It is
apparent that the crisis of contemporary civilization is impelling thinkers in
many lands to explore new scholarly methodologies capable of coming to grips
with spiritual, moral, cultural, and social phenomena not hitherto encountered.
No segment of humanity is so well equipped as the Baha'i community to take a
leading role in this effort. As a body of people who are being steadily freed
by the Revelation of Baha'u’llah from the "gravitational pull", so to
speak, of the cultures in which their habits of mind have been formed, the
community already has a unique approach to the exploration of reality. This
approach needs to be sharply honed as an ever more effective instrument of
social transformation. The devising of the new scholarly paradigm called for by
this circumstance offers a priceless opportunity of service and achievement to
those Baha'is who enjoy the dual gifts of spiritual faith and intellectual faculties
trained in the best that contemporary society has to offer.
(From a
letter dated 5 October 1993 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice,
included in a compilation on: “Issues Related to the Study of the Baha’i
Faith”, prepared by the Research department of the Universal House of Justice ;
Baha’i Canada, May 1998)
