The English-Language Writings of Shoghi Effendi

Abstract

Spanning the better part of four decades, the English language writings of Shoghi Effendi rival the works of any major twentieth-century theologian in their scope, elegance, and sheer volume and surpass those works in their claim to authority. As the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith and the religion’s hereditary head, Shoghi Effendi was not only the foremost theologian of the Bahá’í dispensation but also the authoritative interpreter of Bahá’í scripture. Shoghi Effendi’s elucidations of the words revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, and by His Herald, the Báb, together with his commentary on the writings and utterances of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the appointed interpreter of the Bahá’í Writings before Shoghi Effendi, are viewed by Bahá’ís as statements of authoritative guidance. Similarly, his translations of Bahá’í scripture from Persian and Arabic into English are believed to carry an authority that sets them apart from other translations of works written by the Central Figures of the Bahá’í Faith. This chapter offers a survey of the themes Shoghi Effendi explored and the genres he employed in his English-language writings as well as the style he developed in his translations of Bahá’í scripture into English.