On 5/6/05, Mark A. Foster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Just as there are various Christianities, Islams, Judaisms, Hinduisms, etc., > there are, and should be, a multitude of Baha'i faiths (polydoxy). What > unites us as Baha'is, and gives us our shared identity, is not our orthodoxy, > our universal acceptance of doctrines, but our orthopraxy, our firmness in > the collective center of the Covenant (the Will of God). A Baha'i can, IMO, > be heteropraxic but not heterodox.
[And then Mark sent out an email saying that the last two terms (heteropraxic and heterodox should be switched] Gilberto: Is that really how the Bahai faith fits into the above framework? It seems more like a particular understanding of Bahai orthodoxy? The analogy which comes to mind is that what you said sounds like a Christian saying "Of course, there are many different Christianities which are possible... as long as they accept the authority of the bishop of Rome and everything that implies." By definition that excludes Protestants. And your definition of Bahai excludes Orthodox Bahais. Just in general, it seems very hard to get around the issue. Anytime you take a religious group and you want to define it, by definition that means setting limits as to who is in, and who is out. And unless you simply accept everyone who self-identifies, it seems like you would invariably (even if only implicitly) set up some criteria and draw the line in a way which excludes at least somebody from the group. Peace "pharaoh is just a leaf on a burning bush" __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/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
