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Smokey Stover · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 2:10 pm Post subject: Kahlil Gibran and Baha'i

First off, I know almost nothing about Baha'i except that it got started (I think) in the Middle East, where naturally it has been persecuted ever since, not least in the present era. Many American universities have a Baha'i group.

Actually, this post was inspired by Kahlil Gibran, a Lebanese speaker and author. His most famous work, The Prophet, was almost immediately popular, and is said to have had a renewed popularity in the 1960s and '70s. If so, I wasn't aware of it myself. I had read The Prophet, though, and had the impression that it sounded as though Gibran wanted to make more systematic, and modernize, the teachings of Jesus, with some expansion, but using Jesus-like epressions. It turns out, though, that the book was in honor of the founder of the Baha'i faith.

Although I've often thought about Gibran and The Prophet, what brings it to mind today is that the children of Gibran have given to Princeton University (where one of them teaches) all of Gibran's papers and notes.

I'm not proselytizing for either Gibran or Baha'i, but I recommend at least a short delve into The Prophet (or Baha'i) for the religiously curious. I suppose that might sound like recommending that you read the works of Aimee Semple MacPherson, founder of the Four-Square Church of the Gospel, just because she, too, was famous (and much more so) at around the same time. But there's really no comparison. Gibran wasn't even a Christian (as far as I know), but he sounds more Christ-like than any of the better-known Christians of his day or ours.
_________________
According to Smokey,
Circumstances alter cases.

DurhamDawg · Sliver STAR Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 225

I agree that both Kahlil Gibran and the Baha'i faith would be interesting topics here. My sister and her family are Baha'is, and my spouse and I used a bit of "The Prophet" in our (secular) wedding ceremony, so those are my connections to both of those topics. My knowledge of the Baha'i faith is mostly limited to what my sister has told me about it. I know that equality of the sexes and the unity of mankind are a couple of important themes for them. Here's a link to their website: http://www.bahai.org/

Smokey Stover · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:36 pm Post subject:

Did I fail to mention it, or did I just post it in some obscure place? Gibran had no children, his only significant female interest was Mary Haskell, an "intimate" friend. As to his religion, he appears to have been a Maronite Christian, at least in spirit. That was the religion of his family, and his grandfather was a Maronite priest.

The gift to the University was by Gibran's friend and biographer, William Shehadi, and his family, some of whom studied at Princeton.

Sorry for my very great error.
_________________
According to Smokey,
Circumstances alter cases.

DurhamDawg · Sliver STAR Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 225