Bibliography: BIB25993

web link	bahai-library.com/bibliography/BIB25993
reference type	Journal Article
title	Reflections on Infallibility
journal	Journal of Bahá'í Studies
author	Hatcher, William S.
authority control	William S. Hatcher
year	2007
date	March–December 2007
issue	1-4
volume	17
abstract	The claim to infallibility has often been associated with ideological dogmatism and the buttressing of political power associated with particular thought systems. The modern era is suspicious of infallibility, viewing it as antithetical to rational inquiry. Hatcher advances the following theses: (1) social and intellectual progress require the existence of periodic truth referents (i.e. infallible authority); (2) infallibility is the source of rationality, saving mankind from the quagmire of superstition and fanaticism; (3) the contribution of the Manifestations of God (infallible points of authority( does not depend on general recognition of their infallibility; (4) infallibility (freedom of error) should not be conused with omniscience ; (5) dogmatism and fanaticism do not arise from the Manifestation's claim to infallibility ("what my Prophet says is true") but from followers' exclusivist ideological claims ("only what my Prophet says is true").
language	English
keywords	INFALLIBILITY
pages	85–100