Audiobook · read by volunteers
Revelation of Baha-ullah in a Sequence of Four Lessons
Isabella D. Brittingham (1852–1924)
Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater · 4 chapters · 1 h 38
About the book
This short book introduces the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, in the form of four lessons. Isabella Brittingham, an early American follower of the faith, wrote them for readers who knew little about it, and she presents her subject in a patient, step-by-step way. The aim is clear: to explain who Bahá’u’lláh was, what he taught, and why his followers believe his message matters. The tone is devout, earnest and plainly meant to persuade through explanation rather than through argument. Four chapters, a little over an hour and a half, make this a manageable first encounter with a religion that was at that time still new to many Western readers. Listeners curious about the history of religious movements will find a primary source from the faith’s early years in America.
Introduction
Isabella D. Brittingham (1852-1924) was a significant early American member of the Bahá’í Faith. She was later named by Shoghi Effendi as one of the nineteen Disciples of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Heralds of the Covenant. Her Revelation of Baha-ullah in a Sequence of Four Lessons was published in 1902, in a period when the faith was only beginning to gain followers in the West.
The book is a work of introduction written from within the tradition. It is divided into four lessons, each of which builds on the one before it. Brittingham writes as a believer addressing readers who might be curious or unconvinced, and she tries to explain rather than simply declare. Her voice is calm and her aim is instruction.
For a listener today, the text has a double interest. It is a statement of Bahá’í teaching as it was presented to Americans at the beginning of the twentieth century, and it is also a window onto the way religious communities explain themselves to outsiders when they are young and small.
The recording consists of four files, one for each chapter, and lasts about an hour and a half. It was read by a LibriVox volunteer. It will suit those who are interested in the history of the Bahá’í Faith, in comparative religion, or in religious writing aimed at beginners. The four lessons are short enough to hear in a single sitting, but they also reward a slower approach, one lesson at a time. For listeners without any background in the subject, the plain style and the logical progression make the content easy to follow from beginning to end.
Public domain
Isabella D. Brittingham died in 1924: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive