, in a compelling struggle for spiritual knowledge and truth. Fully cognizant
of the relativism and nihilism of modern life, Glaysher finds a deeper meaning and purpose for the individual and the world
community in the writings and global vision of Baha'u'llah, as expressed in the Reform Bahai Faith. Confronting the antinomies of
the soul, grounded in the dialectic, Glaysher charts a path beyond the postmodern desert.
Alluding to Martin Luther and W. B. Yeats at All Souls Chapel, Glaysher calls Reform Bahais and others to embrace the universal,
moderate form of the Bahai Teachings as interpreted by Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah's son, who had spoken throughout the West in Europe,
England, and the United States from 1911 to 1913. Abdu'l-Baha's message of the oneness of God, all religions, and humankind holds
out a new hope and vision for a world in spiritual and global crisis. Far from a theocracy, the Reform Bahai Faith envisions a
modest separation of church and state as the will of God, in harmony and balance with universal peace, in a global age of pluralism.
Frederick Glaysher lived for more than fifteen years outside Michigan-in Maebashi, Japan, where he taught at Gunma University; in
Poston, Arizona, on the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation in the Sonoran Desert; in Normal, Illinois, on the central
farmlands, and in Godfrey, Illinois, on the Mississippi River, ultimately returning to his suburban hometown of Rochester,
witnessing everywhere the maladies of modernity, as only an inspired writer can.
A Fulbright scholar to China in 1994, Frederick Glaysher studied at Beijing University, the Buddhist Mogao Caves on the old Silk
Road, and elsewhere in China, including Hong Kong and the Academia Sinica in Taiwan. While a National Endowment for the Humanities
scholar in 1995 on India, he further explored the conflicts between the traditional regional civilizations of Islamic and Hindu
cultures and modernity.