I just posted this message on another (not Baha'i) list: Literalism, of course, means the *apparent* meaning. It is a form of "naive realism," which, among other things, assumes an exact correspondence between words and reality. Rather than words pointing to certain things, which would be the approach taken by most nominalists, constructionists, postmodernists, and critical realists, naive realists posit that words are isomorphic with reality.
The unfortunate consequence of literalism is a failure to understand contextuality and historicity. Hence, we see a hostility to higher (textual) criticism on the part of many Christian fundamentalists. If Paul says that women should not assume authority over a man, he is presumed by these literalists not only to be referring to a particular congregation or to a point in time but, universally, to all bodies of believers then and in the future. Mark A. Foster * http://MarkFoster.net http://CompuServe.m.foster.name ---------- You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://list.jccc.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=bahai-st news://list.jccc.net/bahai-st http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist (public) http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (public)
