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W. Kenneth Christian

From Bahaipedia
Dr. W. Kenneth Christian
Born1913
DiedMay 4, 1959
Djakarta, Indonesia
NSA memberUS & Canada
1946 - 1948
United States
1948 - 1953
 Works •  Media

Dr. William Kenneth Christian (1913 – May 4, 1959) was an American Bahá'í who served on many American Bahá'í institutions including the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. He was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for pioneering to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and also pioneered to Greece and Indonesia.

Life[edit]

Service in Youth[edit]

Kenneth became a Bahá'í in Binghamton, New York.[1] He was an active Bahá'í in his youth, serving on the Youth Committee for the United States and Canada from 1934. He succeeded Paul Haney as Chairman of the Youth Committee in 1935.[2][3] While Kenneth was Chairman the Youth Committee developed an international Bahá'í Youth Bulletin, and organised a series of Youth Symposiums.[4][5] He studied at Cornell University, and delivered public lectures on the campus during the school year.[6] In the late 1930’s he began working at the Morrisville State College of Agriculture in New York.[7][8]

In 1937 Kenneth taught a course on World Religion at Green Acre Bahá'í Summer School and a session on Bahá'í Life for youth at Louhelen Summer School. [9][10] He taught at the Louhelen Summer School for several years.[11][12][13] He was appointed to the Green Acre Youth Week Committee in 1938, and the Green Acre Summer School Committee in 1945.[14][15] He was appointed to the Louhelen Summer School Committee in 1942.[16]

Service on Committees[edit]

Early Baha'i pioneers...(left to right) Roberta, Roger, and Kenneth Christian.

In 1942 he was appointed the Secretary of the New York Regional Teaching Committee[17] and in 1943 he was appointed as the Secretary of the Bahá'í College Speakers Bureau (originally called the Institute of Bahá'í Education), which aimed to facilitate Bahá'í speakers at American colleges.[18][19] He became Chairman of the College Speakers Bureau in 1944.[20] In March 1944 Kenneth established an Index Committee for the purposes of making a Bahá'í glossary and an index of published Bahá'í literature.[21] and the project was completed in 1948.[22] Kenneth was working at Syracuse University in 1944, but left the position to move to Greenville, North Carolina at the end of the year.[23][24][25]

He delivered a talk at the Centenary Celebration at the House of Worship, and at follow-up meetings open to the public the same year.[26][27] In 1945 he undertook a teaching tour attending a symposium in Washington D.C. , delivering a speech in Greenville, which was reported in a local Greenville newspaper and attending a public meeting on peace in Greensboro, North Carolina.[28][29][30]

Kenneth moved to Michigan in 1945, and became a member of faculty at Michigan State College, teaching written and spoken English and eventually becoming Assistant Professor of Communication Skills.[31][32][33] He had a full teaching load in addition to performing his own research and writing about the Faith.[34] He openly spoke about the Faith at the College in 1950 when he was invited to speak on a panel on Religious Brotherhood.[35]

He was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States in 1946.[36] The first meeting he attended as an Assembly member was a meeting for the public organised by the Public Meeting Committee held in the Continental Hotel in Chicago in 1946. He delivered a talk titled “The Price of World Peace is World Religion”.[37] He attended another meeting organized by the Committee in Pittsburgh in March 1947, and gave another talk on the topic of World Peace through World Religion.[38]

In 1948 he was appointed as an Editor of Bahá'í News.[39] In 1949 he became Chairman of a streamlined three member Programming Committee, responsible for collaborating with National Teaching Committees to organise stimulation programs.[40] In 1950 he spoke at a public meeting commemorating the Centenary of the Martyrdom of the Bab in Wilmette.[41]

Service as Pioneer[edit]

In December 1953 Kenneth retired from his position at Michigan State College, [42] and from the National Assembly, along with Dorothy Baker, Mamie Seto, Elsie Austin and Matthew Bullock so that he could fulfil the Guardian’s request for pioneers to areas that were goals of the Ten Year Crusade.[43] He sent a letter expressing his interest in pioneering to one of the areas Shoghi Effendi had designated goals of the Faith and set sail for Southern Rhodesia with his wife, Roberta, and son, Roger, after receiving the Guardian’s reply, arriving in the Country on January 1, 1954.[44]

Monument at Kenneth's grave

He could not find work for six months, and was financially supported by the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. He contacted Shoghi Effendi, detailing his struggles, and moved to Greece with his blessing where he found work as a contracted teacher in Athens and as a cultural affairs officer with the United States Information Society after his teaching contract expired. He made his pilgrimage to Haifa and was accepted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Geographic Society while living in Greece.

Kenneth returned to the United States in 1957, living in Washington for five months before moving to Indonesia where he was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Djakarta. He passed away due to coronary occlusion in 1959, and became the first person to be buried in the Bahá'í burial ground in Djakarta. A marble monument was erected at his grave with "O God, my God! Attire mine head with the crown of justice and my temple with the ornament of equity" inscribed on it.[45]

Writing[edit]

Kenneth wrote about the Faith prolifically, beginning with regular contributions to the Bahá'í magazine World Order, from when it began publication in 1936, and articles published in Bahá'í World.[46] He was appointed as an editor of Bahá'í World in 1939, and as an editor of World Order in 1945.[47][48][49]

Bibliography[edit]

Bahai.works has a related page: Author:W. Kenneth Christian
  • 1936 - Accepting Our Destiny: Article published in World Order, Volume 2, Number 8[50]
  • 1937 - Heritage and Nobility: Articles published in Bahá'í Youth Bulletin and Bahá'í World, Volume 7[51]
  • 1937 - Peace Realists: Article published in World Order, Volume 3, Number 7[52]
  • 1938 - The Old Frame House: Article published in World Order, Volume 4, Number 8[53]
  • 1939 - Has Mankind Reached Maturity?: Article published in World Order, Volume 5, Number 8[54]
  • 1939 - A Spiritual Bill of Rights: Article published in World Order, Volume 5, Number 9[55]
  • 1941 - Classification of Bahá'í Study Sources: Pamphlet listing and classifying Bahá'í literature in English.[56] Was published independently and in World Order, Volume 7, Number 9[57]
  • 1942 - A Brief Survey of the Literature of the Bahá'í Faith in English: Article published in Bahá'í World, Volume 8[58]
  • 1942 - Independent Investigation of the Truth: Article published in World Order, Volume 8, Number 7[59]
  • 1943 - Purpose: Poem published in World Order, Volume 9, Number 4[60]
  • 1944 - Growth of the Literature: Article published in Bahá'í Centenary Book[61][62]
  • 1944 - The Destiny of America: Article published in World Order, Volume 10, Number 2[63]
  • 1944 - The Oneness of Humanity: Article published in World Order, Volume 10, Number 3[64] and Bahá'í World, Volume 10[65]
  • 1944 - Thanksgiving: Article published in World Order, Volume 10, Number 8[66]
  • 1945 - Our Heritage from Bahá’u’lláh: Article published in Bahá'í World, Volume 9[67]
  • 1945 - He Brought Peace: Article published in World Order, Volume 11, Number 4[68]
  • 1945 - Index to "Advent of Divine Justice": Published in World Order, Volume 11, Number 9[69]
  • 1946 - Two Roads We Face: Article published in World Order, Volume 11, Number 10[70]
  • 1946 - This Earth One Country, Book Review: Review of Emeric Sala's book published in World Order, Volume 11, Number 11[71]
  • 1946 - The Call to Greatness: Editorial published in World Order, Volume 11, Number 12[72]
  • 1946 - The Men of a New Dawn: Editorial published in World Order, Volume 12, Number 5[73]
  • 1947 - The Guardian: Editorial published in World Order, Volume 12, Number 10[74]
  • 1947 - No Flags, No Drums: Editorial published in World Order, Volume 13, Number 3[75]
  • 1947 - Bahá'ís Look to the Future: Article published in World Order, Volume 13, Number 9[76]and Bahá'í World, Volume 11[77]
  • 1956 - A Century of Spiritual Revival: Article published in Bahá'í World, Volume 12[78]
  • 1956 - Introduction to Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh
  • 1965 - Bahá'í World Faith, the Divine Truth for Today: Basic Facts[79]
  • 1975 - The Bahá'í House of Worship: The Meaning of the Temple: Pamphlet[80]
  • 1982 - Introduction to Promulgation of Universal Peace by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
  • Basic Facts of the Bahá'í Faith: Pamphlet

References[edit]

  • Bahá'í World, Vol. 13, pp 906-908

Notes[edit]

Bahai.media has a related page: Category:W. Kenneth Christian
  1. ↑ Baha'i News (1949). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 223, Pg(s) 10. View as PDF.
  2. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 85, p 6
  3. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 96, p 4
  4. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 102, p 5
  5. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 105, p 7
  6. ↑ Baha'i News (1938). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 119, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ Baha’i World, Vol. 9, Staff Editors page
  8. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 121, p 12
  9. ↑ Baha’I World, Vol. 7, p 58
  10. ↑ Baha’I World, Vol. 7, p 464
  11. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 116, p 4
  12. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 130, p 8
  13. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 135, p 9
  14. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 113, p 4
  15. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 174, p 4
  16. ↑ Baha’I News, No. 157, p 8
  17. ↑ Baha’I News, No. 154, p 6
  18. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 166, p 10
  19. ↑ Baha’I News, No. 164, p 14
  20. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 171, p 20
  21. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 169, p 4
  22. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 212, p 2
  23. ↑ Baha'i News (1944). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 171, Pg(s) 20. View as PDF.
  24. ↑ World Order, Vol. 10, p 104
  25. ↑ World Order, Vol. 10, p 264
  26. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 170, p 14
  27. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 172, p 13
  28. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 175, p 11
  29. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 176, p 12
  30. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 177, p 14
  31. ↑ http://spartanhistory.kora.matrix.msu.edu/files/1/4/1-4-12D3-54-S201_1952F.pdf
  32. ↑ World Order, Volume 11, p 288
  33. ↑ Baha’I News, No. 196, p 8
  34. ↑ Baha’i World, Vol. 12, p 207
  35. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 236, p 14
  36. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 182, p 1
  37. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 183, p 3
  38. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 195, p 9
  39. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 204, p 11
  40. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 230, p 19
  41. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 234, p 5
  42. ↑ http://spartanhistory.kora.matrix.msu.edu/files/3/15/3-F-416-56-OCTOBER%2016%201953.pdf
  43. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 272, p 2
  44. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 276, p 3
  45. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 377, p 14
  46. ↑ Baha’i World, Vol. 7, p 564
  47. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 127, p 6
  48. ↑ Baha’i World, Vol. 8, pp 925-929
  49. ↑ Baha’i News, No. 178, p 4
  50. ↑ World Order, 2(8), pp 302-304
  51. ↑ Baha'i World, Vol. 7, p 477
  52. ↑ World Order, 3(7), pp 249-251
  53. ↑ World Order, 4(8), p 296-298
  54. ↑ World Order, 5(8), pp 292-297
  55. ↑ World Order, 5(9), pp 323-327
  56. ↑ Baha'i News (1942). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 151, Pg(s) 6. View as PDF.
  57. ↑ World Order, 7(9), pp 325-329
  58. ↑ Baha'i World, Vol. 8, p 925-929
  59. ↑ World Order, 8(7), pp 236-241
  60. ↑ World Order, 9(4), p 144
  61. ↑ Baha'i Centenary Book, pp 145-153
  62. ↑ Baha'i News (1945). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 173, Pg(s) 5. View as PDF.
  63. ↑ World Order, 10(2), pp 67-70
  64. ↑ World Order, 10(3), pp 92-98
  65. ↑ Baha'i World, Vol. 10, pp 757-761
  66. ↑ World Order, 10(8), pp 245-246
  67. ↑ Baha'i World, Vol. 9, pp 834-838
  68. ↑ World Order, 11(4), pp 119-122
  69. ↑ World Order, 11(9), pp 282-285
  70. ↑ World Order, 11(10), pp 365-367
  71. ↑ World Order, 11(11), pp 337-338
  72. ↑ World Order, 11(12), pp 337-338
  73. ↑ World Order, 12(5), pp 144-146
  74. ↑ World Order, 12(10), pp 302-303
  75. ↑ World Order, 13(3), pp 96-97
  76. ↑ World Order, 13(9), pp 255-260
  77. ↑ Baha'i World, Vol. 11, pp 674-677
  78. ↑ Baha'i World, Vol. 12, p 883-886
  79. ↑ Collins, W. P. (1990). Bibliography of English-Language Works on the Babi and Bahá'í Faiths 1844-1985. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-315-1., p 68
  80. ↑ https://bahai-library.com/christian_chicago_house_worship
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