God Speaks Again: An Introduction to the Baha'I Faith Review "A member of the national Baha'i governing council in the United States, Bowers is the architect of an information campaign to bring the Baha'i tradition before the American public. For his first book, he has analyzed responses to the Baha'i message and tailored its presentation to the contemporary audience. This new introduction holds up well beside such standard introductions as J.E. Esslemont's Baha'u'llah and the New Era (1923), John Ferraby's All Things Made New (1957), John Huddleston's The Earth Is but One Country (1976), and Douglas Martin and William Hatcher's The Baha'i Faith (1985). Whereas the other books were organized around principles and teachings, Bowers has taken the positive step of using the life of Baha'u'llah as the main organizing principle for his discussion of Baha'i scripture, theology, and spiritual life. He places the divine Messenger at the center and shows the religion emerging from him just as Christianity emerges from Jesus. The main criticisms involve the use of lengthy quotations and occasional references to individuals who are not named until two paragraphs later. While not an academic work with new historical findings, this book is an effective and reasonably balanced overview of this growing world religion by a believer. Recommended for public, college, and religious libraries." --- Library Journal (January 2004) "In the early 19th century, Persia was in a fit of millennial expectation, awaiting the "Promised One of Islam" who would establish God's reign in the world. According to Bowers, a member of the national governing body of BahC!'C-s in the U.S., this prophecy was fulfilled in a new religious movement. In the 1850s a figure known asBahC!'u'llC!h came to believe, while under religious persecution in the depths of a Persian dungeon, that he was the most recent in a succession of extraordinary "Manifestations of God"-including Moses, Jesus and Mohammed-each sent to guide humanity through its spiritual and political evolution to its ultimate aim: a harmonious, universal religion and an enlightened, united "world commonwealth." Bowers chronicles the struggles of BahC!'u'llC!h and his followers, known as BahC!'C-s, as they endured lethal persecutions, brutal imprisonments and the repeated exile of BahC!'u'llC!h himself across the Middle East. Bowers next outlines many of BahC!'u'llC!h's voluminous teachings, and then turns to BahC!'u'llC!h's legacy: his successors and their many instructions for the BahC!'C- faith, ranging from principles for establishing world peace down to election protocols for local BahC!'C- communities. Bowers is clearly a believer; the book is more faith-narrative than history, and at times becomes proselytizing, even preachy-quotes from BahC!'C- writings are sometimes whole pages in length. Yet Bowers's comprehensive approach is balanced by an easy readability that makes the book both accessible and informative, a welcome introduction to the faith of some six million people worldwide." -- Publishers Weekly "God Speaks Again: An Introduction To The Baha'i Faith is simple presentation of Bahai tenets for readers of all religious and cultural backgrounds. Explaining the origins of the Bahai way through the teachings of the prophet Bahaullah (18171892), whom Bahai worldwide regard as the Messenger for God for the modern day, God Speaks Again presents Bahaullah's vision that there is but one religionand that all messengers of God, from Abraham and Zoroaster to Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad, have progressively revealed its true nature. Exploring the ramifications of a single, unfolding Divine plan, hampered not by the tireless work of God's messengers but rather by the failings of human beings who are the source of religious divisions and prejudice, God Speaks Again is an absolute "must-read" for better understanding the Bahai faith and its spiritual message." -- The Midwest Book Review 				    	 					 About the Author Kenneth E. Bowers currently serves as the Secretary-General of the National Spiritual Assembly, the national governing body of the Baha'is of the United States. Ken and his wife, Mojgan, have two children and live near Chicago.