The Gregorian year 2025 was the second full year of operation of the Corinne True Center for Baha’i History, which was established in January 2024 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States. The first year was very much a time of formation, of starting every major activity for the first time and developing it. In contrast, in 2025 many of the efforts matured and laid the foundation for even greater developments.
One of the first foci of the Center’s energies was the creation of a scholarly webinar series. In 2024 it sponsored 20 of them; in 2025, 16, but two of the 2025 presentations were actually panels involving three speakers each.The panels involved authors of articles about Tahirih which appeared in a special issue of Hawwa: Journal of Women in the Middle East and the Islamic World. The fact that an entire issue of an academic journal was devoted to Tahirih was a very significant academic development for the Faith.
The Center also collaborated with the Baha’i Studies Unit of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), an important academic organization, to offer a “webinaar” (a webinar through the American Academy of Religion) about the academic volume The World of the Baha’i Faith, which was published by Routledge in 2022. The program, published by the AAR to its members, had a significant number of academics in the audience. The Center also helped Baha’is present 6 talks about aspects of the Faith at the AAR.
The Center also conducted other outreach efforts to scholarly institutions. A start was made in 2024 when the Center put together a panel about Baha’i history for the annual meeting of the Association for Baha’i Studies. The effort expanded in 2025 with the convening of the Center’s first annual Baha’i history conference at Green Acre, June 6-8, where 12 speakers delivered presentations about history, theology, philosophy, and world religions. In 2026 the effort to encourage scholarship is expected to expand further with a second Green Acre conference and an academic symposium on Baha’i history at Binghamton University.
A high priority of the Corinne True Center had been offering online courses on history, theology, and world religions. Some of the courses were fairly advanced. In 2024, 6 courses were offered; in 2025, 14; and 21 are planned for 2026. Of particular importance was Paul and the Epistles in Baha’i and Historical Perspective, which examined the Apostle Paul’s New Testament letters in detail both from a Baha’i perspective and from new perspectives that have emerged among New Testament scholars in recent years. The result was a possible reconciliation of Paul’s theology with the Baha’i writings. It was a follow-up course on Jesus and the Gospels in Baha’i and Historical Perspective, which was offered in the fall of 2024 and provided a new Baha’i perspective on the gospels. A course on Buddhism in Baha’i and Comparative Perspectives offered new ways to think about Buddhism and a revised course was offered on The World Order of Baha’u’llah. Very lively and insightful discussion has also been a feature of the course Understanding Religion I:Conceptual and Experiential Aspects, and that course will be followed by Understanding Religion II: Social and Historical Aspects in 2026. The Center also continued its successful series of courses on the Arabic and Persian languages.
An important effort of the Center has been its Book Club, which selects a book to read every month and then sponsors a webinar at the end of the month where members of the club can ask the author or another person connected to the book questions about its content and how it came to be written. The Book Club now has over 275 members, and has read and discussed 17 books since it started in September 2024. For example, to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the establishment of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, the Book Club read Infinite Horizons: The Life and Times of Horace Holley by Kathryn Jewett Hogenson, the biography of Hand of the Cause of God Horace Holley who was its long-serving Secretary.
The structure and organization of the Corinne True Center continued to develop. Gisu Mohadjer and Angelita Reyes were added to the Executive Committee in 2025, joining William Collins, Gwen Etter-Lewis, Omid Ghaemmaghami, Nina Rafiei, Robert Stockman, and Mina Yazdani to raise the membership to eight. Monthly meetings have refined the focus on the webinars, the policies for selecting and training faculty, and the procedures for creating, revising, and evaluating courses. In 2026, faculty video meetings and training sessions will be offered to enhance course delivery.
Overall, 2025 saw steady advancement of the Center and the building of a foundation for further developments in 2026.