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Bahá'í - Christian Dialogue Interest Group

The following is extracted* from

A Resource Guide for the Scholarly Study of the Bahá’í Faith

(published by the Research Office of the Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, Illinois 60091 USA, August 1997) pp97 - 100

(* Please excuse the incomplete formatting and addition of diacriticals in the following re-typed extracts)

52. Religion: Definition of

Scholars debate the proper way to define the word religion and have not settled on a definition. The Bahá’í Faith defines religion in terms of divine revelation, sent to humanity through manifestations. The human response to the revelation is also important but often represents a source of ideas that lead to misunderstanding or misapplication of the revelation; therefore a Bahá’í theological definition of religion might not include the human response.

Primary Source Writings: Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, 481-82 (Gleanings, CX); bottom (Gleanings, XXXIV, near end); 233 (First Ishráq in Tablets 125).

References in Basic Bahá’í textbooks: Esslemont, 133-34; Ferraby, 38-43; Hatcher and Martin, 81-2; Huddleston, 20-7.

Seena Fazel has examined the definitions of "religion" and "world religion" in relation to the Bahá’í Faith in "is the Bahá’í Faith a World Religion?" in Journal of Bahá’í Studies, 6.1 (Mar.- June 1994). Moojan Momen discusses a variety of methodologies in a brief but useful note, "the Study of Religion: Some Comments on the Methodology of Studying Religion," In Bahá’í Studies Review, 1.1 (1991). Much of Dann May’s master’s thesis The Bahá’í Principle of Religious Unity and the Challenge of Radical Pluralism examines the definition of religion.

53. Religious Dialogue and Pluralism

The Bahá’í Faith, the most recent of the major religious traditions, acknowledges the divine inspiration behind most of the previous religions and has teachings about their founding, history, philosophy, and destiny. It views all the world’s major religious traditions as parts of an ongoing, developing religion that Bahá’ís sometimes call the Religion of god. Its approach thus bears some similarities to "perennial Philosophy", popularized by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Aldous Huxley, and Frithjof Schuon; "Phenomenology of Religion," indirectly fathered by C.G. Jung and famously expounded by Joseph Campbell and Mircea Eliade; and "Religious Pluralism," chiefly associated with John Hick.

Primary Source Writings: Religious dialogue and pluralism is so integral a part of the Bahá’í religion that isolating a few texts would be very difficult. One good summary definition, though, is found in Shoghi Effendi’s World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, under the heading Fundamental Principle of Religious Truth, 57-8.

References in Basic Bahá’í textbooks: Esslemont, 116-24, Ferraby, 162-82, Hatcher and Martin, 81-4, 127-29, Huddleston, 22, Momen, 96-103, Smith 1987, 83-4, 144-5.

Thus far little work has been done on the similarities and differences between Bahá’í philosophy and the above schools of thought. The most in-depth article, though slightly tangential to this topic, is Moojan Momen’s "Relativism: A Basis for Bahá’í Metaphysics," in Mojan Momen, ed., volume 5, 185-218. John Hick has summarized the Pluralist position in an invited commentary, "Interfaith and the Future," in Bahá’í Studies Review, 4.1 (1994). Phillip R. Smith explores some pluralism paradigms, including Hick’s, in "The Bahá’í Faith and Religious Diversity," in Bahá’í Studies Review, 1.1 (1991). Moojan Momen explores aspects of pluralism in "Fundamentalism and Liberalism: Towards an Understanding of the Dichotomy," in Bahá’í Studies Review, 2.1 (1992). Dann May’s master’s thesis The Bahá’í Principle of Religious Unity and the Challenge of Radical Pluralism is a very good examination of difference scholarly concepts of religious pluralism and Bahá’í responses to them. An abridgment of his thesis, "The Bahá’í Principle of Religious Unity: A Dynamic Perspective," in Jack McLean, ed., Revisioning the Sacred: New Perspectives on a Bahá’í Theology: Studies in the Babi and Bahá’í Religions, volume 8, examines the problem of pluralism in light of the Bahá’í principle of the theological unity of religions. This same volume includes Seena Fazel’s "Interreligious Dialogue and the Bahá’í Faith: Some Preliminary Observations," which examines some forms of and challenges facing interreligious dialogue.

The Bahá’í teachings on other religions constitute the foundation on which Bahá’ís base their concept of pluralism and carry out their dialogue. One published effort to utilize Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings as a basis for dialogue with other religions is Douglas Martin’s "Bahá’u’lláh’s Model for World Fellowship," in World Order, 11.1 (Fall 1976). Much of Udo Schaefer’s work treats the topic of pluralism; his most extended study of the topic to date is Beyond the Clash of Religions: The Emergence of a New Paradigm.

The Bahá’í relationships and approaches to the major world religions are presented below. Most of these are not scholarly dialogues on pluralism, but are often mildly apologetic discussions of other religions and the Bahá’í fulfillment of their prophecies.

53.3. Religious Dialogue: Christianity

Bahá’í primary texts speak of Jesus Christ, who is often referred to as "the Spirit of God," in the highest possible manner. Christianity has come to believe that the advent of Christ, the Logos, in the person of Jesus was the "first coming,: and that the Christ would one day return to earth in the "second coming." Bahá’u’lláh declares that he is the second coming of Christ.

Primary Source Writings: References to Jesus and to Christianity in the Bahá’í writings are far too numerous to produce a complete list here. Instead, James Heggie’s Bahá’í References to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam can be pointed to as a comprehensive list of primary source references to Christianity. A few of the more noteworthy and important references are as follows: many citations of Bahá’u’lláh are to be found in Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, 68-69, 84-85 (Kitab-i-Iqan, 20-29, 64, 66, 130-133), 175-80 (the Most Holy Tablet, sometimes referred to as the Tablet to the Christians, also in Tablets 9-17); 181-82 (first, second, and eighth Glad Tidings in Tablets 21-22, 24); 187 (second Taraz in subjects extensively; see Some Answered Questions, 1607 and 87-139 and Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 51-53. A dialogue ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had with a Christian pastor has been reprinted with commentary in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, " ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on Christ and Christianity," introduction by Seena Fazel, in The Bahá’í Studies Review, 3.1 (1993): 1-18. Some notes are in Lights of Guidance, 489-94.

References in Basic Bahá’í textbooks: Esslemont, 211-33; Ferraby, 172-9; Huddleston, 21-25.

INTERPRETATIONS

Bahá’í authors have produced a great deal of work relating the Bahá’í Faith to Christianity. The majority of this is apologetic, often dealing with interpretations of prophecy. Though popular, and not strictly scholarly in approach, the work of Michael Sours stands out as being of relatively greater depth and academic usefulness. His books include A Study of Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablet to the Christians, which offers a lengthy commentary on Bahá’u’lláh’s Lawh-i-Aqdas. His series of books titled Preparing for a Bahá’í-Christian Dialogue may also be of interest, though the title is misleading; the books seem primarily designed to help Bahá’ís explain their religion to Christians. Also worth mentioning is Richard Backwell’s The Christianity of Jesus. This book does not attempt to fit Christianity to a Bahá’í mold such that Christianity’s prophecies are stressed to the exclusion of its other teachings, as many Bahá’í books do. Rather, Backwell presents a study of Jesus and his teachings that is merely complemented by Bahá’í interpretation.

SCHOLARSHIP

Bahá’í scholarship covers a variety of Christian subjects. Jack McLean’s "Deification of Jesus," in World Order, 14.3/4 (Spring/Summer 1980), offers a well-9nformed Bahá’í perspective on the christological and trinitarian controversies in the early church. Juan R. Cole’s "the Christian-Muslim Encounter and the Bahá’í Faith." in World Order, 12.2 (Winter 1977-78), offers a detailed discussion of points of disagreement between Christians and Muslims - particularly Muslim views of Christian teachings - and the Bahá’í position on the same issue. Often the Bahá’í position offers ways of resolving differences between Muslims and Christians, hence this article is of use in dialogue between Bahá’ís and either party. Seena Fazel and Khazeh Fananapazir have published "A Bahá’í Approach to the Claims of Exclusivity and Uniqueness in Christianity" in Journal of Bahá’í Studies, 3.2 (1990-1991); 15-24. Robert Stockman has explored related issues in "Jesus Christ in the Bahá’í Writings," Bahá’í Studies Review, 1.2 (April 1992). Valuable correction and expansion of the paper is found in Michael Sours, "Concerning differences between Christian and Bahá’í Terminology in Dr. Robert Stockman’s article ‘Jesus [sic] in the Bahá’í Writings’" in Bahá’í Studies Review, 3.1 (1993): 79-86. Christopher Buck’s dissertation, Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in "Persian" Christianity and the Bahá’í Faith, is the first full-length comparativist study. A historical comparative survey is Moojan Momen’s "Early Relations Between Christian Missionaries and the Babi and Bahá’í Communities," in Moojan Momen, Studies in Babi and Bahá’í History, volume 1. This work has been expanded in Moojan Momen, The Babi and Bahá’í Religions, 1844-1944: Some Contemporary Western Accounts. Udo Schaefer discusses many aspects of Christianity and Christian theology in The Imperishable Dominion, especially 4-23, and "Answer to a Theologian," in The Light Shineth in Darkness.

APOLOGETICS