'Abdu'l-Baha, The Master

Here is a pen-picture of 'Abdu'l-Bahá by an author whom Shoghi Effendi called 'the best writer we have . . . the pre-eminent Bahá'í writer.' This collection, which was published to commemorate the 75th anniversary of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's journey to the West, brings together in one volume the various writings of George Townshend to and about 'Abdu'l-Bahá, so that his own portrait of the Master emerges, with fitting reverence to the Centre of the Covenant, the Exemplar, the Mystery of God. George Townshend dwells with emphasis on 'Abdu'l-Bahá's historic journey to the West in his essays on 'The Master' and 'The Exemplar'. In 'A Study of a Christ-like Character', 'The Letters of 'Abdu'l-Bahá' and 'The Fire of the King's Love', he leads the reader into a fuller realization of that divine love and spirituality exemplified in the Master's life. 'To live today in deed and truth the kind of life that Jesus of Nazareth led and bade his followers lead, to love God wholeheartedly and for God's sake to love all mankind, even one's slanderers and enemies, to give consistently good for evil, blessings for curses, kindness for cruelty . . . to preserve one's courage and sweetness and calm faith in God - to do all this and yet to play the man in a world of men, sharing at home and in business the common life of humanity, administering when occasion arose affairs and small, handling complex situations with foresight and firmness . . . to how many men is such an achievement given as it has been given in this age of ours to 'Abdu'l-Bahá?' George Townshend.