Abdul Baha - "The Christ of this generation"

The station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was the central point about which Bahá’ís in New York City were unclear. Even a believer as experienced as Edward Getsinger, who had been to ‘Akká three times for a total of six months and who had listened to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá numerous times as well as having studied with numerous Persian teachers, continued to equate ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as “The Christ of this generation to the Gentiles, and not what He in His humility chooses to claim for Himself – a servant”.

Arthur P. Dodge’s main orientation was as someone who was anti-church; he saw the churches and Christian beliefs as hopelessly corrupted. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, for him, was the returned Christ who would re-infuse religion with a true spirit... Dodge and his wife took Kheiralla’s entire series of lessons when they were given in New York City, and he became a devoted lifelong teacher of the Faith. He was elected the first ‘president of the New York Bahá’ís in 1898, went on pilgrimage to ‘Akká with his wife and two sons in 1900, and, in 1901, he wrote and published the first introductory book on the Bahá’í Faith by a Western believer, The Truth of It: The Inseparable Oneness of Common Sense—Science—Religion. Much of this book, however, was an attack on the clergy, the corruption of organized religion, and scientists...

Differences of understanding about the Station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would continue despite the numerous Tablets, notes from returning pilgrims, articles, reprints of talks, and translations of the Book of the Covenant and the Tablet of the branch in the Star of the West, until 1934, the year Shoghi Effendi wrote The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh. The Dispensation gave definitive explanations to Bahá’ís regarding the Natures and Stations of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

-'Abdu'l-Bahá in New York By Hussein Ahdieh and Hillary Chapman

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/a/ahdieh_chapman_abdulbaha_new-york_published.pdf