The Institute's first major decision was to establish a four-year program to raise up diverse, knowledgeable, and articulate teachers and administrators of the Faith. This program—the Spiritual Foundations for a Global Civilization program—seeks to relate the Bahá'í Faith, its community, and its teachings to the world at large. The program teaches Bahá’í topics in the context of related subjects, such as history, philosophy, theology, psychology, sociology, political theory, and economics. Such an academic approach to the Faith was inspired by the following statement written on behalf of the Guardian: "an effort should be made to raise the standard of studies, so as to provide the Bahá’í student with a thorough knowledge of the Cause that would enable him to expound it befittingly to the educated public" (Compilation of Compilations, no. 486). Because of its academic approach, the Spiritual Foundations program seeks to provide its students with the opportunity to obtain undergraduate and graduate university credit every year. The Spiritual Foundations program is the heart of the Wilmette Institute.

In the summer of 1997 the Wilmette Institute offered its first "minicourse," a week-long residential course on the revelation of Bahá'u'lláh during the Baghdad period. In January 1998 it began a series of weekend minicourses at Bosch Bahá'í School on world religions and philosophies in Bahá'í perspective. Also that month it inaugurated its first distance- education ("correspondence") course—"The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, 1853-68." In September 1998 the Wilmette Institute Board decided to establish a "Studies in the Bahá’í Faith" program from its correspondence courses and minicourses. Other courses are gradually being developed—some from the Spiritual Foundations curricular materials–that may be taken independently, without a requirement to spend time in Wilmette. Currently fifteen such distance-learning courses are available, on topics such as Bahá'í history, world religions from a Bahá'í perspective, systematic introduction to the Bahá'í Faith, and specific courses on individual Bahá'í books, such as the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and the Kitab-i-Iqán. In 2000, in conjunction with the deepening program advocated by the United States National Spiritual Assembly to American Baha'is in January 2000, the Institute is offering a series of courses on the writings of Shoghi Effendi, which will be followed in 2001 by courses on the writings of Abdu'l-Baha. The Institute may eventually create certificate programs involving completion of a combination of courses.

The full catalogue presents a comprehensive overview of the Wilmette Institute and its various programs—especially the Spiritual Foundations for a Global Civilization program—and to provide all the information necessary to enroll in a course or otherwise contribute to the Institute's efforts. We invite you to read through the catalogue carefully and to contact the Institute with any questions or suggestions. Through consultation and service the Wilmette Institute will continually develop.

MISSION STATEMENT OF THE WILMETTE INSTITUTE

The Wilmette Institute, an agency of the National Spiritual Assembly, operates as a center of learning, offering academic, professional, and service-oriented programs related to the Bahá'í Faith. It offers well-organized, formally conducted programs of training that are designed according to standards of academic excellence and the Bahá'í standard of independent investigation of truth in a spirit of humility, service, and unity. It seeks to contribute to the development of human resources within the Bahá'í community to advance the process of entry by troops. The Wilmette Institute's programs and services aim to enhance unity and fellowship among all people regardless of their ethnic, national, and religious background. Its services are available to students all over the world. It aspires to become a national center of learning, a training institute, and to evolve into a dependency of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár in Wilmette, Illinois.