Robert H. Stockman is Instructor at DePaul University, USA, and Director of the Wilmette Institute on the Bahá'í Faith, USA.

Robert Stockman has written an introduction to the Baha'i Faith that is both thorough and accessible. He is not afraid to tackle difficult and controversial subjects and, although there is a wide range of views about most subjects among Baha'is, he appears to have captured well the majority view. There is particularly good coverage of the history of the Baha'i Faith. -- Moojan Momen, Author and researcher on the Baha'i Faith and Islam Getting clear and balanced perspectives on new religious movements is notoriously difficult, but in this account of the Baha'i Faith, Robert H. Stockman has produced a smart, balanced and well-crafted overview of Baha'i theology and history.Stockman has the sensitivity of an insider and the objectivity of a scholar.In this book Stockman draws on a remarkable range of specialized scholarly sources and his own extensive research and communicates all of it in an engaging and well-written book accessible to a wide audience. -- Christopher White, Associate Professor of Religion in America at Vassar College, USA

• Acknowledgements \ 1. A Religion of the Word \ Part I: Teachings \ 2. The Watchword: Unity \ 3. The Divine and its Relationship to Creation \ 4. The Path of Individual Transformation \ 5. An Ever-Advancing Civilization \ Part II: Development of the Bahá'í Community \ 6. The Báb and Bábí Community, 1844-53 \ 7. The Ministry of Bahá'u'lláh, 1853-92 \ 8. The Ministry of `Abdu'l-Bahá, 1892-1921 \ 9. The Ministry of Shoghi Effendi, 1921-63 \ 10. Developments under the Universal House of Justice, 1963-96 \ 11. The Current Epoch, 1996-2012 \ 12. An Evolving Faith \ Notes \ Bibliography \ Index