Basics of the Baha'i Faith: Information and Distance-Learning Courses

The Wilmette Institute announces The Basics of the Bahá’í Faith, a new sequence of four distance-learning courses. Its purpose is to provide basic information on the Bahá’í Faith, its writings, and theology. The Basics of the Bahá’í Faith was established after the Wilmette Institute Board reviewed the extensive guidance from the Universal House of Justice on the institute process.

The four courses in The Basics of the Bahá’í Faith are as follows:

• The Bahá'í Faith: A Comprehensive Overview
  (designed especially for new believers and inquirers-starts June 2003)
  
  
• How to Study the Bahá'í Writings
  (starts December 2003)
  
  
• Bahá'u'lláh’s Revelation: A Systematic Survey
  (starts June 2004)
  
  
• Bahá'í Theology: The Concepts of God, Revelation, Manifestation,
  Humanity, Creation, Afterlife, and Covenant
  (starts December 2004)

The four basics courses will be offered on a repeating two-year cycle, with one course offered every six months-June and December.

The first course in The Basics of the Bahá’í Faith sequence is The Bahá'í Faith: A Comprehensive Introduction, which will be taught June 1-August 31, 2003.

The second course, How to Study the Bahá'í Writings, will begin December 15, 2003.

Bahá'u'lláh’s Revelation: A Systematic Survey and Bahá'í Theology: Concepts of God, Revelation, Manifestation, Creation, Humanity, Afterlife, and Covenant will be offered in June and December 2004, respectively.

The Basics of the Bahá’í Faith courses may help to ease the transition of some students taking the Wilmette Institute’s Beyond the Basics distance-learning courses. However, students are not required to take courses from the basics sequence before enrolling in the specialized courses in Beyond the Basics.

The Basics of the Bahá’í Faith courses may also provide a bridge to the Wilmette Institute’s Spiritual Foundations for a Global Civilization program. SFGC is a four-year program including home study plus two weeks of intensive study in Wilmette every summer. SFGC also includes intensive classroom work, creating a spiritual community, and integrating the House of Worship into the learning process.

The basic sequence of courses is ideal for local study groups. After completing the basic sequence, study groups can then turn to specialized topics of study on their own, to other courses available through their regional training institute, or to the some forty distance-learning courses in the Beyond the Basics group.

The Universal House of Justice, in a January 9, 2001, letter has noted

The value of a sequence of courses, each one following the other in a logical pattern and each one building on the achievements of the previous ones, has become abundantly clear. Various models are emerging that provide insight into how such sequences can be used to create training programs. In one example the main sequence, much like the trunk of a tree, supports courses branching out from it, each branch dedicated to some specific area of training. In another, several tracks of courses, each with its own focus, run parallel.

The programs offered by the Willmette Institute-The Basics of the Bahá’í Faith, Beyond the Basics, and Spiritual Foundations for a Global Civilization-are all ideal for sequenced learning. We hope to see you soon in the Wilmette Institute’s newest offering: The Basics of the Bahá’í Faith.

[Note that there are two clickable things. One is The Baha'i Faith: A Comprehensive Introduction. This course description is already up at http://wilmetteinstitute.org/Compinfo.html. The other, local study groups, is Learn About the Wilmette Institute's Local Study Groups which is to be found at the bottom of this very long message.