# Abdu'l-Bahá on Christ and Christianity: Introduction

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> see translation
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> 
> During His second trip to France between January and March 1913, 'Abdu'l-
> Bahá met with Pasteur Monnier and a group of professors, clerics 
> and theological students in Monnier's theological seminary in Paris. On the 
> evening of February 17th 1913, 'Abdu'l-Bahá presented the 
> Bahá'í teachings on Christ and Christianity to this group. 
> Pasteur Monnier was a distinguished Protestant theologian, vice-president 
> of the Protestant Federation of France and professor of Protestant 
> theology in Paris.  
> 
> Fortunately a Persian transcript of the interview was made and within 
> three years an English version appeared in print. The book in which it 
> appears, Abdul Baha [sic] on Divine Philosophy, is a collection 
> of unsourced letters and talks of 'Abdu'l-Bahá first published in 
> Boston in 1916. It was last printed in New York around 1918 and 
> consequently the contents of this interview have been inaccessible to 
> most of the Bahá'í world. In response to a question about 
> the authenticity of the interview, the Universal House of Justice have 
> written, "The fact that an original record of the interview exists 
> indicates that it is authentic. The translation, however, is an early one 
> and may need to be revised. You would be advised, therefore, to consult the 
> original text should any questions arise from the text" (from a letter 
> on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to the editor, dated 16 April 
> 1993). The Bahá'í Studies Review has reprinted this 
> remarkable dialogue here with a set of new footnotes, containing revised 
> translations made by Dr Khazeh Fananapazir from the original Persian 
> which appears in the compilation of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's talks in the 
> West, Khitábát.  
> 
> The interview consists of 'Abdu'l-Bahá answering five of Pasteur 
> Monnier's questions. The first of these questions concerns the nature of 
> Christ. In response 'Abdu'l-Bahá makes the statement that the 
> Bahá'í belief in Christ is exactly what is recorded in the 
> Gospels, with its meanings explained. Here then the framework is set, a 
> common ground automatically established - two believers in the Gospels 
> discussing its interpretation. It is striking how 'Abdu'l-Bahá 
> emphasises the importance of reason in this process - He says about John 
> 1:1 (In the beginning was the Word . . .), "we give an explanation 
> which is accepted by reason" and later in His commentary on John 
> 10:30 (The Father is in me), He argues, "This we must understand 
> through logical and scientific evidences". He had also developed this 
> theme a few weeks earlier in a talk, "If religion were contrary to 
> logical reason then it would cease to be a religion and be merely 
> superstition. . . . I say unto you: weigh carefully in the balance of reason 
> and science everything that is presented to you as religion. If it passes 
> the test, then accept it, for it is truth! If however, it does not conform, 
> then reject it, for it is ignorance!" (Paris Talks 143, 144). 
>  
> 
> In this brief introduction, two issues will be examined from the 
> interview, the issues upon which the remainder of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's 
> explanations rest. 'Abdu'l-Bahá focuses on the Prologue of the 
> Gospel of St. John in His discussion of the nature of Christ: "In the 
> beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was 
> God". His interpretation leaves the audience in no doubt that Christ 
> is glorified from a Bahá'í perspective, and this glory 
> derives from His incarnation of all divine attributes and virtues (see also 
> Some Answered Questions 206-7, Selections 60). 'Abdu'l-
> Bahá says that the reality of Christ is the "depository of the 
> infinite divine virtues". From a study of the original Greek of this 
> verse, some modern biblical scholars have come to the same conclusion - 
> John 1:1 is describing Christ as the expression or manifestation of God. 
> The Greek of the last clause is kai theos en ho logos. The so-called 
> Authorized Version has it as: "And the Word was God". This 
> would suggest that 'Christ' and 'God' were interchangeable. However, as 
> the late Bishop John Robinson explains in the classic Honest to God, 
> the Greek more accurately implies that Christ is the "complete 
> expression, the Word, of God":   
> 
> But in Greek this would most naturally be represented by 
> 'God' with the article, not theos but ho theos. But, equally, St. 
> John is not saying that Jesus is a 'divine' man, in the sense with which the 
> ancient world was familiar or in the sense in which the Liberals spoke of 
> him. That would be theios. The Greek expression steers carefully 
> between the two. It is impossible to represent it in a single English word, 
> but the New English Bible, I believe, gets the sense pretty exactly with its 
> rendering, 'And what God was, the Word was.' In other words, if one looked 
> at Jesus, one saw God - for 'he who has seen me has seen the Father' (Jn 
> 14:9). He was the complete expression, the Word, of God. (Honest 
> 71)   
> 
> Another aspect of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's interpretation of John 1:1 is that 
> He finds the concept of unity central to its meaning. In terms of the 
> relationship between Christ and God, this involves the absolute unity of 
> their qualities: "It is evident that these qualities were ever with 
> God, . . . they are inseparable from him, because divinity is not subject to 
> division". A number of Christian theologians have read the concept of 
> unity into the second clause of John 1:1, "the Word was with 
> God". Some biblical scholars have suggested that the Greek, pros 
> ton theon, is more accurately translated, "the Word was towards 
> God" because pros with the accusative case (theon) 
> after the verb 'to be' means 'to go towards':   
> 
> If the Word was in motion towards God, instead of being 
> literally and plainly identical with God, then St. John is introducing the 
> notion of development (or process, or progression) within the divine 
> nature . . . "Movement towards" implies a separation that is in 
> the process of being overcome. The movement of the Word towards God can 
> then be seen as history: the history of the created universe, going back to 
> its very beginning, is one of overcoming a separation from God, a process 
> of reunification. (Witterschein, Preface xiv)   
> 
> Pasteur Monnier's second question concerns the relationship between 
> Christianity and the Bahá'í Faith. 'Abdu'l-Bahá 
> answers by explaining that religions have two parts. The first of these is 
> essential and spiritual, the "expression of the love of God", the 
> moral side of religion. Elsewhere, 'Abdu'l-Bahá has explained that 
> the essential teachings of religion "are faith in God, the acquirement 
> of the virtues which characterize perfect manhood, praiseworthy 
> moralities, the acquisition of the bestowals and bounties emanating from 
> the divine effulgences - in brief, the ordinances which concern the realm 
> of morals and ethics" (Promulgation 403). The second aspect 
> of religion is non-essential and "belongs to practical life", and 
> "deals with exterior forms and ceremonies" (Paris Talks 
> 142), "material conditions, the laws of human intercourse and social 
> regulation. These are subject to change and transformation in accordance 
> with the time, place and conditions" (Promulgation 97-8). The 
> link that 'Abdu'l-Bahá forges between Christianity and the 
> Bahá'í Faith is established by the fact that 
> Bahá'u'lláh renewed, reiterated and reinvigorated the moral 
> teachings of Christ "in the most complete form and deposited them 
> in the hearts of men".  
> 
> It is interesting that scholars in the field of comparative religion started 
> discussing these ideas in the second half of this century. Much of this 
> debate on the world's religions was sparked off by Toynbee's analysis of 
> religion in the Gifford Lectures he delivered at the University of Edinburgh 
> in 1952 and 1953, and later published as An Historian's Approach to 
> Religion in 1956. Toynbee began this analysis by arguing for a 
> distinction - namely that, within in each religion, "there are 
> essential counsels and truths, and there are nonessential practices and 
> propositions" (Historian 262). The same essential experience, 
> the "spiritual presence" was to be found in all religions. It is 
> the transforming influence of this "presence" in these religions 
> which leads to an "act of self-sacrifice" - the process of 
> "giving up self-centredness" and focusing one's life on a new 
> centre: the Absolute Reality and spiritual presence behind these religions 
> (ibid. 273). Toynbee then was attempting to distil the common faith 
> experience from the diversity of beliefs and practices.  
> 
> The most important differences between the religions were in the 
> nonessentials. Toynbee listed examples of what he considered 
> nonessentials: holy places, rituals, social conventions (such as celibacy 
> for priests), and especially dogmas and schools of theology. In other words 
> the entire complex of Creed (symbols, doctrines and theology), 
> Code (ethical systems), and Cult (ritual, liturgy) by which 
> religions try to express their faith was considered by Toynbee to be 
> nonessential. However Toynbee added that the fact these externals, or 
> what His termed "accretions", were nonessential did not mean 
> that they are not necessary. They allow a religion to communicate its 
> message and spiritual experience to people in particular societies at 
> certain times in history (ibid. 264).  
> 
> It is notable that 'Abdu'l-Bahá in the interview with Pasteur 
> Monnier explains the destructive effects of the "dogmas and 
> ritualism" of the religions and describes the laws of Judaism as 
> "archaic" and "severe". The doctrine of the trinity is 
> presented as a specific instance of the nonessential part of Christianity, 
> and towards the end of the interview, He states that the Reality of Christ 
> has been forgotten and been substituted by emphasis on the names of the 
> Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  
> 
> Like 'Abdu'l-Bahá who focuses on the urgent necessity to renew the 
> spiritual and essential in the religions, Toynbee's greater insistence was 
> on the need to constantly redefine, reevaluate, discard, replace and adjust 
> these nonessentials, for only then can a religion have an enduring 
> relevance and appeal. Toynbee contended that most importantly the 
> followers of religion must prevent themselves from equating the 
> nonessential with the essential, and not "to allow the light radiated 
> by the essence of a religion to be shut off from human souls by an opaque 
> film of accretions" (Historian 269-70). If religion is not kept 
> pure, "we are always relapsing from the worship of God into the 
> worship of our tribe or of ourselves" (Christian Approach 
> 159).  
> 
> It is interesting that 'Abdu'l-Bahá in a talk in 1912 further 
> develops this theme. He observes that religionists have turned away from 
> the essential teachings and forsaken the spiritual principles that lie 
> within their religion. He adds that this is the cause of the great discord, 
> hatred and misunderstanding that was prevailing at the time. Indeed by 
> returning to the spiritual core of religion, He proposes, the potential 
> exists to aid in the settlement of some of the oldest and the newest 
> conflicts in the world. In a section from this talk, which could just as 
> well have been written today, 'Abdu'l-Bahá makes the following 
> bold challenge:  
> 
> Consider what is happening in the Balkans. What 
> conformity with the teachings of Christ do we witness in that deplorable 
> picture? Has not man absolutely forgotten the divine command of Christ? 
> In fact, such discord and warfare are evidences of disagreement upon the 
> non-essential precepts and laws of religious belief. Investigation of the 
> one fundamental reality and allegiance to the essential unchanging 
> principles of the Word of God can alone establish unity and love in human 
> hearts. (Promulgation 445-6)   
> 
> The reprinting with annotations of this interview is a rare opportunity to 
> appreciate an inter-religious encounter 'Abdu'l-Bahá had with 
> committed Christians. The text is unique for a number of reasons. The 
> succinct and clear way it relates the Bahá'í Faith to 
> Christianity and the natural method by which 'Abdu'l-Bahá 
> constructs a link from this to world peace is astonishing. It is also the 
> only time John of Chrysostom's metaphor appears in Bahá'í 
> literature. But perhaps it is the seeds 'Abdu'l-Bahá sows for future 
> dialogue that are the most interesting aspects of this encounter. In His 
> affirmative and reverent use of the Bible, in His rational and moderate 
> presentation of its interpretation, and in recounting the moment that He 
> upheld to an audience of thousands of Jews the uniqueness of Christ, He 
> acts as our true Exemplar. Undoubtedly Pasteur Monnier would have gone 
> away with the same impressions as Marcus Bach did, another Christian 
> professor of theology, after a conversation on the same subject with 
> Shoghi Effendi: But the thing that struck me most as our meeting 
> progressed was his unquestioned devotion to the Galilean. He was fully as 
> faithful to Jesus as he was to Bahá'u'lláh. . . The knowledge, love, and 
> commitment which Shoghi Effendi held for Jesus were a startling 
> revelation. Through Him he had become the recipient of a religious 
> stability and power that put me to shame. Jesus was surely, truly, 
> undebatably, the Chosen of God. What would happen if we would really 
> follow Him? The sword would be put away. The guns would be silenced. 
> Men would be kind and humble in spirit, mighty in purpose. 
> (Appreciation 29)  
> 
> Seena Fazel  
> 
> [Go to transcript of 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá's talk on Christ and Christianity] 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Works Cited  'Abdu'l-Bahá. Paris Talks. 11th ed. London: 
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1969.  ___. Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks delivered by 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His visit to the United States and Canada in 
> 1912. 2nd. ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982. 
>  ___. Selections from the Writings of 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1978. 
>  ___. Some Answered Questions. 
> Comp. and trans. Laura C. Barney. Rev. ed. Wilmette: 
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981.  Bach. Marcus. Shoghi Effendi: An Appreciation. New York: 
> Hawthorn Books, 1958.  Robinson, John 
> A.T. Honest to God. London: SCM, 1963.  Toynbee, A. An Historian's Approach to Religion. London: 
> Oxford University Press, 1956  ___. 
> "What should be the Christian Attitude to the Contemporary Non-
> Christian Faiths?" in Attitudes toward Other Religions. Ed. 
> Owen Thomas. London: SCM, 1969.  Witterschein, G. "Preface" to The Unvarnished Gospels. 
> Trans. Andy Gaus. Brighton, MA: Threshold Books, 1988.
>
> — *Abdu'l-Bahá on Christ and Christianity: Introduction (Used by permission of the curator)*