The reception of Abdu'l-Baha in Britain : : East comes West / / Brendan McNamara.

• Superior document: Numen Book Series, Studies in the History of Religions ; Volume 168
• VerfasserIn: McNamara, Brendan,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in the history of religions ; Volume 168.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

In exploring 'Abdu'l-Bahá's visits to Britain, Brendan McNamara expands the jigsaw of our knowledge of how "the east came west". More importantly, by exploring the visits through the motives of those that received him, The Reception of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Britain: East Comes West demonstrates that the "cultic milieu" thesis is incomplete. Focusing on a number of well-known Edwardian Protestant reformers, the book demonstrates that the arrival of eastern forms of religions in Britain penetrated more mainstream Christian forms. This process is set within significant developments in the early formation of the study of religions, the rise of science and orientalism. All these elements are shown to be linked together. Significantly the work argues that the advent of World War One changed the direction of new forms of religion leading to a 'forgetfulness' that has lasted until the present time.

Table of Contents

Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Introduction -- 1 "East Comes West" -- 2 ʿAbdu'l-Bahá and the Baháʾí Faith -- 3 Documenting Missionary Travels -- 4 Protestant Discourse -- 5 Recovering the Obscure -- 6 Sources and Materials -- 7 Orientalism -- 8 Forgetting the Past -- 9 A New World -- 10 The View from Where -- 2 Religious and Intellectual Milieu -- 1 Comparative Religion -- 2 Foundations -- 3 Joseph Estlin Carpenter -- 4 Political and Cultural Resonance -- 5 The Cult of Omar -- 6 Narratives Subjoined -- 7 Conclusion -- 3 Establishing Parameters for East-West Encounters: Chicago and Oxford -- 1 Filter and Grid -- 2 Third International Congress for the History of Religions -- 3 Oxford -- 4 Cheyne's Cosmology -- 5 Conclusion -- 4 The Curious: the Celtic Dimension to Pre-First World War Religious Discourse -- 1 Dean's Yard -- 2 Tudor Pole's Quest -- 3 The Celtic Revival -- 4 Discovering ʿAbdu'l-Bahá -- 5 Conclusion -- 5 New Protestant Theodocies: R.J. Campbell, "the Disturber of Our Comfortable Peace" -- 1 The New Theology -- 2 One of the Great Let Downs of the World -- 3 Uncharted Dimensions of Early 20th Century Protestant Discourse -- 4 Implications for the Religious Field -- 5 Conclusion -- 6 ʿAbdu'l-Bahá in Britain -- 1 What Was Understood -- 2 In London -- 3 At Westminster -- 4 Indirect Admonishment -- 5 Missionary Reaction -- 6 Conclusion -- 7 The Elision of Memory: Forgetting Aspects of Early Twentieth Century Discourse -- 1 Now Time and Afterlife -- 2 A Dialectic of Rejection and Fascination -- 3 Religion and War -- 4 Religious Reformers at War -- 5 Conclusion -- Appendix 1: Significant Baháʾí Dates -- Appendix 2: Arabic Notation in The Christian Commonwealth -- Appendix 3: Tudor Pole, Campbell and the Glastonbury Cup -- Bibliography -- Index.