Bahá'í Faith in fiction
Encyclopedia
The Bahá'í Faith has appeared in fiction
in multiple forms. The mention of the Bahá'í Faith
, prominent members, or even individual believers have appeared in a variety of fictional forms including science fiction
, and fantasy
, as well as styles of short stories
, novelette
s, and novel
s, and even diverse media of the printed word and TV series
. One estimate is of more than 30 references though it could be far more. Out of these roughly three dozen known direct or indirect references to the Bahá'í Faith, there are perhaps a dozen where there is a significant relationship with the religion, where the Bahá'í Faith is a crucial aspect of the story. The first occurrence known is perhaps when playwright Isabella Grinevskaya
wrote the play "Báb" based on the life an events of the founder of the Bábí
religion which was performed in St. Petersburg in 1904 and again in 1916/7, and lauded by Leo Tolstoy
and other reviewers at the time. Shortly after that two books by Khalil Gibran
: The Prophet
and Jesus, The Son of Man, albeit evidence for the sustained influence of `Abdu'l-Bahá
in these works comes second-hand. In modern times the first known occurrence is of a short story by non-Bahá'í Tom Ligon The Devil and the Deep Black Void, - he also wrote a sequel The Gardener. The next fictional publication, in 1991, which references the Bahá'í Faith may be a short story "Home Is Where…" by Bahá'í Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
, following which Bohnhoff wrote a trilogy of novels called The Meri (1992–1995) and a stand alone novel The Spirit Gate (1996). In 1997 Joseph Sheppherd published The Island of the Same Name which is told in four eras of humanity but centering on two generations of researchers who get caught up in the history of the world's change from what it is now/was to what it could be from a Bahá'í point of view. Then in 2000, The Hidden Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by William "Bill" Paxton is published and the Bahá'í Faith is framed in a Sherlock Holmes short story. Also in 2000 Bahiyyih Nakhjavani
published The Saddlebag inspired by chapter VII of The Dawn-Breakers
by Nabíl-i-A`zam
.
The first period of the appearance of fictional works referencing the Bahá'í Faith strongly surrounded the period of the Ministry of `Abdu'l-Bahá. From the 1930s through the 1970s few if any publications mentioned, or were identifiably affected by the religion, let alone had fictionalized references until the 1980s. Starting then several works mark the early years of the emergence of the Bahá'í Faith in fiction leading up to the turn of the century. Since then a number of works have appeared - at least nine fictional works are in print just from Bahá'í publishing sources in the United States in 2006. TK Ralya's The Golden Age: Thy Kingdom Come is one of these and uses a wide array of the teachings and predictions of the Bahá'í Faith to paint a future society in contrast with the world as we know it today.
Additionally and perhaps parenthetically, the futuristic hero of Robert Sheckley's 1960s SF novel Mindswap has visited and prayed at the Bahá'í 'hanging gardens' in Haifa, among other pilgrimages described as typical of his fictional future world. In James A. Michener's "The Source", a fictionalised history of the Holy Land and its peoples, the first page bears a description of a ship coming into Haifa harbour with the gleaming golden dome of the Bahá'í Shrine on the slopes of Mt Carmel (the Shrine of the Báb) one of the distinctive sights.
:
It is known that `Abdu'l-Bahá also sat for portraits at the request of Gibran. See http://bahai-library.com/bushrui_gibran_man_poet and http://users.whsmithnet.co.uk/ispalin/heritage/pictures/dis05.htm. From the above it may be concluded that `Abdu'l-Bahá and Gibran knew each other more than in passing, but that `Abdu'l-Bahá made no formal or informal claims or suggestions about Gibran's writing but cooperated whenever asked (as for sitting for the drawings.) So the influence is really at the choice of Gibran - he could as well have chosen and mention any other source of inspiration for his book. It seems he chose `Abdu'l-Bahá. As `Abdu'l-Bahá is one of the Central figures of the Bahá'í Faith and these are works of fiction, it is certainly the case that at least two of Gibran's, and his most famous, are properly mentioned here.
There are many reviews of this famous book, The Prophet. Here's one:
Here's one of many reviews of Jesus, The Son of Man:
Curiously, this is not the only case where someone associated with the Bahá'í Faith wrote a speculative work about things the New Testament
is silent on in regards to Jesus
. Contemporaries of Gibran Juliet Thompson
and Wellesley Tudor Pole
wrote books about Jesus. Thompson wrote I, Mary Magdalen and Tudor Pole wrote The Silent Road, A Man Seen Afar, and Writing on the Ground as well as some pamphlets though these were written later in the 20th century. Both Thompson and Tudor Pole knew `Abdu'l-Bahá
well having interviewed him and worked with him. Thomson wrote a diary, one of the central records of `Abdu'l-Bahá's trips to the west as well as a portrait and Tudor Pole played a significant role in saving his life in World War I
. Indeed the whole relationship between `Abdu'l-Bahá and Jesus was one `Abdu'l-Bahá was at pains to clarify both to the general public and among early Bahá'ís.
technology and advocate of Inertial Electrodynamic Fusion
), two published in 1986 and 1993, The Devil and the Deep Black Void, and The Gardener in Analog Magazine, are science fiction stories which are about a Shi'a
Muslim
terrorist organization in a largely Muslim space-faring civilization where Bahá'ís are space colonists undertake terraforming
on a planet they named Mazra'ih (though there is brief mention of a United States National Spiritual Assembly back on Earth.) The prequel, For a Little Price about how terrorists
are prevented from crashing a spaceship
into the Earth (long predating the events of the September 11, 2001 attacks
) was anthologized in 2008 though work began on it in 1986. In the succeeding stories some of the terrorists are instead driven to an unusual world orbiting a neutron star
where Bahá'ís live which eventually reveals that civilizations have reached great levels of technology and then mysteriously disappeared. The initial thought is that the civilizations are eradicated by a periodic sterilization the planet undergoes but there is also evidence the civilizations vanished peacefully before the sterilization speculating that civilizations shortly after achieving deep space exploration reach some new level of civilization that doesn't require or sustain material civilization in deep space. The ethical conflict of pacifism
, a debatable stance associated with the Bahá'í Faith, in the face of terrorists is worked out. One character, who takes on the name of the historical Bábí
who performed an assassination attempt on the life of the Shah of Iran
, chooses the path of violence in defense of the population by way (as portrayed) of matching a strength of the Bahá'í Faith in acceptance of science compared to a weakness of Shia Islam of superstition.
The author comments:
Among the special qualities to Mr. Ligon's contribution to the Bahá'í Faith in fiction is that he is a non-Bahá'í, the stories mentioned explicitly reference the religion, and indeed the religion provides some of the central context for the story line, and possibly the first publication to seriously reference the Bahá'í Faith in fictional literature context. See Persecution of Bahá'ís
, Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan
and Bahá'í Faith in Azerbaijan
for cases of Bahá'í responses to violence.
has won several awards for her works of fiction and music (especially filk music
which is music tied to science fiction or related styles or issues).
Bohnhoff's first work to use the Bahá’í Faith as a central aspect of a story may be her 1991 published "Home Is Where…" novelette summarized as "A Baha'i family from the year 2112 is on a time travel research assignment in midwest USA, in 1950." There has not been a published review of her work noting the presence of the Bahá'í Faith in her works generally. Her first publication was in 1989 and her publications continue through 2006 Bohnhoff, mother of two and married since 1981 (both true at least as of 2001), has also written many short stories and novelettes, some of them with a significant basis in relation to the Bahá'í Faith, in most of the well known publishing magazines: Analog Magazine, Interzone (magazine)
, Amazing Stories
, Realms of Fantasy
, and others. Another example "The White Dog" wherein a lady whose shocking albino appearance is eventually warmly loved in accordance with the special relationship pointed out by `Abdu'l-Bahá
for a little white dog. Her longest work with a strong presence of the Bahá’í Faith is The Meri fantasy series which is a trilogy (The Meri published in 1992, Taminy in 1993, and The Crystal Rose in 1995). The series revolves around the period of transition among the people who live on a peninsula. The chapters are headed with quotes from scripture presented as those of the religion of the people but many are in fact quotes from Bahá'í scripture
, while a few are from the Bible
. The first and second book also carry an acknowledgement of Bahá'u'lláh
, a Local Spiritual Assembly and Bahá'í community. The plot involves a progression on the understanding of a people in relation to the role and position of women. Unknown to the people of the story, women have always been instrumental to their religion as agents of God
and a chosen few have always acted as the personification of the Spirit of God, or "Meri". The first book focuses on a young girl destined to take on that role. While similar to other stories of the triumph of women it has several unique qualities most particularly a central male character being her benefactor and teacher and not an obstacle she has to overcome. The second book focuses on the return of the prior "Meri" who takes it as her mission to promulgate the new paradigm as the head of the religion. The third book focuses on her transition to being a head of state but wrestling with several of the same issues from among as well as beyond her people. Another novel she has written called The Spirit Gate has many of the same features but is written in a different context - a fantasy work set in a historical time and place of roughly 1000AD in the area today of Poland and Ukraine where two forms of Christianity and Islam met the pagan older religion. Bahá’í themes, especially in the respect granted other religions, are largely identified with the older religion, however the names of some of the central figures of the religion appear near the end without strongly hinting at any spiritual prominence (names of an ambassador and Caliph, not simply religious figures.)
Among Bohnhoff's unique contributions to the Bahá'í Faith in fiction is that she is a Bahá'í who has had more than three dozen works published in many major and some minor publishing venues and she has written at least 6 full length novels of her own - four with strong Bahá'í references though mentioning something in relation to the religion in the others. In combination she has probably subtlety or directly presented themes of the Bahá'í Faith to the widest audience in literature.
published this novel in 1991. The main character, Greg Reeves, engages in a search for meaning and identity. His mother is a Baha'i. She is portrayed in a somewhat negative light.
so for example 2007 of the common calendar is year 163 of the Bahá’í Era, or BE. While the textual reference is exact it only becomes clear when the two dating schemes are cross referenced and the explicit mention of the religion had already been made. Late in the story the Universal House of Justice
is mentioned as having 19 members and a metropolis called Haifaakka is mentioned. However the Baha'is Faith is not framed as the singular or dominant theme of the story - it is but an explicit component of the plot occasionally and a subtext for specifics recognizable but not identified as specifically related to the religion. In other words the majority of the content of the book describes how the world at large arrives at a Bahá’í oriented future, but not how the Bahá’í Faith itself arrives to be in that position.
Mr. Sheppherd has published about 10 works before the year 2000 (and lost an additional 15 unpublished works in a house fire in 2002) ranging from professional publications to Bahá'í centered works whether of formal introduction or children's literature, poetry or this science/speculative fiction analysis of the multi-century changes based on humanity's response to religion centered in the non-west, specifically an African island.
) was published in 2000-1. A published synopsis: Set in August, 1896, Sherlock Holmes
expounds at great length on his occult beliefs and invites Watson
to a (spiritualism
) based séance
. Lestrade & Macintosh take Holmes & Watson to the home of Sir Randolph Gretzinger, former Ambassador to Persia, who has been murdered along with his servant. Holmes finds a copy of the Bayan (see Bayán (exposition)
) in Gretzinger's hand, and he expounds at length on Babism
. Side note: Holmes is presented as having a high regard for the religion and being current on its situation enough to know that "Abo ol-Baha" is a political prisoner at that time and knowing full well that the religion would never associate with such a plot having already suffered many martyr
s and known to not organize any rebellion and instead maintained a peaceful, unified vision with all mankind. He deduces that the men have been injected with poison (from small wounds in their thumbs), and expounds at length on snake venom. The following day they are summoned to the Diogenes Club, where Mycroft expounds at great length on the politics of petroleum and how this may be the true reason for the murder. After visiting the dead man's widow and urging her to continue his oil negotiations with the Shah
of Persia Holmes is visited by representatives of the Bahá'í Faith
who fear that the book was planted on the body to implicate them. They expound at length on the assassination of the last Shah and feel an effort is being made to frame them, but Holmes assures them he is well aware of the reputation of the Bahá'ís and believes in their innocence. Holmes & Watson are invited to a séance and Holmes expounds at length on the other guests. At the séance a spirit claiming to be Moriarty hurls a dagger at Holmes. Holmes organizes London Baha'is into a "Baker Street Baha'i", including ones in the Russian Embassy, to locate Gretzinger's missing appointment book from which Holmes is able to learn the murderers name and establish the innocence of the Bahá'ís.
Note that on 1 May 1896 Nasser-al-Din Shah was indeed assassinated and some did blame a Babí but most information points to an anarchist who had been given privileged access to the person of the Shah because of the Shah’s sympathies for his suffering (see http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Persia, and http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Nasr-ed-Din.) Most Baha’is have some information of an acknowledged assassination plot by some Babis in 1852 for which Bahá’u’lláh was encarcerated in the Siyah-Chal and eventually found innocent albeit much property had been confiscated or lost to mobs as a result of simply being accused. This is a different incident, in 1896.
Nakhjavani
has published six books - some academic and at least two fictional, as well as articles and poetry.
is an American comic book
published by Dark Horse Comics
written by Bahá'í Arvid Nelson
. It was first published in 2002 and has run through 2008.
The series is a quest for the Holy Grail
told as a murder mystery. It is set in the year 1933, in an alternate history Europe
, where magic is real, feudalism persisted, and the Protestant Reformation
was crushed by a still politically powerful Roman Catholic Church
. All of this is woven together as "… a meditation on the prophecies surrounding the advent of the Bahá'í era.” Nelson compares a central character Genevieve with the role of the Bahá'í Faith - of trying to bring about unity but the story is not used as a means to proselytize the religion.
's A Wrinkle in Time
- of grand themes being played out not through technological achievements, but of spiritual beings and achievements. Ralya has also published children’s stories, two full-length musicals, a weekly newspaper column in a Minnesota paper for about 2 years, and a novel for 9-15 year-olds which also has significant reference to the Bahá'í Faith.
Doing the Impossible official synopsis mentions :"three fifteen-year-old girls are starting their sophomore year of high school. The 'impossible' thing they are trying to do is living according to God's standards in modern society. Megan gets the lead in the high school play, but her character is a rather 'loose' woman. Her leading man is more interested in 'fun' than appropriateness… Ashley has a learning disability and wrestles with feeling dumb and unattractive. Brittney is very smart, but overweight. She deals with her body image as well as where a smart female fits in society without being considered aggressive. Baha’i school on Sunday mornings adds the different perspectives of other students."
The unique contribution Ralya has made to the Bahá'í Faith in fiction is that her works center on the moral dilemmas of modern society in the west and spiritual insights and development that reflect an understanding of the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith in response to these challenges. On the one hand she has envisioned an attainable utopia (that is, not completely perfect) with specifics based on suggestions made in writings of the Bahá'í Faith. A particularly strong analysis is made of marital fidelity vs the divine law against adultery vs intense love and friendship between a man and a woman not married, though many topics are addressed including the moral and practical need for war, sustainable economics if children and mothers are of central importance to society, attitudes of the oneness of humanity vs racism, the importance of the arts and so on. On the other hand she has examined many of the same issues in young ladies lives in high school.
, a small Canadian press specializing in science fiction and fantasy. Webb's book, while intended as a fantasy adventure, includes many themes from the Baha'i Writings, including quotes from a variety of faith traditions and a fantasy version of a society based on the fully realized society of the future envisioned by Baha'u'llah. Central to the plot (although the idea is referred to rather than explained with great explicitness in the first book) is the idea of the School of Transcendent Oneness and the idea that a special class of being is sent into Creation from time to time to help civilization along. She relates this to the "once and future king" concept with the introduction of the quest that forms the overall theme for the series: the search for Eliander, a Carotian prince magicked away long ago to a place outside normal space-time. In the second book, "Tapestry of Enchantment," Dragon Moon Press, 2010 this theme of the once and future king comes to the fore when the one character from a world outside the Carotian Union (the system Eliander's return is meant to save) discloses that he believes he is, in fact, living in the time of his own world's Promised One; his search for this Promised One becomes a strong theme in the series and become the pivot point of the sequel. "Lamp of Truth," the third book, is due for publication in early 2011. Dragon Moon has contracted the entire series, the longest work it has ever put under contract, and hopes to release the remainder of the books at the rate of about one every six months (slating Eliander for release sometime in late 2013). Remaining books in the series and their settings include "The Life of the Smith" (ancient Greece); "The Floodwaters of Redemption" (Mu right before it founders); "The Treasure of Mobius" (a world projected by a powerful projective telempath; yes, it has one-sided buildings); "Dwellers in the Underdark" (the Underdark, home of the terrifying Azhur race); and "The King That Will Be" (variously the planes of incarcertation of the quest's nemesis and Eliander as well as home on Caros).
's bestselling 1914 book Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich
features a character that caricatures the religious leader `Abdu'l-Bahá.
Philip K. Dick
's science-fiction novel Eye in the Sky features a parallel world theocracy
dominated by a church of the "Second Bab". However, no attempt is made to explore the Baha'i Faith; it reads as a satire
of Christian Fundamentalism.
has twice referenced the Bahá'ís - once when Lisa Simpson
is considering what religion to join in the episode "She of Little Faith
" she sees "Bed, Bath and Bahá'í" on a sign (she ends up converting to Buddhism
) and also when Bart Simpson
is playing Billy Graham's Bible Blaster, a Christian video game (where the player has to convert to Christianity) "a gentle Baha'i" is one of the images on the screen at Ned Flanders
' house in the episode "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily
".
The movie The Matrix
uses parallel terminology to the Bahá’í Faith but there is little evidence that the movie or its makers were influenced by the religion specifically (more likely Buddhism and Gnostic Christianity). However a movie critic did use the Bahá’í Faith as the lead off in his review.
There is also a TV medical-drama in Australia
called MDA - Medical Defense Australia (MDA (TV series)
) which went on the air on July 23, 2002 with an ongoing Bahá'í character, Layla Young, who is played by a non-Bahá'í actress Petra Yared
.
The role-playing game
Trinity
by White Wolf Game Studio, in a futuristic setting, includes a faction called the Interplanetary School for Research and Advancement. Many of its members are humans with psionic powers related to clairsentience. The leader, and as a result many of his followers, is a member of the Bahá'í Faith. A second role-playing game, this one based in computer technology, is called The Seven Valleys named after the The Seven Valleys, which in turn references The Conference of the Birds
, and uses it explicitly as inspirations for its adventures.
1. "Baha'is in Science Fiction and Fantasy", from Adherents.com:
"This annotated bibliography list, a subset derived from the Adherents.com Religion in Literature database, is intended as a resource for literary research. It lists both mainstream and Baha'i-oriented science fiction/fantasy novels or short stories which contain references to Baha'is. It is not necessarily a comprehensive list of such literature, but all Hugo- and Nebula-winning novels have been surveyed, as have many other major works."
2. Bahá'í Library Online - Fiction section, from bahai-library.com.
"Submissions and book excerpts welcomed. Fiction of larger scale and/or historical import is preferred, though new works by Baha'i authors can also be showcased here."
3. "The Baha'i and Science Fiction" by Lavie Tidhar
, an analysis published in the British online magazine I R O S F ("Internet Review of Science Fiction") , Vol I, No. 1 (January, 2004). Note a response was written by Steven Kolins in the discussion section. Mr. Tidhar has published a short work of fiction in the form of a "might have been" history of the impact the religion could have had.
4. Bahá'í David C. Mueller had maintained a website at www.dcmstartships.com highlighting several topics related to fiction and non-fiction and has a few pages specifically about the Bahá'í Faith and such topics:
"How the Baha'i Community is like a Space Ark"
"Suggested Reading for Inquisitive Mind"
"The Artist's Favorite Science Fiction Novels"
5. Bahá'í Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff has an ongoing presence in several websites, notably www.mysticfig.com and as a continuing contributor at www.authorsden.com. As she says she is "hopelessly addicted to words. I get the DTs if I go too long without putting them on paper." and "My family and friends have tried to break me of this addiction, but without success. I have published bunches of science fiction stories…"
6. "Aslan's Kin" has a significant diversity of references to interfaith Fantasy and Science Fiction.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
in multiple forms. The mention of the Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
, prominent members, or even individual believers have appeared in a variety of fictional forms including science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, as well as styles of short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, novelette
Novelette
A novelette is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms is usually based upon word count, with a novelette being longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella...
s, and novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s, and even diverse media of the printed word and TV series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
. One estimate is of more than 30 references though it could be far more. Out of these roughly three dozen known direct or indirect references to the Bahá'í Faith, there are perhaps a dozen where there is a significant relationship with the religion, where the Bahá'í Faith is a crucial aspect of the story. The first occurrence known is perhaps when playwright Isabella Grinevskaya
Isabella Grinevskaya
Isabella Grinevskaya was the pen name of Berta Friedberg, daughter of the author Abraham Shalom Friedberg and the first wife of Mordechai Spector....
wrote the play "Báb" based on the life an events of the founder of the Bábí
Babi
Babi may refer to:* Babı, a municipality in Azerbaijan* Babi Dynasty, founded in 1735 by Muhammed Sher Khan Babi , Nawabs of this dynasty went on to rule over Junagadh in Gujarat, from the 18th to the 20th century....
religion which was performed in St. Petersburg in 1904 and again in 1916/7, and lauded by Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
and other reviewers at the time. Shortly after that two books by Khalil Gibran
Khalil Gibran
Khalil Gibran Jubrān Khalīl Jubrān,Jibrān Khalīl Jibrān, or Jibrān Xalīl Jibrān; Arabic , January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) also known as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer...
: The Prophet
The Prophet (book)
The Prophet is a book of 26 poetic essays written in English by the Lebanese artist, philosopher and writer Kahlil Gibran. It was originally published in 1923 by Alfred A. Knopf. It is Gibran's best known work...
and Jesus, The Son of Man, albeit evidence for the sustained influence of `Abdu'l-Bahá
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
in these works comes second-hand. In modern times the first known occurrence is of a short story by non-Bahá'í Tom Ligon The Devil and the Deep Black Void, - he also wrote a sequel The Gardener. The next fictional publication, in 1991, which references the Bahá'í Faith may be a short story "Home Is Where…" by Bahá'í Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff is a versatile author and performer, best known for her science fiction and fantasy works...
, following which Bohnhoff wrote a trilogy of novels called The Meri (1992–1995) and a stand alone novel The Spirit Gate (1996). In 1997 Joseph Sheppherd published The Island of the Same Name which is told in four eras of humanity but centering on two generations of researchers who get caught up in the history of the world's change from what it is now/was to what it could be from a Bahá'í point of view. Then in 2000, The Hidden Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by William "Bill" Paxton is published and the Bahá'í Faith is framed in a Sherlock Holmes short story. Also in 2000 Bahiyyih Nakhjavani
Bahiyyih Nakhjavani
Bahiyyih Nakhjavani is a Persian writer who grew up in Uganda and was educated in the United Kingdom and the United States. She now lives in France where she teaches. She taught European and American literature in Belgium....
published The Saddlebag inspired by chapter VII of The Dawn-Breakers
The Dawn-breakers (book)
The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá’í Revelation or Nabíl's Narrative is a historical account of the early Bábí and Bahá'í Faiths penned by Nabíl-i-A`zam in 1887-8...
by Nabíl-i-A`zam
Nabíl-i-A`zam
Mullá Muḥammad-i-Zarandí , more commonly known as Nabíl-i-A`ẓam or Nabíl-i-Zarandí , was an eminent Bahá'í historian during the time of Bahá'u'lláh, and one of the nineteen Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh...
.
The first period of the appearance of fictional works referencing the Bahá'í Faith strongly surrounded the period of the Ministry of `Abdu'l-Bahá. From the 1930s through the 1970s few if any publications mentioned, or were identifiably affected by the religion, let alone had fictionalized references until the 1980s. Starting then several works mark the early years of the emergence of the Bahá'í Faith in fiction leading up to the turn of the century. Since then a number of works have appeared - at least nine fictional works are in print just from Bahá'í publishing sources in the United States in 2006. TK Ralya's The Golden Age: Thy Kingdom Come is one of these and uses a wide array of the teachings and predictions of the Bahá'í Faith to paint a future society in contrast with the world as we know it today.
Additionally and perhaps parenthetically, the futuristic hero of Robert Sheckley's 1960s SF novel Mindswap has visited and prayed at the Bahá'í 'hanging gardens' in Haifa, among other pilgrimages described as typical of his fictional future world. In James A. Michener's "The Source", a fictionalised history of the Holy Land and its peoples, the first page bears a description of a ship coming into Haifa harbour with the gleaming golden dome of the Bahá'í Shrine on the slopes of Mt Carmel (the Shrine of the Báb) one of the distinctive sights.
Khalil Gibran's books
A published account notes about Khalil GibranKhalil Gibran
Khalil Gibran Jubrān Khalīl Jubrān,Jibrān Khalīl Jibrān, or Jibrān Xalīl Jibrān; Arabic , January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) also known as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer...
:
It was on April 6, 1943, in her studio-room, upstairs at the front of the house, that Juliet shared with me and a few other guests, these memories of Khalil GibranKhalil GibranKhalil Gibran Jubrān Khalīl Jubrān,Jibrān Khalīl Jibrān, or Jibrān Xalīl Jibrān; Arabic , January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) also known as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer...
…
"He lived across the street from here," said Juliet Thompson, "at 51 West 10th. He was neither poor nor rich - in between. Worked on an Arab newspaper; free to paint and write. His health was all right in the early years. He was terribly sad in the later years, because of cancer. He died at forty-nine. He knew his life was ending too soon.
"His drawings were more beautiful than his paintings. These were very misty, lost things - mysterious and lost. Very poetic.
"A SyrianDemographics of SyriaSyrians today are an overall indigenous Levantine people. While modern-day Syrians are commonly described as Arabs by virtue of their modern-day language and bonds to Arab culture and history...
brought him to see me - can't even remember his name. Khalil always said I was his first friend in New York. We became very, very great friends, and all of his books - The Madman, The Forerunner, The Son of Man, The Prophet - I heard in manuscript. He always gave me his books. I liked The Prophet best. I don't believe that there was any connection between `Abdu'l-Bahá`Abdu'l-Bahá‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
and The Prophet. But he told me that he thought of the `Abdu'l-Bahá all through. He said that he was going to write another book with '`Abdu'l-Bahá as the center and all the contemporaries of '`Abdu'l-Bahá speaking. He died before he wrote it. He told me definitely that [the book] The Son of Man was influenced by '`Abdu'l-Bahá."
It is known that `Abdu'l-Bahá also sat for portraits at the request of Gibran. See http://bahai-library.com/bushrui_gibran_man_poet and http://users.whsmithnet.co.uk/ispalin/heritage/pictures/dis05.htm. From the above it may be concluded that `Abdu'l-Bahá and Gibran knew each other more than in passing, but that `Abdu'l-Bahá made no formal or informal claims or suggestions about Gibran's writing but cooperated whenever asked (as for sitting for the drawings.) So the influence is really at the choice of Gibran - he could as well have chosen and mention any other source of inspiration for his book. It seems he chose `Abdu'l-Bahá. As `Abdu'l-Bahá is one of the Central figures of the Bahá'í Faith and these are works of fiction, it is certainly the case that at least two of Gibran's, and his most famous, are properly mentioned here.
There are many reviews of this famous book, The Prophet. Here's one:
Khalil Gibran'sKhalil GibranKhalil Gibran Jubrān Khalīl Jubrān,Jibrān Khalīl Jibrān, or Jibrān Xalīl Jibrān; Arabic , January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) also known as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer...
The Prophet is a book that has touched many people very deeply since its publishing in 1923. It has been translated into more than twenty languages, and the AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
edition alone has sold more than four million copies. It is considered both by Gibran himself, and by the general public to be his literary masterpiece. The Prophet is about a man who is leaving a small town called Orphalese where he has made his home for the past twelve years. He has, for that time period, been waiting for a boat to take him back to the land of his youth. We are not told where that land is, only that he has been waiting to return there for twelve years. The entire book occurs on the date of his departure. As he is about to leave, the townsfolk stop him in the town and request that he tell them about certain things. He talks to them about life's lessons and imparts his wisdom to them. He is asked about giving, and he tells the people to give without recognition, because their reward is their own joy. He also talks about things like marriage, work, friendship and also love. He speaks about each, and more, describing the way that people should deal with each issue. This book is an interesting book. It is ninety-three pages of life's lessons set down in writing. These are words to live by, and tell others to live by. This book is certainly a book that everyone should read. Even if people don't agree with some of the beliefs, they should still read the book, if only to get their mind thinking about life, and its many quandaries from a different perspective. This book is not unlike the musings of an aging man imparting his life's lessons to an audience of just about anyone whom he can gather to listen to him. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Its lessons and stories are wise beyond the ages, and still hold up to be as true today as they were when Gibran wrote them in 1923. The lessons enumerated within this pages are lessons that one would hope were followed by the general population, and I know that if more people read this book, then the world as a whole might become a more easily survivable place.
Here's one of many reviews of Jesus, The Son of Man:
I find it amazing that he wrote this in the time period he did. It's very prophetic, it seems to be in line with a more modern understanding of JesusJesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
that readers of The Course in Miracles and Marianne Williamson are a large part of vocalizing. But even fundamentalists would enjoy this book… being how it is written from the opinion of 80 different points of view, many of which do proclaim him the Son of GodSon of God"Son of God" is a phrase which according to most Christian denominations, Trinitarian in belief, refers to the relationship between Jesus and God, specifically as "God the Son"...
. Ultimately, any view can be thoughtfully stimulating because the people of any opinion have personalities and background given that support why they view Jesus with their perspective. The overall impression I received from this beautiful prose is the beauty and message of Jesus, the devotion, admiration, gratitude and love inspired by him, and the grace which he exuded with confident compassion. And whether he was GodGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, man, a combination of both that we all are potentially, or a combination we can only idolize with an envious self-debasing distorted form of humility, this book shows him to be nothing less than relevant to our comprehension.
Curiously, this is not the only case where someone associated with the Bahá'í Faith wrote a speculative work about things the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
is silent on in regards to Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. Contemporaries of Gibran Juliet Thompson
Juliet Thompson
Juliet Thompson was an American Bahá'í, painter, and disciple of `Abdu'l-Bahá. She is perhaps best remembered for her book The Diary of Juliet Thompson though she also painted a life-sized portrait of `Abdu'l-Bahá.-Early life and education:...
and Wellesley Tudor Pole
Wellesley Tudor Pole
Major Wellesley Tudor Pole O.B.E. was a spiritualist and early British Bahá'í.He authored many pamphlets and books and was a lifelong pursuer of religious and mystical questions and visions, being particularly involved with spiritualism and the Bahá'í Faith as well as the quest for the Holy Grail...
wrote books about Jesus. Thompson wrote I, Mary Magdalen and Tudor Pole wrote The Silent Road, A Man Seen Afar, and Writing on the Ground as well as some pamphlets though these were written later in the 20th century. Both Thompson and Tudor Pole knew `Abdu'l-Bahá
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
well having interviewed him and worked with him. Thomson wrote a diary, one of the central records of `Abdu'l-Bahá's trips to the west as well as a portrait and Tudor Pole played a significant role in saving his life in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Indeed the whole relationship between `Abdu'l-Bahá and Jesus was one `Abdu'l-Bahá was at pains to clarify both to the general public and among early Bahá'ís.
Tom Ligon's trilogy
Among Tom Ligon's many short and medium sized works (and one award winning science fact article published in relation to Fusion rocketFusion rocket
A fusion rocket is a theoretical design for a rocket driven by fusion power which could provide efficient and long-term acceleration in space without the need to carry a large fuel supply. The design relies on the development of fusion power technology beyond current capabilities, and the...
technology and advocate of Inertial Electrodynamic Fusion
Inertial electrostatic confinement
Inertial electrostatic confinement is a concept for retaining a plasma using an electrostatic field. The field accelerates charged particles radially inward, usually in a spherical but sometimes in a cylindrical geometry. Ions can be confined with IEC in order to achieve controlled nuclear fusion...
), two published in 1986 and 1993, The Devil and the Deep Black Void, and The Gardener in Analog Magazine, are science fiction stories which are about a Shi'a
Shi'a Islam
Shia Islam is the second largest denomination of Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'ites or Shias. "Shia" is the short form of the historic phrase Shīʻatu ʻAlī , meaning "followers of Ali", "faction of Ali", or "party of Ali".Like other schools of thought in Islam, Shia Islam is...
Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
terrorist organization in a largely Muslim space-faring civilization where Bahá'ís are space colonists undertake terraforming
Terraforming
Terraforming of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth, in order to make it habitable by terrestrial organisms.The term is sometimes used more generally as a...
on a planet they named Mazra'ih (though there is brief mention of a United States National Spiritual Assembly back on Earth.) The prequel, For a Little Price about how terrorists
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
are prevented from crashing a spaceship
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
into the Earth (long predating the events of the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
) was anthologized in 2008 though work began on it in 1986. In the succeeding stories some of the terrorists are instead driven to an unusual world orbiting a neutron star
Neutron star
A neutron star is a type of stellar remnant that can result from the gravitational collapse of a massive star during a Type II, Type Ib or Type Ic supernova event. Such stars are composed almost entirely of neutrons, which are subatomic particles without electrical charge and with a slightly larger...
where Bahá'ís live which eventually reveals that civilizations have reached great levels of technology and then mysteriously disappeared. The initial thought is that the civilizations are eradicated by a periodic sterilization the planet undergoes but there is also evidence the civilizations vanished peacefully before the sterilization speculating that civilizations shortly after achieving deep space exploration reach some new level of civilization that doesn't require or sustain material civilization in deep space. The ethical conflict of pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
, a debatable stance associated with the Bahá'í Faith, in the face of terrorists is worked out. One character, who takes on the name of the historical Bábí
Bábism
The Babi Faith is a religious movement that flourished in Persia from 1844 to 1852, then lingered on in exile in the Ottoman Empire as well as underground. Its founder was Siyyid `Alí Muhammad Shirazi, who took the title Báb—meaning "Gate"—from a Shi'a theological term...
who performed an assassination attempt on the life of the Shah of Iran
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...
, chooses the path of violence in defense of the population by way (as portrayed) of matching a strength of the Bahá'í Faith in acceptance of science compared to a weakness of Shia Islam of superstition.
The author comments:
"The Devil and the Deep Black Void" had an interesting genesis. I remember being outraged by reports coming from the far east. Vietnamese "boat people" were being preyed on by pirates. I set up a situation where a political upset in a distant colony would make it likely that refugees would be preyed on by pirates. However, the story developed a mind of its own. I realized that, due to the vastness of space, the pirates would be easy to evade. The real threat was the vastness itself. Running away was certain death, and the only hope was returning to face the original problem. That quickly became the focus of the story…
I needed good victims. Recent news had offered an excellent group, the Baha'is, who had been horribly persecuted in Iran. The more I researched them, the more convinced I became that they would make excellent space colonists. My primary reference was an aged primer on the Baha'i Faith by J. E. EsselmontJohn EsslemontJohn Ebenezer Esslemont M.B., Ch.B. , was a prominent British Bahá'í from Scotland. He was the author of the well-known introductory book on the Bahá'í Faith, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, which is still in circulation. He was named posthumously by Shoghi Effendi as the first Hand of the Cause he...
. I did receive some comments from several Baha'is suggesting that I'd portrayed them as too pacifistic, however, I'll stick by my guns on this. My characters, while they believe in public defense, even armies, to preserve peace, are stubborn in living by a passage I found in Esselmont's book in which Baha'u'llah forbids the Baha'is from taking up arms in the defense of the faith. The story is carefully crafted to back them into this corner. Our hero is faced with a loss of his faith, which enables him to take action to save his people, but leaves him in a spiritual dilemma.
I left him in that state for about 7 years, when I had the inspiration for the sequel, "The Gardener". Hoping to give Hab, our hero, some hint of faith back, not to mention some much-needed feminine companionship, I devised a story to show what he'd been up to in seven years of self-imposed exile on a remote continent of a planet just begging for life."
Among the special qualities to Mr. Ligon's contribution to the Bahá'í Faith in fiction is that he is a non-Bahá'í, the stories mentioned explicitly reference the religion, and indeed the religion provides some of the central context for the story line, and possibly the first publication to seriously reference the Bahá'í Faith in fictional literature context. See Persecution of Bahá'ís
Persecution of Bahá'ís
The persecution of Bahá'ís is the religious persecution of Bahá'ís in various countries, especially in Iran, where the Bahá'í Faith originated and the location of one of the largest Bahá'í populations in the world...
, Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan
Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan
The Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan begins before Russian advances into the region when the area was under the influence of Persia. By 1887 a community of Bahá'í refugees from religious violence in Persia had made a religious center in Ashgabat. Shortly afterwards — by 1894 — Russia made...
and Bahá'í Faith in Azerbaijan
Bahá'í Faith in Azerbaijan
The Bahá'í Faith in Azerbaijan crosses a complex history of regional changes. Through that series of changes the thread of the Bahá'í Faith traces its history in the region from the earliest moments of the Bábism religion, accepted by Bahá'ís as a predecessor religion, in that one of its most...
for cases of Bahá'í responses to violence.
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff's works
BohnhoffMaya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff is a versatile author and performer, best known for her science fiction and fantasy works...
has won several awards for her works of fiction and music (especially filk music
Filk music
Filk is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction/fantasy fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has been active since the early 1950s, and played primarily since the mid-1970s. The term predates 1955.-Definitions:As the Interfilk What Is Filk page demonstrates, there is...
which is music tied to science fiction or related styles or issues).
Bohnhoff's first work to use the Bahá’í Faith as a central aspect of a story may be her 1991 published "Home Is Where…" novelette summarized as "A Baha'i family from the year 2112 is on a time travel research assignment in midwest USA, in 1950." There has not been a published review of her work noting the presence of the Bahá'í Faith in her works generally. Her first publication was in 1989 and her publications continue through 2006 Bohnhoff, mother of two and married since 1981 (both true at least as of 2001), has also written many short stories and novelettes, some of them with a significant basis in relation to the Bahá'í Faith, in most of the well known publishing magazines: Analog Magazine, Interzone (magazine)
Interzone (magazine)
Interzone is an award-winning British fantasy and science fiction magazine. Published since 1982, Interzone is the eighth longest-running science fiction magazine in history and the longest-running British SF magazine...
, Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
, Realms of Fantasy
Realms of Fantasy
Realms of Fantasy is a professional bimonthly fantasy speculative fiction magazine published by Damnation Books, which specializes in fantasy, nonfiction, and art. The magazine publishes short stories by some of the genre's most popular and most prominent authors...
, and others. Another example "The White Dog" wherein a lady whose shocking albino appearance is eventually warmly loved in accordance with the special relationship pointed out by `Abdu'l-Bahá
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
for a little white dog. Her longest work with a strong presence of the Bahá’í Faith is The Meri fantasy series which is a trilogy (The Meri published in 1992, Taminy in 1993, and The Crystal Rose in 1995). The series revolves around the period of transition among the people who live on a peninsula. The chapters are headed with quotes from scripture presented as those of the religion of the people but many are in fact quotes from Bahá'í scripture
Bahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature, like much religious text, covers a variety of topics and forms, including scripture and inspiration, interpretation, history and biography, introduction and study materials, and apologia...
, while a few are from the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. The first and second book also carry an acknowledgement of Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh , born ' , was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. He claimed to be the prophetic fulfilment of Bábism, a 19th-century outgrowth of Shí‘ism, but in a broader sense claimed to be a messenger from God referring to the fulfilment of the eschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity, and...
, a Local Spiritual Assembly and Bahá'í community. The plot involves a progression on the understanding of a people in relation to the role and position of women. Unknown to the people of the story, women have always been instrumental to their religion as agents of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
and a chosen few have always acted as the personification of the Spirit of God, or "Meri". The first book focuses on a young girl destined to take on that role. While similar to other stories of the triumph of women it has several unique qualities most particularly a central male character being her benefactor and teacher and not an obstacle she has to overcome. The second book focuses on the return of the prior "Meri" who takes it as her mission to promulgate the new paradigm as the head of the religion. The third book focuses on her transition to being a head of state but wrestling with several of the same issues from among as well as beyond her people. Another novel she has written called The Spirit Gate has many of the same features but is written in a different context - a fantasy work set in a historical time and place of roughly 1000AD in the area today of Poland and Ukraine where two forms of Christianity and Islam met the pagan older religion. Bahá’í themes, especially in the respect granted other religions, are largely identified with the older religion, however the names of some of the central figures of the religion appear near the end without strongly hinting at any spiritual prominence (names of an ambassador and Caliph, not simply religious figures.)
Among Bohnhoff's unique contributions to the Bahá'í Faith in fiction is that she is a Bahá'í who has had more than three dozen works published in many major and some minor publishing venues and she has written at least 6 full length novels of her own - four with strong Bahá'í references though mentioning something in relation to the religion in the others. In combination she has probably subtlety or directly presented themes of the Bahá'í Faith to the widest audience in literature.
Isabel Allende El Plan Infinito (The Infinite Plan)
Best selling Chilean author Isabel AllendeIsabel Allende
Isabel Allende Llona is a Chilean writer with American citizenship. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition, is famous for novels such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts , which have been commercially successful...
published this novel in 1991. The main character, Greg Reeves, engages in a search for meaning and identity. His mother is a Baha'i. She is portrayed in a somewhat negative light.
Joseph Sheppherd's The Island of the Same Name
Bahá'í Joseph Sheppherd uses his wide experience living in many countries and professional knowledge as an anthropologist and archaeologist to write an embracing story about the adventures and discoveries of spiritual leaders bound to an island off Africa. The center pivotal periods of the story revolve around two generations of researchers: an archaeologist and his anthropologist daughter. Each in turn visits the same African island, but make vastly different discoveries as the story travels in four different time periods: humanity's distant past, near past, near future, and far future. Published in 1997 the near past and future are near enough to have their relative positions significantly altered - the 1970s for the first and the 2000s for the second, roughly now. This book is over 500 pages long and covers a wide range of topics in careful detail from the practicalities of stone axe making, through archeological digs in tyrannical third world countries, spiritual values expressed among aboriginal peoples of the world and the practical lives of individual people occasioned by mystical experiences and those around them, and so on. It follows the form of addressing life in different times and thus a kind of science fiction, but like other entries in this article emphasizes the inward issues and spiritual discoveries more than the quasi-magical or technological leaps made as part of the plot. Mr. Shepperd prefers the term "social fiction" rather than science fiction. The Baha'is, or any paraphrases of principles of the religion, are at best obliquely referred to until late in the second section, of the near past, when an Iranian Doctor mentions the Bahá’í Faith and his reasons for living in a place far from his home and how the principles of the religion stand in the context of the international challenges and needs of humanity. A key character in the book shows interest and later joins the religion but aside from a few specifics there is no clear statement of the future position of the religion nor how the future world culture was established (brief references to a dual process that has merged before the distant future, but doesn't state explicitly what place the Bahá’í Faith has in this pattern.) However in the header of each section there is a text presented with a dating scheme that is exactly that of the Bahá'í calendarBahá'í calendar
The Bahá'í calendar, also called the Badí‘ calendar , used by the Bahá'í Faith, is a solar calendar with regular years of 365 days, and leap years of 366 days. Years are composed of 19 months of 19 days each, plus an extra period of "Intercalary Days"...
so for example 2007 of the common calendar is year 163 of the Bahá’í Era, or BE. While the textual reference is exact it only becomes clear when the two dating schemes are cross referenced and the explicit mention of the religion had already been made. Late in the story the Universal House of Justice
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...
is mentioned as having 19 members and a metropolis called Haifaakka is mentioned. However the Baha'is Faith is not framed as the singular or dominant theme of the story - it is but an explicit component of the plot occasionally and a subtext for specifics recognizable but not identified as specifically related to the religion. In other words the majority of the content of the book describes how the world at large arrives at a Bahá’í oriented future, but not how the Bahá’í Faith itself arrives to be in that position.
Mr. Sheppherd has published about 10 works before the year 2000 (and lost an additional 15 unpublished works in a house fire in 2002) ranging from professional publications to Bahá'í centered works whether of formal introduction or children's literature, poetry or this science/speculative fiction analysis of the multi-century changes based on humanity's response to religion centered in the non-west, specifically an African island.
Sherlock Holmes "The Bab Deception" by William C Paxton
Published as one of four stories (78 pages out of a total 239), "The Bab Deception" in The Hidden Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by non-Bahá'í William "Bill" Paxton (not the actor Bill PaxtonBill Paxton
William "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
) was published in 2000-1. A published synopsis: Set in August, 1896, Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
expounds at great length on his occult beliefs and invites Watson
John Watson (Sherlock Holmes)
John H. Watson, M.D. , known as Dr. Watson, is a character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Watson is Sherlock Holmes's friend, assistant and sometime flatmate, and is the first person narrator of all but four stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon.-Name:Doctor Watson's first...
to a (spiritualism
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
) based séance
Séance
A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...
. Lestrade & Macintosh take Holmes & Watson to the home of Sir Randolph Gretzinger, former Ambassador to Persia, who has been murdered along with his servant. Holmes finds a copy of the Bayan (see Bayán (exposition)
Bayán (exposition)
In Bábism, a Bayán , or exposition, denotes the whole body of the works of the Báb, the central one being the Persian Bayán. Some modern Bábís call themselves 'Bayaní' after this title of the Báb's writings. Bahá'ís also see this work as holy, since they consider their founder to be the...
) in Gretzinger's hand, and he expounds at length on Babism
Bábism
The Babi Faith is a religious movement that flourished in Persia from 1844 to 1852, then lingered on in exile in the Ottoman Empire as well as underground. Its founder was Siyyid `Alí Muhammad Shirazi, who took the title Báb—meaning "Gate"—from a Shi'a theological term...
. Side note: Holmes is presented as having a high regard for the religion and being current on its situation enough to know that "Abo ol-Baha" is a political prisoner at that time and knowing full well that the religion would never associate with such a plot having already suffered many martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
s and known to not organize any rebellion and instead maintained a peaceful, unified vision with all mankind. He deduces that the men have been injected with poison (from small wounds in their thumbs), and expounds at length on snake venom. The following day they are summoned to the Diogenes Club, where Mycroft expounds at great length on the politics of petroleum and how this may be the true reason for the murder. After visiting the dead man's widow and urging her to continue his oil negotiations with the Shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
of Persia Holmes is visited by representatives of the Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
who fear that the book was planted on the body to implicate them. They expound at length on the assassination of the last Shah and feel an effort is being made to frame them, but Holmes assures them he is well aware of the reputation of the Bahá'ís and believes in their innocence. Holmes & Watson are invited to a séance and Holmes expounds at length on the other guests. At the séance a spirit claiming to be Moriarty hurls a dagger at Holmes. Holmes organizes London Baha'is into a "Baker Street Baha'i", including ones in the Russian Embassy, to locate Gretzinger's missing appointment book from which Holmes is able to learn the murderers name and establish the innocence of the Bahá'ís.
Note that on 1 May 1896 Nasser-al-Din Shah was indeed assassinated and some did blame a Babí but most information points to an anarchist who had been given privileged access to the person of the Shah because of the Shah’s sympathies for his suffering (see http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Persia, and http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Nasr-ed-Din.) Most Baha’is have some information of an acknowledged assassination plot by some Babis in 1852 for which Bahá’u’lláh was encarcerated in the Siyah-Chal and eventually found innocent albeit much property had been confiscated or lost to mobs as a result of simply being accused. This is a different incident, in 1896.
Bahiyyih Nakhjavani's books
The Saddlebag: A Fable for Doubters and Seekers - a published review of the 2000 publication notes:
[A] day in the life of nine 19th-century characters traveling between Mecca and Medina in this engaging first novel. Though they come from a wide variety of religious, national and socioeconomic backgrounds, all find themselves in the same caravan when it is beset by a sandstorm and a brutal bandit attack. Each chapter recounts these events from the perspective of its title character, a device Nakhjavani uses skillfully; not only does she avoid the tedium that could result from multiple retellings, but she also turns the bit player in one narrator's story into the complicated hero of another… Nakhjavani shows how God uses their respective religious orientations and the secrets bundled in a saddlebag to reveal life-changing truths to each of them. The novel's Baha'i message is beautifully rendered in these tales of multiple paths leading to one destination.
Nakhjavani
Bahiyyih Nakhjavani
Bahiyyih Nakhjavani is a Persian writer who grew up in Uganda and was educated in the United Kingdom and the United States. She now lives in France where she teaches. She taught European and American literature in Belgium....
has published six books - some academic and at least two fictional, as well as articles and poetry.
Arvid Nelson's Rex Mundi
Rex MundiRex Mundi (Dark Horse Comics)
Rex Mundi is an American comic book series published by Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics , written by Arvid Nelson and drawn by Argentinian artist Juan Ferreyra...
is an American comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
published by Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
written by Bahá'í Arvid Nelson
Arvid Nelson
Arvid Nelson is an American comic book writer, best known for Rex Mundi.-Biography:Nelson started writing comics while at Dartmouth College, where he also converted to the Baha'i Faith...
. It was first published in 2002 and has run through 2008.
The series is a quest for the Holy Grail
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
told as a murder mystery. It is set in the year 1933, in an alternate history Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, where magic is real, feudalism persisted, and the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
was crushed by a still politically powerful Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. All of this is woven together as "… a meditation on the prophecies surrounding the advent of the Bahá'í era.” Nelson compares a central character Genevieve with the role of the Bahá'í Faith - of trying to bring about unity but the story is not used as a means to proselytize the religion.
TK Ralya's The Golden Age: Thy Kingdom Come
Official synopsis: "After one of his friends is killed in Iraq, Geoffrey Waters prays for help in understanding God's purpose for humanity. He is whisked forward in time to witness what a world could be like when the prophesies from Isaiah bring about peace on earth, and the lines 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven' come to fruition. The people on the planet he visits explain that God's kingdom will be established on Earth no matter what, even if a horrible calamity must occur." The Bahá'í author notes that this book is her impression of what the future may be like based on the premise of fulfilled Biblical prophecy, with specifics from Bahá'í sources. There are several quotes and paraphrases from the Bahá'í Writings as well as examples of attitudes among various characters that believe as guided by these references, and the book was approved by the Special Materials Review Committee. Directly it only refers to the Bahá'í Faith as one of many religions mentioned in the foreword (which also mentions that it is meant to be the first of a trilogy.) Internally the strongest reference perhaps is the name of the Book of the religion of the future - "Qadas", which is similar to "Aqdas" - the central Book of Laws, of the Bahá'í Faith. However "Qadas" could also be rather more obscure references ("the holiness of God", or a Muslim style of prayer for example.) The overall feel of the story is much like Madeleine L'EngleMadeleine L'Engle
Madeleine L'Engle was an American writer best known for her young-adult fiction, particularly the Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time...
's A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle in Time is a science fantasy novel by Madeleine L'Engle, first published in 1962. The story revolves around a young girl whose father, a government scientist, has gone missing after working on a mysterious project called a tesseract. The book won a Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award, and...
- of grand themes being played out not through technological achievements, but of spiritual beings and achievements. Ralya has also published children’s stories, two full-length musicals, a weekly newspaper column in a Minnesota paper for about 2 years, and a novel for 9-15 year-olds which also has significant reference to the Bahá'í Faith.
Doing the Impossible official synopsis mentions :"three fifteen-year-old girls are starting their sophomore year of high school. The 'impossible' thing they are trying to do is living according to God's standards in modern society. Megan gets the lead in the high school play, but her character is a rather 'loose' woman. Her leading man is more interested in 'fun' than appropriateness… Ashley has a learning disability and wrestles with feeling dumb and unattractive. Brittney is very smart, but overweight. She deals with her body image as well as where a smart female fits in society without being considered aggressive. Baha’i school on Sunday mornings adds the different perspectives of other students."
The unique contribution Ralya has made to the Bahá'í Faith in fiction is that her works center on the moral dilemmas of modern society in the west and spiritual insights and development that reflect an understanding of the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith in response to these challenges. On the one hand she has envisioned an attainable utopia (that is, not completely perfect) with specifics based on suggestions made in writings of the Bahá'í Faith. A particularly strong analysis is made of marital fidelity vs the divine law against adultery vs intense love and friendship between a man and a woman not married, though many topics are addressed including the moral and practical need for war, sustainable economics if children and mothers are of central importance to society, attitudes of the oneness of humanity vs racism, the importance of the arts and so on. On the other hand she has examined many of the same issues in young ladies lives in high school.
Karen Anne Webb's "Adventurers of the Carotian Union" series
Late in 2006, "The Chalice of Life" was released by Dragon Moon PressDragon Moon Press
Dragon Moon Press is an independent publishing company, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy and cross-genre novels. It was founded in 1993 by Gwen Gades, and released its first book in 1998....
, a small Canadian press specializing in science fiction and fantasy. Webb's book, while intended as a fantasy adventure, includes many themes from the Baha'i Writings, including quotes from a variety of faith traditions and a fantasy version of a society based on the fully realized society of the future envisioned by Baha'u'llah. Central to the plot (although the idea is referred to rather than explained with great explicitness in the first book) is the idea of the School of Transcendent Oneness and the idea that a special class of being is sent into Creation from time to time to help civilization along. She relates this to the "once and future king" concept with the introduction of the quest that forms the overall theme for the series: the search for Eliander, a Carotian prince magicked away long ago to a place outside normal space-time. In the second book, "Tapestry of Enchantment," Dragon Moon Press, 2010 this theme of the once and future king comes to the fore when the one character from a world outside the Carotian Union (the system Eliander's return is meant to save) discloses that he believes he is, in fact, living in the time of his own world's Promised One; his search for this Promised One becomes a strong theme in the series and become the pivot point of the sequel. "Lamp of Truth," the third book, is due for publication in early 2011. Dragon Moon has contracted the entire series, the longest work it has ever put under contract, and hopes to release the remainder of the books at the rate of about one every six months (slating Eliander for release sometime in late 2013). Remaining books in the series and their settings include "The Life of the Smith" (ancient Greece); "The Floodwaters of Redemption" (Mu right before it founders); "The Treasure of Mobius" (a world projected by a powerful projective telempath; yes, it has one-sided buildings); "Dwellers in the Underdark" (the Underdark, home of the terrifying Azhur race); and "The King That Will Be" (variously the planes of incarcertation of the quest's nemesis and Eliander as well as home on Caros).
Jackie Mehrabi's books
Jackie Mehrabi has written several fiction books for children and young teens, often about the lives of fictional Bahá'ís with a moral message behind each tale.Other books
One of the stories from Stephen LeacockStephen Leacock
Stephen Butler Leacock, FRSC was an English-born Canadian teacher, political scientist, writer, and humorist...
's bestselling 1914 book Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich
Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich
Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich is a work of humorous fiction by Stephen Leacock first published in 1914. It is the follow-up to his 1912 classic Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town...
features a character that caricatures the religious leader `Abdu'l-Bahá.
Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
's science-fiction novel Eye in the Sky features a parallel world theocracy
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
dominated by a church of the "Second Bab". However, no attempt is made to explore the Baha'i Faith; it reads as a satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
of Christian Fundamentalism.
Other popular media
In addition to being mentioned directly in a number of works, the Bahá'í Faith and/or its teachings have also been mentioned in the TV and movie industry. For example the TV series The SimpsonsThe Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
has twice referenced the Bahá'ís - once when Lisa Simpson
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
is considering what religion to join in the episode "She of Little Faith
She of Little Faith
"She of Little Faith" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons thirteenth season. It first aired in the United States on the Fox network on December 16, 2001...
" she sees "Bed, Bath and Bahá'í" on a sign (she ends up converting to Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
) and also when Bart Simpson
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is playing Billy Graham's Bible Blaster, a Christian video game (where the player has to convert to Christianity) "a gentle Baha'i" is one of the images on the screen at Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
' house in the episode "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily
Alone Again, Natura-Diddily
"Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" is the fourteenth episode of the eleventh season of The Simpsons, and marks the final regular appearance of the character Maude Flanders. In the episode, she is killed in an accident while watching a speedway race, devastating Ned Flanders and prompting Homer to find a...
".
The movie The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
uses parallel terminology to the Bahá’í Faith but there is little evidence that the movie or its makers were influenced by the religion specifically (more likely Buddhism and Gnostic Christianity). However a movie critic did use the Bahá’í Faith as the lead off in his review.
There is also a TV medical-drama in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
called MDA - Medical Defense Australia (MDA (TV series)
MDA (TV series)
MDA is an Australian television series that aired between 2002 and 2005 on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It concerned the day-to-day operation of legal firm MDA, which specialised in medical defence.-Synopsis:...
) which went on the air on July 23, 2002 with an ongoing Bahá'í character, Layla Young, who is played by a non-Bahá'í actress Petra Yared
Petra Yared
Petra Yared, born 18 January 1979 in Melbourne, is an Australian actress. She is often credited as Petra Jared.- Biography :Yared began her career in children's television series including Sky Trackers and The Genie From Down Under 2....
.
The role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
Trinity
Trinity (role-playing game)
Trinity is a science fiction role-playing game published by White Wolf Game Studio in 1997 , first in the Trinity Universe series of games sharing a common background and developing an alternate history of humanity through two centuries, and allowing players to play almost all genres of science...
by White Wolf Game Studio, in a futuristic setting, includes a faction called the Interplanetary School for Research and Advancement. Many of its members are humans with psionic powers related to clairsentience. The leader, and as a result many of his followers, is a member of the Bahá'í Faith. A second role-playing game, this one based in computer technology, is called The Seven Valleys named after the The Seven Valleys, which in turn references The Conference of the Birds
The Conference of the Birds
The Conference of the Birds is a book of poems in Persian by Farid ud-Din Attar of approximately 4500 lines. The poem's plot is as follows: the birds of the world gather to decide who is to be their king, as they have none. The hoopoe, the wisest of them all, suggests that they should find the...
, and uses it explicitly as inspirations for its adventures.
Other references
For research and review, the reader may be interested in a few notable instances of research and materials to the presence of the Bahá'í Faith in Fiction:1. "Baha'is in Science Fiction and Fantasy", from Adherents.com:
"This annotated bibliography list, a subset derived from the Adherents.com Religion in Literature database, is intended as a resource for literary research. It lists both mainstream and Baha'i-oriented science fiction/fantasy novels or short stories which contain references to Baha'is. It is not necessarily a comprehensive list of such literature, but all Hugo- and Nebula-winning novels have been surveyed, as have many other major works."
2. Bahá'í Library Online - Fiction section, from bahai-library.com.
"Submissions and book excerpts welcomed. Fiction of larger scale and/or historical import is preferred, though new works by Baha'i authors can also be showcased here."
3. "The Baha'i and Science Fiction" by Lavie Tidhar
Lavie Tidhar
Lavie Tidhar is an Israeli born writer. He lived in the United Kingdom and South Africa for long periods of time. He had also lived in Vanuatu and Laos.-Early life:Tidhar grew up in the communal atmosphere of an Israeli Kibbutz...
, an analysis published in the British online magazine I R O S F ("Internet Review of Science Fiction") , Vol I, No. 1 (January, 2004). Note a response was written by Steven Kolins in the discussion section. Mr. Tidhar has published a short work of fiction in the form of a "might have been" history of the impact the religion could have had.
4. Bahá'í David C. Mueller had maintained a website at www.dcmstartships.com highlighting several topics related to fiction and non-fiction and has a few pages specifically about the Bahá'í Faith and such topics:
"How the Baha'i Community is like a Space Ark"
"Suggested Reading for Inquisitive Mind"
"The Artist's Favorite Science Fiction Novels"
5. Bahá'í Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff has an ongoing presence in several websites, notably www.mysticfig.com and as a continuing contributor at www.authorsden.com. As she says she is "hopelessly addicted to words. I get the DTs if I go too long without putting them on paper." and "My family and friends have tried to break me of this addiction, but without success. I have published bunches of science fiction stories…"
6. "Aslan's Kin" has a significant diversity of references to interfaith Fantasy and Science Fiction.
See also
- Religious ideas in science fictionReligious ideas in science fictionScience fiction works often present explanations, commentary or use religious themes to convey a broader message. The use of religious themes in the SF genre varies from refutations of religion as primitive or unscientific, to creative explanations and new insights into religious experience and...
- Spiritualism in fictionSpiritualism in fictionThis article provides a list of fictional stories in which Spiritualism features as an important plot element. The list omits passing mentions.-Written works:...
- LDS fictionLDS fictionLDS fiction is an American niche market of fiction novels featuring themes related to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
- Cults and new religious movements in literature and popular cultureCults and new religious movements in literature and popular cultureNew religious movements and cults can appear as themes or subjects in literature and popular culture, while notable representatives of such groups have produced, for their own part, a large body of literary works.- Terminology :...
- Religious satireReligious satireReligious satire is a form of satire targeted at religion and religious practices. Religious satire can be the result of agnosticism or atheism, but it can also have its roots in belief itself...
- Parody religionParody religionA parody religion or mock religion is a parody of a religion, sect or cult. A parody religion can be a parody of several religions, sects, gurus and cults at the same time. Or, it can be a parody of no particular religion, instead parodying the concept of religious belief...
- Dawn Breakers International Film FestivalDawn Breakers International Film FestivalDawn Breakers International Film Festival is an international film festival that is held in various cities throughout the world. The festival originated in 2007 and debuted in Phoenix, Arizona on December 2008. It was held in Zurich, Switzerland in 2009, San Diego in 2010 and Houston in 2011...
External links
- The first two chapters of The Chalice of Life are posted online.
- Tom Ligon's Science Fiction And Fact
- http://www.sigmaforum.org/members.php#ligonSIGMASigmaSigma is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, and carries the 'S' sound. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 200. When used at the end of a word, and the word is not all upper case, the final form is used, e.g...
member profile of Tom Ligon]
- http://www.sigmaforum.org/members.php#ligonSIGMA