Robert Stockman


Robert Stockman is a scholar specializing in Baháʼí studies who has been called "the foremost historian of the Baháʼí Faith in America." He received his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and a doctorate in religious studies from Harvard University.

Background

Robert Stockman was raised in Granby, Connecticut by Harold Herman and Margery Stockman, who worked as apple farmers. He initially majored in geology at Wesleyan University and later received a master's degree in planetary science from Brown University, with a particular interest in the geology of Mars. He was introduced to the Baháʼí Faith while an undergraduate student and converted at the age of twenty, on October 16, 1973.
He has been an active Baháʼí since his conversion, and in 1979 participated in mass teachings in rural central Florida.
During his studies for his master's degree in geology, he developed an interest in the history of the Baháʼí community in Rhode Island which led to his researching the biography of Thornton Chase. This endeavor led to the publication of Baha'i Faith in America: Origins 1892–1900, followed by Baha'i Faith in America, The: Early Expansion, 1900–1912 Volume 2 before the ultimate publishing of Thornton Chase: First American Baha'i. Starting in 1989, he has worked for the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, based in Wilmette, Illinois, in various capacities. He is married to Mana Derakhshani.

Career

Subsequent to earning his doctorate from Harvard Divinity School, Stockman began teaching at the DePaul University in Chicago prior to proceeding to his current position as a lecturer at Indiana University South Bend, where he teaches religious studies. He serves as director of the Wilmette Institute. He has served on the boards of the Baháʼí Encyclopedia project, the Association for Baháʼí studies, and World Order magazine. He has lectured on Baháʼí topics across the world and is a frequent contributor to Baháʼí panels at the American Academy of Religion.

Articles

  • Review of "In Service to the Common Good: The American Baháʼí Community's Commitment to Social Change," in World Order, vol. 37, no. 3, 45-48.
  • "The Baha'i Faith and Globalization, 1900–1912," in a peer-reviewed volume on globalization and the Baháʼí Faith.
  • "The Baháʼí Faith," in the Worldmark Encyclopedia.
  • Review of Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee, “Life and Death of Planet Earth,” in World Order, vol. 34, no. 3, 42-47.
  • "The Baháʼí Faith and Interfaith Relations: A Brief History," in World Order, vol. 33, no. 4, 19-33.
  • "Baháʼí Faith," in Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ed. J. Gordon Melton and Martin Baumann, 102-114
  • "True, Corinne Knight," in Women Building Chicago, 1790–1990, ed. Rima Lunin Schultz and Adele Hast, 891-93.
  • "Baháʼí faith," in Encyclopedia of American Religious History, ed. Edward L. Queen II, Stephen R. Prothero, and Gardiner H. Shattuck Jr., 53-55.
  • "The Unity Principle: Ideas of Social Concord and Discord in the Baháʼí Faith," in Joseph Gittler, ed., Research in Human Social Conflict, Volume 2, pp. 1–19.
  • Response to Juan R. I Cole, “Race, Immorality, and Money in the American Baháʼí Community: Impeaching the Los Angeles Spiritual Assembly,” Religion 30, 133-39.
  • "Baháʼí Faith," in James R. Lewis, The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions, 64-71.
  • "Revelation, Interpretation, and Elucidation in the Baháʼí Writings", in Moojan Momen, ed., Scripture and Revelation.
  • The Baháʼí Faith section of The Pluralism Project.
  • "The Baháʼí Faith in England and Germany, 1900–1913", in World Order magazine, vol. 27, no. 3,, 31-42.
  • "The Vision of the Baháʼí Faith," in Martin Forward, Ultimate Visions: Reflections on the Religions We Choose, 266-74.
  • "The Baháʼí Faith in the 1990s," article in Dr. Timothy Miller, ed., America's Alternative Religions
  • "The Baháʼí Faith: A Portrait," in Joel Beversluis, ed., A Sourcebook for the Earth's Community of Religions, 2d ed..
  • Paul Johnson's "Theosophical Influence in Baháʼí History: Some Comments", in Theosophical History, vol. 5, no. 4 : 137-43.
  • "The Baháʼí Faith in America: One Hundred Years," in World Order, vol. 25, no. 3 : 9-23.
  • "Women in the American Baháʼí Community, 1900–1912," in World Order, vol. 25, no. 2 : 17-34.
  • "Jesus Christ in the Baháʼí Writings," in The Baháʼí Studies Review, vol. 2, no. 1 : 33-41.
  • Review of John S. Hatcher's "The Purpose of Physical Reality," in Encyclopedie Universelle Philosophique.
  • Review of Marzieh Gail's "Summon Up Remembrance", in Iranian Studies, 22.4 : 118-20.
  • Review of R. Jackson Armstrong-Ingram's "Music, Devotions, and Mashriqu'l-Adhkár," in The Journal of Baháʼí Studies, vol. 1, no. 2 : 71-78.
  • "Passing of the First American Baháʼí," in Baháʼí News, no. 679 : 4-9.
  • "The Baháʼí Faith: Beginnings in North America,” World Order magazine, vol. 18, no. 4 : 7-27.

    Books

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