Notes:

Only a few articles in this volume are currently online, most in draft form. Each article contributed by and posted with permission of each author. Excerpts from book online with permission of editor and publisher.

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Scripture and Revelation:

Papers presented at the First Irfan Colloquium

Moojan Momen, editor

Oxford: George Ronald, 1997

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

                           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

Stephen Lambden, 'Two Bahá'í scholars: Háj Mihdí Arjmand and Thomas Kelly Cheyne'

Saturday morning, 4 December 1993

Dr Seena Fazel, 'Understanding Exclusivist Texts'
Dr Robert H. Stockman, 'Modern Biblical Interpretation and the Bahá'í Faith'

[page viii]

Saturday afternoon

Dr Todd Lawson, 'The Báb's Tafsir Suratu'l-Asr'

Sunday morning, 5 December

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

Sunday afternoon

Dr Khazeh Fananapazir, 'The Day of God'
Dr Kamran Ekbal, 'The Pattern and Symbolism of Revelation from Zarathustra to Bahá'u'lláh'

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

Nikoo Mahboubian gave a talk about Háj Mihdí Arjmand

Saturday morning, 26 March 1994

Dr John S. Hatcher, 'The Validity and Value of an Historical-Critical Approach to the Revealed Word of Bahá'u'lláh'
Frank Lewis, 'Scripture as Literature: The Writings of Bahá'u'lláh in their Literary Context'
Dr Ross Woodman, 'The Inner Dimensions of Revelation'

[page ix]

Saturday afternoon

Dr Susan Brill, 'Reading With or Against the Book, or the Avoidance of Interpretive Chaos'
Thomas May, 'Entombed in a Dead Language: the Saints Raising out of their Graves'
William Barnes, 'Mythoi: Stories of the Origin, Fall and Redemption of Man'
Craig Loehle, 'Bahá'í Parables'

Saturday evening

An informal panel presentation allowing speakers and the audience time to discuss subjects raised during the day.

Sunday morning, 27 March 1994

Dr Kamran Ekbal, 'The Koranic Roots of Some Legal and Theological Terms in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas'
Dr Julio Savi, 'The Love Relationship Between God and Humanity: A Commentary on Bahá'u'lláh's Hidden Words'
Michael McCarron, 'The Resurrection of Divine Wisdom: A Study of the Ontology of Greek Philosophical Theology and Jewish Theology in the Context of Wisdom Revelation and its Realization in the Bahá'í Religion'
Aram Gomez, 'The Tree of Peace and the Coming of Bahá'u'lláh'

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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