The Bahá'í Faith: A Comprehensive Introduction is a starting point for the Wilmette Institute’s Bahá’í History, Texts, and Tenets Certificate program. By offering a thorough and systematic study of Bahá'í scriptures, teachings, and historical development of the community utilizing the academic textbook The Bahá'í Faith: A Guide for the Perplexed (Bloomsbury, 2012), the course provides context for students to take the other certificate courses.

The course provides biographical sketches of its most prominent figures: The Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi as well as opportunities to explore their writings. It also illustrates the origins and development of the current head of the Faith, the Universal House of Justice, and shows how the House of Justice guides Bahá’ís around the world in their efforts to apply the authoritative teachings in their lives and local communities. Implications of this process for individual and social change will be explored in depth.

We will also begin an exploration of basic theological concepts that will be further developed in the Bahá’í Theology course. Such concepts include the nature of God, God’s revelation to humanity, religious truth as both relative and eternal, religious law, and the journey of the soul.
Finally, the course traces the historical evolution of the Bahá’í community from its earliest beginnings in 1844 to its current state as the second most widespread religious community in the world, and among the fastest growing.

Link to Syllabus

Online Scholarship Application

The Wilmette Institute is offering this course online-only at the Graduate Theological Union of Berkeley, California, starting September 7, 2021, through GTU’s Moodle course delivery platform. The course is available for graduate credit to GTU students. The Wilmette Institute can register students for this course and add them to GTU’s Moodle and will issue a transcript with a grade afterward.

The Wilmette Institute is not accredited, but this letter from Dr. Elizabeth Pena, Interim Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs, explains that their students are receiving credit for the same course.

It may be that if you take the letter and the syllabus to your advisor, you can arrange for the Wilmette Institute’s transcript to be accepted by your university and you will be granted credit for the course toward your degree.