SELECT PAPERS OF STEPHEN LAMBDEN PRESENTED AT UK., ACADEMIC BAHĀ'Ī 

SEMINARS 1977-2007

INCLUDING THOSE HELD AT LANCASTER AND CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITIES (c.1977-80), 

THEN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE  OR AT THE NEWCASTLE BAHĀ'Ī CENTRE (1978-2005).

BEING REVISED AND UPDATED

IN PROGRESS 2007-8

        Academically oriented Baha'i Studies seminars were loosely and sporadically organized in England (UK) from the early-mid. 1970s.  Small groups of Baha'i intellectuals met to discuss (for the most part) issues of Babi-Baha'i history. They were to some degree inspired by (among others) the publications of the Cambridge Orientalist  E. G. Browne (d. 1926). Certain persons including  Moojan Momen, Denis MacEoin and Peter Smith, were directly or indirectly encouraged by the personal and literary example of Hasan Balyuzi (1908-1980). http://www.bci.org/reno/hasan_balyizi.htm.

As a 'Hand of the Cause of God' (appointed by Shoghi Effendi in 1957),  he resided in Hampstead, London. In 1979 he invited those involved in academic scholarship (about  7-8 persons = Abbas Amanat, Stephen Lambden, Moojan Momen,  Viva Perdu [Tomlin], Peter Smith, etc. ) to meet with him at his home where he gave kindly advice and encouragement. Among other things he responded to a few questions and told everyone there is much to be studied and learned. Matters in Babi-Baha'i studies are embryonic,  the sources are massive and there is much to be clarified and learned.

        Between  c. 1977 and 1980  academically oriented Baha'i Studies seminars took place at the University of Lancaster (England, UK.,) or the then  home of the British scholar Peter Smith then resident in Lancaster (now at Univ. Mahidol, Thailand). Informal Baha'i groups studying the Baha'i religion  at varying academic levels have subsequently been meeting in Britain since the early-mid. 1970s up until today. For the last 25 years many (often bi-annual) seminars have been organized in Baha'i Centre or the University of Newcastle upon Tyne by Stephen N. Lambden,  often with the assistance of  Moojan Momen and others.

1977            Baha'i Studies Seminar, Lancaster  University, 1977

1978           Bahā'ī  Studies Seminar, Cambridge University, 1978[9]

  • `Preface to the working out of an hermeneutical paradigm for Bahā'ī Studies',  Stephen N. Lambden (unpublished)

ABSTRACT

1979           Bahā'ī  Studies Seminar, Lancaster/ Cambridge University, 1978

1980  

Bahā'ī  Studies Seminar, Lancaster

 `Ritual and Semi-Ritual Practices in the Bābī and Bahā'ī religions'.     Denis MacEoin. Now printed as the monograph Rituals 

1981

1982

1983  

University of Warwick, Coventry, UK., February 19th-20th.

UK  University Bahā'ī Societies Conference on the Academic Study of Religion.

 

Stephen  Lambden.

  •  Bahā'ī  deepening and the Academic Study of Baha'i Doctrine. 

Report in BSB 1/4 98-110.

 

1983  17th-18 September, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. 

1984

1985

1986  

1987

1988

1989

1990.

Bi-Annual Bahā'ī, Religious Studies Seminar

[Newcastle upon Tyne]

 `A Note of the background and Bābī-Bahā'ī exegesis of the Name (Ar.) Mūsā (= Moses)  with reference to the Sharḥ al-qaṣīda al-lāmiyya of  Sayyid Kāzim Rashtī (d. 1260/1844)'.

Stephen Lambden

ABSTRACT 

1991

1992

 

Select participants in the first Irfān Colloqium,

Newcastle upon Tyne (UK), December 3rd->5th 1993.

 

Back Row  (L->R)

 John Coates,  Robert Parry,  Kathleen Coates,  Moojan Momen,  Kamran Iqbal,  Iraj Ayman,  Ian Holland, Seena Fazel,  Semira Manaseki,  Mozheh Zamiri,  Fariba Hedayati,  Robert Stockman.

Front Row  (L->R)

=  Stephen Lambden,  Barbara Lawson,  Todd Lawson, Gillian Bell, Wendi Momen.  

Sitting = Sen McGlinn and  Khazeh Fananapazir.

 

1993

SCRIPTURE AND REVELATION:

(1st Irfān Colloquium) 

 THE FIRST HAJ MEHDI ARJMAND FELLOWSHIP CONFERENCE, 

 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U.K., December 3-5, 1993

Stephen Lambden.

  • "Thomas Kelly Cheyne, Biblical scholar and Baha'i" 

In this paper attention was focused upon Thomas Kelly Cheyne (d. 1915), an Oxford University lecturer and pioneer of modern biblical scholarship and its "hallowing". In part as a result of  corresponding with and meeting `Abd al-Bahā'  (in Oxford 1912) he became a Bahā'ī. In his old age he wrote the Bahā'ī volume of historical sketches, `The Reconciliation of Races and Religions'.

  • "Prophecy in the Johannine Farewell Discourse: Paraclete, Aḥmad, Comforter (mu'azzī )."

Stephen N.  Lambden.

ABSTRACT

In this paper it  was noted that Muslims traditionally argue that the Greek NT term  parakletos  (Paraclete, "Comforter") in John's gospel should be read as periklutos, "illustrious," which could be translated into Arabic as "Ahmad," a variant on the name "Muhammad." Bahā'-Allāh has stated that Jesus did refer to Muhammad the "illustrious," Aḥmad but stated that the reference was not preserved in the canonical New Testament. Additionally, Bahā'-Allāh interpreted the  NT paraclete passages ( in the Gospel of John) to himself.

A expanded version of this paper is now published in M. Momen, ed. Scripture and Revelation,  (= Baha'i Studies vol. III), Oxford: George Ronald 1997, pp. 69-124. It is now online in a revised form at ADD URL

 

`IRFĀN COLLOQUIA :

For  select abstracts and details of the more than fofty more papers delivered by Stephen Lambden at Irfan Colloquia sessions in the UK, USA, Italy and elsewhere (1993-2006) see URL:

http://irfancolloquia.org/database/?author=Lambden

1994

(Newcastle upon Tyne, Dec. )

1995a

(Newcastle upon Tyne, June.23-25),

Stephen Lambden

  • The Risāla fī 'l-nubuwwah al-khāṣṣa ("Treatise on the Specific Prophethood [of Muhammad]") of Siyyid `Alī  Muhammad the Bāb.

ABSTRACT

1995b

(Newcastle upon Tyne, Dec. 8-10),

Conference on Anti-Bahā'ī Polemic sponsored jointly by the Association for Bahā'ī Studies (English-Speaking Europe), Religious Studies Special Interest Group and the Haj Mehdi Arjmand Memorial Fund in cooperation with the Institute for Bahā'ī Studies, Wilmette. At the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (England). December 8-10, 1995.
 

Stephen N. Lambden.

  • "The Position of Mīrzā Yaḥyā Nūrī, Subḥ-i-Azal (1834-1912) : Some Aspects of Azalī  anti-Bahā'ī  Polemic and Bahā'ī Apologetics". 

ABSTRACT

1996b

(Newcastle upon Tyne, Dec. 8-10)

  • "Christianity and the Baha'i Faith: An Historical and Doctrinal Overview".
  •  "Baha'-Allāh's tablet to Pope Pius IX".

The paper offered an overview of the Tablet to Giovanni Maria-Mastai Ferretti, Pope Pius IX (1792-1878). Its historical precursors as pre-Bahā'ī messages to ecclesiastics, rulers and kings was outlined as associated with Jesus, Muhammad and the Bāb.   Biblical citations or allusions were commented upon  as were possible allusions to the First Vatican Council (1869).

            ABSTRACT

 

1997

1997A MANCHESTER, July 4th-6th 1997.

The `Irfan Colloquia and the Religious Studies (SIG) Seminar

of the Association for Baha'i Studies for English-Speaking Europe,

"The World Religions and the Bahá'í Faith"

Friday, July 4 until Sunday, July 6  1997

at the Manchester Bahā'ī Centre, Wilmslow Rd., Manchester
       

Stephen N. Lambden

  • Qā'im (Ariser) and Qayyūm (Deity Self-Subsistent) : The background and significance of twin messianic advents in Bābī-Bahā'ī scripture.

ABSTRACT

 

1997b

Newcastle upon Tyne, Dec. 12-14

A BAHĀ'Ī STUDIES SEMINAR OF THE ABS-ESE., RELIGIOUS STUDIES, SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE 1997, DECEMBER 12-14, 1997

  • "Some Aspects of Spiritual Resurrection in the Bābī-Bahā'ī  Scripture and modern Biblical Scholarship".

Stephen Lambden

ABSTRACT
  • For in and out, above, about, below..": The contemporary religious labyrinth and the Bahā'ī criterion of truth.

Stephen Lambden

ABSTRACT

1998

 1998 (Aug. 21-4)

Stephen Lambden

  • The Choicest of Narratives (aḥsān al-qaṣṣaṣ): Joseph motifs and the Bābī-Bahā'ī interpretation of the Joseph Story. 

ABSTRACT

  

1998   

Baha'i Baha'i Societies Annual Conference,  Oxford
  •  `Kaleidoscope: The Background and Significance of some aspects of Angelology and Color Mysticism in  Bābī-Bahā'ī Scripture'.

ABSTRACT

 

1999  

 

 Irfan Colloquium, Newcastle upon Tyne

2000  

 Irfan Colloquium,Newcastle UponTyne

 

2001 

Irfan Colloquium, London, LSE Building.

Stephen Lambden

  • Cherubim, Seraphim and Demythologization: Some aspects of Bābī-Bahā'ī angelology and the malā' al-a`lā  (Supreme Concourse). A Paper read at the Ifrān Colloqium London, 2001.

Abstract.

2002

 Irfan Colloquium, 2002 London, 

           

  Stephen Lambden

  • Some aspects the nubuwwa (Prophetology ) and maẓhariyya (Theophanology)  of the Bāb.

        ABSTRACT

WRITINGS OF THE BAB & BAHA'U'LLAH

(Irfan Colluquium, London 2002).

          Stephen Lambden

  • "The Risāla fí'l-jasad al-nabī (Treatise upon the Body of the Prophet Muhammad) or Sharḥ kafiyyat. al-mi`rāj (Commentary upon the modality of the mi`rāj [of Muhammad])."

        ABSTRACT

 

2004

ABS RELIGIOUS STUDIES SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, BI-ANNUAL SEMINAR

 NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, December10-12, 2004

 

■ PROGRAMME


■ FRIDAY, December10th

Session I

7.30 pm    Introduction

8.00 pm    Necati Alkan,

                "Midhat Pasha and ‘Abdu’l-Bahā in ‘Akkā : The Historical Background of the ‘Tablet of the Land of Bā’"

9.00 pm    Nika Saeedi, The Spread and Influence of the Bahā’ī Faith in Ardestan               

 ■ SATURDAY, December 11th

 Session II

9:30-10:30       Oliver Scharbrodt,

"Between Activism and Quietism: The political culture of the Bahā’ī community during the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1906"           

10:30-11:00     BREAK

11:00-12:00      Erfan Sabeti,  "Postmodernism: Some Bahā’ī Observations

12:00-1:00       Moojan Momen, "The Bahā’ī Schools of Iran"

1:00-3:00                 LUNCH

Session III

3:00-4:00   Stephen Lamden,

"The Commentary of Sayyid Kāzim Rashtī upon the Graphical Form of the Mightiest Name of God"

4:00-5:00  Seena Fazel, "Problems and Opportunies for Baha’i Studies"

5:30-6:30   Roger Prentice

The Still Quiet Centre and Its Disturbances: some immanent and transcendental elements in Bahā’ī theology relevant to a model of Bahā’ī -inspired education

■ SUNDAY December 12th

Session IV

9:30-10:30     Moojan Momen, "The Bahā’ī Community of  Kāshān"       

10:30-11:00     Betsy Omidvaran,   "Some Aspects 'Abdu'l-Bahā's Contacts with Egypt".

11:30-12:30    Stephen Lambden, "Bahā'-Allāh the Tetragrammaton: Some Aspects of Judaism and the Bahā’ī Faith.               

Session V

12:30-2:30               LUNCH

 2:30-4:00       Academic Bahā’ī Studies , a review of present state in various countries,

                        the Internet Bahā’ī Studies community, conference reports, interchange of information)   

 

2005

ABS RELIGIOUS STUDIES SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, BI-ANNUAL SEMINAR

 NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ADD, 2005

2006

ABS RELIGIOUS STUDIES SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, BI-ANNUAL SEMINAR

 NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ADD, 2006

 

2007

ABS RELIGIOUS STUDIES SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, BI-ANNUAL SEMINAR

 NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ADD, 2007