In this course we will look briefly at Shoghi Effendi’s childhood and youth (1897–1921) and more extensively at his ministry as Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith (1921-57). We will consider the many roles Shoghi Effendi filled (builder, interpreter, author, and translator) as he carried out his duties as Guardian in fostering the growth and development of the Bahá'í Faith. He devoted much of his ministry to building the administrative order outlined by Baha’u’llah and elaborated by Abdu'l-Bahá in His Will and Testament and to using it as an instrument for fostering the international spread of the Bahá'í Faith called for by Abdu'l-Bahá in the Tablets of the Divine Plan.

Shoghi Effendi also worked tirelessly to extend and beautify the properties of the Bahá'í World Center in Haifa and Acre, to erect the facade of the Shrine of the Báb, and to prepare a physical home for the center of the administrative order. Shoghi Effendi translated many writings of Bahá'u'lláh into English, translated and edited a history of the Bábí period of the Faith, penned thousands of letters clarifying basic Bahá'í teachings, and wrote the classic history of the first hundred years of the Faith's beginnings. His devotion, self-sacrifice, and suffering are an inspiration to Bahá'ís of all generations.