Inspired
by the
Baha’i Faith
The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent the official views of the Baha'i Faith. The official website of the Baha'i Faith is: Bahai.org. The official website of the Baha'is of the United States can be found here: Bahai.us.
GOT IT
The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent the official views of the Baha'i Faith.
How do I become Baha’i?

Christopher
Buck and Necati Alkan

Christopher Buck (Ph.D., University of Toronto, 1996; J.D., Thomas M. Cooley Law School, 2006) is an attorney (Pittsburgh), independent scholar, faculty instructor at the Wilmette Institute (2001–present, Department of Bahá’í History & Texts, distance education), and former professor at Michigan State University (2000–2004, visiting assistant professor), Quincy University (1999–2000, visiting assistant professor), Millikin University (1997–1999, assistant professor) and Carleton University (1994–1996, sessional lecturer). Dr. Buck is the author of several books, including: Bahá’í Faith: The Basics (2021); God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America (2015), with an introduction by J. Gordon Melton (Distinguished Professor of American Religious History, Baylor University); Religious Myths and Visions of America (2009, “an original contribution to American studies,” Journal of American History, June 2011); Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy (2005), Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Baha'i Faith (1999), Symbol and Secret: Qur'an Commentary in Baha'u'llah's Kitab-i Iqan (1995/2004), and Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations (co-author, 2011). He has also contributed chapters in such books as: Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran (2021); Winds of Change: The Challenge of Modernity in the Middle East and North Africa (2019, three chapters); The Bahá’í Faith and African American History (2019); ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Journey West: The Course of Human Solidarity (2013); Observing the Observer: The State of Islamic Studies in American Universities (2012); American Writers: "David Bottoms" (2018), British Writers: Ninian Smart ((2018); and "Edward Granville Browne" (2015), The Islamic World (2008), and The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Qur’an (2006/2017). He has published a number of academic journal articles and encyclopedia articles as well. As for popular, online articles, Buck has contributed over 350 articles to BahaiTeachings.org, and has collaborated with Kevin Locke (Tokaheya Inajin in Lakota, translation “First to Rise”), renowned Lakota hoop dancer and flutist, on the ongoing “Indigenous Messengers of God” series (80 articles so far, culminating in three articles on “Indigenous Land and Spiritual Acknowledgments”). In 2021, Buck and Locke teamed up to teach an online course, “The Great Spirit Speaks: Voices of the Wise Ones” (offered three times in 2021, by popular demand).

Necati Alkan is a Turkish-German historian and Islamicist who specializes in late Ottoman history. He is research associate in the Department of Islamic Studies at the University of Bamberg and mainly works on religious minorities. He has published his first book (revised PhD thesis) Dissent and Heterodoxy in the Late Ottoman Empire: Reformers, Babis and Baha'is (2008). Currently he is working on his second book about a social history of the Nusayris/Alawis in the late Ottoman period. Among his other publications are: The eternal enemy of Islam’: Abdullah Cevdet and the Baha’i religion” (2005); “Süleyman Nazif's 'Open Letter to Jesus': An Anti-Christian Polemic in the Early Turkish Republic” (2008), and "Fighting for the Nuṣayrī Soul: State, Protestant Missionaries and the ʿAlawīs in the Late Ottoman Empire" (2012); "Divide and Rule: The Creation of the Alawi State after World War I (2013).

BY Christopher Buck and Necati Alkan
RELIGION
No More Jihad: Muhammad’s Message in Baha’u’llah’s Dream

No More Jihad: Muhammad’s Message in Baha’u’llah’s Dream

Christopher Buck and Necati Alkan | Jan 23, 2017
RELIGION
The Cradle of Christianity—and Islam

The Cradle of Christianity—and Islam

Christopher Buck and Necati Alkan | Aug 6, 2016
HISTORY
Peter in Antioch—the Wisdom of the First Christians

Peter in Antioch—the Wisdom of the First Christians

Christopher Buck and Necati Alkan | Aug 3, 2016

x
x
Connect with Baha’is in your area
Welcome!
What's your name?
Thanks my friend ! We want to connect you with a Baha’i in your area, where would that be?
Thank you so much! How can they best reach you?
To put you in touch with a Baha’i in your area who can answer your questions, we would like to kindly ask for a few details about yourself.
Connect with Baha’is in your area
Connect with Baha’is in your area
Get in touch with the Baha’is in your community.