After encountering the
Bahā'ī religion as a schoolboy in Reading, (Berkshire), England, UK in the
mid. 1960s, I soon became fascinated with the philological, doctrinal,
historical and theological positions of the Bābī-Bahā'ī religions. After
obtaining a BA Hons. degree in Religious Studies and studying Biblical Hebrew,
a little Greek and Syriac, then Arabic and Persian, I commenced doctoral
research in 1982 at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) with Dr. Denis
MacEoin (then lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies). I worked on the thesis:
Some Aspects of Isrā'īliyyāt and the Emergence of
the Bābī-Bahā'ī Interpretation of the Bible. ABSTRACT
Following a near fatal car crash outside
Lancaster (UK) in April 1987 several months of hospitalization resulted.
Serious disability following Fat Embolism Syndrome (loosely, a "stroke" to the
brain and spine) demanded the suspension of the abovementioned doctoral
research for more than a decade (1987-1998). During these years, I learned to
walk and do other basic things again and concentrated on expanding my personal
library.
The following pictures
illustrate my attempt to "transcend" the constraints of hospitalization and an early period post-hospital
portrait taken towards the beginning of a more than five year period of being
largely wheelchair grounded:
During these years of
disability I struggled to keep up to date with the fast evolving fields of
Shī`ī, Shaykhī and Bābī-Bahā'ī Studies and greatly expanded my
personal Library. Numerous associates aided me in my attempt to amass Islamic
and Bābī-Bahā'ī primary sources. In December 1999 on the Island of Maui
(Hawaii, USA) I married Dr. Sholeh Quinn who lectures in Middle East
Studies at Ohio University at Athens (Ohio, USA) where I am currently also a
research scholar mailto:
lambden@ohio.edu
At
the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (England, UK) during the year 2000, I
was invited to lecture part-time and offered a course in Bābī-Bahā'ī Studies
which formed an optional part of the Religious Studies Degree. In 2001,
a very shortened version of my by then ante-diluvian doctoral thesis was
successfully submitted.
