On Baha'i Theology: Jack McLean's Contribution
Jack McLean's article in the Journal of Baha'i Studies some years ago, "Prolegomena to a Baha'i Theology," was a great read for me. A recent exchange on another blog brought it to mind. Here is an abstract.
No apologies for the big words. There is a place for them. And they are nothing that a Baha'i should be afraid of, because we are teaching these concepts all the time.
Jack McLean and local Baha'i during visit to Sheffield, England
Theology is intrinsic to the Bahá'í revelation. While community attitudes have tended to view the discipline of theology somewhat suspiciously, the term and field of "Bahá'í theology" remain valid and are indispensable. One can distinguish source theology or revelation theology, contained in holy writ, from derivative theology (commentary), which is more relative and subjective. The relativity of religious truth, while it plays a useful role in deabsolutizing dogmatism and in promoting interreligious dialogue, is itself relative and currently runs the risk of becoming another absolute. Bahá'í theology is both apophatic (negative) and cataphatic (affirmative). An abstruse, apophatic negative theology of a hidden God is explicit as background to Bahá'í theology. Apophasis rejects defining God and honors God by remaining silent about the divine essence. If apophasis does speak of God, it does so by via negativa, by describing God through a process of elimination of what God is not, rather than making affirmations about what God is. The main substance of Bahá'í theology, however, is manifestation theology or theophanology, that is, a theology calculated upon an understanding of the metaphysical reality and teachings of the divine Manifestation. This manifestation theology is cataphatic. Cataphasis dares to speak about God but recognizes that God transcends the human analogies used to describe divinity. Bahá'í theology is, moreover, based in faith rooted in the person of Bahá'u'lláh and his divine revelation, has a strong metaphysical bias, eschews dogmatism, and welcomes diversity.
Jack McLean, Abstract to "Prolegomena to a Baha'i Theology"
3 comments:
The Bible makes very clear statements as to Who God is.
"... God is love." 1 John 4:8
"...your Father in heaven is perfect." Matthew 5:48
"...the Lord our God is holy." Psalm 99:9
"Good and upright is the Lord..." Psalm 25:8
"Gracious is the Lord and righteous; yes, our God is merciful." Psalm 116:5
"...God is faithful..." 1Corinthians 10:13
"Our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:29
...and the list can go on and on.
I thank the Lord so much that He has given us His Word so that we can know Him. The Bible does say that we are finite beings and He is infinite and we will never know everything about Him. But His desire is for us to have a personal relationship with Him through His son Jesus Christ. He wants us to know His attributes. He wants us to be comforted by the fact that He IS love, that he IS perfect, that He IS holy, the He IS good and upright, that He IS gracious, righteous, the He IS faithful, and merciful, and that He IS a consuming fire! He has put these things in His Word so that we can know Him as much as finite human beings can. What a wonderful God who loves us all that much that He wants to have a relationship with us!
P.S. We are finite while we are alive on this earth. Our souls are eternal. :)
Annie's definitions are wonderful, and I'm sure there are more, and more, and more.....
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