Some Answered Questions records table talks given by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Akká between 1904 and 1906 to Laura Clifford Barney, a wealthy young American who lived there periodically for several years and put questions to him over lunch, taking down the answers in Persian, which were then reviewed and corrected. It was published in 1908. The topics are the ones a Western enquirer of the period would raise: the existence and nature of God, the origin and destiny of the soul, the problem of evil, the nature of the Manifestations, biblical prophecy, the resurrection, reincarnation, free will and determinism, and — notably — evolution, on which 'Abdu'l-Bahá takes a position distinguishing the human species' independent origin from Darwinian descent that Bahá'í scholars still discuss. Because 'Abdu'l-Bahá was the appointed interpreter, the book carries doctrinal authority that transcripts of his public talks do not, and it is where Bahá'ís go for positions that scripture asserts without explaining.