Shoghi Effendi: His Life and Ministry

FACULTY: Ed DiLiberto, Anne Perry

In Shoghi Effendi: His Life and Ministry we will look briefly at the unique position held by Shoghi Effendi, his childhood and youth (1897-1921), and more extensively at his ministry as Guardian of the Baha’i Faith (1921-57). We will consider the many roles Shoghi Effendi filled (builder, interpreter, author, and translator) as he carried out his duties as Guardian in fostering the growth and development of the Baha’i Faith. He devoted much of his ministry to building the administrative order outlined by Baha’u’llah and elaborated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in His Will and Testament and to using it as an instrument for fostering the international spread of the Baha’i Faith called for by ‘Abdu’-Baha in the Tablets of the Divine Plan. Shoghi Effendi also worked tirelessly to extend and beautify the properties of the Baha’i World Center in Haifa and Acre, to erect the facade of the Shrine of the Bab, and to prepare a physical home for the center of the administrative order. Shoghi Effendi translated many writings of Baha’u’llah into English, translated and edited a history of the Babi period of the Faith, penned thousands of letters clarifying basic Baha’i teachings, and wrote the classic history of the first hundred years of the Faith's beginnings. His devotion, self-sacrifice, and suffering are an inspiration to Baha’is of all generations.

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