Baha’is in Exile By: Vernon Elvin Johnson Author Vernon Elvin Johnson considers Baha’is in Exile a sequel to his doctoral dissertation. In this book, Johnson seeks to continue the history he briefly covered in the last chapter of his dissertation. Baha’is are followers of Baha’u’llah, the main founder of the Baha’i religion. The Baha’is mentioned in this book have been rejected, cast out, or exiled from the faith by the majority – or mainstream – body of Baha’is, creating what some consider divisions in the Baha’i faith.
Citizens of the World deals with the Baha’is and their religion. While covering the historical development in sufficient detail to serve as a general monograph on Baha’i, emphasis is laid on examining contemporary Baha’i, with the Danish Baha’i community as a recurrent case. The book discusses Baha’i religious texts, rituals, economy, everyday life, demographic development, mission strategies, leadership, and international activism in analyses based on primary material, such as interview studies among the Baha’is, fieldwork data from the Baha’i World Centre in Israel, and field trips around the world. The approach is a combination of history of religions and sociology of religion within a theoretical framework of religion and globalisation. Several general topics in the study of new religions are covered. The book contributes to the theoretical study of globalisation by proposing a new model for analysing globalisation and transnational religions.
I made the monumental decision to follow Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior 50 years ago, at age 8, while attending Miles Chapel Christian Methodist Church in Little Rock Arkansas. Shortly afterward, I was baptized as a testimony to my being buried with Christ in His death and raised to a new life with Him. In 1959, I enrolled at Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee where I was awarded the BS Degree in 1962. In 1977, I enrolled in Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California and, in 1979, received my MA Degree in Theology, becoming the first African American woman to graduate from the "Black, Asian, Hispanic Program. In 1980, I served as an Associate Pastor at Amos Christian Methodist Church in Los Angeles and shortly afterward at Lewis Metropolitan C.M.E. Church. Several years later, I founded and organized the Carson C.M.E. Church in Carson, California. In 1987, I servedas Pastor of the Harper Chapel C.M.E. church in Cerritos, California. During my tenure in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, I was ordained a Deacon and Elder. In 1989, I united with the First Church of God in Englewood, California and under the pastorate of the late Bishop Benja, on F. Reid. I was ordained several years later in the Church of God. In January 1997, I received my Doctor of Ministry Degree from Carolina University of Theology, and later became a Certified Christian Marriage and Family Therapist. Presently, I serve as an Associate Pastor at the First Church of God, where Dr. Gregory L. Dixon is Senior Pastor. I serve in the areas of Director of Pastoral Counseling, Instructor of Women's Ministers, and Prayer and Deliverance. I also serve as an Instructor in the Southern California School of Ministry in Inglewood, California. I have been married for 35 years to John W. Henderson Sr. and we have one young adult son, John W. Anderson, Jr.
