Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986

First Edition of Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986.

Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986: The Third Epoch of the Formative Age is a compilation of messages from the Universal House of Justice published in 1996 by the Bahá’í Publishing Trust of the United States.

It supersedes the previously published compilations Wellspring of Guidance and Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1968-1973 including their full contents and additional messages, and was followed by the compilation Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1986-2001.

Background

The compilation includes messages issued from the establishment of the Universal House of Justice in April, 1963, to Ridvan 1986. The timeframe was chosen as the Universal House of Justice announced that the Third Epoch of the Formative Age, which had begun in 1963, had ended in 1986.

Included are the full contents of Wellspring of Guidance and Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1968-1973 as well as additional messages issued between 1963 and 1973 that were not included in those volumes. In addition it contains messages issued from Ridvan 1973 to Ridvan 1986. It contains an extensive index, subheadings added to longer messages, and footnotes explaining historical details, allusions, and technical terms as well as sourcing quotations and cross referencing related messages. It also contains a glossary of Bahá’í terminology, a list of abbreviations used in the messages, and a bibliography of texts referred to in the messages and footnotes.

Some minor changes were made to the original texts which were limited to direct quotations of the Writings of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá with the original quoted Writings being cross checked with authenticated sources and authorized translations and altered to better reflect the authenticated Writings. All such changes are noted with footnotes. Some dates also vary in comparison to other sources as in some cases a message was initially issued to a specific National Spiritual Assembly before being issued to all National Spiritual Assemblies with the compilation using the original date a message was issued to the individual Assembly. Some messages refer to enclosures and attachments which accompanied the original messages however these were omitted to ensure the compilation remained a manageable length.