Resource Guide: Citations from Major Humanities Indices

Citations from Major Humanities Indices

This appendix is a list of articles cited in some of the major indices of humanities journals. It is not an exhaustive list of articles published on the Bahá'í Faith, for it is limited to: (1) articles published within the past two and a half decades; (2) articles found in those journals or magazines commonly available in public and college libraries; (3) articles referenced under the keywords Bahai, Bahaism, Bahá'u'lláh, Bábí, and Bábísm. It does, however, list all articles (some short book reviews have been excluded) cited in these sources. It is for the first two of these reasons that the researcher might find it helpful--that is, the articles contained herein are precisely those most easily accessible.

More complete bibliographies can be found by consulting the Index Islamicus and William Collins' Bibliography of English-Language Works on the Bábí and Bahá'í Faiths 1844-1985, the Arts and Humanities Citation Index, and the Social Sciences Citation Index. The Bahá'í Studies Bulletin, 6.2-3 (Feb. 1992) includes an appendix listing citations from AHCI and other academic indices, and many of the later issues of the Bulletin list addenda to Collins' Bibliography. Further, Seena Fazel has demonstrated in "Some Observations Regarding Bibliographic Citations in Non-Bahá'í Periodicals and the Academic Study of the Bahá'í Faith," in Bahá'í Studies Bulletin, 6.2-3 (Feb. 1992), and "The Bahá'í Faith and Academic Journals," in Bahá'í Studies Review, 3.2 (1994), that humanities indices, including AHCI and SSCI, are not always wholly accurate or consistent about citing Bahá'í materials.

The following indices and dates are included:

Essay and General Literature Index, 1970-June 1988;
Humanities Index, April 1974-June 1996;
Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, March 1970-June 4 1996;
Social Sciences Index, April 1974-June 1996.

The following keywords were searched:

"Bahai," "Bahaism," "Bahá'u'lláh," "Bábí," "Bábísm."

  •    Afnan, Hatcher, and an Old Bone. Denis MacEoin. Religion, 16:193-195 Ap '86.
  •    Attack on the Bahá'ís. F. Kazemzadeh. New Republic, 186:16-18 Je 16 '82.
  •    Bábí Concept of Holy War. Denis MacEoin. Religion, 12:93-129 Ap '82.
  •    Bahá'í Faith 1957-1988: a survey of contemporary developments. P. Smith and M. Momen. Religion, 19:63-91 Ja '89.
  •    Bahá'í Fundamentalism and the Academic Study of the Bábí Movement. Denis MacEoin. Religion, 16:57-84 Ja '86.
  •    Bahá'ís of Iran. J. R. I. Cole. History Today, 40:24-9 Mr '90.
  •    Bahá'ís report increased assemblies doubling of membership in the U.S. Christian Century, 88:616 My 19 '71.
  •    Bahai in black Africa: a force to contend with. O Okite. Christianity Today, 14:53 MR 13 '70.
  •    Death inside Khomeini's jails. T. Clifton. Newsweek, 103:57 Je 18 '84.
  •    Divine Logos and redemption: a comparison of Bahá'í and early Christian perspectives. M. Curtotti. Journal Ecumenical Studies, v30 p227-44 Spring '93.
  •    End is nearish! [prediction by a Bahá'í sect that New York City would be blown up]. Harper's, v289 p22+ F '95.
  •    Flower of faith that is set in concrete. J. Bhatia. Far East Econ Rev, 136:36-7 Ap 2 '87.
  •    From Allah's earth. Economist, 287:55 My 28-Je 3 '83.
  •    From Bábísm to Bahá'ísm: Problems of Militancy, Quietism, and Conflation in the Construction of a Religion. Religion, 13:219-255 Jl '83.
  •    Hanging heretics [Iran]. Economist, 287:43 Je 25-Jl 1 '83.
  •    Holy Terror [persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran]. F. M. Bordewich. Atlantic, 259:26+ Ap '87.
  •    In the stranglehold of Teheran's mullah regime. A. J. Fischer. Contemp Rev, 244:190-2 Ap '84.
  •    Individual psychology and Bahá'ís. Blumenthal, E. In Alfred Adler: his influence on psychology today, 228-37.
  •    Intolerance for the tolerant. Economist, 276:40 S 13 '80.
  •    Iran's Bahá'ís: victims of continuing genocide. B. Frelick. Christian Century, 103:1095-7 D 3 '86.
  •    Iran's "holy war" against the Bahais. J. Mann. US News World Report, 95:40 Ag 29 '83.
  •    Iran's holy war on the Bahá'ís. K. L. Woodward. Newsweek 99:73 Ja 25 '82.
  •    Iranian millenarianism and democratic thought in the 19th century. J. R. I. Cole. International Journal Middle East Studies, 24:1-26 F '92.
  •    Iranian purge of a divergent faith. F. Geraci. Macleans, 94:47 Jl 13 '81.
  •    Khomeini vs. the Bahá'ís. C. Ullman. World Press Review, 29:61 N '82.
  •    Life crises among the religiously committed: do sectarian differences matter? H. R. F. Ebaugh and others. Journal Scientific Study Religion, 23:19-31 Mr '84.
  •    Minority that Iran persecutes. K. L. Woodward and others. Newsweek, 95:61 Mr 24 '80.
  •    Motif Research: Peter Berger and the Bahá'í Faith. Peter Smith. Religion, 8:210-234 Autumn '78.
  •    Note on MacEoin's 'Bahá'í Fundamentalism.' Muhammad Afnan and William S. Hatcher. Religion, 16: 187-193 Ap '86.
  •    Notes and Comment [persecution of Bahais in Iran]. New Yorker, 60:31-2 F 4 '85.
  •    Orthodoxy and heterodoxy in nineteenth-century Shi'ism: the cases of Shaykhism and Bábísm. D. MacEoin. Journal American Orient Society, 110:323-9 Ap/Je '90.
  •    Persecution continues. Economist, 297:48 O 26 '85.
  •    Review of Denis MacEoin, Rituals in Bábísm and Bahá'ísm. Christopher Buck. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 28:418-422 Au '96.
  •    Review of Moojan Momen ed., The Bábí and Bahá'í Religions, 1844-1944. Denis MacEoin. Religion, 12:405-408 O '82.
  •    Scholarship and anti-scholarship [review article] D. MacEoin. Asian Affairs, 17:309-12 O '86.
  •    Science and the Bahá'í Faith. W. S. Hatcher. Zygon, 14:229-53 S '79.
  •    Slow death for Iran's Bahá'ís. R. N. Ostling. Time, 123:76 F 20 '84.
  •    Social basis of the Bábí upheavals in Iran (1848-53): a preliminary analysis. M. Momen. International Journal Middle East Studies, 15:157-83 My '83.
  •    Terror facing the Bahá'ís. F. Kazemzadeh. NY Review of Books, 29:43-4 My 13 '82.
  •    Their crime is faith [persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran]. F. M. Bordewich. Reader's Digest, 125:61-2+ D '84.
  •    Western Islamic Scholarship and Bahá'í Origins. Muhammad Afnan and William S. Hatcher. Religion, 15:29-51 Ja '85.
    Note: to repeat, the above listing only includes common non-academic articles. More complete listings can be found by consulting the Index Islamicus, William Collins' Bibliography of English-Language Works on the Bábí and Bahá'í Faiths 1844-1985, the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI).

    The Bahá'í Faith in Religion Textbooks and Encyclopedias

    This Resource Guide is designed largely to assist in the creation of introductory seminars or courses on the Bahá'í Faith. Many textbooks that a teacher would assign in such a course either do not mention the Bahá'í Faith or offer misleading or even incorrect presentations of it (e.g. describing it as a heretical sect of Islám). Seena Fazel describes various treatments of the Faith in encyclopedias in his "The Bahá'í Faith Seen Through the Eyes of Major Encyclopedias," in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 4:3 (Sept-Dec 1991). More recently, Paul D. Numrich examined the treatment of the Bahá'í Faith in some of these textbooks, tracing the development of the presentation in subsequent editions of a few, in "The Bahá'í Faith in World Religions Textbooks," in World Order 25:1 (Fall 1993).
    Here are listed the most common introductory textbooks and dictionaries on the world's religions, as well as some major encyclopedias, organized by the degree to which they include a useful presentation of the Bahá'í Faith. Since the focus of this bibliography is books more than authors, they are alphabetized by title. Parenthetical notes follow most entries.

    ** Introductory religion textbooks, encyclopedias, and dictionaries which include a complete, useful, and accurate presentation of the Faith

       Encyclopaedia Iranica. Ed. Ehsan Yarshater. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985-. (Without doubt the encyclopedia containing the most complete and most numerous entries on the Faith, its history, and its major personages. Articles by a veritable who's who of Bahá'í academics on a good variety of subjects, from Azalís to Cosmology, Bahá'í.)
       Encyclopedia of Islam. Ed. H. Gibb et al. London: Luzac & Co., 1960. (Accurate articles but short.)
       Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. Ed. James Hastings. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909. (Though of course outdated, the entries contained are by Browne and are classics.)
       A Handbook of Living Religions. Ed. John R. Hinnells. London: Penguin Books, 1985. (The article contained here is lengthy [23 pages] and accurate . . .)
       Religions of the World. Lewis M. Hopfe. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987. (This discussion of the Faith is relatively complete and well- written, though at ten pages it is a little too abbreviated.)
       World Faiths. S. A. Nigosian. New York: St. Martins Press, 1994. (Probably the most complete treatment of the Bahá'í Faith in any introductory textbook. Save for a few minor inaccuracies the presentation is quite reliable.)

    ** Introductory religion textbooks and dictionaries which include a useful and accurate but short presentation of the Faith

       America's Alternative Religions. Ed. Timothy Miller. Albany: SUNY Press, 1995. (Article on the Faith, "The American Bahá'í Community in the Nineties," is good but too specific to use as a general introductory text.)
       Encyclopedia Britannica. Chicago: William Benton, Publisher, 1979. (Good but insufficient entries for an encyclopedia of this size.)
       Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Mircea Eliade. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987. (The entries, by Alessandro Bausani, are good but noticeably short for this, the definitive encylopedia of religion.)
       Living Religions. Mary Pat Fisher. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1994. (Though only two pages long, this section is well-written and sympathetic.)
       The Religious Experience of Mankind. Ninian Smart. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1984. (Well-written and accurate but only two pages long.)
       A Sourcebook for Earth's Community of Religions. Ed. Joel Beversluis. New York: CoNexus Press, 1995. Also published as Sourcebook for the Community of Religions, A. Ed. Joel Beversluis. Chicago: The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, 1993. (This book consists of a series of brief overviews, and the section on the Faith provides a good explnation of basic Bahá'í history and teachings. However, it and the other summaries are too short to use as effective introductions.)
       World Religions. Warren Matthews. St. Paul: West Publishing, 1991. (Matthews' discussion of the Faith, though not very long, contains a good amount of detail on the Faith's history and is fairly presented.)
        World Religions: Western Traditions. Ed. Willard G. Oxtoby. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. (The section on the Bahá'í Faith, pp. 500-503, is well-written and useful, suffering only from brevity.)
       The World's Religions. Ed. Peter Clarke. London: Reader's Digest, 1993. (Small introduction on p.205, under the "Islamic" section.)
       The World's Religions. Ninian Smart. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1989. (Like Smart's The Religious Experience of Mankind, presentation is accurate and fair but only two pages long.)

    ** Introductory religion textbooks, encyclopedias, and dictionaries which include a relatively accurate but dated or marginally useful presentation of the Faith

       The Encyclopedia Americana. Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier Incorporated, 1992. (Articles are out of date and contain the consequent inaccuracies, but are otherwise complete summaries.)
       History of the World's Religions. David S. and John B. Noss. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990. (An otherwise very respectable textbook, its discussion of the Faith is brief and often misleading.)
       Larouse Dictionary of Beliefs and Religions. (Though suffering from a bad writing style and minor errors, these entries are sufficiently long and detailed to include in this section.)

    ** Introductory religion textbooks and dictionaries which include
    a poor, partial, or inaccurate presentation of the Faith

       Academic American Encyclopedia. Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier Incorporated,1995. (Entries are mostly accurate but too short to be of use.
       Concise Encyclopedia of Islam. (Contains numerous errors.)
       The Dictionary of Bible and Religion. Gen. Ed. William H. Gentz. Nashville: Parthenon Press, 1986. (Sympathetic but brief and not well-written.)
       The Harper Collins Dictionary of Religion. Jonathon Z. Smith, ed. San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers, 1995. (Relatively complete entries, but containing serious and even humorous errors.)
       Many People, Many Faiths. Robert S. Ellwood. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1992. (Brief mention of the Faith as a new religious movement, on p.387.)
       A New Dictionary of Religions. John R. Hinnells, ed. Oxford: Penguin Books Ltd. 1995. (Fairly accurate but short.)
       Religious Worlds: The Comparative Study of Religion. William E. Paden. Boston: Beacon Press, 1988. (Accurate but minimal entry.)
       Ways to the Center: An Introduction to World Religions. Denise and John T. Carmody. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1993. (Contains only one small paragraph on the Faith, but includes a large picture of the Shrine of the Báb.)
       World Religions: An Introduction. Charles R. Monroe. Amherst: Prometheus Books, 1995. (Minimal entry.)
       The World's Religions. Huston Smith. San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991. (Though otherwise one of the very best introductory texts on world religions, this book makes only one mention of the Faith.)

    ** Introductory religion textbooks and dictionares which make no mention of the Faith

       After Patriarchy: Feminist Transformations of the World Religions. Ed. P.M. Cooey. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1992.
       Exploring Religious Meaning. Ed. Robert C. Monk et al. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1994.
       Historical Atlas of the Religions of the World. Ed. I. Faruqi. New York: MacMillan, 1974.
       The Illustrated World's Religions. Huston Smith. San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers, 1994.
       The Major Religions: An Introduction with Texts. T. Patrick Burke. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.
       Man's Religious Quest - A Reader. Ed. W. Foy. London: Open University Press, 1978.
       Mysticism in the World's Religions. Geoffrey Parrinder. London: Sheldon Press, 1976.
       Our Religions. Arvind Sharma, ed. San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993.
       Pluralism: Challenge to World Religions. H. Coward. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1985.
       Problems of Suffering in the Religions of the World. J. Bowker. London: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
       Religions of the World. Niels C. Nielsen, Jr., et al. New York: St. Martins, 1988.
       Religious Traditions of the World. H. Byron Earhart, ed. San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993.
       The Great Religions of the Modern World. Ed. E.J. Jurgi. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1946.
       The World's Religions. Ed. S. Sutherland. London: Routledge, 1988.
       This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature and the Environment. Ed. RS Gottlieb. NY: Routledge, 1996.
       The Varieties of Religious Experience. William James. (First appeared in 1902 and since republished numerous times. No mention of Faith, but listed because it is a classic and a standard.)
       World Religions - Our Quest for Meaning. Raush, D.A. and C. Voss. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989.
       World Religions and Human Liberation. D. Cohn-Sherbok. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1992.
       World Religions and World Community.R.L. Slater. NY: Colombia UP, 1963.
       World Religions in War and Peace. H.O. Thompson. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1988.
       A World Religions Reader. Ed. Ian S. Markham. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.


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