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Scripture and Revelation

Papers presented at the First Irfan Colloquium
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
December 1993

and the

Second Irfan Colloquium
Wilmette, USA, March 1994

edited by
Moojan Momen

Published in collaboration
with the Haj Mehdi Memorial Trust

 George Ronald, Oxford

GEORGE RONALD, Publisher
46 High Street, Kidlington, Oxford 0X5 2DN

 © Haj Mehdi Memorial Trust 1997
All Rights Reserved

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0-85398-419-0


Administrative and Editorial Board for the Colloquia and Proceedings:
    Dr Iraj Ayman
    Dr Robert Stockman
    Dr Moojan Momen
Typeset by Stonehaven Press, Knoxville, Tennessee
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Biddies Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn


                           Contents 
  
Introduction......................................................vii

Háj Mihdí Arjmand...................................................1
      Iraj Ayman

The Validity and Value of an Historical-Critical Approach..........27
to the Revealed Works of Bahá'u'lláh
      John S. Hatcher  
  
Revelation, Interpretation and Elucidation.........................53
                    in the Bahá'í Writings 
      Robert H. Stockman

Prophecy in the Johannine Farewell Discourse: The Advents..........69
of the Paraclete, Ahmad and the Comforter (Mu'azzí)
      Stephen Lambden

Daéná-Dén-Dín: The Zoroastrian Heritage of the 'Maid..............125
of Heaven' in the Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh
      Kamran Ekbal
  
The Dangers of Reading: Inlibration, Communion and................171
Transference in the Qur'án Commentary of the Báb
      Todd Lawson
  
The Day of God (Yawmu'lláh) and the Days of ......................217 
God (Ayyámu'lláh)
      Khazeh Fananapazir  
  
Understanding Exclusivist Texts...................................239
      Seena Fazel  
  
The Love Relationship between God and Humanity:...................283
Reflections on Bahá'u'lláh's Hidden Words
      Julio Savi

Mythoi: Stories of the Origin, Fall and Redemption of.............309
Humanity: A Study in the Topology of the Holy Books
      William Barnes

The Inner Dimensions of Revelation................................341
      Ross Woodman
[page vii]

Introduction

      This book, as well as being the third volume in the Bahá'í Studies series published by George Ronald, represents the first in a series of volumes presenting the proceedings of a cycle of conferences called the Irfán Colloquia. These conferences have been organized under the patronage of the Háj Mehdí Arjmand Memorial Trust set up in 1992 in the memory of Háj Mihdí Arjmand, a distinguished Bahá'í scholar of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Further conferences in the series have already taken place and it is hoped that the proceedings of these conferences will be published in due course.

      The first two Irfán Colloquia were held in Europe and North America on the theme of 'Scripture and Revelation.' The first conference was held on 3-5 December 1993 at the Bahá'í Centre in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, and was co-sponsored by the Religious Studies Special Interest Group of the Association for Bahá'í Studies (English-Speaking Europe). The programme of the conference was as follows:

Friday evening, 3 December 1993 Saturday morning, 4 December 1993
[page viii]

Saturday afternoon Sunday morning, 5 December Sunday afternoon

In addition to the talks, the conference scheduled time for several discussions of biblical and quranic exegesis (interpretation) from a Bahá'í perspective. About 30 people attended the conference.

The second conference was held on 25-27 March 1994 at the National Bahá'í Center in Wilmette, Illinois, United States. The programme was as follows:

Friday night, 25 March 1994 Saturday morning, 26 March 1994
[page ix]

Saturday afternoon Saturday evening Sunday morning, 27 March 1994

About 65 persons from Canada, Japan, four European countries, and eleven states attended the conference.

      The present volume is a selection of the papers presented at these two conferences. It is prefaced by a biography of Háj Mihdí Arjmand in whose memory the Háj Mehdí Arjmand Memorial Trust was established. The essays in this volume vary widely in style. Some are written from

[page x]

the viewpoint of faith and in a language assuming a belief in the tenets of the Bahá'í Faith, while others adopt a more neutral academic style. In preparing this volume the editor has not attempted to achieve a uniformity of tone or style but rather has tried to allow each author to express himself in the style that best suits him. Only the style of annotation and transliteration has been rendered uniform.

                        Moojan Momen
                        Northill, England
                        March 1997

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