The Bahá’í Religion as a Project for the Realization of the Category of Modern Religion

Abstract

The aim of this article is to provide a historical perspective on the formative period of the Bahá’í religion (second half of the 19th century – 1930s), contextualising aspects of this new Abrahamic messianic religion such as globalism, anti-clericalism, and anti-ritualism. The author approaches the history of the emergence of the Bahá’í religion in the context of the concepts and categories of religion formulated in the field of modern religious studies, especially ritual. Drawing on primary sources (the writings of the Founder and his successors), the author shows how these new concepts and categories were taken as a basis for the construction of this religion. The author argues that anti-ritualism was based on arguments unrelated to anti-clericalism.