The Baha'i Studies Listserv Dear Sen... You said:
I've been asked a couple of times which language I think young Bahai > scholars should learn first, Persian or Arabic? When asked in France, > I replied, "French;" when asked in England I replied, "English." By > that I mean that a study of the literature of your mother tongue is > the best training for "close reading" of a text, and close reading is > the most important skill for scholarship of all kinds. No amount of > esoteric knowledge can substitute for the simple ability to read what > a text says, and notice what it does not say, and draw sensible > conclusions. If this is the case, then I don't see how your argument that "century" means "age/cycle" can be taken seriously. After all, not only is it not commonplace for the word 'century' have that other meaning, but if you look into the use of the word throughout history, you don't find that meaning either. I think it would be very revealing to learn, however, that in Persian or Arabic, the word that is used to convey a period of 100 years is also used to convey the concepts "age" "cycle" "Day," etc. I can't get that from studying English alone. Also, as I said in a previous email, I think it would be most revealing if we could demonstrate that Shoghi Effendi translated a word/phrase -- alternatively -- as either 'century' or 'age/cycle.' Your examples that you document, trying to use the 'close reading' that you are advocating, are not necessarily equating the words with one another. I can say, "In this wondrous century, this blessed decade, this holy year, we have experienced an election like no other." Does this mean that century, decade, and year all have the same meaning? > The teachings of Baha'u'llah are the light of this age and the spirit > of this century. (Selections from the writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha, page > 107) > Just curious, why wouldn't this have been translated as the following: "The teachings of Baha'u'llah are the light and the spirit of this age." or "The teachings of Baha'u'llah are the light and spirit of this century." Is it because the original would prohibit this translation? One last word: I don't 'want' to read this one way or the other. It's enough for me that "Shoghi Effendi said we do NOT know of a date for the Lesser Peace or the Most Great Peace." I'm not arguing that you're wrong, that a 'century' means one hundred years; I'm just saying that your argument doesn't seem to me (yet) to be the sensible conclusion. I don't read "this century" as "twentieth century;" I read it as "the century in which I am speaking." I think we'd all agree on that. Your argument is that we are still living in that 'century' because that 'century' is this Day/Cycle/Dispensation/etc. But I don't think you've put forth enough evidence to make this the sensible conclusion. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[email protected] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
