(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken at Dreyfus home in Paris, 1911-Nov-17 -- ABU0253)
A renewed humanity: character and civilization
spiritualization of humanity in the future; a new race of men
Editorial introduction
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s hope for a new humanity sounds, at first, almost modest: that you will never harm a neighbour or speak ill of anyone, that you will care more for the interests of others than your own, and that someone who has failed a hundred thousand times will still turn to you expecting forgiveness. Yet from such conduct He expects nothing less than a world made over. He pictures a spiritual spring in which this lowly earth becomes the Abhá Kingdom, a stone polished until it mirrors the sun, and the hearts of all mankind beating as a single heart; the New Jerusalem of the Bible, He says, is simply divine civilization, and it is ready now. The letter to the Ephesians traces the same movement from a renewed self to truthful speech, honest work, giving and forgiveness [1]. The talk of a new race of men belongs to this spiritual and social purpose, not to biology or a timetable, and Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of Justice describe the change as gradual, collective and still being learned. The way forward opens onto the maturity of mankind, the economic problem and its solution, and the foundations of a future civilization built on the oneness of humanity.
Selected passages
O ye friends of God! Show ye an endeavor that all the nations and communities of the world, even the enemies, put their trust, assurance and hope in you; that if a person falls into errors for a hundred-thousand times he may yet turn his face to you, hopeful that you will forgive his sins; for he must not become hopeless, neither grieved nor despondent. This is the conduct and the manner of the people of Baha'.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1908-Mar-24, to Spiritual Assembly of New York, NY -- AB00351)
The essential thing is that we must all strive with heart and soul so that the reality of divine attributes may become manifest in the realm of possibility, and the human world may become a mirror of the Most Great Beauty. Faith, certitude, mystic knowledge, truth, integrity, reconciliation, worship of truth, love, oneness, fellowship and wisdom may become realized and renowned among all peoples.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1905 ca., to Mirza Aqa Bashir Ilahi (Bashirus-Sultan) -- AB01108)
In a similar manner in the Bahai Cause, there must appear extraordinary spiritual geniuses, wonders of the Kingdom of God, souls who in knowledge, sciences, sociability, tenderness, loving-kindness, universality, joyfulness, may be considered unique and peerless. Should such heavenly beings appear in the Western States, the power and the creative energy of the Kingdom of Abha will become manifest and apparent; souls who have discovered their ways to the mines of the Kingdom; souls who are the irrigators of the grounds of the hearts of humanity; souls who are the wonders of the realm of Truth.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken in 1917 -- ABU0723)
Just as physical perfections have reached the highest degree, spiritual perfections must likewise reach the highest degree so that both the outer and inner aspects of humanity may be illumined, and both worldly happiness and heavenly happiness may be attained. Both natural virtues and divine virtues must all become manifest.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1912-Jul-12 in Brooklyn -- ABU0264)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Huntington Chambers on 1912-May-25 -- ABU0188)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Theosophical Society on 1912-Apr-25 -- ABU0262)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the Baha'is, spoken at Kinney home on 1912-Dec-02 -- ABU0596)
Resolve all matters, both small and great, through consultation. Do not undertake any important matter without consultation. Think of one another, assist in each other's affairs, share in each other's sorrows. Leave none of the nation's people in need. Help one another so that all may unitedly and harmoniously become as one body. In gatherings of remembrance and places of worship, seek confirmation for the government. Pray for the throne of sovereignty. Serve His Majesty the just King with perfect sincerity, for until now not even the slightest harm has come to this community from His Majesty; rather he has provided protection and preservation. You must, according to the decisive text, be well-wishers with heart and soul.
'Abdu'l-Baha 'Abbas
O my God, my God! These are servants who have entered beneath the shade of the tree of Thy mercy and sought refuge in the cave of Thy divine unity. They have nursed from the breast of Thy Lordship and dwelt in the vicinity of Thy training. O Lord! Assist them from all directions, open unto them the doors of success and deliverance, grant them the fruits of prosperity and life, adorn their outward beings with the gifts of divinity and illuminate their inner realities with the lights of mercy. Make them progress in all conditions and ascend to the highest degrees of happiness, O Thou Living and Self-Subsisting One, until their hearts become centers of divine inspirations, their souls sources of heavenly evidences, their spirits gladdened by the glad-tidings of divine unity, their bodies adorned with human qualities, their minds penetrating in discovering the realities of created things and the hidden properties of existing things. Make them signs of Thy gifts, evidences of Thy favors, manifestations of Thy traces and the dawning-places of Thy lights. Verily Thou art the Generous, the Merciful, the Giving, the Kind. And glory be upon the loved ones of God.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1900 or <, to Ibn-i-Abhar -- AB00551)
The lights of truth will shine forth, the mysteries of truth will become clear and evident, the flowers of the divine garden will bloom, and the springtime of the All-Merciful will encompass all regions and realms.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1894 ca. -- AB04249)
Today the world and the people are under the shadow of divine providence, the light of the Sun of Reality hath been shed upon the world of minds and thoughts; hence, light is seen everywhere.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1908-Sep-04, to Juliet Thompson -- AB02591)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá -- AB11291)
The generality of the wise themselves testify that these divine teachings are the spirit of this age and the light of this century. Humanity will find no rest, tranquility or proper order except through the promotion of these teachings.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1919-Apr-04, to Hand of the Cause Ali Muhammad Ibn Asdaq -- AB00130)
In these days when the leader of vain imaginings hath appeared with utmost might and the hosts of idle fancies have encompassed all directions, and weakness and lassitude have permeated the pillars of being, thou must set the world ablaze through the power of the Most Great Name. Despite all that hath been mentioned, change and transformation, giving and withholding, have ever been within the grasp of God's power. Blessed is the soul that ariseth today with wisdom and guideth the world through the fire of the Divine Word.
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1299-10-27 [1882-Sep-11], to Aqa Shahvirdi et al -- BH00167)
All the Prophets and Messengers were sent by the Lord of the worlds so that, through the endeavors of those holy souls, the suns of spiritual virtues might shine forth from the horizons of human temples.
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1298 ? [1880-1881], to Khan -- BH05969)
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1296 ? [1878-1879], to Rajab Ali Khayyat -- BH06035)
Today the divine fragrance is wafting from the garment of His Cause - surely every possessor of smell perceives it. The Sun of the Countenance is manifest and shining from the horizon of appearance - every possessor of sight beholds it.
(Bahá’u’lláh, to sister of Baha'u'llah -- BH05280)
Be not grieved by the loss of the steadfast ones or the turning away of the deniers, for through prayer a people shall be raised up who will place the foot of detachment upon all who are in the heavens and the earth, who will shake the sleeve of sanctification over all that hath been created of water and clay, and who will hasten toward the Friend, heedless of self.
(Bahá’u’lláh, to Mulla Muhammad Zarandi (Nabil-i-Azam) -- BH01185)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1903-Oct-24, to Beecher, Ellen V et al -- AB01189)
These children are neither Oriental nor Occidental, neither Asiatic nor American, neither European nor African, but they are of the Kingdom; their native home is heaven and their resort is the Kingdom of ABHA.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1904 ca., to Laura Dreyfus-Barney -- AB00908)
Therefore the members of the world of humanity must embrace each other with utmost love and conciliation and under the protection of this Shepherd these sheep may graze in the meadow of Clemency and while they grow and develop acquire infinite joy and happiness.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1914-Apr ca., to Baha'is of London -- AB07131)
This assembly is an example of how in the future, the whole of humanity will enter beneath the tabernacle [of the Cause], rest under the shadow of a single tree, drink from the same chalice and be satisfied from the same fountainhead. The effect of such gatherings will be manifested at a future time and will attract divine confirmations.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the friends spoken in Dec. 1907 -- ABU1742)
The object of such a Conference will be the glorification of the world of humanity and attainment to the image and likeness of God which is related to the realm of Morality. Then and not until then the individuals of the human race will become wholly abstracted from the defects of the material world; the virtues of the Kingdom will be revealed in them; they will receive the heavenly Bestowals, be baptized with the Holy Spirit and attain to eternal Life and everlasting Felicity.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1914-Apr ca. -- AB03302)
Be a candle for the gathering and cause the kindling of the Fire of God, blazing in the hearts and souls of the people of East and West.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1900 or < -- AB06739)
Let a new spirit sweep over your temples, so that the Fire of the Love of God which is enkindled in your holy of holies may flame forth and set a spiritual conflagration to the whole of Europe. You must not rest day and night till you have breathed in this body a new spirit and ignited a light in this lamp.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken at Rue St. Didier 30 in Paris, 1913-Feb-20 -- ABU1673)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá -- AB11305)
God should be commemorated in every city; the lights of guidance should be diffused; the souls should be attracted to the beauty of God; the doors of knowledge should be opened; the teachings of God should be practiced -- and the tongues should be eloquent in the praise of God. When these virtues become apparent within a city, the heavenly manna will descend, and that city -- wherever it may be -- will become a New Jerusalem.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1912-Oct-11 in San Francisco -- ABU1906)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Euclid Hotel on 1912-May-06 -- ABU0192)
It is for us to consider how we may educate men that the darkness of ignorance and heedlessness may disappear and that the radiance of the kingdom may encompass the world; that the nations of men may be delivered from selfish ambition and strife, and be revivified by the fragrance of God; that animosity and hatred may be dispersed and wholly disappear, while the attracting power of the love of God so completely unites the hearts of men that all hearts beat as a single heart; that the arteries of all mankind may pulsate with the love of God; that contention and war may utterly pass away, while peace and reconciliation lift their standard in the midst of the earth and men become enamoured of one another; that the joys of spirituality may prevail over material pleasures; that East and West may delight in one another as lovers, and North and South embrace each other in closest affection; that the visible world may be the mirror of the world of the kingdom; that the image of the Supreme Concourse may be reflected in all gatherings of men; that the earth may be changed into the paradise of the Glorious One, and the Divine Jerusalem embrace the terrestrial globe.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Myron Phelps and Madame Canavarro in Dec. 1902 -- ABU1932)
The world of creation is advancing and the Orb of the horizons is in full splendor. Though the Sun of Truth be hidden behind the clouds of glory, yet its effulgence and rays are continuous and successive. The surface of the earth shall soon become a supreme paradise through divine bestowals, and the dusty realm shall become a mirror of the most exalted heights. The images of the Kingdom shall be reflected in the mirror of the world, and the grace of the Realm of Might shall become manifest and embodied.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1909-Nov-28, to Baha'is of Kashan et al -- AB04622)
I wish this blessing to appear and become manifest in the faces and characteristics of the believers, so that they, too, may become a new people, and having found new life and been baptized with fire and spirit, may make the world a new world, to the end that the old earth may disappear and the new earth appear; old ideas depart and new thoughts come; old garments be cast aside and new garments put on; ancient politics whose foundation is war be discarded and modern politics founded on peace raise the standard of victory; the new star shine and gleam and the new sun illumine and radiate; new flowers bloom, the new spring become known; the new breeze blow; the new bounty descend; the new tree give forth new fruit; the new voice become raised and this new sound reach the ears, that the new will follow the new, and all the old furnishings and adornments be cast aside and new decorations put in their places.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1906, to Baha'is of the United States -- AB02184)
Politicians will become spiritual, and philosophers will become lamps of the Kingdom. Leaders will establish an eternal sovereignty, and all people will shine like the stars of heaven.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1913 ca., to Readers of the Spectator Newspaper -- AB02094)
O ye friends of Abdul-Baha!
The glad-tidings of your attraction and enkindlement, ecstasy and exhilaration, hath reached us before and a special Tablet hath been forwarded to you. Mr. Harris and Mr. Ober arrived and praised you with the utmost enthusiasm, that "the friends of Hoboken are firm, steadfast and eloquent (in delivering the Truth)." In that region they have adorned a meeting with the fragrances of holiness and organized an assembly like unto the delectable paradise. Each one of them is like unto a lamp brilliant with the light of guidance and a conquering host invincible with the power of the love of God. Likewise, they gave the utmost praise to all the beloved throughout the regions of America, and they were extremely happy and grateful. They praised and commended highly the spiritual assembly of New York, saying that day and night they were engaged in the service of the Kingdom; likewise they were very grateful to Mr. Hoar.
Briefly, four days and four nights were they the guests in the house of this imprisoned one, continually praising and commending the beloved of God and giving the glad-tidings of the attraction of the friends with the fragrances of God. In this prison, Abdul-Baha hath no happiness except the arrival of the good news of the believers. Whenever one praises them, the heart is dilated and the soul is rejoiced.
Therefore, O ye companions of Abdul-Baha, display ye an effort, so that ye may make that region (America) the Paradise of ABHA, hoisting the banner of the Most Great Peace and spreading the teachings of the Beauty of ABHA; in order that the slumberous world become awakened, the unconscious become mindful, the universe become another universe, the human world become the realm of the Kingdom, earthly emotions become heavenly attractions, cruelty and oppression be changed into love and faithfulness, the clattering of the sword be transformed into the sweet melody of the pen and the discordant sound of war become the wonderful song of love and intelligence; in order that all the individuals of humanity embrace each other and live among themselves in perfect love and affinity.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1910-Oct or <, to Baha'is of Hoboken -- AB02135)
Thus it became clear that the comfort and ease of the human world and the protection and preservation of human society is impossible through civilization alone - rather it must be combined with divine teachings, and the human world must be quickened and refreshed by the breaths of the Holy Spirit, and through the power of the Word of God the banner of universal peace must be raised. Otherwise human powers are impotent.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1918-Dec-21, to Yuhanna Dawud -- AB02221)
The time will come in the near future when humanity will become so much more sensitive than at present that the man of great wealth will not enjoy his luxury, in comparison with the deplorable poverty about him.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá -- ABU3245)
The Divine Assayer will try every soul according to his secret intentions. The Parliament of man will be established; humanity will be spiritual[ized] and the Standard of Peace will be hoisted above every home.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the friends, spoken on 1914-Nov-09 -- ABU0868)
The bright day is coming. The nucleus of the new race is forming. The harbinger of the new ideals of international justice is appearing. The trees of hope will become verdant; the copper of scorn and derision will be transmuted into the gold of honor and praise; the arid desert of ignorance will be transformed into the luxuriant garden of knowledge, the threatening clouds shall be dispelled and the stars of faith and charity will again twinkle in the clear heaven of human consciousness.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá -- ABU2031)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Brotherhood Church on 1912-May-19 -- ABU0152)
Sanctified and holy thou must occupy thy time with the diffusion of the Lights of the Kingdom, strive in the enkindlement of the hearts and the regeneration of the souls. Thou must be the servant of the Blessed Beauty and create a great reverberation in the spheres of thoughts and ideals.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1913-Aug-14 in Ramleh -- ABU0963)
A new era of divine consciousness is upon us. The world of humanity is going through a process of transformation. A new race is being developed.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá -- ABU2682)
But there is no limit to spiritual progress and its results are infinite and glorious.
But spiritual progress is the cause of eternal joy and the source of education and protection of the human world and everlasting happiness for humankind.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to two Theosophists spoken at Grand Hotel on 1913-Apr-23 -- ABU2704)
Baha'Ullah has a larger message on a greater number of subjects than any other, just as this is an age more ready, because of the great spiritual advance made in the great kingdom of knowledge, to understand and benefit by his just commands.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Mrs Thornburg-Cropper -- ABU2956)
It is our hope that the horizons of the Orient and the Occident may become illumined with the lights of Divine Civilization.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the ship's doctor, spoken on board the SS Baron Call on 1913-Dec-05 -- ABU3049)
This is a fundamental truth; when you breathe forth the breath of the Holy Spirit from your hearts into the world, commerce and politics will take care of themselves in perfect harmony. All arts and sciences will become revealed and the knowledge of God will be manifested.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá -- ABU3176)
What is the soul but to be offered in the arena of Truth, what is the spirit but to be given up for the progress of divine Civilization and universal Peace, and what is rest and comfort but to be thrown away for the establishment of brotherhood and the spiritualization of mankind!
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the friends, spoken on 1915-Feb-09 -- ABU0765)
I enquired if in future the prophets of God will meet with the same opposition as those offered to Baha'u'llah, Mohamed and Christ, he replied, "No, the world will be so trained that no one will harm even his own enemy."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to M. R. Shirazi in April 1914 -- ABU3558)
The teachings of the Ancient Beauty constitute that Covenant, all of which must needs be realized in its own time, even though it may take successive centuries; yet ultimately it must be fulfilled and breathe a new spirit into the dead bodies of mankind.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1915-Oct-17 in Haifa -- ABU2545)
The world and its condition will change to such a degree and the Baha'i Cause will prevail to such an extent that nothing but a remnant - like these pillars - will remain of the previous order.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken at Portals of the Past, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 1912-Oct-05 -- ABU3468)
Now, praise be to God, the fire of the love of God has been kindled in the censer of Iran, and its world-illumining flame has reached the western countries. Since this divine kindled fire has begun to blaze in those vast countries, it will become more aflame day by day, and by divine help and favor its fire will spread to all directions.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1900 or < -- AB00386)
O 'Abbas! The world is receptive and its people are heedless. They seek after thorns and thistles - that is, vain imaginings and idle fancies - while turning away from the pearls of utterance, clinging instead to pebbles and date-stones. Today there are seekers for all things except the pearls of wisdom and utterance that have appeared from the treasury of the Most Exalted Pen. These remain without seeker or buyer. Ere long will the world change and people will eagerly seek after them with their very souls. Blessed are they that attain!
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1305 ? [1887-1888], to Abbas -- BH10707)
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
"There lay concealed within the Holy Veil, and prepared for the service of God, a company of His chosen ones who shall be manifested unto men, who shall aid His Cause, who shall be afraid of no one, though the entire human race rise up and war against them. These are the ones who, before the gaze of the dwellers on earth and the denizens of heaven, shall arise and, shouting aloud, acclaim the name of the Almighty, and summon the children of men to the path of God, the All-Glorious, the All-Praised." "The day is approaching when God will have, by an act of His Will, raised up a race of men the nature of which is inscrutable to all save God, the All-Powerful, the Self-Subsisting."
ADJ#115 p128-129 (Baha'u'llah) [paragraph 7 of the Immortal Passages]
...the supreme and distinguishing function of His Revelation ... is none other than the calling into being of a new race of men...
ADJ#028 p016
Suffering will purge and refine them, the new race of men will be raised up. It will be more than a new generation -- a new race of men; not only with a new mentality, but with a new spiritual power, a new capacity. They must establish this peace through their hearts as well as their minds.
(Pilgrim notes of May and Mary Maxwell, 1937)
The Guardian spoke about America's primacy-- but that more suffering was needed. We are struggling to attain a world civilization and world unity. I asked: And will all this lead to interplanetary unity? "Of course," he said emphatically, "After that, interplanetary unity." I said: But we have an awful lot to do here so as to reach a unity!" "Of course - I was just about to say this!", said the Guardian. The human race will become fused into one, one color, etc.
(Pilgrim notes of Virginia Orbison, 1956)
Already in the space of less than a century the operation of the mysterious processes generated by its creative spirit has provoked a tumult in human society such as no mind can fathom. Itself undergoing a period of incubation during its primitive age, it has, through the emergence of its slowly-crystallizing system, induced a fermentation in the general life of mankind designed to shake the very foundations of a disordered society, to purify its life-blood, to reorientate and reconstruct its institutions, and shape its final destiny. GPB.xi
Source reference not supplied
Great and far-reaching as have been those changes in the past, they cannot appear, when viewed in their proper perspective, except as subsidiary adjustments preluding that transformation of unparalleled majesty and scope which humanity is in this age bound to undergo.
WOB.045
Suffice it to say that this consummation will, by its very nature, be a gradual process, and must, as Baha'u'llah has Himself anticipated, lead at first to the establishment of that Lesser Peace which the nations of the earth, as yet unconscious of His Revelation and yet unwittingly enforcing the general principles which He has enunciated, will themselves establish. This momentous and historic step, involving the reconstruction of mankind, as the result of the universal recognition of its oneness and wholeness, will bring in its wake the spiritualization of the masses, consequent to the recognition of the character, and the acknowledgment of the claims, of the Faith of Baha'u'llah -- the essential condition to that ultimate fusion of all races, creeds, classes, and nations which must signalize the emergence of His New World Order.
PDC#301 p123
The Baha'is everywhere when the administration is first established, find it very difficult to adjust themselves. They have to learn to obey, even when the Assembly may be wrong, for the sake of unity. They have to sacrifice their personalities, to a certain extent, in order that the Community life may grow and develop as a whole. These things are difficult, but we must realize that they will lead us to a very much greater, more perfect, way of life when the Faith is properly established according to the administration.
LG#291, COC#1469 (26 Oct. 1943 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi)
The teachings of Baha'u'llah will establish a new way of life for humanity. … Divisional attachments are of man, while universal service is of God. The Guardian is now anxious that all the friends achieve a universal consciousness and a universal way of life.
LG#1424 (20 Nov. 1955 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi)
The House of Justice feels it would not be wise for it to make a public statement on the moral issues you mention which are now being discussed widely. In such aspects of morality, the guidance that Baha'i institutions offer to mankind does not comprise a series of specific answers to these moral issues, but rather the illumination of an entirely new way of life through the renewal of spiritual values.
(5 June. 1988 on behalf of the the Universal House of Justice)
The Baha'is should not always be the last to take up new and obviously excellent methods but rather the first, as this agrees with the dynamic nature of the Faith which is not only progressive, but holds within itself the seed of an entirely new culture and civilization.
(Shoghi Effendi, 5 May 1946 to an individual believer, in The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 3)
The amelioration of the conditions of the world requires the reconstruction of human society and efforts to improve the material well-being of humanity. The Baha'i approach to this task is evolutionary and multifaceted, involving not only the spiritual transformation of individuals but the establishment of an administrative system based on the application of justice, a system which is at once the "nucleus" and the "pattern" of the future World Order, together with the implementation of programmes of social and economic development that derive their impetus from the grass roots of the community. Such an integrated approach will inevitably create a new world, a world where human dignity is restored and the burden of inequity is lifted from the shoulders of humanity.
M63-86 425.8 (14 Mar. 1985 on behalf of the Universal House of Justice)
The purpose of every Manifestation of God is to effect a transformation in both the inner life and external conditions of humanity. And this transformation naturally occurs as a growing body of people, united by the divine precepts, collectively seeks to develop spiritual capacities to contribute to a process of societal change.
Ridvan.2012
Not ours, puny mortals that we are, to attempt, at so critical a stage in the long and checkered history of mankind, to arrive at a precise and satisfactory understanding of the steps which must successively lead a bleeding humanity, wretchedly oblivious of its God, and careless of Baha'u'llah, from its calvary to its ultimate resurrection.
PDC#303 p124
Continue exploring
For thought and discussion
Questions to carry forward
- Which qualities described here would most change the experience of meeting another person?
- How might inner transformation and changes in social institutions strengthen or frustrate each other?
- What does the Ephesians passage contribute by linking a renewed life to speech, work, generosity, and forgiveness?
- How can images of a new humanity inspire action while preserving the dignity and diversity of people as they are?
- What can the passages about gradual development and uncertainty teach us about reading confident hopes for the future?
- Where might a community begin to connect spiritual growth, economic justice, and the practical learning needed for a more united civilization?