Bahá'í Faith in Norway

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The Bahá'í Faith in Norway began with contact between traveling Scandinavians with early Persian believers of the Bahá'í Faith in the mid-to-late 1800's.[1] Bahá'ís first visited Scandinavia in the 1920s following `Abdu'l-Bahá's, then head of the religion, request outlining Norway among the countries Bahá'ís should pioneer to[2] and the first Bahá'í to settle in Norway was Johanna Schubartt.[3] Following a period of more Bahá'í pioneers coming to the country, Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assemblies spread across Norway while the national community eventually formed a Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly in 1962.[4] There are currently around 1000 Bahá'ís in the country.[5]

Contents

[edit] Early history

The first mentions of the religion happened in the era when Norway was politically united with Sweden; the first mention of the Báb, who Bahá'ís view as the herald to the founder of the religion, Bahá'u'lláh, was published in accounts of Persian travels in 1869, and the first mentions of Bahá'u'lláh were made in 1896.[1] Swedish Sufi Ivan Aguéli was able to meet `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, in 1912 in Egypt.[1]

[edit] `Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan

The next steps in the history of the Bahá'í Faith in Norway start after the political independence of Norway from Sweden in 1905. `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States in 1916-1917; these letters were compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan. The seventh of the tablets was the first to mention several countries in Europe including beyond where `Abdu'l-Bahá had visited in 1911-12. Written in April 11, 1916, it was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919 — after the end of the First World War and the Spanish flu. World traveling Bahá'í journalist Martha Root's subsequently visited King Haakon VII of Norway among her many trips.[6] The seventh tablet was translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab on April 4th, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12th, 1919.[7]

"In all the countries of the world the longing for universal peace is taking possession of the consciousness of men. … A most wonderful state of receptivity is being realized.… Therefore, O ye believers of God! Show ye an effort and after this war spread ye the synopsis of the divine teachings in the British Isles, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Portugal, Rumania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Monaco, San Marino, Balearic Isles, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Malta, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Shetland Islands, Hebrides and Orkney Islands."[2]

Following the release of these tablets a few Bahá'ís began moving to or at least visiting countries across Europe. August Rudd became the first Bahá'í pioneer in Scandinavia (Sweden) in 1920.[8] Johanne Høeg became the first citizen of Denmark to become a Bahá'í (see Bahá'í Faith in Denmark.)

[edit] Period of pioneers

Johanna (Christensen) Schubartt is called the "Mother Bahá'í of Norway". She was born in 1877 in Sandefjord. She moved to the United States and learned of the Bahá'í Faith from May Maxwell in 1919. She returned to Norway in 1927.[3] Dagmar Dole was another early pioneer.[9] In 1934 Martha Root returned to Oslo for a number of speaking engagements through 1935 and met up with Lidia Zamenhof whom she had known for a decade since her conversion to the religion, for some Esperanto conventions.[10] A 1946 telegram of Shoghi Effendi, head of the religion after the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá, called for pioneers to the capitals of several countries including Norway.[11] The first Local Spiritual Assembly of Oslo formed in 1948 with Schubartt. A 1950 European Teaching Conference in Denmark, including Dagmar Dole,[12] coordinated pioneers - two Americans settled in the Lofoten Islands in 1953 and in 1955 a pioneer reached extreme northern Batsfjord.[13] Schubartt died in 1953 and is buried in Stockholm.

[edit] Development

As the religion spread across Scandinavia it reached the point where a regional National Spiritual Assembly for Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark was established in 1957.[14] Meanwhile pioneers continued to arrive from other counties — a British Bahá'í settled for a time in Spitsbergen in 1958 though later a Norwegian couple moved there in 1970.[13] The second Norwegian Local Spiritual Assembly formed in Stavanger in 1960.[1]

In 1962-3 Norway added two Local Spiritual Assemblies in Bergen, and Hetland, with smaller groups between 1 and 9 adults in Baerum and Fana and isolated Bahá'ís in Ås(Aas), Harstad, Kristiansund, Laksevåg, Narvik, Sandefjord, Soma, and Stokmarknes.[15]

In 1962 Norway, also, elected its own National Spiritual Assembly.[4][16] The Sami people had a Local Spiritual Assembly in Trondheim in 1969 with the conversion of the first of their people to the Bahá'í Faith.[13] In 1973 Local Assemblies were added in Lillehammer, Bærum, Bodø, and Hill; in 1979 in Hurum and Gjøvik and in 1984 in Smoke and Tromsø.[1]

The National Spiritual Assembly of Norway established an institution — the Norwegian Agency for International Development Cooperation — and in 1988 it began a working relationship with India's New Era Development Institute (see New Era High School), with support for a two-year rural community development program. In 1989, funding was extended to cover a one-year community development facilitators course and short courses on agriculture, rural technology, literacy, and domestic science.[17] In 1992, a Local Spiritual Assembly was founded in Arena and in 1996 in Ash.[1]

From 1998 through 2001 the Bahá'í International Community and the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Norway committed to participating in Norwegian interfaith initiatives resulting in an Oslo Declaration on Freedom of Religion or Belief.[18][19]

[edit] Current community

In the late 1990's by one count there were 173 Bahá'ís per million population in Norway[16] which implies around 800 Bahá'ís while by 2005 a Norwegian Census reports just over 1000 Bahá'ís.[5] In May 2001 the Bahá'í youth gathered for "Project Panacea" for a Bahá'í Youth Workshop (see Oscar DeGruy) including public performances.[20] There have been successive Youth Conferences across Scandinavia since 2004[21] and there exists a Bahá'i Student Club of Oslo University.[22]

[edit] Prominent individuals

Lasse Thoresen has been a Bahá'í since about 1971 (he was elected as NSA Secretary in 1975) and is a professor with the Norwegian State Academy of Music with a graduate degree in composition from the Oslo Music Conservatory, where he studied under Finn Mortensen. From 1988 to 2000 Thoresen occupied the principal chair of composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.[23][24] Among his compositions is The Carmel Eulogies, a symphony that premiered in Oslo in 1993 with repeated performances since. Commissioned by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra on the occasion of its 75th jubilee, the symphony consists of two parts, "Fragrances of Mercy" and "Circumambulations." The rhythm of saying "Allah'u'Abha" ("God the All-Glorious") is inherent in the work, which is based on the Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet of Carmel. The symphony was critically acclaimed, and many members of the audience were visibly moved during the performance. It was broadcast live on national radio and taped for later airing on the national television network.[25][26]

Margun Risa is another Norwegian Bahá'í artist - she's a singer/teacher who studied at Rogaland academy in Stavanger. Risa became a Bahá'í about 1976 and in 1986 was invited to sing for the opening of the Lotus Temple in New Delhi. In 1992 Thoresen asked Risa to sing as part of the opening of the Second Bahá'í World Congress. Later Risa studied under Anne Brown, an American who was the first to sing the part of Bess in Gerschwin's opera, Porgy and Bess.[27][28]

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Emanuel Swedenborg

The Bahá'í Faith views Sweden's Emanuel Swedenborg, who lived 1688–1772, as a "spiritually enlightened"[29] individual who "because of the extreme progressiveness of his teachings may, in a way, be considered a herald of this Day." One of the first Bahá'ís of the West, Thornton Chase, was a follower of Swedenborg in 1883[30], and was able to find many of those teachings in the Bahá'í Faith (and during Chase' day Swedenborgianism suffered division and strife resulting in schism in 1890.)[31][32]

[edit] Meditation issue

In 1983 the Universal House of Justice, current elected head of the religion, addressed a letter to the National Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Norway concerning practices of meditation - it appears Norwegian Bahá'ís were particularly attracted to the practice but had differences of opinion about the place and practice of mediation. In an attempt to start "a campaign of spiritualization of the Bahá'í community" called for by the House of Justice, a committee in Norway had established a meditation class at a summer school that offered one particular method. Observing that as Bahá'u'lláh had not outlined any method of mediation, the House of Justice cautioned that any private personal choice on a method of meditation should not be institutionalized or mandated. The House of Justice elaborated that the community was struggling with the regrettable atmosphere of appalling suffering brought on by religions in the past - that there had arisen a kind of revulsion of various kinds of personal and public spiritual practices of religion that the Bahá'í Faith never the less does stress and outlined them as follows:

  • The recital each day of one of the Obligatory Bahá'í prayers with pure-hearted devotion.
  • The regular reading of the Sacred Scriptures, specifically at least each morning and evening, with reverence, attention and thought.
  • Prayerful meditation on the Bahá'í teachings, so that we may understand them more deeply, fulfil them more faithfully, and convey them more accurately to others.
  • Striving every day to bring our behaviour more into accordance with the high standards that are set forth in these teachings.
  • Teaching the religion.
  • Selfless service in the work of the religion and in the carrying on of our trade or profession.[33]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Skandinavisk bahá'í historie. Official Website of the Bahá'ís of Norway. National Spiritual Assembly of Norway (2007-8). Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  2. ^ a b `Abdu'l-Bahá [1916-17] (1991). Tablets of the Divine Plan, Paperback, Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, p. 43. ISBN 0877432333. 
  3. ^ a b Johanna Schubarth. Official Website of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Norway. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Norway (2008-03-25). Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  4. ^ a b The Bahá'í Faith: 1844-1963: Information Statistical and Comparative, Including the Achievements of the Ten Year International Bahá'í Teaching & Consolidation Plan 1953-1963, Compiled by Hands of the Cause Residing in the Holy Land, pages 22 and 46.
  5. ^ a b Members of religious and life stance communities outside the Church of Norway, by religion/life stance. Church of Norway and other religious and life stance communities. Statistics Norway (2008). Retrieved on 2008-04-26.
  6. ^ Effendi, Shoghi (1944). God Passes By. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, pp. 388. ISBN 0-87743-020-9. 
  7. ^ Abbas, 'Abdu'l-Bahá; Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, trans. and comments (1919). Tablets, Instructions and Words of Explanation. 
  8. ^ Collins, William; [Ed.] Moojan Momen. Studies in Babi and Baha'i History, volumes 1, chapter: Kenosha, 1893-1912: History of an Early Bahá'í Community in the United States. Kalimat Press, p. 248. ISBN 1890688452. 
  9. ^ Levy, Ben (1953-03-16). Pilgrim Notes by Ben Levy. Pilgrims' notes. Bahá'í Library Online. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  10. ^ Lidia Zamenhof. Official Website of the Bahá'ís of Norway. National Spiritual Assembly of Norway (2007-8). Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  11. ^ The Pivot on Which Hinges Success and footnote, This Decisive Hour, Messages from Shoghi Effendi to the North American Bahá'ís 1932-1946, by Shoghi Effendi, Wilmette, IL: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1992, ISBN 087743249X
  12. ^ MacEoin, Denis; William Collins. Principles. The Babi and Baha'i Religions: An Annotated Bibliography. Greenwood Press's ongoing series of Bibliographies and Indexes in Religious Studies. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  13. ^ a b c van den Hoonaard, Will C. (1994-03-09). "Baha'i Faith in Circumpolar Regions (Arctic)". draft of "A Short Encyclopedia of the Baha'i Faith", Bahá'í Library Online. Retrieved on 2008-04-22. 
  14. ^ Hassall, Graham; Universal House of Justice. National Spiritual Assemblies statistics 1923-1999. Assorted Resource Tools. Bahá'í Academics Resource Library. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
  15. ^ (1963) The Bahá'í Faith: 1844-1963: Information Statistical and Comparative, Including the Achievements of the Ten Year International Bahá'í Teaching & Consolidation Plan 1953-1963. Haifa, Israel: Hands of the Cause Residing in the Holy Land, pp. 22 and 46. 
  16. ^ a b Hassall, Graham (1994-03-09). "100 Years of the Baha'i Faith in Europe". draft of "A Short Encyclopedia of the Baha'i Faith", Bahá'í Library Online. Retrieved on 2008-04-22. 
  17. ^ Hansen, Holly; Bahá'í International Community (1999). Overview of Bahá'í Social and Economic Development. 1992-93 edition of The Bahá'í World, pp. 229-245.. Universal House of Justice. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  18. ^ “Interfaith dialogue participants meet with King of Norway”, Bahá'í World News Service, 2000-12-18, <http://news.bahai.org/story/90> 
  19. ^ “In Norway, interfaith coalition commits to principles of religious freedom”, Bahá'í World News Service, 2001-12-09, <http://news.bahai.org/story/142> 
  20. ^ Panacea prosjektet. Official Website of the Bahá'ís of Norway. National Spiritual Assembly of Norway (2007-8). Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  21. ^ Previous Conferences. Nordic Youth Conferences. National Youth Committee (2008-03-24). Retrieved on 2008-04-26.
  22. ^ Bahá'i Student Club of Oslo. University of Oslo > Student life > Student societies > Religious. University of Oslo (2007-8). Retrieved on 2008-04-26.
  23. ^ “In Norway, a classical composer strives for a new musical paradigm”, One Country 10 (1), April-June 1998, <http://www.onecountry.org/e101/e10108as.htm> 
  24. ^ Frølich, Syliva (1996), “Lasse Thoresen - composer, Norway”, Arts Dialogue 1996 (March), <http://bahai-library.com/bafa/t/thoresen.htm> 
  25. ^ “Bahá'ís and the Arts: Part II - Music”, Bahá'í World News Service, 2006, <http://info.bahai.org/article-1-9-2-3.html> 
  26. ^ Levin, Mona & Siger, Translation: Virginia (2002-09-25), “Lassse Thoresen: Aural Explorer”, Listen to Norway 4 (1), <http://www.mic.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2002092512411043764248> 
  27. ^ “Margun Risa singer, Norway”, Bahá'í Association for the Arts newsletter, December 1993, <http://bahai-library.com/bafa/r/risa.htm> 
  28. ^ The Music: Composers and Performers. The Terraces of the Shrine of the Báb. Bahá'í International Community (2007). Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
  29. ^ (1983) in Hornby, Helen (Ed.): Lights of Guidance: A Bahá'í Reference File. Bahá'í Publishing Trust, New Delhi, India, pp. 510. ISBN 978-8185091464. 
  30. ^ (2001) draft of a book later published as Thornton Chase: The First American Bahá'í. Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust. 
  31. ^ Francis, N. Richard (1998). Thorton Chase the First Baha'i from the Western Hemisphere. Collection: Biography. Bahá'í Library Online. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  32. ^ Kline, Rebecca (2000-05-11). At the Edge of a New Threshold: Swedenborg, Revelation and the New Church. Harvard Divinity School class #2460, Crossing the Threshold of Divine Revelation, Professor William J. Abraham. Cambridge Swedenborg Chapel. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  33. ^ Letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Norway. Unpublished letters from the Universal House of Justice. Bahá'í Library Online. (1983-11-01). Retrieved on 2008-04-26.

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