On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 04:07:48 -0600, Mark A. Foster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Gilberto: > >>And secondly, can Bahai claims be fairly described as affirming Islam in a > >>positive sense, or do they result in co-opting Islam.<< Mark: > No religion can be co-opted. They are each distinct divine Revelations. They > are, in effect, like Kuhnian paradigms for a particular Dispensation, i.e., > the period of time between one Prophet and the next. What may be evaluated as > truthful contingent on one Revelation may be judged as false based on an > earlier or a later one. Truth is relative. Gilberto: I think it is probably illuminating to think of different religions as paradigms. But then the view of progressive revelation and that time and date make a big difference is ITSELF part of the Bahai paradigm but there are others. One paper I found which I like on this subject is: called "The Metaphysics of Interfaith Dialogue: A Qur'anic Perspective" and is available at: http://www.iis.ac.uk/research/academic_papers/interfaith_dialogue/interfaith_dialogue.htm What I like about is that it articulates ideas similar to perennialism while rooting them very much in the Quran and the Sufi philosophical tradition. Instead of one religious dispensation replacing another through time, I think the Quran has more a sense of the communities co-existing simultaneously. "For each We have appointed from you a Law and a Way (shir'atan wa minhajan). Had God willed, He could have made you one community. But that He might try you by that which He hath given you [He hath made you as you are]. So vie with one another in good works. Unto God ye will all return, and He will inform you of that wherein ye differed." (5:48). So during what you might call a single dispensation, there are different groups of human beings each following paths which are meaningful to them. I'm not a big fan of the whole clash of civilizations hypothesis (at least not the political implications) but I think that the gulf between civilizations can often be bigger than the gulf across ages, within the same civilization. And a good example would be Sino-Japanese civilizations where Some mix of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism have been a big part of the spiritual foundation in that part of the world for about 2600 years, and there is a real timeless quality to those principles, and those traditions are still meaningful to them, but I'm not sure most Westerners can hear the sound of one hand clapping, if that made any sense. Peace Gilberto "My people are hydroponic" __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [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/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
