Abstract

An overall normative and descriptive account of what Bahá’í education is or should stand for does not exist yet. This chapter represents an inchoate attempt to address this gap. The first part highlights a few of the conceptual themes or principles that seem foundational to Bahá’í education: the Primal Will (or the Manifestation of God), the harmony of science and religion, the unity of knowledge, and the oneness of humankind. The last theme refers both to the notion of human nature (as potentiality) and to the imperative of establishing a just, unified, and peaceful world civilization. The second part offers a descriptive account of the Bahá’í schools established in Iran at the beginning of the twentieth century. This constitutes an examination of how Bahá’í principles have been translated into practice in the areas of education and social transformation with the guidance of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. Finally, the third part examines three different types of Bahá’í inspired curricula (FUNDAEC, BIHE, and the Anisa Model) as examples of how the conceptual themes highlighted throughout the chapter have more recently shaped curriculum-building in the Bahá’í community.