Re: Letters of the Living

[Susan Maneck]

He is the Interpreter of the Word of God and after him will succeed the first-born of his lineal descendents."   Dear Dean and Ahang,   The Dawnbreakers is *not* the Word of God however. And you have to balance this statement with Guardian's own assertion that he is not infallible in matters of history, etc. Dean, was your question recarding 'sacred mythology' aimed at me? If so I think 'sacred narrative' was the phrase I used. I deliberately avoided the term mythology, exactly for the reason you state, that in popular usage it is thought to mean something that didn't really happen. I prefer the term sacred narrative both because it avoids the confusion and misunderstandings that the word 'mythology' creates *and* because I think it avoids the opposite extreme which is the way I see Ahang's position that Dawnbreakers has no 'special significance.' There is a reason that the Guardian chose to translate this particular work. However, I think those reasons were more theological than because it was more historically accurate. Hence I would be inclined to privilege Nabil's Narrative in terms of its protrayal of the theological meaning of these events, but not necessarily the accuracy of the events themselves.  We can argue how much he edited it but unless someone has a copy of the original, I'm not sure we can really say. Dr. Banani thought the changes were extensive enough to make it an entirely different work. I wouldn't assume the Guardian felt 'ethically bound' by those standards of scholarship which binds us academics. Academic scholars are usually bound to cite their sources as well, something Shoghi Effendi completely ignores in God Passes By.   warmest, Susan __________________________________________________ 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 Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]