Bahai Story Library

John Esslemont

4 stories in the library.

A life in stories

'Abdu'l-Bahá's ministry (1892–1921)

John Esslemont: A Doctor at the Master's Side

Bahá'í Chronicles preserves the biographical record of John Ebenezer Esslemont — the Aberdeen physician who, after encountering the Cause in 1914, wrote the introductory work *Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era,* moved to Haifa to serve at the Master's side, and was named by Shoghi Effendi a Hand of the Cause after his early death in 1925.

2 min

The Doctor Who Wrote a Little Book

A doctor who was often sick spent seven whole years writing one clear little book about the Faith — and it went on to travel farther than he ever could.

5 min

The Doctor Who Read His Way to Certainty: John Esslemont

An Aberdeen physician in failing health, trained to weigh evidence and trust nothing he could not examine, found a small pamphlet about the Bahá'í Faith in a sanatorium. He did not simply believe it. He studied for years, learned Persian late in life to read the Writings in the original, and wrote the careful introduction by which the English-speaking world would come to know the Cause.

5 min

The Physician Who Did His Homework: Dr. Esslemont and the New Era

A Scottish doctor heard of the Bahá'í Faith in 1914 and did what a careful physician does with any new claim: he investigated it methodically. He read, he learned Persian, he wrote out what he understood — and then he travelled to Haifa and laid his manuscript before 'Abdu'l-Bahá Himself for correction. The book that resulted, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, has since carried answers to seekers in some sixty languages.

5 min