On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 17:25:08 -0600, Mark A. Foster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, Gilberto, > > At 03:24 PM 1/22/2005, you wrote:
Mark: > I understand your point about historical or longitudinal particularism versus > cultural particularism. However, neither perspective has much to do with why > I am calling the perennialisms I have studied triumphalist. > > >>Really?<< > > Yes. The idea that "most progressed," according to a certain framework, > implied superiority fueled the machine of the "white man's burden," many of > the 19th-century approaches to cultural evolution (especially those of Tyler > and Morgan), and Herbert Spencer's Social Darwinism. Gilberto: I think white supremacy is still a factor in many people's thinking about the world. The civil rights movement only went so far. Mark: Progress is relative, not absolute, and it should not be the basis for judgments of superiority or inferiority. Gilberto: "Progress" is invariably a value-laden term that Bahais are choosing to use. I think that if Bahais really don't want to imply any degree or kind of superiority it is not that hard to find more neutral terms to describe the transitions from one dispensation to another. Continual revelation. Recurring revelation. Repeating revelation. There is a paper I remember reading as an undergrad once. I wish I could remember the title right now. The author was James Snead and the basic thesis as I recall it was to say that while Western culture often embraced notions of progress a la Hegel, that Black culture often didn't believe in progress as much as "repitition with a difference". From a certain point of view one really can't come up with anything genuinely new, after all "there is no new thing under the sun" so it is presumptuous to try. So you might as well get over it, and embrace the fact that you are going to be repetitive, but just repeat in your own distinctive way. The paper went on to talk about the prevalence of sampling in hip-hop or the way dancehall djs do ALOT of covers from all sorts of sources. To me that's a really healthy way to look at things. I'm not sure if the paper is online, but I think I found a reference to it: Snead, J.A. 1984. 'Repetition as a figure of black culture', in Black Literature and Literary Theory, ed. H.L. Gates Jnr (London: Routledge), 59-80 Gilberto: > >>For example, In order to claim that Buddha was a manifestion you end up > >>having to impose some structure of Buddhism and reject the parts which > >>don't fit.<< Mark: > I agreed with you before that some Baha'is are triumphalistic, but I would > never do what you suggested. Gilberto: Ok, I believe you. But then when you are in your Bahai paradigm, and read that the Buddha is identified with being a Manifestation, but the teachings of real live Buddhists in the world don't seem to be consistent with the Bahai teachings, I'm not sure what you do. Do you bracket the paradigm of the real live Buddhists away from the Bahai paradigm so that they are never compared with one another? Or do you do something else? Gilberto: > >>I honestly don't see it. At least not in a way that is convincing. For > >>example, the Bahais and plenty of others might look at the various > >>religions and point out that the major religions all seem to have certain > >>teachings in common. Some form of Golden rule. Honor your parents. Don't > >>lie. Don't steal. Be forgiving. Be patient...etc. right.?<< Mark: > Intelligently acknowledging similarities, after having studied each religion, > is different from a purely deductive approach in which one begins with the > assumption of doctrinal similarity in advance, or in the absence, of such > study. Gilberto: But if you find ALOT of those actual similarities, would you ever be justified in saying that certain religions had a common divine origin and if they came from one source that there are likely to be further, deeper similarities? 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:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu 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
