The Baha'i Faith and the Enlightenment

The scientific revolution and the Enlightenment, with their focus on reason, heralded a new age of progress that has transformed every aspect of material civilization. At the same time their challenge to received authorities has catalyzed a wave of secularization that has eroded the power and influence of religion. Dr. Steven Phelps will explore how the Baha'i Faith, one of the most recent of the world religions, addresses the values and goals of Enlightenment thought.
Dr. Steven Phelps received dual bachelors’ degrees in physics and philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University, specializing in cosmology. He worked for 13 years at the Bahá’í World Center in Haifa, Israel in its Research Department, where he coordinated the indexing and collation of the Bahá’í Sacred Writings and their translation from Persian and Arabic into English.