I could certainly be off track here, as I do not claim to be a historian
or philosopher. But, if we disagree with 'Abdu'l-Baha about a
philosophical movement, aren't we just pitting our opinions against His?
This is not the same as comparing a statement of the Master about some
aspect of science that might be well understood differently today. In
part because of the seeming modernity of many Enlightenment ideas (as
well as the connection to our founding fathers), is it not possible we
over-idealize them, just as the French are attached to Voltaire and
Napoleon?
I was thinking of how a revered figure Thomas Jefferson showed such
brilliance and insight in what he *wrote*, but has come to be seen by
many scholars as quite duplicitous and hypocritical in not only his
dealing with slavery but in his dealings with those who thought he was
his friends. Witness his apparent long-term backstabbing of John Adams,
tho' Adams forgave him later. I'm not saying that this made Jefferson
different from other politicians; just that his deeds showed him to be a
different man than the author of the Declaration of Independence might
lead us to believe. Without wishing to go into a lot of research to find
examples to post here, I have seen both Christian conservatives and
liberal atheists quote Jefferson and others to support their positions.
'Abdu'l-Baha may have sensed that there is less than meets the eye to
many ideas that claim to be supportive of religion in some idealized
sense, but not in practice. Again, He may be misled by prevailing Arab
ideas, or He may be cutting to the heart of a matter that characterizes
the movement in a way that we just don't like. But that, too, is just my
opinion, so who can say?
Jeanine
M Chase wrote:
Abdul-Baha bashes Enlightenment philosophers like the rest of his
contemporaries. The Enlightenment and those associated with it, when
studied in detail and as individuals, reveal a much greater diversity
of thought and cannot all be reduced to the simplistic stereotype of
glorifying nature and reason at the expense of religion. Rejection of
corrupt clerical influence and power is not the same thing as the
complete rejection of religion. Not only was this lost on Abdul-Baha,
but it was lost on the majority of Arab commentators who were
contemporaries of Abdul-Baha. The most convincing evidence of this is
provided by Arab historians who have written on the history of the
Near Eastern reception and response to the introduction of European
ideas and culture. Many Arabs simply equated secularism and science
with materialism and atheism. Perhaps poor translations played a
role, but there was outright misinformation and misinterpretation as
well. This was certainly the case with the early Arab discussions
surrounding evolution, which again mirror in many respects
Abdul-Baha's own comments. I have a list of sources for the paper I
am working on if you are interested. Marleen
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Dear Marleen,
I've studied the Enlightenment in some depth and I have to say my
perception of it is closer to Abdu'l-Baha's than yours. I think it
did glorify nature and human reason at the expense of religion. There
were some good reasons for them to do this, but I don't think that
fact was lost on Abdu'l-Baha.
I have a bigger problem with the way that Abdu'l-Baha presents the
Reformation in that same book. But Khazeh has suggested this may be
the result of a mistranslations. The same may be true of those
passages dealing with the Enlightenment.
warmest, Susan
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