# Understanding Exclusivist Texts

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Seena Fazel, Understanding Exclusivist Texts, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Understanding Exclusivist Texts
> 
> Seena Fazel
> published in Scripture and Revelation: Papers presented at the First Irfan Colloquium pp. 239-282
> 
> London: George Ronald, 1997
> 
> Abstract: Religions have attempted to find meaning and value in life, and to offer
> followers an experience of the transcendent. In pursuing this quest, religions
> have often demonstrated an inherent drive to claims of uniqueness and
> universality. As Harold Coward, in his study of religious pluralism, puts it,
> "Many religions exhibit an inner tendency to claim to be the true
> religion, to offer the true revelation as the true way of
> salvation or release. It appears to be self-contradictory for such a religion
> to accept any expression of ultimate reality other than its own"
> (Pluralism vii). Such claims of uniqueness are found from as far afield
> as Buddhism, "Other religions have made their founders gods or sons of God;
> Buddhism makes its founder into the Ultimate and only Reality, which underlies,
> produces, and includes all things" (Humphreys, Buddhism 155), to the
> creed contained in Zoroastrian scriptures, "I pledge myself to the
> Mazda-worshipping religion which of all faiths which are and shall be is the
> greatest, the best, and the fairest" (Boyce, Materials 58). It is not a
> major transition from uniqueness to exclusivism--the belief that a particular
> religious tradition is unique in the sense of providing the exclusive medium of
> salvation for all. However, the pluralism of the modern world has confronted
> the world religions with the need to examine their exclusivist claims and
> reformulate old doctrines to account for other paths to salvation. This paper
> examines how Christianity, possibly the most exclusivist of world religions,
> has come to terms with the pluralist dilemma. It aims to review modern
> Christian scholarship and offer Bahá'í perspectives on
> interpreting exclusivist texts. Finally it will explore whether these
> approaches have any bearing on Bahá'í texts.
> 
> Problems of Exclusivist Attitudes
> 
> There are at least four negative consequences of exclusivist attitudes. The
> first is disunity: "It divides people into `we' and `they,' those who are
> `saved' and those who are `not saved,' those on the `inside' and those on the
> `outside'" (Samartha, One Christ 102). Second, it limits the
> possibilities of interreligious dialogue and cooperation. A practical example
> of this is the experience of the Christian community in India. Stanley
> Samartha, a Christian theologian, has argued that it was the exclusivist claims
> of Christianity that contributed to their negligible participation in nation
> building. Furthermore,
> 
> This claim has isolated Christians from their neighbours of
> other faiths in India, led to their theological alienation and spiritual
> impoverishment, and in a religiously plural society has made it difficult, if
> not impossible, for Christians to cooperate with their neighbours for common
> social purposes. (One Christ 118)
> 
> Third, exclusive claims, combined with economic, political, and military power,
> lead to tensions and conflicts in society--tensions which can be
> internationalized and potentially threaten world peace. The Roman Catholic
> theologian, Hans Küng, has written that peace between the religions is an
> essential prerequisite for world peace (Christianity 440-3). "This is
> because the religions, with their claims to absolute truth and hence to unique
> superiority, function both to validate and to intensify human conflicts. In
> order to cease to do so, each must learn no longer to see itself as the one and
> only true faith" (Hick, Pluralist 10). `Abdu'l-Bahá contended
> that exclusivism--the belief that "their own form of religion is the only one
> pleasing to God, and that followers of other persuasion are condemned by the
> All-Loving Father and deprived of His Mercy and Grace"--is the "chief cause" of
> religious prejudice, and the related "contempt, disputes and hatred" between
> nations (Paris Talks 45-6). Finally, exclusive claims crystallize the
> major theological differences between the religions, thus making the various
> religions appear to be irreconcileable from the perspective of belief. Samartha
> believes that "no amount of intellectual juggling or sophisticated exegesis can
> resolve" the exclusivist claims of the different religions (One Christ
> 102).
> 
> I. Christian Exclusivist Texts
> 
> Christian claims in the exclusivity of Christ are founded in the two New
> Testament concepts of incarnation--God becoming physically incarnated in
> Jesus--and realized eschatology--that in Jesus sacred history came to an end
> (Coward, Pluralism 17). ,The New Testament states that Jesus is the "one
> mediator" between God and humanity (1 Tim 2:5), and there is "no other name" by
> which persons can be saved (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the "only begotten Son of God"
> (John 1:14). No one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). Just as
> all died in one man, Adam, so all will be brought to life in one man, Christ (1
> Cor. 15:21-22). What took place in Christ was "once and for all"
> (epaphax) (Heb. 9:12). Jesus is thus the final prophet, providing the
> normative, final word for all who preceded or may follow (Knitter, No
> Other 182). The claim is that Jesus Christ is the one name under heaven by
> which all must be saved, that the cross of Jesus Christ is the universal means
> of salvation, that Jesus is the unique incarnation of the divine, that the
> Christian revelation gives definitive access to the divine. There are various
> approaches that Christian theologians have outlined to these exclusivist texts.
> 
> a) Erroneous Texts
> 
> One approach to exclusivist texts is to question their authenticity and
> suggest that they are erroneous, not in the original scripture, but having been
> added afterwards. There is a simplicity about this which is appealing. John
> Hick, for instance, dismisses biblical claims regarding the exclusiveness of
> Jesus on the authority of New Testament criticism, as being additions of the
> early Christian community rather than the authentic words of Jesus. Marcus
> Braybrooke, another distinguished Protestant theologian, has also argued that
> modern critical scholarship has challenged the authenticity of the exclusivist
> texts in the New Testament. In relation to John 14:6 ["I am the light, the way
> and the truth. No man comes to the Father but by me"], Hick writes,
> 
> But it is no secret today, after more than a hundred years of
> the scholarly study of the scriptures, that very few New Testament experts now
> hold that the Jesus who actually lived ever spoke those words, or their Aramaic
> equivalents. They are much more probably words put into his mouth by a
> Christian writer who is expressing the view of Christ which had been arrived at
> in his part of the Church, probably two or three generations after Jesus's
> death. And it is likewise doubted whether the few sayings of the same kind in
> the other gospels are authentic words of Jesus. (Second Christianity
> 28)[1]
> 
> The disadvantages, however, possibly outweigh the advantages of this approach.
> Monica Hellwig, a professor of theology at Georgetown University, has argued
> against this method because of the difficulty in finding a convincing
> justification for claiming the authority to stand above and judge the accepted
> Christian tradition that accepts the authenticity of the New Testament. This
> sort of approach usually necessitates a sharp break, causing a schism with the
> community itself, as in the sixteenth-century Reformation. Moreover it tends
> not to cause a single split between conservative and liberal groups, but many
> different factions each claiming some higher authority for reinterpreting the
> traditional positions in their particular way. As an approach to dialogue
> between Christianity and the other religions it is unhelpful, "because it
> begins with an argument that takes a long time to soften into amicable
> conversation within the tradition before there can be any conversation with
> those outside the tradition that are other than individual or factional"
> (Hellwig, Death 52). It is also worth noting that recent New Testament
> scholarship does not uniformly support Hick's position (Coward,
> Pluralism 29).
> 
> The spirit of Bahá'í dialogue with Christianity does not lend
> itself to this approach. At the outset of a discussion with a group of
> Protestant priests in Paris, `Abdu'l-Bahá explores the meaning of the
> texts rather than their authenticity. He states, "Our belief in Christ is
> exactly what is recorded in the Gospels; however, we elucidate this matter and
> do not speak literally" (`Abdu'l-Bahá 8). "Here then the
> framework is set, a common ground automatically established--two believers in
> the Gospels discussing its interpretation" (Fazel, Introduction
> 1).
> 
> b) Erroneous Interpretations
> 
> Alternatively, some Christian scholars have argued that exclusivist
> claims are based on an incorrect interpretation of scripture. This is
> highlighted by discussions over the interpretation of John 14:6--the classic
> exclusivist New Testament verse. In this verse, Jesus states, "I am the light,
> the way and the truth. No man comes to Father but my me." Traditional
> Christians thought has understood this to refer specifically to the historical
> Jesus Christ.
> 
> However, modern Christian scholarship has examined the question of who the "I"
> of John 14:6 is refering to. The argument put forward is that it is the
> Johannine Jesus who is speaking who is different to the Jesus of the synoptic
> gospels: "The Jesus of John is the Jesus of faith, the Jesus of the imagination
> of the early church" (Cobb, Dialogue 16), "of spiritual reflection
> rather than reliable history" (Carpenter, Jesus 14), a "high"
> Christology. The structure of John's Gospel is significant in that it starts
> with the incarnation of the Word rather than the story of Jesus' birth. It
> describes the appearance in this world of the Word, the divine Logos, that had
> been with God from the beginning, "the Word was with God." John Cobb, a
> Protestant scholar of interreligious dialogue, has concluded that, "It is this
> Word that speaks as `I' in the pages of the gospel."
> 
> It is affirmed, then, that the Word who is incarnate in Jesus
> is the Way, the Truth, the Life, and that no one comes to the Father except
> through that Word. This cannot mean that the Word is present and active
> only in Jesus; for in the prologue to the Gospel it is stated that in
> the Word that was from the beginning was life, that this life was also the true
> light that enlightens everyone (Jn 1:9). (Cobb, Death
> 16-7)
> 
> John Macquarrie, a professor of religious studies at Oxford, comments on John
> 14:6 in a similar way. "In John's gospel, let us remember, the words of Jesus
> are the words of the Logos, not just of the individual human being, Jesus of
> Nazareth. That Word or Logos enlightens every one who comes into the world"
> (Jesus Christ 422). Diana Eck writes that she believes that it is "a
> world-spanning Christ who speaks this `I'. To see the Logos, the Word, is to
> see God. ... Christ is the Logos, the Word, the divine intention to speak, to
> disclose, to reveal." Thus, Eck argues that there is no "way" to God as "God
> is the Way, the Truth, the Life" (Eck, Encountering 95).
> 
> Relevant to this discussion is the nature of the distinction between Jesus and
> Christ that is made by a number of theologians. Such a distinction is helpful
> from a pluralist position as the focus of exclusivist claims shifts from the
> historical Jesus of Nazareth to the eternal Christ who is manifested from age
> to age. Raimundo Pannikar, a professor of comparative religion, has long argued
> against the exclusive identification of Christ with Jesus. He has written that
> "The Christ we are speaking of is by no means the monopoly of Christians, or
> merely Jesus of Nazareth" (Unknown Christ 49). Pannikar's
> interpretation is that the Father is the Absolute, transcendent, beyond every
> name. Jesus taught us to name the unnameable Absolute "Father" and to know this
> Father through the Son. The Son is "the Mystery hidden since the world began,
> the Mystery of which the Scriptures speak, and which, according to Christians,
> was manifested in Christ" (Trinity 42). He adds that Christ stands for
> that centre of reality, and that Rama or Krishna are its other names
> (Unknown 27). The Report of the Archbishops' Conference on Christian
> Doctrine (1922) makes a similar distinction: "The coming of Jesus Christ ... is
> the manifestation in history of the Word who `was in the beginning with God and
> was God.' ... To assert the pre-existence of the human soul of Jesus, far from
> being required of orthodoxy, is inconsistent with it" (cited in Dewick, The
> Christian Attitude 94). The Buddhist scholar, Seiichi Yagi, has studied
> Jesus' use of "I" in the fourth Gospel and argues that "I" refers to the divine
> which was being manifested in Jesus: "The `I' in these words can be the `divine
> in him,' which spoke through the empirical ego of Jesus" (Myth 122).
> 
> The same interpretive approach can make sense of the statement of the Apostle
> Peter in Acts of the Apostles: "In none other name is there salvation" (Acts
> 4:12). Christian commentators have argued that it cannot refer to verbal form
> of the name as this varies from one language to another. Instead, the name can
> act as a symbol of the person named. Thus the name of Jesus is an alternative
> way of saying the word Jesus itself, which symbolises the qualities of that
> person. A related approach is to interpret the name as the word of God, and
> thus salvation mediated through "the Eternal Christ, the Word of God" (Dewick,
> The Christian Attitude 94). A variety of other names are used for Jesus
> Christ including Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince
> of Peace (Isa 9:6), Immanuel (Isa 7:14), Adam (1 Cor 15:45), Messiah (Mt 11:3),
> Amen (Rev 3:14). Of interest is the name of the eschatological saviour of
> Revelations; "his name is called The Word of God" (Rev 19:13).
> 
> As an approach in general, arguing for a fresh interpretation of exclusivist
> texts, is the Bahá'í method par excellence.
> Bahá'u'lláh's polemic against "Leaders of religion, in every age"
> in the Kitáb-i-Íqán (15) specifically attacks their
> erroneous literal interpretation of scripture:
> 
> As they have literally interpreted the Word of God, and the
> sayings and traditions of the Letters of Unity, and expounded them according to
> their own deficient understanding, they have therefore deprived themselves and
> all their people of the bountiful showers of the grace and mercies of God.
> (Kitáb-i-Íqán 82)
> 
> This criticism is reiterated in "The Promise of World Peace" which rebukes
> religious leaders for imposing "on their votaries erroneous and conflicting
> interpretations of the pronouncements of the Prophets of God" (5).
> 
> Bahá'í writers have therefore approached exclusivist texts by
> interpreting them non-literally. For example, Robert Stockman, in his paper
> "Jesus Christ in the Bahá'í Writings," has written that the "I"
> in John 14:6 refers to Jesus' reality as a manifestation of God. Knowledge of
> God is thus exclusively through the manifestations of God (Jesus 39-40).
> Another piece has argued for "the distinction between Jesus (the individual
> manifestation of God for his age) and the Christ (the Word of God, the divine
> Logos which `lighteth every man that cometh into the world' [Jn 1:9] and is the
> `same yesterday, today, and forever' [Heb 13:8])" (Fazel and Fananapazir,
> Bahá'í Approach 22).
> 
> c) Misrepresentative Texts
> 
> A third approach is to argue that exclusivist texts are
> misrepresentative of the rest of Christian scripture. Many Christian
> fundamentalists have extrapolated these texts over the entire Bible and
> presumed that the whole of scripture only contains sentences exactly of this
> type. Fundamentalism works, as most other Christian traditions do, by a process
> of selecting and grading biblical texts, or more precisely by perpetuating and
> accepting as definitive the results of such a selection which was carried out a
> long time ago. Some biblical aspects are stressed and up-graded, others are
> de-emphasized and made subsidiary or figurative. John Barr, professor emeritus
> of Hebrew at Oxford, exemplifies this by examining two quotes--the first, "the
> passage `All scripture is inspired by God' (2 Tim 3:16) is over-interpreted and
> loaded with greatly exaggerated significance, while a comparable verse such as:
> `And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and
> the powers of death shall not prevail against it (Matt 16:18)' is
> correspondingly evacuated of all but the most limited content" (Barr,
> Escaping 114).
> 
> Bible commentaries demonstrate how some Christians emphasis the centrality of
> exclusivist texts. The Word Biblical Commentary states that John 3:16
> ("only begotten Son") is "the fundamental summary of the message of this Gospel
> and should therefore be seen as the background of the canvas on which the rest
> of the Gospel is painted (Bearsley-Murray, John 51). Of John 14:6 ("I am
> the Way"), the Expositor's Bible Commentary states "Jesus' reply is the
> ultimate foundation for a satisfactory philosophy of life" (Expositor's
> 144).
> 
> A number of Christian scholars have identified non-exclusivist passages in the
> Bible and have concluded that these predominate over the exclusivist
> alternatives. The Jewish emphasis upon the God of Abraham as the sovereign God
> of all peoples is carried over into the New Testament: a loving God and Father
> of all people, "the true light which lighteth every man" (Jn 1:9) , who desires
> "all men to be saved" (1 Tim 2:4), who "accepted" those who "worketh
> righteousness" (Acts 10:35). Furthermore, scholars have argued that Matthew
> sees Jesus more as a mediator than a full incarnation, and that Peter's
> perspective focuses greatly upon God, the Father of all. There are many
> examples of when Jesus is described as portraying a non-exclusive and
> proto-pluralist worldview. Many of the exemplars of faith and recipients of
> loving mercy in the Gospels are those who might be called "people of other
> Faiths": the Roman centurion, the Syro-phoenician woman, the Greek Cornelius.
> Jesus told parables in which a man of another religion, a Samaritan, was the
> embodiment of true spirituality. His opposition to the Pharisees and Sadducees
> was directed not against their religion but against their legalistic and
> doctrinal approach to religion that he believed was insensitive to true
> spiritual life. He gave dignity and respect to sincere believers whose views
> differed from his own (Coward, Pluralism 17).
> 
> The Bahá'í writings would appear to endorse this approach.
> Bahá'u'lláh's polemic against the Islamic clergy includes a
> statement which criticises their selective reading of the Qur'án:
> 
> These people [who] with one hand cling to those verses of the
> Qur'án and those traditions of the people of certitude which they have
> found to accord with their inclinations and interests, and with the other
> reject those which are contrary to their selfish desires.
> (Kitáb-i-Iqán 168-9)
> 
> From a Bahá'í perspective, this criticism is extended beyond
> Islam to other religions. Therefore, Christians who hold exclusivist beliefs
> have misrepresented the teachings of Jesus by selecting and grading a small
> number of scriptural passages, and ignoring texts which suggest otherwise. In
> order to enable Christians "to obtain a fuller understanding of the religion"
> with which they stand identified, the "primary purpose" of the
> Bahá'í Faith (Shoghi Effendi, World Order 58),
> Bahá'ís can focus on Jesus' interaction with other worldviews,
> his proto-pluralism, and consequently uncover a basis for Christian openness to
> other faiths.
> 
> d) Survival Language
> 
> This approach is to place exclusivist texts in the historical context of
> the early Christian community who was in the process of trying to establish its
> identity. The first centuries of early Christianity were characterized by
> precarious growth. The community faced the danger either of being overwhelmed
> by larger groups for whom it was a threat or a nuisance, or of being absorbed
> by an all-consuming syncretism. To defend itself against these dangers, the
> Christian community needed to arm itself with a clear identity and total
> commitment. It did this particularly through its beliefs, notably its
> exclusivist christological ones. Paul Knitter, a Catholic professor of
> interreligious dialogue, has termed the doctrinal language that arose out of
> this process "survival language," as it was necessary for the survival of the
> community. "By defining Jesus Christ in absolute terms, by announcing him as
> the one and only saviour, the early Christians cut out for themselves an
> identity different from that of all their opponents or competitors. Such
> language also evoked a total commitment that would steel them in the fate of
> persecution or ridicule" (Knitter, No Other 184). Thus, scholars have
> concluded that exclusivist beliefs tell us more about the social situation of
> the early Church than the ontological nature of Jesus. Wesley Ariarajah, who
> heads the dialogue section of the World Council of Churches, has written of the
> early Christians, "The community was under immense pressure to justify its
> faith in Jesus, the crucified master whom they now experienced as the risen
> Lord. As much by the logic of the circumstances as by the strength of their
> convictions they were led to make claims for Jesus for which he would not
> perhaps have made for himself" (Ariarajah, The Bible 24). The problem,
> however, came when "that minority language and exclusive claim got mixed up
> with the power and pomp of the Roman Empire under the Constantine, such
> attitudes lead to serious ethical consequences in a religiously plural world"
> (Samartha, One Christ 100).
> 
> The threats confronting the early Christian community have been outlined by
> Gerald Vallee. He has identified the following seven dangers:
> 
> Encounter with Judaism -- danger of remaining a sect, of losing its
> christological distinctiveness: "The excessive emphasis on only is part of the
> early Christian polemics against the Jewish people from whom the Christians
> were growing out as a separate community" (Ariarajah, The Bible 24);
> 
> Gentiles -- danger of losing its monotheistic distinctiveness;
> 
> Gnostic groups -- danger of losing its identity as a historical
> religion; danger of becoming elitist and esoteric;
> 
> Graeco-Roman cults -- danger of idolatry and syncretism;
> 
> Roman Empire -- danger of playing down its distinctive character;
> danger of overadaptation;
> 
> Hellinistic philosophy -- danger of being dissolved into philosophic
> doctrines; danger of losing its historical character;
> 
> Roman Law -- danger of losing its prophetic and eschatological
> character; danger of structural assimilation. (Vallee, Study
> 99)
> 
> The approach of "survival language" can be extended to analyzing Christian
> doctrine. For example, the Athanasian Creed, "Whoever wishes to be saved must
> first of all hold the Catholic faith, for anyone who does not maintain this
> whole and inviolate will surely be lost," was probably written in early sixth
> century when church of Arles when threatened by western Arians. This would not,
> however, explain the medieval fascination and emphasis on it when the Christian
> Church was the dominant religious institution in Europe. The Creed became part
> of the liturgy in medieval period, found a place in the Book of Common Prayer
> of the Anglican Church, as well as in modern Catholic worship each Sunday until
> the Second Vatican Council. It also recurs in Tridentine Profession of Faith
> set out by Pope Paul IV in 1564 and is demanded by the Council of Trent of all
> church dignitaries.
> 
> Hellwig has argued that its medieval rediscovery can also be explained by the
> "survival language" perspective. The intention of the Creed was to reinforce
> the knowledge and belief of the traditional trinitarian teaching among the
> clergy. The Catholic clergy were primary targets because of the great fear of
> Church authorities that they would be seduced unwittingly by the teachings of
> the Reformers. In this case, therefore, the apparent declaration that outsiders
> cannot be saved is really a declaration that insiders who let themselves be
> seduced from the mainline church are being drawn away from the source of
> redemption, the church of Jesus Christ. The Creed also found favour because of
> the way in which it lends itself to choral recititation, and articulates much
> traditional doctrine (Hellwig, Dialogue 53-4).
> 
> There are aspects of Bahá'í thought that can be seen to endorse
> the idea of "survival language." Paramount among these is the concept that the
> social evolution of humanity which has passed through evolutionary stages
> analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood, and now is in its final
> period of adolescence before it reaches maturity. "Survival language" is the
> language of childhood and adolescence. In childhood,there is a well-documented
> phase of sexual differentiation that involves a contempt for members of the
> other sex. Boys go through a stage of proving that they are not "sissies," of
> not wanting to play with girls or even to acknowledge that they exist, and
> something similar happens with girls (Hellwig, Dialogue 52).[2] It is also a time of life in which absolutes
> dominate thinking processes. In adolescence, there is a strong tendency to club
> together into groups, gangs, and cliques and to show exclusivist behaviour to
> individuals not included. Thus, it could be argued that, from a
> Bahá'í perspective, "survival language" is a natural but
> preliminary stage in the social evolution of religions.
> 
> e) Apocalyptic Language
> 
> Related to the concept of "survival language" is Rosemary Reuther's work
> on the apocalyptic context of New Testament writing (Reuther, To
> Change). The world of the first Christians was one of Jewish
> apocalypticism--the end of the world was imminent, as was the "second coming. "
> Palestine was "soaked in politico-religious apocalypticism" and many
> Palestinian Jews to some extent believed in a Messianic solution. Among the
> most influential groups were the Essenes, "members of an extremist
> apocalyptic-eschatological sect, who expected their triumph to come soon,"
> (Johnson, History 19, 18) of which John the Baptist was a prominent
> member. Early Christians also believed that the reign of God that Jesus
> preached was about to be fulfilled in their lifetime through him. There could
> have been no consideration at all about other saviors; there was no time for
> them. But when the end of time did not happen, the finality of end-time was
> shifted to the centre of history: "Jesus as the final, eschatological prophet
> was simply moved to be the center of history: a shift from the apocalyptic to a
> classicist worldview" (Swidler, Universal 45). This research has
> highlighted the influence of early apocalyptic ideas on exclusive statements
> about Jesus; statements which "should be recognized as time-conditioned and
> therefore in need of reinterpretation. Jesus need not be the absolutely final
> prophet, but a universally meaningful savior who gives promise and power for an
> eschatalogical future" (Knitter, No Other 184).
> 
> Both approaches of "survival" and "apocalyptic" language are based on the
> historicity of the texts; seeing them as statements that are partly explained
> by their circumstances and time. Bahá'í theology would appear to
> strongly corroborate this approach. `Abdu'l-Bahá's analysis of the two
> parts of religion, "essential" and "non-essential," explains that the
> non-essentials are relative to time and social circumstances: "These are
> subject to change and transformation in accordance with time, place and
> conditions" (Promulgation 97-98). Among these non-essentials are the
> dogmas of the Church, such as the doctrine of the Trinity which
> `Abdu'l-Bahá asserted to a group of Protestant theologians in 1913
> (`Abdu'l-Bahá 12). Equally, from a Bahá'í
> perspective, the doctrine of the exclusivity of Christ is among these
> non-essential dogmas subject to the laws of change and decay, and the
> subsequent need for renewal.
> 
> Bahá'í scholars have suggested that John 14:6 ("I am the Way")
> can be viewed in its historical context. Stockman proposes a novel
> interpretation by interpreting at the word "am" in this verse. He proposes that
> the universal present interpretation of "am" is incorrect (as one would say
> about someone's name, i.e. "I am John"); rather it refers to a finite period of
> time. Therefore, Moses was the only way until Jesus, and Jesus the only way
> until Muhammad (Jesus 39-40). From a Bahá'í perspective,
> exclusivist statements from a Manifestation of God have both a historical and
> meta-historical meaning. From a historical perspective, exclusivist verses,
> such as in John 14:6, are true and valid until the end of the dispensation. The
> meta-historical or eternal meaning, when such words are spoken in the station
> of the divine Logos, the mouthpiece of God, is applicable to all time and to
> other manifestations of God (McLean, Dimensions 45).
> 
> In support of a historical reading of John 14:6 ("I am the Way") is the view
> that the primary audience was Jewish. In a recent study of the uses of "I am"
> in John's Gospel, Ball suggests that when taking the "I am" statements
> together, they identify Jesus with images and concepts from the Old Testament
> and Jewish expectation of the time. The Jesus proclaimed in the "I am" verses
> "must be understood in the light of the Old Testament and Judaism" and is
> presented as the one who fulfils and embodies various Old Testament concepts
> ("I am" 270, 272). Moreover, the framework for understanding of salvation in
> John is "self-confessedly Jewish": such salvation is "from the Jews" (Jn 4:22).
> Thus, it is possible to argue that the exclusivist text has is polemical
> language implying as it does that Judaism as traditionally understood and
> practised is obsolete (Ball, "I am" 282, 273).
> 
> f) Confessional Language
> 
> The study of how religious language is used in the New Testament has enabled
> Christian theologians to reinterpret the exclusivist texts in a number of new
> and interesting ways. Prominent among these scholars is Knitter who has argued
> that much of the exclusivist writing in the New Testament belongs not to the
> language of philosophy or science but rather to the language of confession and
> testimony. "In talking about Jesus, the New Testament authors use the language
> not of analytic philosophers but of enthusiastic believers, not of scientists
> but of lovers. In describing Jesus as `the only,' Christians were not trying to
> elaborate a metaphysical principle but a personal relationship and a commitment
> that defined what it meant to belong to this community" (No Other 185).
> 
> An analogous use of language is that which a husband would use of his wife when
> saying, for instance, that, "You are the most beautiful woman in the world, you
> are the only woman for me." Such statements are true in the context of their
> marital relationship and in intimate moments, but lose their relevance if they
> were understood to mean that there is absolutely no other woman in the world as
> beautiful as this particular husband's wife or that there is no other woman
> that he could possibly love and marry. This would be transforming love language
> into scientific or philosophical language. Knitter argues that Christian
> exclusivist attitudes, in the way they have been understood and used, have
> perhaps done just that to the love language of the early church. "The languages
> of the heart and the head are not necessarily contradictory, but they are
> different and their differences must be respected" (Knitter, No Other
> 185). Hick has also argued that Christian exclusivist claims have misused
> the language of personal commitment and "turned living religion into dogmatic
> exclusiveness" (Second Christianity 32).
> 
> Knitter tests this hypothesis on some of the classic exclusivist New Testament
> texts. In reading them as confessional statements rather than philosophical
> ones, he argues that they sound different, and take on a more spiritually
> challenging character to the individual believer. The following is a summary of
> Knitter's reinterpretation of three exclusivist texts:
> 
> "there is none other name under heaven by which men can be saved"
> (Acts 4:12).
> 
> Knitter argues that the context of this passage suggests a confessional
> interpretation. The apostles have just cured the lame man in the name of Jesus,
> and cry out "there is no other name by which we can be saved," not to rule out
> the possibility of other saviours, but to proclaim that this Lord Jesus was
> still alive and that it was he, not they, who are working such wonders in the
> community. The text, therefore, is abused when used as a starting point for
> evaluating other religions (No Other 185). In support, Paul Robinson has
> written that the question at issue in this passage was "not one of comparative
> religions but of faith-healing":
> 
> that is, in whose power had Peter and John just healed the
> crippled man, and more broadly, in whose power had the disciples undergone the
> transformation that was so evident to their Jews? The passage delivers a clear
> answer: not Peter and John's own power, but the power contained in the name and
> reality of Jesus the Christ. (Robinson, Truth 105)
> 
> "The only begotten Son" (John 1:14, 3:16).
> 
> Knitter suggests that the texts that present Jesus as "the only begotten Son"
> will also be heard differently. Their primary intent will not be to exclude
> anyone else as a possible son or daughter of God, but to challenge all hearers
> to take Jesus seriously, as authoritative. These texts are indicating that just
> as any son can tell us much about his father, so Jesus is a reliable revelation
> of God. The original Greek of these quotes would appear to support this view.
> In translating the Greek, uios tou Theou ("son of God"), there is
> nothing to suggest that the definite article "the" needs to be included; it
> does not appear in the original Greek and the phrase could as well be
> translated "a son of God." The descriptive qualifier "only begotten"
> would be better rendered according to its Hebrew usage as "firstborn" or
> "beloved" (as it is Mark 1:11, 9:7; Matt. 17:5; Luke 9:35). It could then be
> understood not to affirm the exclusivity but the reliability and urgency of
> Jesus' role as God's instrument. In this sense Israel is also called the
> "firstborn" of God (Exodus 4:22; Sirach 36:12; Jer. 31:9) (Knitter, No
> Other 185).[3]
> 
> "The one mediator between God and humankind" (1 Tim 2:5).
> 
> Here, the adjective "one" should be heard not to imply "absolutely the only,"
> but "the one whom we must take seriously," to whom all persons must listen, if
> they are truly to understand the God who, as the previous verse reminds us,
> "wants all people to be saved and come to know the truth." Like all Christians,
> the author of this passage was excited about Jesus; his principal concern was
> that all others experience the truth and salvation of this Jesus. The author
> was not out to condemn all other mediators or those who did not know Jesus
> (Knitter, No Other 186).
> 
> "No man cometh to the Father but by me" (Jn 14:6).
> 
> Eck comes to a confessional reading of this passage by focusing on the question
> and questioner. It is "the poor uncertain" Thomas who asked that question on
> the last night that Jesus spent with his disciples. After he washed their feet,
> he spoke to them words of farewell: "I am going where you cannot follow, not
> just now. I am going to God's house of many rooms to prepare a place for you,
> and you know the way I am going". This is what prompted Thomas to ask his
> question:
> 
> And what did Thomas ask? Did he ask, Lord, are Hindus to have
> a room in God's heavenly household? Did he ask, Lord, will Buddhists make it
> across the sea of sorrow on the raft of the Dharma? Lord, when Muhammad comes
> six hundred years from now, will he hear God's word? No, on that night of
> uncomprehending uncertainty he asked, "Lord, we do not know where you are
> going; how can we know the way? And Christ answered, "I am the Way, ..." It was
> a pastoral answer, not a polemical one. It was an expression of comfort, not
> condemnation. (Eck, Encountering 94)
> 
> g) Action Language
> 
> A related approach to religious language is its ability to motivate
> actions--the performative role of language. Knitter has argued in later works
> that the intent of the language of Acts 4:12 ["For there is no other name . .
> ."] "is clearly praxic, performative--to call others to recognize and accept
> the power that is available to them in Jesus" (Death 41). He contends
> that the biblical context of this passage suggests this interpretation. Earlier
> verses state, "In the power of that name this man stands before you perfectly
> sound" (Acts 4:10) and "It is his name and trust in this name that has
> strengthened the limbs of this man" (Acts 3:16). Knitter asserts that the
> implication is evident: if we can trust in the power of Jesus' name, our limbs
> can also be strengthened for tasks that presently seem impossible, as
> impossible as a crippled man being enabled to walk. Acts 3:23 makes it even
> clearer that Peter was talking about the power of Jesus: "Anyone who does not
> listen to that prophet [foretold by Moses] shall be ruthlessly cut off from the
> people."
> 
> "No other name", as performative, action language, is really
> a positive statement in negative couching: it tells us that all peoples must
> listen to this Jesus; it does not tell us that no one else should be
> listened to or learned from. The stress, then, is on the saving power
> mediated by the name of Jesus, not on the exclusivity of the name. (Knitter,
> Death 41-2)
> 
> Related are views of Ball who sees the point of exclusivist language to
> encourage believers: "That some of the promises in the sub-clauses of the `I
> am' sayings are made to believers may suggest that the words of the Johannine
> Jesus are addressed to members of the believing community who need to be
> encouraged in their Faith" ("I am" 275). Borg believes that their voice is
> "invitational rather than imperative": "`Consider the lilies of the field'
> functions very differently from `these are God's requirements for salvation'"
> (Jesus 145-6).
> 
> There are number of passages in Bahá'í scripture to the nature of
> religious language that would seem to endorse the importance of "confessional"
> and "action" language in understanding religious texts. One of the major themes
> of the Bahá'í writings is the power of the "Word of God." The
> Bahá'í writings state that the "Word of God" is "endowed with
> such regenerative power" (Bahá'u'lláh, cited in Shoghi
> Effendi, World Order 107), "creative power" (Shoghi Effendi,
> Deepening 34-35), "penetrative power" (Abdu'l-Bahá,
> Selections 292), "supreme animating power" (Bahá'u'lláh,
> Tablets 73), "compelling power" (Shoghi Effendi, World Order
> 103), "a power above and beyond the powers of nature" (Abdu'l-Bahá,
> Selections 53). It acts as "the divine magnet" (`Abdu'l-Bahá,
> Tablets 358), "the most potent elixir, the greatest and mightiest
> talisman" (`Abdu'l-Bahá, Tablets 200), to convert "satanic
> strength into heavenly power" (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings
> 200), to cause "the heart of every righteous man to throb"
> (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings 295):
> 
> Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is endowed
> with such potency as can instil new life into every human frame, if ye be of
> them that comprehend this truth. . . . Through the mere revelation of the word
> `Fashioner,' issuing forth from His lips and proclaiming His attribute to
> mankind, such power is released as can generate, through successive ages, all
> the manifold arts which the hands of man can produce.
> (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings 141-2)
> 
> Every single letter proceeding from Our mouth is endowed with such regenerative
> power as to enable it to bring into existence a new creation--a creation the
> magnitude of which is inscrutable to all save God. (Bahá'u'lláh,
> cited in Shoghi Effendi, World Order 107)
> 
> The words of Bahá'u'lláh and the Master [`Abdu'l-Bahá],
> however, have a creative power and are sure to awaken in the reader the undying
> fire of the love of God. (Shoghi Effendi, Deepening
> 34-35)
> 
> It would appear that these Bahá'í quotes strongly support the
> idea that language has a performative role, the idea of "action language."
> Religious texts, from a Bahá'í viewpoint, are revealed to
> transform the character of individuals and society, and to release "the
> potentialities in the station of man" (Bahá'u'lláh,
> Gleanings 340) in expression through art, science, scholarship and
> service to society. Exclusivist texts are part of this process. They are
> performative, challenging and urging believers to strive for their own
> spiritual development and that of others.
> 
> h) Hyperbolic Language
> 
> For the early Christians, the religious experience of encountering Jesus
> was so different to everyday experience that they used what Leonard Swidler, a
> professor of interreligious dialogue, has called "hyperbolic language". This
> type of language is metaphorical and poetic, and is used to express
> extraordinary feelings and emotions that transcend everyday language. Hence,
> Christians began to speak of Jesus of Nazareth as the meeting point of the
> divine and the human, and later, in the fourth and fifth centuries, when
> Christianity had become the state religion of the Roman empire and had largely
> embraced the terminology and thinking of the Hellenistic world, orthodox
> Christians began to speak of the God-man. The problem, according to Swidler, is
> that this language was no longer understood to be hyperbolic and poetic but as
> encapsulating definitive and absolute scientific truths about the nature of
> Jesus:
> 
> Unfortunately for subsequent Christians, and for the rest of
> the world, the profound insight that the first Christians had in their
> liberating encounter with Jesus of Nazareth was now translated out of its
> poetic, metaphorical language into Hellenistic empirical, ontological language
> in a manner that took the original language to also be empirical, ontological.
> Not to perceive that almost all the original language of the first Christians
> as expressed in the NT was in fact poetic, metaphorical, when speaking in its
> most ecstatic terms about the significance and meaning of Jesus of Nazareth,
> was a profound misjudgement. (Swidler, Universal
> 42-3).
> 
> A clear endorsement of "hyperbolic language" has come from the Universal House
> of Justice. In answering a question about the meaning of one of its statements,
> it has written that the manifestations of God speak in a language replete with
> "poetry, analogy, hyperbole and paradox": "we must accept that they are
> realities that cannot be defined in a rigourous manner, as one would attempt to
> define the terms of mathematics or even of philosophy. This is a realm of
> knowledge in which poetry, analogy, hyperbole and paradox are to be expected; a
> realm in which the Manifestations themselves speak with many voices" (From a
> letter on behalf of the Universal House of Justice, dated 15 October 1992). The
> Bahá'í writings themselves are no exception. Shoghi Effendi, to
> take one example, has written that `Abdu'l-Bahá "uses the method of
> exaggerated emphasis" in order to explain how individuals know God through the
> instrument of the manifestations of God:
> 
> The Master uses the term "the Divine Reality is sanctified
> from singleness" in order to forcibly impress us with the fact that the Godhead
> is unknowable and that to define It is impossible; we cannot contain It in such
> concepts as singleness and plurality which we apply to things we know and can
> experience. He uses the method of exaggerated emphasis in order to drive home
> His thought that we know the sun directly though its rays, the Godhead
> indirectly through the Manifestations of God. (From a letter on behalf of
> Shoghi Effendi, dated 20 February 1950 cited in Bahá'í Canada
> Supplement 6)
> 
> II. Baháí Texts
> 
> To what extent are these approaches relevant to Bahá'í
> texts? Although, there is no doctrine of Bahá'í exclusivity,
> there are a number of Bahá'í scriptural texts which assert the
> uniqueness of the Bahá'í Faith (Stockman, Uniqueness). It
> is not impossible to imagine that these texts could rise in prominence in the
> Bahá'í dialogue with other religions, as a consequence to the
> growing strength and confidence of the Bahá'í community as it
> continues to expand and consolidate worldwide, and partly as a reaction to the
> theological uncertainties that will be created through a deeper interreligious
> dialogue.[4] A notable and recent example is the
> experience of the current President of the World Congress of Faiths, Edward
> Carpenter, who at an interview said that, "it disturbs me when on occasion I
> hear a well-meaning Bahá'í taking the view that it is God's will
> that all religions will be absorbed, ultimately, into the Bahá'í
> Faith. This is a form of imperialism which, I think, we need to guard ourselves
> against" (Gouvion, Gardeners 169). The transition from what Carpenter
> calls "imperialism" to exclusivism is a small one. The Bahá'í
> community will need to guard itself from both these tendencies which run
> diametrically counter to Bahá'í belief.[5]
> 
> In the following section, I will analyse some apparently exclusivist texts in
> the Bahá'í writings from the approaches outlined in the first
> part of this paper.
> 
> a) Erroneous Interpretations
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh's statement in the Súriy-i-Haykal, "The
> Holy Spirit Itself hath been generated through the agency of a single letter
> revealed by this Most Great Spirit, if ye be of them that comprehend"
> (Bahá'u'lláh, cited in Shoghi Effendi, World Order 109),
> has been interpreted to assert Bahá'u'lláh's superiority over
> other manifestations of God. Adib Taherzadeh has written that the `Most Great
> Spirit' "was manifested on this planet for the first time through
> Bahá'u'lláh" (Covenant 43), and that in "past
> Dispensations God's Revelation had been indirect through the intermediary of
> the Holy Spirit" (Revelation IV:134). He concludes that "Never before
> had God sent a Manifestation of His `Most Great Spirit' to mankind, His supreme
> Manifestation . . . " (Revelation IV:134-5).
> 
> I would contend that this would appear to be an example of an erroneous
> interpretation as it contradicts the authoritative interpretation of Shoghi
> Effendi. Shoghi Effendi has written that the "same" `Most Great Spirit'
> manifested itself in previous revelations and is not unique to the
> Bahá'í Faith:
> 
> It was on that occasion
> [Síyáh-Chál] that the `Most Great Spirit,' as
> designated by Bahá'u'lláh Himself, revealed itself to Him, in the
> form of a `Maiden,' and bade Him `lift up' His `voice between earth and
> heaven,' - that same Spirit which, in the Zoroastrian, the Mosaic, the
> Christian, and the Muhammadan Dispensations, had been respectively symbolized
> by the `Sacred Fire,' the `Burning Bush,' the `Dove,' and the `Angel Gabriel.'
> (Messages to America 100)
> 
> The other problem with the assertion that the "Most Great Spirit" is unique to
> the Bahá'í revelation is that it does not take into account the
> background and semantic history of the term. There is much discussion of the
> term in Sufi texts, particularly emanating from the school of Ibn Arabi. In
> such literature, the "Most Great Spirit" [Ar. al-rúh al-azam]
> corresponds to the Muhammadan reality or Logos (Affifi, Mystical 66).
> 
> It is noteworthy that there are a number of places in the Bahá'í
> interpretive literature where prophylactic measures have been taken to remove
> an exclusivist slant on some Bahá'í scriptural statements. These
> interpretations are similar to Bahá'í interpretations of John
> 14:6 ("I am the Way") where the subject of the verse is universalised and not
> understood to refer to person of Bahá'u'lláh. For instance, the
> verse, "But for Him [Bahá'u'lláh] no Divine Messenger would have
> been invested with the robe of Prophethood" is interpreted by Shoghi Effendi as
> refering "to the reality of God found in Him and not to His person " (From a
> letter written on his behalf, dated 17 July 1937). Consequently Taherzadeh
> writes of this passage, "They represent the Voice of God which speaks to us
> through the instrumentality of a human being" (Revelation 134). When
> Bahá'u'lláh refers to himself as the voice in the Burning Bush,
> Shoghi Effendi explains that "Bahá'u'lláh identifies the glory of
> the God-head on that occasion with Himself" (Unfolding 448). Thus
> "statements referring to Bahá'u'lláh in such exalted terms as
> `the Heavenly Father', `Jehovah', `the Speaker on Sinai', `the One through Whom
> all Revelations were sent down', all refer to the Holy Spirit or the Most Great
> Spirit which animated Bahá'u'lláh, and not to His Person" (From a
> letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice, dated 24 May
> 1992).
> 
> An alternative approach is to attribute any implied superiority to
> Bahá'u'lláh's revelation, itself a consequence of the unique age
> in which we live (Shoghi Effendi, World Order 60). Thus, in celebrating
> Bahá'u'lláh as "the most precious Being" ever to have lived, the
> House of Justice write that this is "as a consequence of being the vehicle of a
> Revelation the splendour and magnitude of which eclipses all previous
> Revelations" (From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of
> Justice, dated 11 December 1992).
> 
> b) Misrepresentative Texts
> 
> The Bahá'í writings prescribe a balanced interpretation of
> scripture. Shoghi Effendi, in letters written on his behalf, writes:
> 
> We must take the teachings as a great, balanced whole, not
> seek out and oppose to each other two strong statements that have different
> meanings; somewhere in between there are links uniting the two. (19 March
> 1945)
> 
> One may liken Bahá'u'lláh's teachings to a sphere; there are
> points poles apart, and in between the thoughts and doctrines that unite them.
> We believe in balance in all things; we believe in moderation in all things...
> (5 July 1949)
> 
> In addition, the House of Justice have noted that, "Bahá'ís, like
> other human beings, sometimes have a tendency to cling tenaciously to one Text
> or one understanding of the Texts and to overlook the significance of other
> passages of the Writings" (From a letter written on their behalf, 24 May 1992).
> 
> The texts which appear most exclusivist are those that imply that the
> Bahá'í Faith provides the only route to salvation must be
> tempered with explicit statements that suggest otherwise. For instance, the
> verse, "No man can obtain everlasting life, unless he embraceth the truth of
> this inestimable, this wondrous, and sublime Revelation"
> (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings 183), if interpreted literally,
> would imply that salvation is dependent on recognition of
> Bahá'u'lláh. However, in the context of
> Bahá'u'lláh's other writings, this interpretation would be
> misrepresentative. How could be such an exclusivist stance be reconciled with
> other statements in the Bahá'í writings that state other religionist are saved:
> "Blessed is the man who . . . hath turned towards Him [Christ]"
> (Bahá'u'lláh, cited in Shoghi Effendi, World Order 186);
> Muhammad is "the Ark of Salvation" (Abdu'l-Bahá, Secret 53); the
> Qur'án "the Way of God unto all who are in the heavens and all who are
> on earth" (Gleanings 44)? A fascinating passage from `Abdu'l-Bahá
> might be used to start an "anonymous Bahá'ís" theology:
> 
> Then as to what thou hast asked me for pious people who died
> before they heard the Voice of this Manifestation. Listen: Those who have
> mounted to God before hearing the Voice, if they followed the rules of conduct
> as laid down by Jesus and always walked in the straight path, they have
> obtained this Dazzling Light after their rising to the Kingdom of God. (TAB II,
> 478)[6]
> 
> Cole has argued that the Bahá'í writings suggest that salvation is a "spiritual
> velocity" rather than a state.[7] Belief in the
> most recent Manifestation of God provides a "boost" to one's velocity, an
> accelerating impulse. Thus from a Bahá'í position, the question is not whether
> non-Bahá'ís are "saved" or not. The question is whether any particular person
> has a high spiritual velocity or a low one. The fact that salvation is not a
> state that can be attained is clear from the Bahá'í writings which state that
> the soul does not stop progressing at death[8]
> and that there is no original sin. To emphasise the processual nature of
> salvation, Bahá'u'lláh states that the "sinner" can be saved at his last breath
> and the "devout believer" "fall to the nethermost fire"
> (Íqán 194-5).
> 
> The Bahá'í writings also suggest that there are hierarchies of salvation. All
> previous religions and spiritual traditions have offered salvation, but some
> more than others. Therefore, Christianity compared to Islam is lower in the
> hierarchy of salvation, but Christians in absolute terms have attained
> salvation. In a commentary by `Abdu'l-Bahá on monist and dualist
> concepts of reality, Cole concludes that `Abdu'l-Bahá appears to be
> recognising theological positions as different language games in the
> Wittgensteinian sense, each of which is internally coherent. But as Cole
> states, "his position is not the entirely relativist one that each of these
> languages-games is equally valid, but that there is a hierarchy, with some
> coming closer to the truth than others (Cole, Concept 27). Thus, the
> Bahá'í position is relativist and hierarchical at the same time.
> 
> Another feature of soteriological language in the Bahá'í texts is that
> collective salvation is the main emphasis. A civilisation is saved or not based
> on the recognition of the representative of the Godhead in the form that It
> assumes in their culture. The question of salvation is reframed as a communal
> one. Thus, Shoghi Effendi interprets Bahá'u'lláh as the "Savior of the whole
> human race", "in Whose Faith all nations can alone, and must eventually, seek
> their true salvation", and whose "aim is the salvation, through unification, of
> the entire planet" (Promised Day 114, 111, 116). Bahá'u'lláh states that
> his mission is "the salvation of the peoples and kindreds of the earth"
> (Tablets 223, cf. Gleanings 243), and writes to collective
> Christendom that he has "borne the misfortunes of the world for your salvation"
> (Tablets 10). The argument I am presenting is that Bahá'u'lláh has no
> exclusive claim to individual salvation, but that the social salvation of
> humankind does exclusively depend on the adoption of the principles of the
> Bahá'í Faith, which is "humanity's unique and most effective ark of salvation"
> (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, dated 10 September 1933
> cited in Compilation of Compilations 1:219).
> 
> c) Apocalyptic Language
> 
> Shoghi Effendi presents a number of Bahá'í texts in
> apocalyptic terms in his extended letter entitled The Promised Day is
> Come. The urgency of the message is all the more relevant as it was written
> in 1941 during the Second World War. The apocalyptic language is used to warn
> people of the dangers that beset the world due to its ignorance of the
> "healing, the saving, the pregnant truths proclaimed by
> Bahá'u'lláh, the Divine Organizer and Savior of the whole human
> race" (Shoghi Effendi, Promised Day 114), specifically not acting on the
> principle of the oneness of humanity.[9] The
> consequences of "irreligion and its monstrous offspring" are delineated as are
> the "three false gods" of nationalism, racialism and communism (ibid.
> 113-4) in language that is vivid and charged.
> 
> d) Confessional Language
> 
> A clear example of confessional language is in the writings of Shoghi
> Effendi who, on the sixty-fifth anniversary of the passing of
> Bahá'u'lláh, "With feelings of profound joy, exultation and
> thankfulness" as the Israeli government decreed that the Covenant Breakers
> should hand over the outer portion of the Qiblih, describes
> Bahá'u'lláh's remains as "the holiest dust the earth ever
> received into its bosom" (Messages to the Bahá'í World
> 122). Similarly, in their tribute to Bahá'u'lláh on the occasion
> of the centenary commemoration of his ascension, the Universal House of Justice
> assert that, "He, the Most Great Manifestation, appeared in the Most Great Name
> and endured the greatest suffering in authoring the Most Great Revelation,
> which is the well-spring of the Most Great Peace" (A Wider Horizon
> 239).[10] Both of these are confessional
> statements which are not intended to describe Bahá'u'lláh's
> ontological status compared to the founders of other religions, but in solemn
> commemoration of his remarkable influence on the world.
> 
> e) Action Language
> 
> The most important collection of quotations on the uniqueness of the
> Faith of Bahá'u'lláh is found in Shoghi Effendi's letter entitled
> Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh (World Order 100-112).
> Shoghi Effendi explains that the purpose of this compilation is to assist the
> Bahá'ís "in the effective prosecution of their mighty enterprise"
> of constructing the Administrative Order. Furthermore, he explains that this
> letter was written to "powerfully reinforce the vigour of our spiritual life
> and greatly assist in counteracting the machinations of an implacable enemy"
> and so that Bahá'ís "can derive fresh inspiration and added
> sustenance" in propagating the Faith (World Order 99, 100). Thus, the
> primary texts in the first section of the Dispensation of
> Bahá'u'lláh on the sublimity of Bahá'u'lláh's
> revelation can be seen as an example of "action language" that is intended to
> deepen the spiritual life of Bahá'ís and inspire them to promote
> their Faith through building up the Bahá'í administration and
> propagating it.
> 
> Many other examples of "action language" exist in the Bahá'í
> literature. A recent one is the challenging statement of the Universal House of
> Justice that Bahá'u'lláh is "the most precious Being ever to have
> drawn breath on this planet" (From a letter to the Bahá'í world,
> Ridván 1990). The context of this letter was to inspire
> Bahá'ís to "emblazon His name" as a preliminary measure in
> preparation for the various activities planned for the celebration of the
> centenary of his passing in 1992. Thus, the passage is "action language" with
> the emblazoning of Bahá'u'lláh's name as its intention. Arguably
> an exclusive commitment is being called for. This is important for a small
> community, in the face of persecution and ridicule, as it emerges from
> obscurity.
> 
> Three Difficult Texts
> 
> Among the most important texts in the corpus of
> Bahá'í scripture that are relevant to this discussion is the
> first verse of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá'u'lláh's Most Holy
> Book: "The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of
> Him Who is the Day spring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws ...
> Whoso achieveth this duty hath attained unto all good; and whoso is deprived
> thereof hath gone astray, though he be the author of every righteous deed
> (K1)."
> 
> An important element in understanding this verse is the nature of the
> "recognition" that is called for. The Arabic for "recognition" is
> `irfán, a term with rich mystical connotations, implying a
> knowledge with a strong experiential and existential content. Juan Cole has
> written that it might be best glossed as "mystical insight". He contends that
> it is not a prosaic recognition, but a primal recognition in the soul, a
> "re-cognition." It might be compared to the Buddhist concept of enlightenment.
> Thus, the first duty is not a legal one, not a formulaic creed like "There is
> no God but God and Muhammad is His Prophet" of Islam (the shahada or
> affirmation). It is not a confession of outward faith but rather "the
> attainment of mystical insight into the Manifestation of God." The use of
> `irfán is paralleled in the Short Obligatory Prayer, "I bear
> witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know [li
> `irfánika] Thee and to worship Thee" (Bahá'í
> Prayers 4).[11] In this context,
> `irfán is the meaning and purpose of life, not a simple
> affirmation of belief that leads to salvation, from a static to a dynamic
> concept of recognition.
> 
> The historical context suggests alternative meanings to a literalist one. After
> the death of the Báb, there was an important strain of
> Bábí antinomianism. Bahá'u'lláh was arguably
> attempting to forestall any similar Bahá'í antinomianism by
> asserting that justification by faith alone is insufficient and insisting on
> works. But he was also attempting to bring the rest of the Bábís
> into the Bahá'í Faith by insisting on recognition of himself as
> the fount of revelation. Thus the question remains as to who the verse is
> addressed. If it is the Bábís, then it indicates only the
> prerequisites of Bahá'í identity. However, if it is the
> Bahá'í community that is being addressed, then it is the minimum
> standards of Bahá'í identity that are being delineated. It is
> difficult to see where the implication is that non-Bahá'ís are
> damned.
> 
> The phrase "hath gone astray" can also be read in different ways. Jack McLean
> suggests that the principle of the relativity of religious truth implies an
> non-exclusivist meaning. He uses the analogy of archery. An arrow goes astray
> if it misses the target, but, relatively speaking, it goes astray if it misses
> the bull's eye. As long as the archer continues to fire, there remains the
> possibility that the target will be hit (McLean, Dimensions 47). Of
> interest is the original Greek for the word "sin" in the New Testament, which
> is hamartia, is a term from archery meaning "missing the mark". As one
> Christian scholar notes, "The very word itself implies a much more optimistic
> view of human volition than `sin' does. With hamartia we are talking
> about something essentially correct in human nature, a part of us that want to
> do what is good and right, but misses the bull's eye. Our goal is the right
> one; but somehow we miss it" (Witterschein, Preface xiv). This is
> consistent with the Bahá'í view which rejects the concept of
> original sin. So it appears that the phrase "hath gone astray" does not mean
> "is not saved" but rather suggests that relative to a continuum, an individual
> must continue to grow spiritually.
> 
> A personal view is that this verse of the Aqdas is action language. Like Acts
> 4:12 ("there is no other name"), it says something positive in negative terms:
> the eternal challenge of recognition or mystical insight into the manifestation
> is that which will lead to spiritual progress, not right action ("though he be
> the author of every righteous deed"). In a sense, Bahá'u'lláh has
> transcended the right action/right belief dichotomy, and challenged believers
> to "right being" as the mode of salvation.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet of Ahmad states, "Be thou
> assured in thyself that verily, he who turns away from this Beauty hath also
> turned away from the Messengers of the past and showeth pride toward God from
> all eternity to all eternity" (Bahá'í Prayers 212).
> 
> I would argue that this verse uses a number of languages simultaneously. There
> is a "survival language" element to it--Bahá'u'lláh, speaking
> through Ahmad to all the followers of the Báb, is urging them to remain
> steadfast after the martyrdom of the Báb, the heavy persecution of his
> followers, and the apparent lack of leadership among their ranks. On another
> level, there is a confessional quality--Bahá'u'lláh expressing
> his loyalty to the Báb's Cause: "He is the King of the Messengers and
> His Book is the Mother Book did ye but know" (Bahá'í
> Prayers 210). . But perhaps, its strongest voice is "action language".
> Bahá'u'lláh calls the Bábí community to follow the
> laws of the Báb at a time when it was "in such a state of deprivation
> and perversity" (Taherzadeh, Revelation II:114): "O people be obedient
> to the ordinances of God, which have been enjoined in the Bayán"
> (Bahá'í Prayers 210). On another level, it calls Ahmad to
> proclaim Bahá'u'lláh as "Him Whom God shall make manifest" to the
> Bábís. It clearly worked as it is chronicled that Ahmad changed
> his plans from attaining the presence of Bahá'u'lláh in
> Adrianople so that he could return to Persia. He travelled extensively and
> through his efforts, "a great many recognized the station of
> Bahá'u'lláh and became His ardent followers" (Revelation
> II:114). In addition, it issues a challenge to believers to strive to be
> "steadfast", so much so that "thy heart should be waver, even if ... all the
> heavens and the earth arise against thee" (Bahá'í Prayers
> 211). The arabic for "turning away," i'rád, implies wilful
> rejection. On this level, it remains applicable to Bahá'ís who
> are reminded of the dynamic of belief in Bahá'u'lláh, the
> lifelong challenge of mystical insight, `irfán, into the
> manifestation. Thus, the verse would be misinterpreted if understood to refer
> to the salvation of non-Bahá'ís.
> 
> The phrase "he who turns away from this Beauty" can be interpreted in the light
> of progressive revelation as a statement that applies to all the manifestations
> of God. The rejection of any one manifestation is tantamount to a rejection of
> them all from a Bahá'í perspective. Thus this statement is
> applicable to Bahá'ís, as it is to followers of other religions.
> It is a way of saying that the latest Manifestation of God embodies "within His
> Revelation the essence of all past Revelations" (Taherzadeh, Revelation
> II:126). From a historical perspective, it is aimed at the Bábís
> whose rejection of Bahá'u'lláh would undermine a primary goal of
> the Báb's mission. Of interest is how Bahá'u'lláh, in this
> verse, echoes the Persian Bayán of the Báb which states of "Him
> whom God shall make manifest", "he who believeth not (even though be believe in
> God, and what God hath commanded in former times), it is as though he had not
> believed", and "if he has believed in all the previous ones, and not in this,
> it is as naught (`scattered dust')" (Browne, Summary 347). Thus,
> Bahá'u'lláh, by recalling the Bayán, is using a rhetorical
> device to challenge the Bábís to turn their allegiance to him.
> 
> In Bahá'u'lláh's last work, The Epistle to the Son
> of the Wolf, it states, "He that entereth therein is saved, and he that
> turneth away perisheth" (139). Again this verse resonates with many meanings.
> From a historical viewpoint, it has a "survival language" quality to it in that
> its intended recipient, Shaykh Muhammad Taqir-i-Najafi, was a persecutor of
> Bahá'ís. It has confessional quality to it--"Great is the Cause,
> and great the Announcement!" (Epistle 144). But perhaps the performative
> nature of the verse is its strongest voice. It aims to bring "that rapacious
> priest to repent of his acts" (God Passes By 219), to call people of the
> Bayán to accept Bahá'u'lláh, to steel
> Bahá'ís in the face of persecution, and to challenge them to
> transform themselves spiritually.
> 
> Conclusion
> 
> A ground-breaking study by Juan Cole is the first to explore the
> literary qualities of Bahá'u'lláh's writings. He presents the
> view that there are a number of rhetorical techniques that
> Bahá'u'lláh's texts use to make the pluralist religious doctrines
> of the Bahá'í Faith immediate and plausible to readers. He argues
> that Bahá'u'lláh's use of presentation and narrative, of point of
> view, and techniques such as apostrophe, metaphor and allegory, fulfil these
> goals (Cole, "Poetics" 451). This paper has attempted to build on this by
> exploring other "language games" of the Bahá'í writings from a
> study of those texts which appear exclusivist in tenor. The polysemous nature
> of language, its pluriformity of meanings, is striking in these texts, and the
> Bahá'í religion is explicit in this hermeneutic. Beyond these
> multiple meanings are the languages of survival, confession and action. I
> contend that there is little here which would suggest that they can be used to
> develop an exclusivist theology of salvation.
> 
> A Bahá'í scholar identifies the challenge with which language
> confronts Bahá'í theology: "It is this richer understanding of
> language that we should be examining ... to experience those aspects of
> language which open us up, as individuals, to new personal and corporate
> opportunities - the Bahá'í life" (Parry, "Philosophical Theology"
> 90). Parry calls for a theology that is "responsive to a better appreciation of
> its raw-materials; namely Language. And behind, above, below and within
> Language, the speaker of Language" (Ibid., 91). Uncovering the language
> of exclusivism has hopefully made a contribution to this enterprise.
> 
> Works Cited
> 
> `Abdu'l-Bahá. "`Abdu'l-Bahá on Christ and Christianity,"
> The Bahá'í Studies Review 3.1 (1993): 7-17.
> 
> ___. The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks during His Visit to the
> United States and Canada in 1912. Comp. Howard Macnutt. 2d. ed. Wilmette:
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982.
> 
> ___. The Secret of Divine Civilization. Trans. Marzieh Gail and Ali-Kuli
> Khan. Rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1990.
> 
> Affifi, A. E. The Mystical Philosophy of Muhyid Dín-Ibnul
> `Arabí. Cambridge: The University Press, 1939.
> 
> Ariarajah, W. The Bible and People of Other Faiths. Geneva: World
> Council of Churches, 1985.
> 
> The Báb. Selections from the Writings of the Báb. Trans.
> H. Taherzadeh with the assistance of a committee at the Bahá'í
> World Centre. Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1976.
> 
> Bahá'í Canada Supplement 4 (Janurary 1989).
> 
> Bahá'í Prayers. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing
> Trust, 1982.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. Trans. Shoghi
> Effendi. Rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1979.
> 
> ___. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. Trans.
> Shoghi Effendi. Rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
> 1976.
> 
> ___. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre,
> 1992.
> 
> ___. The Kitáb-i-Íqán: The Book of Certitude.
> Trans. Shoghi Effendi. Rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing
> Trust, 1976.
> 
> ___. Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh revealed after the
> Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Trans. H. Taherzadeh with the assistance of a
> committee at the Bahá'í World Centre. Haifa: Bahá'í
> World Centre, 1978.
> 
> Ball, D.M. `I am' in John's Gospel: Literary Function, Background and
> Theological Implications. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement
> Series 124. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.
> 
> Barr, J. Escaping from Fundamentalism. London: Student Christian
> Movement, 1988.
> 
> Bearsley-Murray, G.R. "John". Word Biblical Commentary. Volume 36. Waco,
> Texas: Word Books, 1987.
> 
> Borg, M.J. Jesus in Contemporary Scholarship. Valley Forge, PA: Trinity
> Press, 1994.
> 
> Boyce, M. Zoroastrianism. Manchester: Manchester University Press,
> 1984.
> 
> Braybrooke, M. Time to Meet: Towards a Deeper Relationship between Jews and
> Christians. London: Student Christian Movement, 1990.
> 
> Browne, E.G. "A Summary of the Persian Bayán," in Selections
> from the Writings of E.G. Browne on the Bábí and
> Bahá'í Religions. Ed. M. Momen. Oxford: George Ronald, 1987.
> 
> Carpenter, H. Jesus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.
> 
> Cobb, J.B. "Dialogue," in Death or Dialogue?: From the Age of Monologue to
> the Age of Dialogue by L. Swidler, J. Cobb et al. London: Student Christian
> Movement, 1990.
> 
> Cole, J.R.I. "`I am all the Prophets': The Poetics of Pluralism in Bahá'í
> Texts," Poetics Today 14.3 (1993): 447-476.
> 
> Coward, H. Pluralism--Challenge to World Religions. Maryknoll: Orbis,
> 1985.
> 
> Deepening our Understanding and Knowledge of the Faith. Comp. Research
> Dept. of the Universal House of Justice. London: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1983.
> 
> Dewick, E.C. The Christian Attitude to Other Religions. Cambridge: The
> University Press, 1953.
> 
> Eck, D. Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from the Bozeman to
> Banaras. Boston: Beacon Press, 1993.
> 
> The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Volume 9. "John and Acts." Ed. F.E.
> Gaebelein. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1981.
> 
> Fazel, S. Introduction to "`Abdu'l-Bahá on Christ and Christianity,"
> The Bahá'í Studies Review 3.1 (1993): 1-6.
> 
> ___. "Interreligious Dialogue and the Bahá'í Faith: Some
> Preliminary Observations," in Revisioning the Sacred: Studies in the
> Bábí and Bahá'í Religions, Volume 8. Ed. J.
> McLean. Los Angeles: Kalimát Press, 1996 (forthcoming).
> 
> Fazel, S. and K. Fananapazir. "A Bahá'í Approach to the Claim of
> Exclusivity and Uniqueness in Christianity," The Journal of
> Bahá'í Studies 3.2 (1990): 15-24.
> 
> Gouvion, C. and P. Jouvion. The Gardeners of God: An encounter with five
> million Bahá'ís. Oxford: Oneworld, 1993.
> 
> Hellwig, M.K. "The Thrust and Tenor of Our Conversations," in Death or
> Dialogue?: From the Age of Monologue to the Age of Dialogue by L. Swidler,
> J. Cobb et al. London: Student Christian Movement, 1990.
> 
> Hick, J. "The Pluralist Case - a Christian in the Midst of Eastern Faiths,"
> World Faiths Encounter 6 (1993): 3-10.
> 
> ___. The Second Christianity. London: Student Christian Movement,
> 1982.
> 
> Humphreys, C. Buddhism. London: Penguin, 1962.
> 
> Johnson, P. The History of Christianity. London: Pelican Books, 1976.
> 
> Knitter, P.F. "Interreligious Dialogue: What? Why? How?" in Death or
> Dialogue?: From the Age of Monologue to the Age of Dialogue by L. Swidler,
> J. Cobb et al. London: Student Christian Movement, 1990.
> 
> ___. No Other Name? A Survey of Christian Attitudes towards World
> Religions. London: Student Christian Movement, 1985.
> 
> Küng, H. Christianity and the World Religions. London: Collins
> Publishers, 1985.
> 
> Lawson, B.T. "The Structure of Existence in the Báb's Tafsír and
> the Perfect Man Motif," Bahá'í Studies Bulletin 6.2
> (1992): 4-25.
> 
> Macquarrie, J. Jesus Christ in Modern Thought. London: Student Christian
> Movement, 1990.
> 
> McLean, J. Dimensions in Spirituality. Oxford: George Ronald, 1994.
> 
> Momen, M. "Relativism: A Basis for Bahá'í Metaphysics," in
> Studies in Honor of the Late Hasan M. Balyuzi: Studies in the
> Bábí and Bahá'í Religions, Volume 5. Ed. M.
> Momen. Los Angeles: Kalimát Press, 1988.
> 
> Pannikar, R. The Trinity and the Religious Experience of Man. Maryknoll:
> Orbis, 1973.
> 
> ___. The Unknown Christ of Hinduism. Rev. ed. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1981.
> 
> Parry, R. "Philosophical Theology in Bahá'í Scholarship,"
> Bahá'í Studies Bulletin 6.4/7.2 (1992): 66-91.
> 
> Robinson, J.A. Truth is Two-eyed. London: Student Christian Movement,
> 1979.
> 
> Ruether, R. To Change the World. New York: Crossroad, 1981.
> 
> Samartha, S. One Christ--Many Religions: toward a revised Christology.
> Maryknoll: Orbis, 1991.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. God Passes By. Rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1974.
> 
> ___. Messages to America: Selected Letters and Cablegrams Addressed to the
> Bahá'ís of North America, 1932-1946. Wilmette:
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1947.
> 
> ___. Messages to the Bahá'í World, 1950-1957. Wilmette:
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1971.
> 
> ___. The Promised Day is Come. Rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1980.
> 
> ___. The Unfolding Destiny of the British Bahá'í
> Community. London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981.
> 
> ___. The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters.
> Rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974.
> 
> Stockman, R. "Jesus Christ in the Bahá'í Writings," The
> Bahá'í Studies Review 2.1 (1992): 33-41.
> 
> ___. "The Uniqueness of Bahá'u'lláh," The American
> Bahá'í (1 August 1992): 8.
> 
> Swidler, L. "Interreligious and Interideological Dialogue: The Matrix for all
> Systematic Reflection Today," in Towards a Universal Theology of
> Religion. Ed. L. Swidler. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1987.
> 
> ___. After the Absolute: The Dialogical Future of Religious Reflection.
> Minneapolis, Augsburg Fortress, 1990.
> 
> Taherzadeh, A. The Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh. Oxford: George
> Ronald, 1992.
> 
> ___. The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh. Vol. 2: Adrianople,
> 1863-68. Oxford: George Ronald, 1977.
> 
> ___. The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh. Vol. 4: Mazra'ih and
> Bahji, 1877-92. Oxford: George Ronald, 1987.
> 
> Universal House of Justice, The. The Promise of World Peace. Wilmette:
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1987.
> 
> Vallee, G. A Study in Anti-Gnostic Polemics. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier
> University Press, 1981.
> 
> A Wider Horizon: Selected Messages of the Universal House of Justice
> 1983-1992. Comp. P. Lample. Riviera Beach, FL: Palabra Publications, 1992.
> 
> Witterschein, G. "Preface" to The Unvarnished Gospels. Trans. A. Gaus.
> Brighton, MA: Threshold Books, 1988.
> 
> Yagi, S. "`I' in the Words of Jesus," in The Myth of Christian
> Uniqueness. Ed. John Hick and Paul Knitter. London: Student Christian
> Movement, 1987.
> 
> Notes
> 
> [1] In support of this view, Marcus Braybrooke,
> also discussing John 14:6, writes that,"Critical scholarship has made it clear
> that the words of John in the fourth Gospel should not be treated as his words"
> (Time to Meet 89), and Marcus Borg, a professor of religion at Oregon
> State University, states that "Jesus did not speak of himself with the exalted
> titles of John's gospels, now did he speak the great `one way' verse of John
> 14:6" (Jesus 145). The "Jesus Seminar" of 74 seminary professors,
> college teachers and theologians have come to this conclusion (The Five
> Gospels: What did Jesus Really Say. NY: MacMillan, 1993).
> 
> [2] A stronger comparison can be made with
> patriotism which tends to involve a certain contempt and even hatred for people
> of other nations.
> 
> [3] Cf. Eck, Encountering 96.
> 
> [4] For the challenges of interreligious
> dialogue for the Bahá'í community, see Fazel, "Interreligious
> Dialogue".
> 
> [5] For Bahá'í views on religious
> pluralism, see Momen, "Relativism" and Cole, "Poetics".
> 
> [6] I am grateful to Christopher Buck for
> bringing this quote to my attention.
> 
> [7] Juan Cole, posting to Irfan internet
> listserve, August 1996.
> 
> [8] On the eternal challenge of salvation, see
> the Báb, Selections 85; Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and
> Meditations 251 and K163.
> 
> [9] The Báb, having proclaimed himself to
> be the centre of the Islamic apocalypse in 1844, wrote in a style that has a
> number of features common to apocalyptic literature (Lawson, "Structure" 8).
> Allied to the expectation in the short-term of a further messianic figure
> (termed Man-yuzhiruhu'lláh or "He whom God shall make manifest"),
> this would explain some of the exclusivist elements in Bábí
> doctrine, such as the destruction of non-Bábí books, forbidding
> marriage to non-believers, and the ban on non-believers living in
> Bábí states (apart from merchants and others engaged in useful
> professions).
> 
> [10] Cf. Shoghi Effendi, Promised Day 5-6
> where he writes of the "Most Great Justice", "Most Great Peace", "Most Great
> Civilization" and "Most Great Name."
> 
> [11] Juan Cole, posting to Talisman internet
> listserve, April 1995.
> 
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