Gilberto, At 10:40 AM 10/13/2005, you wrote: >>So here is the million-dollar question: What does "authenticated" mean? And >>what does "*absolutely* authenticated" mean?<<
When Shoghi Effendi used the word authenticated, he was generally referring to the authority of the Baha'i scriptures, not to "higher criticism." "Absolutely authenticated" is a term used by the Guardian to indicate the unique authority of the Qur'an and the Babi and Baha'i scriptures. In other words, unlike the Bible, the Guardian may have believed that the these three sets of later scriptures reflected the thoughts of Muhammad, the Bab, Baha'u'llah, and `Abdu'l-Baha. I have never seen a statement in the Baha'i primary sources that the Qur'an always accurately provides the exact words used by Muhammad. However, I think one can be reasonably (perhaps more than reasonably in most cases) certain that the actual words of the Bab, Baha'u'llah, and `Abdu'l-Baha are contained in Their scriptures. Via moderna, Mark A. Foster . http://markfoster.net ... [a] word is ... a universal. - William of Ockham Structurization Tech: http://tech.structurization.com The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you. __________________________________________________ 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
