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.
Dear Jeanine,
You raise a complex issue.
If Abdu'l-Baha was not infallible in regards to scientific fact I
would not presume Him to be infallible in regards to historical fact
either. And it does seem that not all of the details of European
history summarized in SDC were not entirely accurate. But some of his
discussion of the Enlightenment falls under the category of valuation
and not historical fact and in that case we might have to consider the
moral quality of infallibility which I mentioned earlier. On the other
hand, SDC was written before Abdu'l-Baha was serving as Head of the
Faith. I don't know if He possessed the same infallibility while
Baha'u'llah was living as He did after He died.
In short, I don't know the answer to your question. When I teach the
Enlightenment in college, I present Voltaire as a deist, not an
atheist. On the other hand, my opinion of him isn't much higher than
Abdu'l-Baha's.
warmest, Susan
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