Nothing was easy about transforming the barren and rocky mountainside of Mount Carmel in the Holy Land into the spectacular garden paradise it is today.

Its dramatic story began with the secret rescue in 1850 of the sacred remains of the Báb, Prophet-Herald of the Baha’i Faith. For almost 60 years, His casket was hidden in place after place. With infinite difficulty, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá raised up the first simple building to enshrine the Báb’s remains. Then, over successive decades, Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith completed the golden-domed superstructure and extended the gardens around it. In the 1990s, the stairway of 19 garden terraces, envisaged by 'Abdu'l-Bahá was constructed - completing a century of devotion, sacrifice and supreme expertise in architecture, engineering and horticulture.

This fascinating history of the Shrine of the Báb and its terraces is compellingly told in a trilogy of three books published by George Ronald - Journey to a Mountain, Coronation on Carmel and Sacred Stairway - written by Michael Day.

In this episode of Great Reads: The George Ronald Podcast, Michael Day talks about his own journey to telling the story of the mountain of God.

Purchase Journey to a Mountain, here >

Purchase Coronation on Carmel here >

Purchase Sacred Stairway here >

Presented and produced by Rob Weinberg

This podcast © 2024 George Ronald Publisher. To use all or any part of it, kindly request permission by emailing sales@grbooks.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The British Bahá’í community has been in existence since 1899 and its National Spiritual Assembly was first elected in 1923. Although a number of monographs, articles and biographies have appeared over the years, no overall survey of the community’s history had yet been published - until very recently. The Bahá’í Community of the British Isles 1844–1963, published in 2023 by George Ronald, is an attempt to fill some of the gap.

The project was conceived by the late Adam Thorne, who spent more than two decades collecting material on the history of the Bahá’í community of the British Isles. His work was completed by Dr Moojan Momen, with the assistance of George Ronald authors Earl Redman and Janet Fleming Rose.

In this episode of Great Reads: The George Ronald Podcast, Dr Moojan Momen shares more about this magnificent piece of scholarly research and a labour of love.

The Bahá'í Community of the British Isles 1844-1963 can be purchased here >

Presented and produced by Rob Weinberg

This podcast © 2024 George Ronald Publisher. To use all or any part of it, kindly request permission by emailing sales@grbooks.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alma Sedonia Knobloch’s name may not be as well-known as, say, Martha Root’s or May Maxwell’s - yet her pioneering efforts were singled out by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in His Tablets of the Divine Plan.

Her 13 years in Germany saw an astonishing growth in its Bahá’í community which became the largest in Europe. After returning to the United States, she dedicated the rest of her life to the cause of race unity, building up communities in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

Alma’s fascinating and little-known story is told in full in the recent George Ronald publication, Alma Sedonia Knobloch: Maidservant of the Divine Plan.

In this episode of Great Reads: The George Ronald Podcast, Jennifer Redson Wiebers shares more about this inspiring, unsung heroine.

Alma Sedonia Knobloch: Maidservant of the Divine Plan is available as a book or electronic publication, here >

Presented and produced by Rob Weinberg

This podcast © 2024 George Ronald Publisher. To use all or any part of it, kindly request permission by emailing sales@grbooks.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.