Mission Statement of the Wilmette Institute (2015)
An agency of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States
The mission of Wilmette Institute is to offer a quality academic non-degree certificate program and courses through online education in a Baháʼí approach to Social Transformation. Wilmette Institute offers distinctive learning experiences characterized by action and reflection that aim to raise capacity in learners from diverse populations. We seek to understand how a Baháʼí perspective, applied to prevalent discourses, helps build a more compassionate, just, and inclusive society.
Guiding Principles:
Universal peace and justice will be realized through a global consciousness of the oneness of humanity and the interconnectedness of the earth and all its inhabitants.
Both science and religion are essential to building an ever-advancing civilization.
Systemic social problems require a holistic approach to discover lasting solutions.
Scholarship does not begin and end with words but combines theory and praxis in study, consultation, action and reflection.
Sustainable social change requires the development of human capacity, in order for people to become protagonists of their own material and spiritual development.
The Wilmette Institute for Bahá'í Studies will offer two concentrations for the degree-related educational programs: Bahá'í History, Beliefs, and Texts and Bahá'í Perspectives on Social Transformation. The first concentration will offer students courses that explore Bahá'í history, theology, tenets, texts, the Bahá'í administrative order, Bahá'í community life, and community development. The second will focus on courses that present the Bahá'í perspective on pressing local and global social issues including nonviolent social change, racial amity and justice, environmental ethics, and sustainable development. These courses seek to provide learners with opportunities for critical and systems thinking about root causes of social problems and provide a holistic perspective on social change that highlights the interconnectedness of issues to find lasting solutions. The courses offer both scientific and spiritual approaches to sustainable social change for youth, young adults, and adults of all economic strata and backgrounds. The Wilmette Institute opens opportunities for people to apply their knowledge at the grassroots for the betterment of the world.
The Wilmette Institute will pursue partnerships with educational institutions interested in incorporating its courses into academic degrees. If, at some point, there are educational or vocational reasons to offer an undergraduate or graduate degree, its courses for university students and its partnerships will have prepared it well to do so. It will continue to offer community learning courses as an incubator for new credit courses and will continue to develop new courses for the general public. The Institute seeks to be the major center for knowledge generation and dissemination related to the Bahá'í Faith through its webinars and online publishing..
The purpose of the Wilmette Institute is to offer courses and other educational programs to youth and adults regardless of their background and to foster scholarship on topics related to the Bahá'í Faith.
Mission Statement for Wilmette Institute’s Community Learning Courses (elaborated in June of 2022)
Extension courses mission statement: The Wilmette Institute's extension courses aim to help our participants to contribute meaningfully to the current discourses of society through the spiritual principles and values expressed within the Baha'i conceptual framework for action. The application of these spiritual principles can be achieved through individual participants, their communities, and their local institutions reading their own reality and transforming it to reflect how every voice contributes towards the oneness of humanity. The Wilmette Institute extension courses will encourage an iterative process between these three protagonists consulting collectively, taking action, reflecting on this action and studying further to advance what has been learned in this transformative process of building an ever-advancing civilization.
The Wilmette Institute’s courses have as their main purpose to raise up capacity for people to become protagonists, that is, people who:
are “anxiously concerned” about the world around them able to “read reality” (or “independently investigate the truth”)
identify the nature of social arrangements around them and the challenges they produce
are capable of significant conversation with others about the reality around them, and
are engaged in transforming themselves and society to bring about an “ever advancing civilization.”
Some courses focus on topics that more closely relate to social reality, but even courses that focus on works of Bahá’í scripture can assist people to develop skills in identifying ideas, analysing them, and explaining them to others. All courses seek to create an environment where participants feel a connection to the revelation of Bahá’u’lláh.
Courses will be created to avoid the following pitfalls:
Encouraging Bahá’ís to be inward looking; courses should be designed to make people outward looking
Reducing the number of people who initiate their own activities; courses should encourage people to create their own local activities
Disengaging people from the local experience; courses should seek to increase engagement locally
Diminishing the effectiveness of local and regional plans; courses should seek to strengthen involvement in such plans.
Revised: 06/23/2022