On Baha'i Perspectives: Who Was Jesus Christ?

A best-seller book very much in the news and a recently rediscovered Christian manuscript featured on the National Geographic Channel both raise questions about long-held Christian beliefs. It is characteristic of the era that we live that nothing is taken for granted anymore. Every belief is subject to new scrutiny, including Christian belief.

The Baha'i Writings, too, have much to say about Jesus Christ. Robert Stockman's article "Jesus Christ in the Baha'i Writings," published in the Bahá'í Studies Review, vol. 2.1 (1992), is one of many commentaries. Here is how the article begins.

Modern biblical scholarship has shown that it is difficult to determine who Jesus was and what His teachings were. The first generation of Christians did not necessarily have a consciousness of the importance of preserving history, and thus did not make an effort to preserve the life of the historical Jesus accurately; and the gospels were written by the second generation of Christians in Greek, not in the Aramaic that Jesus used. Among Christians who accept academic biblical scholarship there is a range of views about the nature of Jesus and His mission. Since not all Christians accept such scholarship, the various traditional views of Jesus also remain important to millions of Christians. Thus, among Christians there exists a very wide range of views about Jesus Christ. Generally they fall on a spectrum: on the right is a literalistic reading of scripture that assumes its complete historical accuracy; on the left is a thoroughly sceptical approach that questions the historical accuracy of almost every biblical passage. Christians are not the only people with a conception of Jesus Christ's nature and mission; the sacred writings of the Bahái Faith also offer a perspective on Him. Click here for the full article.