On Religious Claims of Exclusivity: For Baha'is, It's Inclusivity
Noted on a post by Skywalker on random thoughts of a diabolical techie:
This week's track was "Hope Has Its Reasons," a one-week crash course in Christian apologetics. I say "crash course" because while we covered a lot of information and had a lot of good resources, it's such a huge topic that I feel like I could write several dissertations on my mini-focus question alone. I spent half the week wishing for more books, because while we had a whole table full of them, and a lot of them had a lot of good information in them, I know there's more. In any case, I was taking a close look at the differences between Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Baha'i and their claims to exclusivity, and I could seriously take a whole semester on it if I someone gave me a spare one and said "go!"
...to which I commented:
Claims of exclusivity by Baha'is? The inclusivity of all religions would be their claim.
...to which Skywalker replied:
Well, Ravi Zacharias says it much better than I do (go figure, he addresses Harvard students and can organize his thoughts better than an undergrad? No way!), but the argument runs something like this: Baha'i is inclusive on the assumption that each manifestation brings new laws and revelations that would have been too difficult for/not applicable to the people of previous eras. Since revelation is progressive, revelation binding for previous times cannot be applied to present or future unless it is included in the revelation of the current manifestation. The net effect is that currently, any non-Baha'i religion is behind the times, and while the beliefs are canonical to the current revelation, you're still not right, per se. It's like how Christianity looks at Judaism.
Just out of curiosity, do I have any connection to you, or were you just randomly browsing LJ? My roommate is Baha'i, but you're most distinctly not her. :)
...to which I respond:
Hi, Skywalker. No mystery as to how I happened to drop down. I do a blog called Baha'i Views and regularly use search engines to identify Baha'i content in the blog-world.
Apologetics is an interesting discipline. There are a number of Baha'is who have devoted themselves to formally enunciating what Baha'i apologetics is, such as Ian Kluge: http://bahai-library.org/conferences/apologetics.html
To his credit, Ravi states the Baha'i view fairly well. Here is another statement:"The Baha'i Faith fulfills the role of affirming the truths of all the world's major historical religions, as well as many indigenous spiritual traditions from around the world, while moving them into the future in a manner consistent with modern science. The Baha'i Faith is a continuation and fulfillment of the Abrahamic Judeo Christian-Islamic religions, while for the first time within this huge stream, equally This is achieved by virtue of the principle of Progressive Revelation, in which the core principles of God's religion never change, but some of the outward forms and social rules evolve to fit the needs of the times. The forward momentum of Progressive Revelation is maintained by a series of Manifestations of God who further the message, which includes Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Gautauma Buddha, Zoroaster, and others both known and unknown." http://www.awaretek.com/weblog2/arch_d7_2006_04_29.html#e24
The fact that the Baha'i Faith affirms "many indigenous spiritual traditions", the "Hindu-Buddhist stream of spirituality", and Manifestations of God "both known and unknown" is is an enhancement considerably beyond the enhancement of Christianity from Judaism [some 2000 years ago and is an expansion of our religious perspective in keeping with the needs of the times].
As for Christ, the same Baha'i author writes: "Bahai's believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and that he died on the cross for all humanity. Jesus is my personal savior. But the other prophets are also legitimate and each has a function in bringing the message of God to a particular time and place."
Oberlin is a great school. Glad you have had the opportunity to compare notes with a living, breathing Baha'i.
The subject of religious exclusivity has been dealt with in a previous post on this blog.
This week's track was "Hope Has Its Reasons," a one-week crash course in Christian apologetics. I say "crash course" because while we covered a lot of information and had a lot of good resources, it's such a huge topic that I feel like I could write several dissertations on my mini-focus question alone. I spent half the week wishing for more books, because while we had a whole table full of them, and a lot of them had a lot of good information in them, I know there's more. In any case, I was taking a close look at the differences between Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Baha'i and their claims to exclusivity, and I could seriously take a whole semester on it if I someone gave me a spare one and said "go!"
...to which I commented:Claims of exclusivity by Baha'is? The inclusivity of all religions would be their claim.
...to which Skywalker replied:
Well, Ravi Zacharias says it much better than I do (go figure, he addresses Harvard students and can organize his thoughts better than an undergrad? No way!), but the argument runs something like this: Baha'i is inclusive on the assumption that each manifestation brings new laws and revelations that would have been too difficult for/not applicable to the people of previous eras. Since revelation is progressive, revelation binding for previous times cannot be applied to present or future unless it is included in the revelation of the current manifestation. The net effect is that currently, any non-Baha'i religion is behind the times, and while the beliefs are canonical to the current revelation, you're still not right, per se. It's like how Christianity looks at Judaism.Just out of curiosity, do I have any connection to you, or were you just randomly browsing LJ? My roommate is Baha'i, but you're most distinctly not her. :)
...to which I respond:
Hi, Skywalker. No mystery as to how I happened to drop down. I do a blog called Baha'i Views and regularly use search engines to identify Baha'i content in the blog-world.Apologetics is an interesting discipline. There are a number of Baha'is who have devoted themselves to formally enunciating what Baha'i apologetics is, such as Ian Kluge: http://bahai-library.org/conferences/apologetics.html
To his credit, Ravi states the Baha'i view fairly well. Here is another statement:"The Baha'i Faith fulfills the role of affirming the truths of all the world's major historical religions, as well as many indigenous spiritual traditions from around the world, while moving them into the future in a manner consistent with modern science. The Baha'i Faith is a continuation and fulfillment of the Abrahamic Judeo Christian-Islamic religions, while for the first time within this huge stream, equally This is achieved by virtue of the principle of Progressive Revelation, in which the core principles of God's religion never change, but some of the outward forms and social rules evolve to fit the needs of the times. The forward momentum of Progressive Revelation is maintained by a series of Manifestations of God who further the message, which includes Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Gautauma Buddha, Zoroaster, and others both known and unknown." http://www.awaretek.com/weblog2/arch_d7_2006_04_29.html#e24
The fact that the Baha'i Faith affirms "many indigenous spiritual traditions", the "Hindu-Buddhist stream of spirituality", and Manifestations of God "both known and unknown" is is an enhancement considerably beyond the enhancement of Christianity from Judaism [some 2000 years ago and is an expansion of our religious perspective in keeping with the needs of the times].
As for Christ, the same Baha'i author writes: "Bahai's believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and that he died on the cross for all humanity. Jesus is my personal savior. But the other prophets are also legitimate and each has a function in bringing the message of God to a particular time and place."
Oberlin is a great school. Glad you have had the opportunity to compare notes with a living, breathing Baha'i.
The subject of religious exclusivity has been dealt with in a previous post on this blog.
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