Aflame with Devotion: The Hannen and Knoblock Families and the Early Days of the Baha’i Faith in America

In the early part of the twentieth century, as millennial expectations swept through a fast-changing world, there were many in the United States who sought spiritual awakening. Among the inquisitive souls seeking such an awakening was the young Pauline Hannen, the first in her family to investigate what was at the time a little-known religion of the East called the Bahá’í Faith. Pauline was enthralled by what she heard, and she quickly immersed herself in study of the new Faith and shared all that she learned with her sisters, Fanny and Alma Knobloch, and her mother Amalie. Her husband, Joseph Hannen, soon embraced the Faith as well, and the Hannens and Knoblochs became active members of the small but growing American Bahá’í community. Their embrace of the Cause came at significant personal sacrifice as it meant breaking with the social mores and status quo of Washington society as they strove to put the Faith’s social teachings into practice. They were privileged, however, to visit and correspond with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá personally and were intimately involved in serving Him throughout His visit to North America. Author Judy Hannen Moe, the great-granddaughter of Joseph and Pauline Hannen, has combed through her family’s archival collections in order to piece together their story. The resulting book is a treasure trove of highlights from the early days of the Faith in America, and an intimate glimpse of the lives of a handful of brilliant and devoted servants of the Cause.