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In the Beginning was a Word: How Language Weaves Reality Together. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 2017
Another in a series of books dealing with major questions about religious belief, this book examines the central role that language plays, not only in religion, but also in the progress of civilization from one dispensation to another, and from one era to another. Employing the analogy of weaving a tapestry, the discourse compares language to the threads that weave the pattern that becomes the narrative of human progress through the ages.
Reunion with the Beloved: Poetry and Martyrdom. Juxta Publishing, LTD. Hong Kong, 2004.
This collection of poetry translated from Persian is divided into two parts: poems written by or about the martyrs from the Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Faith, and poems written by or about those who were martyred after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. As with our other translations, the original text of the poems is in the back of the book.
The Arc of Ascent: The Purpose of Physical Reality II. Oxford, England: George Ronald Publishers, 1994. (385 pages)
This book extends the premise that physical reality is intended to be a school for learning about spirituality in preparation for our eternal existence our earthly experience. First, it demonstrates that individual spiritual development is impossible without our interaction with others—that personal development is necessary a social enterprise. Second, the book explains that another purpose of physical reality is to create by degrees in material form the qualities of a spiritual kingdom, the Kingdom of God on Earth, or what Bahá’u’lláh describes as “an ever-advancing civilization.”
The Ascent of Society: The Social Imperative in Personal Salvation. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 2007.
Though similar to the central theme of Arc of Ascent, this study focuses more narrowly on the descriptions by the Guardian (Shoghi Effendi) on how the three ages of the Bahá’í Faith and human history will evolve: the Heroic Age, the Formative Age, and the Golden Age. Quoting extensively from the writings of the Guardian on this subject, the work examines where we are presently in this process and what milestones we must needs traverse as we journey toward that future objective of the Bahá’í Commonwealth.
The Divine Art of Revelation. Wilmette, Illinois: the Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1998 (60 pages).
This brief booklet derives from the from the first chapter in The Ocean of His Words in which an attempt is made to explain why it is useful to approach the revealed words of the Manifestations as artistry on Their part, and not solely as divinely inspired guidance.
The Face of God Among Us: How God Educates Humanity. Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 2010
Though the fundamental nature and function of the Manifestations is discussed often—both in my earlier books and as prefatory matter to almost every book I write related to the Bahá’í teachings—this book boldly examines in a highly organized exegesis and in extensive detail the ontology of the Manifestations, Their powers, Their capacities, Their suffering, and various other important concerns we might have about how They appear among us and why They teach us in such an indirect and often mysterious manner.
The Law of Love Enshrined: Selected Essays by John Hatcher and William Hatcher. Oxford, England, 1996. (285 pages).
This is a collection of essays by my brother and me that attempt to elucidate certain laws or principles derived from the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Among these are concerns about proof of the existence of God, the equality of women and men, the Bahá’í concept of penology, and the foundational concept of spirituality.
The Metaphysical Nature of Physical Reality. Thornhill, Ontario: The Canadian Association for Studies on the Bahá'í Faith, 1977. (monograph, 27 pages)
If God could have created us in any condition He chose, why have us begin our eternal journey in an environment that—to outward seeming—is systematically confounding our efforts to become detached and spiritual beings. This article attempts to demonstrate that the logical solution to this problem is found in the essentially metaphorical nature of physical reality, which the Creator has cleverly adorned and invested with spiritual attributes.
