Hi, Khazeh, At 08:30 AM 9/28/03 +0100, you wrote: >>>How did Baha'u'llah place the Qur'an into a new "semiotic framework"? Is it the >>>place in the Iqan where He says no one understood it before?<<
I think that what Juan Cole meant is that Baha'u'llah placed Muhammad and the Qur'an into the context of the Baha'i view of progressive Revelation, i.e., the new semiotic framework. Saussure used the chessboard as a metaphor for the **relations** (rather than comparisons), as I discussed in the previous post, between chess pieces of differing statuses and values. In that sense, Baha'u'llah's "chessboard" might be regarded as His model of the eternal Covenant. >>>Please tell me. How would you with the knowledge of Saussure and Derrida help me in >>>this regard?<< I don't know how helpful their perspectives would be in directly working with inquirers. It seems to me that, following `Abdu'l-Baha's analogical method, if an inquirer were familiar with, for instance, Saussure, one could bring up his chessboard metaphor as a pedagogical device to explain the Covenant, progressive Revelation, or unity in diversity. If someone else was interested in Derrida, one could speak of the processes of deconstruction and construction (disintegration and integration) referred to by the Guardian. >>>Is it a bit like the way Baha'u'llah reveals people did not understand it for 1280 >>>years! [in relation to the Qur'an]?<< The new "chessboard," so to speak, yes. >>>I am sorry I missed your face a few years ago in Oxford.<< Thank you. Me, too. I was in Oxford twice. >>You are a great teacher and I am very proud to be taught these very difficult terms >>and terminology by you.<< At least a struggling pupil. >>>The amazing thing about you is your patience and faithfulness to me [and more >>>pertinently our Community] all these years.<< I just see myself as someone who, like most folks on this list, likes to work with ideas. >>>Also if there are web sites dealing with these?<< Yes. I am especly familiar with those focusing on Roy Bhaskar's ideas. There are two major ones: http://www.criticalrealism.demon.co.uk and http://www.raggedclaws.com/criticalrealism/ >>>Have you thought of writing a book to help all of us. OneWorld I am sure will jump >>>at the idea<< I am working on two books, but I haven't finished either of them. I have already published one book, a combination text and reader for freshman (first year) sociology university or college students, through Kendall-Hunt, with two of my colleagues. It is now going into its second printing. In fact, I just received my first pay check from them (not much unfortunately). 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)
