Sen McGlinn - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Sen McGlinn

Social Compass, Jun 1, 2003

Margit Warburg has presented data showing that the Bahá'í community of Denmark represents an exce... more Margit Warburg has presented data showing that the Bahá'í community of Denmark represents an excellent case of Beyer's 'liberal option' in its response to globalisation. She also claims, incorrectly, that the Bahá'í Faith has the "ultimate aim of merging political and religious institutions." The Baha'i Faith represents a paradoxical example in terms of Beyer's categories. Its values include relativism, pluralism, globalisation, a cosmopolitan ethic and democratic government. But it

Leiden University Press eBooks, 2010

The Safina is a massive, well preserved manuscript from 14th-century Tabriz in Persia, a centre f... more The Safina is a massive, well preserved manuscript from 14th-century Tabriz in Persia, a centre for learning and cultural activities including manuscript production and illumination. Containing 209 works in Persian and Arabic, it is a complete treasure-house between two covers. The texts in the compendium show the canon of learning for a man of letters in the Islamic world. It covers prophetic traditions, ethics, mysticism, jurisprudence, theology, exegesis, history, grammar, literature and literary criticism, philosophy, astronomy and astrology, geomancy, mineralogy, mathematics, medicine, music, cosmography and geography. For the first time, Safina Revealed introduces diverse aspects of this compendium. Safina Revealed contains fourteen articles each revolving around a specific topic, explaining its importance in the cultural and literary milieu of the 14th-century Islamic world9789400600133 (eisbn)Wetensch. publicati

A Treasury from Tabriz is a massive manuscript from 14th century Persia. It is almost perfectly p... more A Treasury from Tabriz is a massive manuscript from 14th century Persia. It is almost perfectly preserved, and contains 209 works on a wide range of subjects, in Persian and Arabic. This collection of essays contains fourteen articles, each dealing with one aspect of this manuscript, explaining its importance in the cultural and literary milieu of the fourteenth century Islamic world.

Journal of Church and State, Sep 1, 1999

The anglicized spelling Bahai has been introduced, and macrons marking the long vowels in transli... more The anglicized spelling Bahai has been introduced, and macrons marking the long vowels in transliterated names and terms have been removed. A few updates on subsequent publications, to April 2012, are noted at the end.] A theology of the state from the Baha'i teachings Sen McGlinn Religious communities of the Western traditions have models of ideal social structures under divine rule: eschatological models (the Kingdom of God to be created by the messiah); metaphysical models (in which entities such as angels, prophets, the Hidden Imam and the souls of the departed interact with the world and one another; and ecclesiological models (the church as the body of Christ, or the community of the Islamic faithful reflecting the community of Medina). There are clearly connections between these models. One could speak of a single model projected into three dimensions: the messianic future, the metaphysical, and the community itself. Religious communities also have immediate goals in societies governed by state institutions, and therefore have to have at least implicit theologies of the state. These serve as models of what 'the state' is and should be doing, and what they as religious communities are doing when they are relating to the state. While there is broad congruence between pictures of the Kingdom of God throughout the Western religious traditions, there is a radical divergence in theologies of the state. These differences are possible because the state is absent in theological models of the Kingdom of God and (excluding some short-lived theocratic states) is by definition external to the religious community's ecclesiological model. The state may be seen as evil, as an evil wisely ordained for a wicked time, or as the 'secular arm' performing the will of the church by other means. It may be baptised, reformed or overturned, but it cannot be truly good, because in these models of the truly good society, there is no state. So while theologies of the state exist, they are at best loosely related to the communities' systematic theologies and therefore highly variable. And because the state also knows that there is no room for a state in the Kingdom, the relationships between churches and states cannot be more than tactical. Where true acceptance is withheld on one side, trust cannot be given on the other. Usually under the header of 'non-involvement in politics', which is a misunderstanding. Lists of Baha'i principles which include this principle derive from a talk given by `Abdu'l-Baha as reported in Khitabat-i `Abdu'l-Baha, Hofheim-Langenhain, Baha'i-Verlag, 1984, p. 176. `Abdu'l-Baha's primary theme here is the positive involvement of believers in the process of government, with the proviso that religious and political affairs should nevertheless be kept separate. The modification of this teaching to accord with the millennialist views of the Baha'i community can be traced in successive versions in

This book presents three of the works of Abduʾl-Bahā, son of the founder of the Bahāʾi Faith, dea... more This book presents three of the works of Abduʾl-Bahā, son of the founder of the Bahāʾi Faith, dealing with social and political issues. In The Secret of Divine Civilization (1875) Abduʾl-Bahā supports the administrative and broader social reforms of Mirzā Hosayn Khān, but looks mainly for organic reform through the efforts of Iranian intellectuals to waken and educate the masses. In this work, Abduʾl-Bahā gives virtuous and progressive Islamic clerics a leading role among these intellectuals, indeed most of his appeals are directed specifically to them. A Traveller’s Narrative (1889/90) is an authoritative statement of the broad lines of Bahā’i social and political thinking. The Art of Governance (1892/93) was written as Iran entered a pre-revolutionary phase, and ideas that we recognise today as the precursors of political Islam were spreading. It sets out the principles underlying the ideal relationship between religion and politics and between the government and the people. In addition to presenting the first parallel text translations of these works, the Persian texts incorporate notes on variants in the early published sources. An introduction outlines the intellectual and political landscape from which Abduʾl-Bahā wrote, and in which his expected readers lived.Critical editions, translation [from the Arabic] and introduction by Sen McGlinn9789400603202 (ePdf)Wetensch. publicatie9789400603219 (ePub

Iranian Studies Series The Iranian Studies Series publishes high-quality scholarship on various a... more Iranian Studies Series The Iranian Studies Series publishes high-quality scholarship on various aspects of Iranian civilisation, covering both contemporary and classical cultures of the Persian cultural area. The contemporary Persian-speaking area includes Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Central Asia, while classical societies using Persian as a literary and cultural language were located in Anatolia, Caucasus, Central Asia and the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent. The objective of the series is to foster studies of the literary, historical, religious and linguistic products in Iranian languages. In addition to research monographs and reference works, the series publishes English-Persian critical text-editions of important texts. The series intends to publish resources and original research and make them accessible to a wide audience.

This is a revised draft on the first chapter of my thesis on the Bahai Commonwealth. The topic is... more This is a revised draft on the first chapter of my thesis on the Bahai Commonwealth. The topic is not crystal-ball gazing about the future, but rather an examination of the intentions of the community’s founders, by looking at their writings and actions. It surveys the teachings of the founders of the Bahai Faith as regards the "house" of worship - meaning both community devotions and the buildings and institutional frameworks for the devotions. It includes some background in the Bab's teachings.

The guiding principle throughout is that the spelling of words from Middle Eastern languages shou... more The guiding principle throughout is that the spelling of words from Middle Eastern languages should give the reader an approximate indication of the usual pronunciation, rather than representing the letters used in the Arabic script. Persian pronunciations have been favoured above Arabic pronunciations, and accepted anglicized pronunciations or spellings take priority over either. Arabic and Persian words that are used more than once are presented without diacritics, except that at the first use, the long vowels and combined letters (kh, th) are indicated in parentheses, without attempting to distinguish the various forms of s, t, z, and d which have distinct pronunciations in Arabic, but not in Persian. Such 'transliterations' therefore provide only a more refined guide to the pronunciation. To spare the reader looking back through the text to find the first usage of each word, these words are also listed in Appendix 4, along with the full spelling in Arabic script for those cases in which a reader wants to distinguish between sin and sad, and such like. This system means that there is no need for transliterations, in the precise sense of the term. I have represented the Persian ezafe linkage with-e rather than-i, because English speakers tend to pronounce-i long. One result is that my own references to the Kitab-e Aqdas are spelt with-e, but in references to the published English translation, the title is Kitab-i Aqdas, as published. Double hyphenation of the ezafe link has been dropped because it produces bizarre results when the text is justified automatically by the word processor. The initial hamza in Arabic words has been omitted: an Arabic word cannot begin with a vowel, so those which are represented with an initial vowel must have a hamza (except that the spellings ulama and Ali are conventional English usage, an initial c ayn having been dropped). Words which are in general use in English have a conventional spelling, thus Quran rather than Qur'an, and Shiah and Shariah rather than shi c a and shari c a. In some cases I have chosen to translate rather than transliterate, thus "exemplary guide (Marja'-ye taqlí d)." Wherever the term 'exemplary guide' appears later in the text, it is a translation of this technical term. I have used Bahai rather than Baha'i, and Abdu'l-Baha rather than c Abdu'l-Baha, in accordance with the accepted pronunciation in English. Names have been shortened by dealing with them in the same way as transliterated words, when they are first mentioned. Only a few transliterated names are included in Appendix 4: the first use of the remainder can be found by using the index. Diacritics used in titles and citations have been amended to conform to the same system, except for the ezafe as noted above. Capitalisation has been minimised.

At the beginning of Islam Observed, Geertz avoids a definition of religion or a discussion of the... more At the beginning of Islam Observed, Geertz avoids a definition of religion or a discussion of the various definitions proposed in the comparative study of religion, saying: The problem is not one of constructing definitions of religion... it is a matter of discovering just what sorts of beliefs and practices support what sorts of faith under what sorts of conditions. (1) Implicitly, religion is defined as beliefs and practices that support faith. By 'faith' here, he means 'the shapes of religious experience ' (ibid). That is, he is looking for the connection between public religion and individual perceptions of reality, and should be criticized in terms of the question he is asking. He is not looking for connections between ideologies and social mechanisms on the one hand and the religious symbol-system on the other hand. Morris's comment that he "never fully explored the social forces that produced the religious beliefs and practices " is unfair, ...

In this study J. Christiaan Boudri seeks to throw a new light on the great disputes about force i... more In this study J. Christiaan Boudri seeks to throw a new light on the great disputes about force in eighteenth century physics by situating them in the context of the metaphysical disputes then current. To this end he marks out a trajectory of conceptual development which begins with seventeenth century understandings of force as something quasisubstantial and ends with the late eighteenth century construal of force as expressing a structural relationship among spatiotemporal elements. Boudri argues that this development cannot be properly understood as the mere expunging of metaphysical elements from mechanics as the Newtonian natural philosophy became accepted and recast mathematically. He contends rather that the controversies over the true measure of force (1686-1743), the status of the principle of least action (1734-1781), and the Berlin prize essay competition on the foundations of force (1779), are inexplicable from a narrowly mechanical perspective, and involve an uneliminab...

When Weber identified the synergy (wahlverwandtschaft) between Protestantism and the rationalisat... more When Weber identified the synergy (wahlverwandtschaft) between Protestantism and the rationalisation of social control and production in “modern ” societies, both processes could be analysed in retrospect. This paper will attempt, more tentatively, to draw attention to the potential “fit ” between the dynamics of globalisation and the Baha’i Faith. In the 21st century, the Baha’i community is actually encountering the restructuring of global society, which was something that could only be anticipated in the 20th century. The character of the Baha’i Faith itself is still being shaped, in a three-way dynamic involving the community’s scriptural resources, the traditions of practice it has built up over several generations, and the demands of a globalising society. No attempt will be made, therefore, to predict whether the Baha’i Faith will have a fruitful marriage with globalisation, or a short infatuation broken up by underlying incompatibilities. A comparison of the key dynamics of ...

List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction. Part A: The Unity of the Concept of For... more List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction. Part A: The Unity of the Concept of Force. 2. Force like Water. 3. Leibniz: Force as the Essence of Substance. Part B: Towards a New Metaphysics. 4. From Cause to Phenomenon. 5. From Efficient to Final Causes: The Origin of the Principle of Least Action. Part C: Between Metaphysics and Mechanics. 6. The Concept of Force in the 1779 Berlin Essay Competition. 7. Lagrange's Concept of Force. 8. Metaphysics Concealed. Bibliography. Index.

A Treasury from Tabriz is a massive manuscript from 14th century Persia. It is almost perfectly p... more A Treasury from Tabriz is a massive manuscript from 14th century Persia. It is almost perfectly preserved, and contains 209 works on a wide range of subjects, in Persian and Arabic. This collection of essays contains fourteen articles, each dealing with one aspect of this manuscript, explaining its importance in the cultural and literary milieu of the fourteenth century Islamic world.

Baha'i Meets Globalisation: A New Synergy? Sen McGlinn When Weber identified the synergy (wahlver... more Baha'i Meets Globalisation: A New Synergy? Sen McGlinn When Weber identified the synergy (wahlverwandtschaft) between Protestantism and the rationalisation of social control and production in "modern" societies, both processes could be analysed in retrospect. This paper will attempt, more tentatively, to draw attention to the potential "fit" between the dynamics of globalisation and the Baha'i Faith. In the 21 st century, the Baha'i community is actually encountering the restructuring of global society, which was something that could only be anticipated in the 20 th century. The character of the Baha'i Faith itself is still being shaped, in a three-way dynamic involving the community's scriptural resources, the traditions of practice it has built up over several generations, and the demands of a globalising society. No attempt will be made, therefore, to predict whether the Baha'i Faith will have a fruitful marriage with globalisation, or a short infatuation broken up by underlying incompatibilities. A comparison of the key dynamics of globalisation and corresponding Baha'i scriptures and practice will, however, identify aspects of the relationship that will be most interesting to monitor. We should begin with a definition of terms. "Globalisation" and "post-modern" in sociology refer to the process by which we move from the societies of the centralised nation-states of the "modern" era to something which is structurally different. "Globalisation" is the present active tense, and "post-modern" is the future passive participle: "that which will have been globalised," as we imagine it. Globalisation is not just a matter of extending existing social structures to a global level: the extension requires and reinforces deep structural changes, which in turn demand changes in world-views. The key dynamic of globalisation is the functional differentiation of society: that is, the shift from a unitary stratified society to an organic society in which politics, religion, science, and commerce are increasingly distinct spheres of life. Although the process of differentiation has roots in the earliest division of labour, there has been a sharp acceleration in Western Europe from the 14 th to the 20 th centuries. Distinct institutions of politics, economics, religion and science already existed, but their autonomy increased and, for the first time, we see theoretical claims that they ought to be autonomous. Some universities were freed from church control. Theories of national churches were advanced, to free the political sphere from papal control, and economic theories argued that trade prospers best where the state interferes least. Within the sphere of politics, the theory of the separation of the judicial, legislative and executive powers was worked out. The toleration of dissent developed into arguments for disestablishment, and churches were either constitutionally disestablished or withdrew from politics. These different institutions have also become distinct life-worlds: not only is the church distinct from the state and the academy, but the way we reason and relate to one another is different when we are sharing a

Social Compass, Jun 1, 2003

Margit Warburg has presented data showing that the Bahá'í community of Denmark represents an exce... more Margit Warburg has presented data showing that the Bahá'í community of Denmark represents an excellent case of Beyer's 'liberal option' in its response to globalisation. She also claims, incorrectly, that the Bahá'í Faith has the "ultimate aim of merging political and religious institutions." The Baha'i Faith represents a paradoxical example in terms of Beyer's categories. Its values include relativism, pluralism, globalisation, a cosmopolitan ethic and democratic government. But it

Leiden University Press eBooks, 2010

The Safina is a massive, well preserved manuscript from 14th-century Tabriz in Persia, a centre f... more The Safina is a massive, well preserved manuscript from 14th-century Tabriz in Persia, a centre for learning and cultural activities including manuscript production and illumination. Containing 209 works in Persian and Arabic, it is a complete treasure-house between two covers. The texts in the compendium show the canon of learning for a man of letters in the Islamic world. It covers prophetic traditions, ethics, mysticism, jurisprudence, theology, exegesis, history, grammar, literature and literary criticism, philosophy, astronomy and astrology, geomancy, mineralogy, mathematics, medicine, music, cosmography and geography. For the first time, Safina Revealed introduces diverse aspects of this compendium. Safina Revealed contains fourteen articles each revolving around a specific topic, explaining its importance in the cultural and literary milieu of the 14th-century Islamic world9789400600133 (eisbn)Wetensch. publicati

A Treasury from Tabriz is a massive manuscript from 14th century Persia. It is almost perfectly p... more A Treasury from Tabriz is a massive manuscript from 14th century Persia. It is almost perfectly preserved, and contains 209 works on a wide range of subjects, in Persian and Arabic. This collection of essays contains fourteen articles, each dealing with one aspect of this manuscript, explaining its importance in the cultural and literary milieu of the fourteenth century Islamic world.

Journal of Church and State, Sep 1, 1999

The anglicized spelling Bahai has been introduced, and macrons marking the long vowels in transli... more The anglicized spelling Bahai has been introduced, and macrons marking the long vowels in transliterated names and terms have been removed. A few updates on subsequent publications, to April 2012, are noted at the end.] A theology of the state from the Baha'i teachings Sen McGlinn Religious communities of the Western traditions have models of ideal social structures under divine rule: eschatological models (the Kingdom of God to be created by the messiah); metaphysical models (in which entities such as angels, prophets, the Hidden Imam and the souls of the departed interact with the world and one another; and ecclesiological models (the church as the body of Christ, or the community of the Islamic faithful reflecting the community of Medina). There are clearly connections between these models. One could speak of a single model projected into three dimensions: the messianic future, the metaphysical, and the community itself. Religious communities also have immediate goals in societies governed by state institutions, and therefore have to have at least implicit theologies of the state. These serve as models of what 'the state' is and should be doing, and what they as religious communities are doing when they are relating to the state. While there is broad congruence between pictures of the Kingdom of God throughout the Western religious traditions, there is a radical divergence in theologies of the state. These differences are possible because the state is absent in theological models of the Kingdom of God and (excluding some short-lived theocratic states) is by definition external to the religious community's ecclesiological model. The state may be seen as evil, as an evil wisely ordained for a wicked time, or as the 'secular arm' performing the will of the church by other means. It may be baptised, reformed or overturned, but it cannot be truly good, because in these models of the truly good society, there is no state. So while theologies of the state exist, they are at best loosely related to the communities' systematic theologies and therefore highly variable. And because the state also knows that there is no room for a state in the Kingdom, the relationships between churches and states cannot be more than tactical. Where true acceptance is withheld on one side, trust cannot be given on the other. Usually under the header of 'non-involvement in politics', which is a misunderstanding. Lists of Baha'i principles which include this principle derive from a talk given by `Abdu'l-Baha as reported in Khitabat-i `Abdu'l-Baha, Hofheim-Langenhain, Baha'i-Verlag, 1984, p. 176. `Abdu'l-Baha's primary theme here is the positive involvement of believers in the process of government, with the proviso that religious and political affairs should nevertheless be kept separate. The modification of this teaching to accord with the millennialist views of the Baha'i community can be traced in successive versions in

This book presents three of the works of Abduʾl-Bahā, son of the founder of the Bahāʾi Faith, dea... more This book presents three of the works of Abduʾl-Bahā, son of the founder of the Bahāʾi Faith, dealing with social and political issues. In The Secret of Divine Civilization (1875) Abduʾl-Bahā supports the administrative and broader social reforms of Mirzā Hosayn Khān, but looks mainly for organic reform through the efforts of Iranian intellectuals to waken and educate the masses. In this work, Abduʾl-Bahā gives virtuous and progressive Islamic clerics a leading role among these intellectuals, indeed most of his appeals are directed specifically to them. A Traveller’s Narrative (1889/90) is an authoritative statement of the broad lines of Bahā’i social and political thinking. The Art of Governance (1892/93) was written as Iran entered a pre-revolutionary phase, and ideas that we recognise today as the precursors of political Islam were spreading. It sets out the principles underlying the ideal relationship between religion and politics and between the government and the people. In addition to presenting the first parallel text translations of these works, the Persian texts incorporate notes on variants in the early published sources. An introduction outlines the intellectual and political landscape from which Abduʾl-Bahā wrote, and in which his expected readers lived.Critical editions, translation [from the Arabic] and introduction by Sen McGlinn9789400603202 (ePdf)Wetensch. publicatie9789400603219 (ePub

Iranian Studies Series The Iranian Studies Series publishes high-quality scholarship on various a... more Iranian Studies Series The Iranian Studies Series publishes high-quality scholarship on various aspects of Iranian civilisation, covering both contemporary and classical cultures of the Persian cultural area. The contemporary Persian-speaking area includes Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Central Asia, while classical societies using Persian as a literary and cultural language were located in Anatolia, Caucasus, Central Asia and the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent. The objective of the series is to foster studies of the literary, historical, religious and linguistic products in Iranian languages. In addition to research monographs and reference works, the series publishes English-Persian critical text-editions of important texts. The series intends to publish resources and original research and make them accessible to a wide audience.

This is a revised draft on the first chapter of my thesis on the Bahai Commonwealth. The topic is... more This is a revised draft on the first chapter of my thesis on the Bahai Commonwealth. The topic is not crystal-ball gazing about the future, but rather an examination of the intentions of the community’s founders, by looking at their writings and actions. It surveys the teachings of the founders of the Bahai Faith as regards the "house" of worship - meaning both community devotions and the buildings and institutional frameworks for the devotions. It includes some background in the Bab's teachings.

The guiding principle throughout is that the spelling of words from Middle Eastern languages shou... more The guiding principle throughout is that the spelling of words from Middle Eastern languages should give the reader an approximate indication of the usual pronunciation, rather than representing the letters used in the Arabic script. Persian pronunciations have been favoured above Arabic pronunciations, and accepted anglicized pronunciations or spellings take priority over either. Arabic and Persian words that are used more than once are presented without diacritics, except that at the first use, the long vowels and combined letters (kh, th) are indicated in parentheses, without attempting to distinguish the various forms of s, t, z, and d which have distinct pronunciations in Arabic, but not in Persian. Such 'transliterations' therefore provide only a more refined guide to the pronunciation. To spare the reader looking back through the text to find the first usage of each word, these words are also listed in Appendix 4, along with the full spelling in Arabic script for those cases in which a reader wants to distinguish between sin and sad, and such like. This system means that there is no need for transliterations, in the precise sense of the term. I have represented the Persian ezafe linkage with-e rather than-i, because English speakers tend to pronounce-i long. One result is that my own references to the Kitab-e Aqdas are spelt with-e, but in references to the published English translation, the title is Kitab-i Aqdas, as published. Double hyphenation of the ezafe link has been dropped because it produces bizarre results when the text is justified automatically by the word processor. The initial hamza in Arabic words has been omitted: an Arabic word cannot begin with a vowel, so those which are represented with an initial vowel must have a hamza (except that the spellings ulama and Ali are conventional English usage, an initial c ayn having been dropped). Words which are in general use in English have a conventional spelling, thus Quran rather than Qur'an, and Shiah and Shariah rather than shi c a and shari c a. In some cases I have chosen to translate rather than transliterate, thus "exemplary guide (Marja'-ye taqlí d)." Wherever the term 'exemplary guide' appears later in the text, it is a translation of this technical term. I have used Bahai rather than Baha'i, and Abdu'l-Baha rather than c Abdu'l-Baha, in accordance with the accepted pronunciation in English. Names have been shortened by dealing with them in the same way as transliterated words, when they are first mentioned. Only a few transliterated names are included in Appendix 4: the first use of the remainder can be found by using the index. Diacritics used in titles and citations have been amended to conform to the same system, except for the ezafe as noted above. Capitalisation has been minimised.

At the beginning of Islam Observed, Geertz avoids a definition of religion or a discussion of the... more At the beginning of Islam Observed, Geertz avoids a definition of religion or a discussion of the various definitions proposed in the comparative study of religion, saying: The problem is not one of constructing definitions of religion... it is a matter of discovering just what sorts of beliefs and practices support what sorts of faith under what sorts of conditions. (1) Implicitly, religion is defined as beliefs and practices that support faith. By 'faith' here, he means 'the shapes of religious experience ' (ibid). That is, he is looking for the connection between public religion and individual perceptions of reality, and should be criticized in terms of the question he is asking. He is not looking for connections between ideologies and social mechanisms on the one hand and the religious symbol-system on the other hand. Morris's comment that he "never fully explored the social forces that produced the religious beliefs and practices " is unfair, ...

In this study J. Christiaan Boudri seeks to throw a new light on the great disputes about force i... more In this study J. Christiaan Boudri seeks to throw a new light on the great disputes about force in eighteenth century physics by situating them in the context of the metaphysical disputes then current. To this end he marks out a trajectory of conceptual development which begins with seventeenth century understandings of force as something quasisubstantial and ends with the late eighteenth century construal of force as expressing a structural relationship among spatiotemporal elements. Boudri argues that this development cannot be properly understood as the mere expunging of metaphysical elements from mechanics as the Newtonian natural philosophy became accepted and recast mathematically. He contends rather that the controversies over the true measure of force (1686-1743), the status of the principle of least action (1734-1781), and the Berlin prize essay competition on the foundations of force (1779), are inexplicable from a narrowly mechanical perspective, and involve an uneliminab...

When Weber identified the synergy (wahlverwandtschaft) between Protestantism and the rationalisat... more When Weber identified the synergy (wahlverwandtschaft) between Protestantism and the rationalisation of social control and production in “modern ” societies, both processes could be analysed in retrospect. This paper will attempt, more tentatively, to draw attention to the potential “fit ” between the dynamics of globalisation and the Baha’i Faith. In the 21st century, the Baha’i community is actually encountering the restructuring of global society, which was something that could only be anticipated in the 20th century. The character of the Baha’i Faith itself is still being shaped, in a three-way dynamic involving the community’s scriptural resources, the traditions of practice it has built up over several generations, and the demands of a globalising society. No attempt will be made, therefore, to predict whether the Baha’i Faith will have a fruitful marriage with globalisation, or a short infatuation broken up by underlying incompatibilities. A comparison of the key dynamics of ...

List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction. Part A: The Unity of the Concept of For... more List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction. Part A: The Unity of the Concept of Force. 2. Force like Water. 3. Leibniz: Force as the Essence of Substance. Part B: Towards a New Metaphysics. 4. From Cause to Phenomenon. 5. From Efficient to Final Causes: The Origin of the Principle of Least Action. Part C: Between Metaphysics and Mechanics. 6. The Concept of Force in the 1779 Berlin Essay Competition. 7. Lagrange's Concept of Force. 8. Metaphysics Concealed. Bibliography. Index.

A Treasury from Tabriz is a massive manuscript from 14th century Persia. It is almost perfectly p... more A Treasury from Tabriz is a massive manuscript from 14th century Persia. It is almost perfectly preserved, and contains 209 works on a wide range of subjects, in Persian and Arabic. This collection of essays contains fourteen articles, each dealing with one aspect of this manuscript, explaining its importance in the cultural and literary milieu of the fourteenth century Islamic world.

Baha'i Meets Globalisation: A New Synergy? Sen McGlinn When Weber identified the synergy (wahlver... more Baha'i Meets Globalisation: A New Synergy? Sen McGlinn When Weber identified the synergy (wahlverwandtschaft) between Protestantism and the rationalisation of social control and production in "modern" societies, both processes could be analysed in retrospect. This paper will attempt, more tentatively, to draw attention to the potential "fit" between the dynamics of globalisation and the Baha'i Faith. In the 21 st century, the Baha'i community is actually encountering the restructuring of global society, which was something that could only be anticipated in the 20 th century. The character of the Baha'i Faith itself is still being shaped, in a three-way dynamic involving the community's scriptural resources, the traditions of practice it has built up over several generations, and the demands of a globalising society. No attempt will be made, therefore, to predict whether the Baha'i Faith will have a fruitful marriage with globalisation, or a short infatuation broken up by underlying incompatibilities. A comparison of the key dynamics of globalisation and corresponding Baha'i scriptures and practice will, however, identify aspects of the relationship that will be most interesting to monitor. We should begin with a definition of terms. "Globalisation" and "post-modern" in sociology refer to the process by which we move from the societies of the centralised nation-states of the "modern" era to something which is structurally different. "Globalisation" is the present active tense, and "post-modern" is the future passive participle: "that which will have been globalised," as we imagine it. Globalisation is not just a matter of extending existing social structures to a global level: the extension requires and reinforces deep structural changes, which in turn demand changes in world-views. The key dynamic of globalisation is the functional differentiation of society: that is, the shift from a unitary stratified society to an organic society in which politics, religion, science, and commerce are increasingly distinct spheres of life. Although the process of differentiation has roots in the earliest division of labour, there has been a sharp acceleration in Western Europe from the 14 th to the 20 th centuries. Distinct institutions of politics, economics, religion and science already existed, but their autonomy increased and, for the first time, we see theoretical claims that they ought to be autonomous. Some universities were freed from church control. Theories of national churches were advanced, to free the political sphere from papal control, and economic theories argued that trade prospers best where the state interferes least. Within the sphere of politics, the theory of the separation of the judicial, legislative and executive powers was worked out. The toleration of dissent developed into arguments for disestablishment, and churches were either constitutionally disestablished or withdrew from politics. These different institutions have also become distinct life-worlds: not only is the church distinct from the state and the academy, but the way we reason and relate to one another is different when we are sharing a

Studies in the Babi and Bahai Religions Vol. 19, 2005

This is a political theology for the Bahai Faith, and a philosophy for personal orientation in ou... more This is a political theology for the Bahai Faith, and a philosophy for personal orientation in our globalising, postmodern society.

The functional differentiation of society means that government, religion, commerce, art, education and science are increasingly independent, have different social functions, relate differently to one another, and that their lived meanings for us are different. Functional differentiation also drives the pluralism and relativism, global scope and individualisation that characterise postmodern society. In a society in which religious ritual is the mirror of individual distinctiveness, not of collective identity, in which permanent pluralism means that no one religion can provide common norms and values (and no ideology should try), and in which the norms of one sphere of life are not transferred to other spheres, religion must find a new understanding of itself, and a new job description for its role in society. The 20th century has taught us that economic affairs cannot be governed by political ideologies, that science must be free of doctrine and political agendas, that church and state must be separated. But it has not provided us with a new world view that explains the postmodern world that we actually experience. This book draws on the Bahai scriptures, and the Bible and Quran, to show that the differentiation and globalisation of postmodern society are signs that the Kingdom of God is growing in the world.

Persica, 2022

All in all, an absolute gem of a work for the value of its presence in the field as an accessible... more All in all, an absolute gem of a work for the value of its presence in the field as an accessible source and a role model of great translation. Iranian Studies Series at Leiden has been a most welcome venue and a nurturing cradle for niche scholarship in Persian studies. The works are apt, fill vacuums in the field, and inspire. This is an example of a work that needs to be here and its. Kudos to the translator (and author) of this wonderful addition to the series.

Conference presentation, 2007

This paper identifies the portions of Bahai scripture available to the Bahais in the West before ... more This paper identifies the portions of Bahai scripture available to the Bahais in the West before 1925, in the order in which they were accessible to English-speaking Bahais, and at the secondary literature that Bahais wrote. The differences between them reveal the other influences that are at work, which are the real topic of this paper. How did the rejection of secularism came to dominate, in a religious community whose scriptures do not support that rejection? It is suggested that anti-secularist assumptions were rather a feature of the cultural background than a strongly-held opinion. To be more specific, if culture consists of relatively crystallised patterns of communication, and embraces the three subsets of symbolic structures, ideology and common sense, the roots of Bahai theocratic ideas lie more in the common-sense element, while the roots of Christian theocratic thought lie more in symbolic structures, and those of contemporary Islamism in ideology.