Nearness to God
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A genre of books existed towards the end of the twentieth century in which the 365/6 days of the year each had a page dedicated to them, with Bahá'í quotes selected for that day. The intention was that it would help Bahá'ís acquire the habit of reading something from the Writings morning and evening, as per the exhortation of Bahá'u'lláh Himself. The Bahá'í Publishing Trust in Canada produced a green paperback volume entitled, Bahá'í Readings. The Bahá'í Publishing Trust in the U.S.A. issued one called The Day Book, using rather short passages. The Bahá'í Publishing Trust in India produced one entitled, Reciting the Verses of God. Century Press Publications, in Australia, produced one entitled Pearls of Wisdom in 2008. Probably the most popular and successful of this genre, for those who are familiar with them all, was Nearness to God, which was produced by the Bahá'í Publishing Trust in the United Kingdom.
The readings were compiled by Oliver Christopherson, a partially-sighted Bahá'í from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. It was in hardback format, with a black cover sporting a circular geometric design, possibly intended to suggest a succession of pages for an endless succession of days.
It is widely reported that the Universal House of Justice has asked Bahá'í publishers to refrain from producing compilations with exactly this format, possibly to counter the dangers of Bahá'í practice becoming too formulaic. Certainly, virtually none of these books seems to be available in the second decade of the twentieth century. There does not seem to be a request to Bahá'í publishers to desist from producing general compilations of Bahá'í Writings, nor compilations on specific subjects. It seems that the specific practices to be avoided are either that of attaching particular passages to particular days, or that of effectively narrowing the reading material to which each individual Bahá’í may expose himself or herself.
