> What I meant is that I sometimes feel worried when I see so many
> warnings at the beginning or at the end of some Baha'i writings.
> examples given: "this text has been translated by the X committee,
> reviewed by the Y committee, approved by Z, and might be later
> corrected by ZZ..."
Dear Loic,
I've never seen anything like this in any English publications. Do
they appear in European languages? The closest thing I know to this
are the early Baha'i publications which stated they had been reviewed
by a committee. But I think they stopped doing that as soon as the
Publishing Trust was formed. That was maybe back in the 30's or 40's.
or, on the other hand, "this text is only a
> personal translation and must not be considered as an official
> bahai publication and must be considered as a personal point of
> view..."
I think that may represent the translator himself going overboard.
Most of us are content to simply identify it as a provisional
translation without going into any long explanation.
> These kinds of warnings make me think that there is a real danger
> for Bahai Faith to turn into dogmatism (like the Vatican giving
> the Imprimatur for advised books, the Nihil obstat for books with
> nothing against the official faith, but also writing at the Index
> books such as the DaVinci Code, considered as going against the
> official believes and so forgiven to the believers).
The House of Justice doesn't want to see that as well, which is why in
their letter of 1992 addressed to Juan Cole they refused to establish
two sets of Baha'i literature, one which passed review and the other
which didn't.
"Your suggestion that an "imprimatur" system such as used by the Roman
Catholic Church would be preferable to the present system of review
was considered by the House of Justice, and it has asked us to explain
to you the problems that this would present.
First of all, it would convey to the reader the false impression that
the attitude of the Faith was similar to that of the Roman Catholic
Church, summoning up visions of an "index" of prohibited reading, and
all the other associations which you can undoubtedly imagine for
yourself.
Secondly, it would give force to the erroneous concept that there are
two kinds of Bahá'í literature: books which present the "official"
view and those which are the free personal opinions of individual
Bahá'ís, thus obscuring the essential Bahá'í differentiation between
the Writings of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh, those of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the
letters of the Guardian and the decisions of the Universal House of
Justice, which are authoritative, on the one hand, and all other
writings by Bahá'ís on the other, which have no authority at all apart
from their own internal reasonableness. That a book has passed review
in no way guarantees its correctness; it is merely an assurance by the
National Spiritual Assembly concerned that, in its view, the book does
not seriously distort the Faith or its Teachings.
Thirdly, it would obscure the important fact that the process of
review in the Bahá'í Faith is temporary, being limited to this stage
of its development when books published by Bahá'ís could seriously
mislead the public if they too gravely distort its message."
(The Universal House of Justice, 1992 Dec 10, Issues Related
to Study Compilation)
warmest, Susan
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