“WHAT COMES AFTER NATIONS?” is the right question for these turbulent times.
Much of this turmoil is a result of the conflict between nations around the world. Nations and nationalism, are the most recent form of governance; however, while their numbers and sovereign powers increased over time, in today’s world, every nation’s sovereignty is under assault by powerful global forces.
Humanity’s history is not just a collection of chance events; but instead, a long series of focused episodes that saw societies advance from wandering–hunter–gatherers back in the Stone Age, to farmers, to developers of cities, empires, and nations. Harvey Garver explores how humanity’s development has been motivated, guided and energized by the world’s orthodox religions, and explains how The Baha’i Faith, and its belief in “Progressive Revelation”, reveals a new spiritual principle, leading to a burgeoning worldwide society with peace and prosperity for all humanity.
Our ever advancing civilization is leading us beyond our current immature and turbulent world, eventually and inevitably, climaxing with the development of God’s Kingdom On Earth as the mature, ultimate, and highest level of society. Harvey Garver, living in Sarasota, Florida, a member of The Baha’i Faith, writes about the Baha’i World View and its intriguing history of humanity, linking the development of civilizations to the Creative Word of God that has been progressively revealed by orthodox religions including: Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and now: The Baha’i Faith
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TITLE INFORMATION WHAT COMES AFTER NATIONS? Once Again from Religion's Renewal, a New Civilization Emerges Harvey Garver iUniverse (326 pp.) ISBN: 978-1-5320-3964-5; June 30, 2018 BOOK REVIEW
A writer offers a sweeping account of world history from the perspective of the Bahá’í faith. According to debut author Garver, humanity has never been more spiritually evolved, and is poised to enjoy an unprecedented religious harmony. He arrives at this conclusion by applying the principles of Bahá’í theology—a 19th-century synthesis of world religions—to the evolution of humans. The author contends that the history of humanity is not a series of random accidents but the unfolding of a divine plan disclosed in a “progressive revelation.” That revelation unfurls in fits and starts, punctuated by the contributions of special prophets, “Divine Educators” known as “Manifestations of God.” Out of the teachings of the six great prophets—Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad—six illustrious civilizations sprung, each refining humans’ souls in some substantive way. Though these religions descended into sectarian conflict, the opportunity for a coalescence of them all was provided in 1844 by the Persian prophet Baha’u’llah, the most recent of God’s Manifestations, who revealed the unity of the human race. Garver furnishes succinctly synoptic distillations of each prophet’s teachings as well as a remarkably clear introduction to the basics of Bahá’í doctrine. He also provides a history of basically everything from the prehistoric beginnings of humans to the formation of more advanced societies and the birth of nations. The author argues that modern science and globalization have helped prepare the world for the salutary diminishment of national distinctions and the birth of a more cosmopolitan sense of humankind’s unity. Garver’s diagnosis of modern times is a refreshingly optimistic one, though rigorously argued too—he reproduces the position espoused in 2011 by Steven Pinker in The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. But Garver never seriously tackles the mounting evidence that globalization has catalyzed a resurgence of nationalism as well as sectarian differences. In addition, he doesn’t adequately confront the facts that Bahá’í membership remains low in comparison to its religious competitors and that secularism has emerged as the principal alternative. A lucid introduction to Bahá’í, but an unconvincing argument about the world’s future
