Richard, At 01:57 PM 3/10/2004, you wrote: >>If I may. Your reference was to hermeneutic strategies. My reference was to that >>specific type of strategy. Seeking the promptings of the Holy Spirit is seeking >>guidance with a heart detached from all desire except the desire to please God. If >>one is prompted then to produce such a strategy as Ruhi from that desire then the >>purpose is met. <<
As you know, this is the Baha'i Studies list, and our primary, though not exclusive, focus is on academic methodologies. In other words, we are not now on one of the BCCA lists. When I mentioned hermeneutic strategies, I was referring largely to contextualization or academic study and secondarily to reflection and deepening. An academic study of the Baha'i texts can be carried out even by a pure atheist. There would most likely be some differences from similar study performed by a Baha'i, but, on *one* level, that would be basically beside the point. Any academic research project depends on the use of strategies. In sociology, and presumably in all social and naturalistic sciences, we call these strategies "research designs." It is impossible to engage in any kind of useful research without having initially formulated these types of strategies. >>Seeking the promptings of the Holy Spirit is seeking guidance with a heart detached >>from all desire except the desire to please God.<< Which is fine for a Baha'i but would not be required from a strictly academic perspective. >>If one is prompted then to produce such a strategy as Ruhi from that desire then the >>purpose is met.<< Ruhi is not an academic program. >>The phrase "hermeneutic strategies" produces in my mind the concept that an >>individual is seeking an interpretation of a text to fit a preconceived and possibly >>imaginary notion of what the text "should" say or mean.<< In my field, research proceeds from deduction to induction. One begins with a theory, deduces hypotheses from it, and then tests those hypotheses in order to determine whether the theory should be further developed, modified, or replaced. Ideally, this procedure should not interfere with the ability to be objective, in the sense of using research methodologies which have been agreed upon by a community of scholars. Mark A. Foster * http://markfoster.net "Sacred cows make the best hamburger" -- Mark Twain and Abbie Hoffman __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist (public) http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (public)
