- 1975-00-00 —
Association for Bahá'í Studies was founded in Canada, in 1975, to promote the systematic study of the Bahá'í Faith and its application to the needs of humanity.
"...cultivate opportunities for formal presentations, courses and lectureships on the Bahá'í Faith in Canadian universities and other institutions of higher learning." (Canada and the Five Year Plan, p. 14)
Soon afterward, the Association expanded to serve the United States and Canada. Since that time, a network of affiliated Associations has emerged in other regions around the world. The Association operates a Centre for Bahá'í Studies, located in Ottawa, Canada, which coordinates the activities of the Association in North America. The Centre also serves as a site for research, information, and various forms of assistance and support for Bahá'í studies. [ABS; BW16:200]
- For its history; terms of reference and programmes and publications see BW17:197–201.
- 1981-04-02 — Canadian Association for Studies on the Bahá'í Faith was renamed the Association for Bahá'í Studies. [BBD202; VV24–5]
- 1981-05-29 — The 6th annual Conference of the Association for Bahá'í Studies was held in Ottawa and was attended by some 350 Bahá'ís.
This year, with the approval of the Universal House of Justice, the name of the Association was changed from the Canadian Association for Studies on the Bahá'í Faith to the Association for Bahá'í Studies in recognition of its increasingly international character. Also, the Association recently purchased a modest house on the campus of the University of Ottawa to serve as a Center for Bahá'í Studies and as an administrative headquarters for the organization.
The presentations included: "The Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Personal Growth," by Hossain Danesh, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada who is a practicing psychiatrist; a discussion of the use of computers in indexing the Bahá'í Writings, presented by Edward Fox, a doctoral candidate in computer science at Cornell University; "John the Baptist—The Forgotten Manifestation," by Jack McLean, a doctoral candidate in religious studies at the University of Ottawa; and a presentation on the life and works of Mishkín-Qalam, the famous Bahá'í calligrapher, by Gol Aidun of Brandon, Manitoba.
Also included in the conference was the second annual Ḥasan Balyúzi Lectureship—given this year by Douglas Martin, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada, who spoke on the persecutions of the Bahá'ís in Iran under the Pahlavi regime, and by Glenford E. Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, who discussed the reaction of people in the West to the current wave of persecutions in Iran.
The last presentation of the conference was that of Amatu'l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum who had recently arrived in North America after several months in Central America. Although not entirely recovered from an illness acquired during her travels, she spoke vigorously—although, uncharacteristically, while seated. Her principal theme was the corrosive effects of the prejudice of the educated toward the illiterate, though she stressed the importance of the contribution of the educated in the Faith and in society.
She also urged the Bahá'ís to redouble their efforts, citing a passage pointed out to her by the beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, in which Bahá'u'lláh, while still in Baghdád, had said that if the Bahá'ís had busied themselves with what He had commanded them to do, "now the entire world would be clothed in faith."
[BN Issue 607 October 1981 p7; BCVol 3 No 5 July/August 1981 p5] - 1988-03-00 —
The publication of the first edition of the trilingual quarterly publication The Journal of Bahá'í Studies.
- See the Editorial Statement.
- Current and past issues are available at their website.
- 2019-08-08 —
The 43rd Annual Conference of the Association for Bahá'í Studies–North America was held in the Westin Hotel in Ottawa.. The four day conference was attended by some 1,400 persons. [BWNS1347; CBN 27 August, 2019]
- 2022-07-29 — The 46th Annual Conference of the Association for Bahá'í Studies. The conference was held virtually and enabled attendance of over 1000 people fro 30 countries.
The concept of "reading groups" was introduced. The reading groups were born out of a question before the ABS about how the principle of consultation can be applied in various contexts to facilitate the generation of knowledge. Eric Farr, who also assisted with coordinating collaborative initiatives, said that the "groups typically identify an initial reading list of relevant literature, which can be expanded and refined over time. As participants of a group review these materials together, they try to understand the underlying assumptions, central concepts, and highest aspirations within a discourse that have shaped thought and practice in their fields, correlating them with the Bahá'í teachings." These groups, who met throughout the year, and each focused on a topic such as education, economics, climate change, dynamics of social change, the harmony of science and religion, justice and reconciliation, law, media, public health, and urban planning. Dr. Todd Smith, the secretary of the ABS executive committee, said: "Many of the presentations in this year's program were the fruit of collective learning initiatives, such as reading groups or thematic seminars, that took place in the months between the 2021 and 2022 conferences. The program was further enhanced by the contributions of presenters engaged in other academic and professional endeavours."
Presentations and supplementary materials from this year's conference program, along with an archive of presentations from previous years are now available at the website of the Association for Bahá'í Studies.
[ABS website; BWNS1616] - 2025-08-01 — The 49th annual Association for Bahá'í Studies conference was held at the Telus Convention Center in Calgary, AB. [ABS2025; BWNS1819]
From the 31st of July to the 1st of August topical sessions were held to "assist individuals from certain professions or academic disciplines to examine some aspect of the discourse of their field". [Message to the NSA of Canada 24 July 2013]
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