Review of Christopher Buck, Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Baha’i Faith. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999. (Release date: May 13, 1999.) By Edward G. Farrugia, S.J. Orientalia Christiana Periodica 66.2 (2000): 480–483. ABSTRACT The work, originally a doctoral dissertation successfully defended at the Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto, in 1996 (p. xiii), is meant to be an experiment in comparison (p. 313). Given his background, the author sought to compare Christianity with the Baha’i religion established in Baghdad by Mirza Ḥusayn-‘Ali Baha’ Allah, (1817–1892), a name officially spelt Baha’u’llah, meaning “Glory of God” (p. 2). In order to compare like with like, Buck concentrated on East Syrian Christianity, since this form of Christianity and the Baha’i Faith are two culturally related Abrahamic traditions in the Iranian context (p. 1). In Late Antiquity, the world had two superpowers, Rome and Persia, with the Sasanian Empire, which held sway from 224 to 651 practically always at war with the Roman Empire, save for short periods (p. 4). From an ecclesial viewpoint, while in present-day Iran Armenian Christians outnumber Assyrian Christians two to one, originally — until the devastations caused by the Mongols — it was Syrian Christianity which prevailed in Sasanian Iran, then much larger than now (p. 313). A way of stating the question of the book is to ask how “Persian” was Persian Christianity (p. 313). As is generally known, “paradise” is a Persian loan word (p. 1), and so is the word for sacraments, “raze”. The author restricts himself to the formative period of East Syrian writings, before a Church of Persia was officially constituted — and that means primarily Aphrahat the Persian Sage and Ephrem the Syrian (p. 9), from both of whom derives the grammar of images prevalent in Syriac spirituality in its formative period (p. 39). Buck explains the title of his book as follows: “Paradise may function as a master-symbol of a core religious paradigm, a controlling, conceptual model that governs ideal beliefs and behaviors” (p. 10). In its methodological intent, the work is more structural than historical (p. 11). The methodological justification that follows is particularly worth reading, for it gives us the author’s bearings, especially where he stands in comparison with other authors. Corresponding to the place occupied by symbols for East Syrian Christianity, one is pleased to see that symbol is the central category, as the sub-title would lead one to believe anyhow. Religions are described as a system of symbols, a symbol being, in turn, defined as an object or an act or an event which, metaphorically and narratively, enshrines a conception (p. 12). As Paul Ricoeur aptly puts it: “Le symbole donne a penser ... ” (p. 13). But besides providing food for thought, symbols possess a kind of collective “dream logic”, which penetrates beyond the limits of discursive thinking (p. 14). … In a nutshell, the symbolic approach may be said to reveal “creeds beyond words” (p. 315). To the author’s mind, in both early Christian and modern Baha’i texts one may observe a logic of higher agreement aiming at a synthetic unity of opposites. Soteriology is for the author the single most important heuristic key for comparing both religions (p. 315). But, while the Baha’i faith does not have a sacramental worldview, the paradigm of purity in Syriac Christianity presupposes a state of sanctification achieved through sacramental divinization (p. 317f). In the past, comparative religion fell into disrepute because of its poaching on alien territory and drawing conclusions unwarranted by the facts. On his own avowed methodological stance of not forcing identities but of explaining similarities by way of difference, Buck seems to have avoided the strictures against the old methods of comparison (see p. 320). Since the reviewer’s competence does not include the Baha’i religion, this review has purposely restricted itself to the presentation of East Syrian Christianity, which, besides providing much useful information, takes pains to avoid caricature. E. G. Farrugia, S.J.

Christopher Buck, Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Baha’i Faith. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999. ISBN-10: 0791440613. ISBN-13: 978-0791440612. (Release date: May 13, 1999.) NOTE This is the first formal (academic) comparison of the Baha’i Faith and Christianity, notwithstanding a wealth of apologetic literature on this topic. OPENING PARAGRAPH Religions enshrine symbols, the stained-glass windows of faith. Sacred symbols present an explorable treasury of religious thought—an information-rich, condensed language of spirituality. Symbols are the prisms of ideals and of other religious concerns. Symbols are susceptible of analysis and are proper objects of study. As symbols encode ideas, they require interpretation to be both understood and meaningfully compared. “We can see that an essential ingredient of the modern study of religion,” writes Ninian Smart, “is symbolic analysis, which tries to throw light on the various themes which can be discovered cross-culturally through the exploration of various worldviews” (1985, 33). Symbolic analysis involves not only the exploration of religious worldviews intrinsically, but comparatively as well. – Paradise & Paradigm, p. 1. CONCLUSION Symbols ensoul ideas. In the Abrahamic faiths generally, the most important symbol complex is eschatological imagery, the positive focus of which is Paradise. Visions of the empyreal realm have, historically, had an extraordinary power to inspire. Paradise is iconoplastic. The beatific panorama, the symbolic landscape, the ideals and imagery that inform Paradise in the religious imagination are grounded in root metaphors and are animated by key scenarios reflecting a theology of activity, in a dynamic interplay of belief and behavior, myth and ritual, within the religious grasp of totality. Paradise allegorizes ideals. These ideals are projected onto heaven. There, in the wish-images of the communal dream, ideals are reified and beatified. In a Bergeresque process of paradisical world building, Heaven functions as the impressionistic blueprint of the ideal faith-community. Paradise imagery is then dislocated from the speculative and refocused on Earth. When once the heart is transformed and society reformed, Paradise is realized. In the intersection of eschatology and ethics, in the interplay of ideas and imagery, and as a function of an organizing principle, an overarching paradigm, Paradise becomes utopia. – Paradise & Paradigm, p. 329. REVIEWS • Kathleen McVey. International Journal of Middle East Studies 35.3 (Aug. 2003): 494–496. Will C. van den Hoonaard. Studies in Religion. Sciences Religieuses 31.3–4 (2002): 501–502. • Brannon Wheeler. Religious Studies Review 28.3 (July 2002): 293: “Buck’s theoretically innovative analysis of ‘paradigmatic differences’ in East Syrian (or Nestorian) Christianity and the early Baha’i faith is a fascinating and intellectually challenging book. … In all, a forceful and clearly argued book which should be read by scholars interested in questions of religious symbolism and the comparative method.” • Andrew Rippin. University of Toronto Quarterly 71.1 (Winter 2001/2002): 170–172. • William Collins. Baha’i Studies Review 10 (2001/2002): 157–160. • Edward G. Farrugia, S.J. Orientalia Christiana Periodica 66.2 (2000): 480–483. • John Renard. Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 34.2 (2000): 212–213. • Daniel Grolin. H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences (July 2000). Harold Coward. (Unpublished) (2000). POST-PUBLICATION SCHOLARSHIP Paola Orsatti, “Syro-Persian Formulas In Poetic Form In Baptism Liturgy,” Persian Origins – Early Judaeo-Persian and the Emergence of New Persian. Collected Papers of the Symposium, Göttingen 1999. Edited by Ludwig Paul (Iranica Vol. 6, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003), pp. 147–176. LIBRARIES WORLDWIDE Total (print & ebook editions): 1,886. [WorldCat, July 11, 2019.] Also available as a Nook Book.

Christopher Buck, Paradise & Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Baha’i Faith (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999). Opening paragraph: Religions enshrine symbols, the stained-glass windows of faith. Sacred symbols present an explorable treasury of religious thought—an information-rich, condensed language of spirituality. Symbols are the prisms of ideals and of other religious concerns. Symbols are susceptible of analysis and are proper objects of study. As symbols encode ideas, they require interpretation to be both understood and meaningfully compared. “We can see that an essential ingredient of the modern study of religion,” writes Ninian Smart, “is symbolic analysis, which tries to throw light on the various themes which can be discovered cross-culturally through the exploration of various worldviews” (1985, 33). Symbolic analysis involves not only the exploration of religious worldviews intrinsically, but comparatively as well. Closing paragraphs: Symbols ensoul ideas. In the Abrahamic faiths generally, the most important symbol-complex is eschatological imagery, the positive focus of which is Paradise. Visions of the empyreal realm have, historically, had an extraordinary power to inspire. Paradise is iconoplastic. The beatific panorama, the symbolic landscape, the ideals and imagery that inform Paradise in the religious imagination are grounded in root metaphors and are animated by key scenarios reflecting a theology of activity, in a dynamic interplay of belief and behavior, myth and ritual, within the religious grasp of totality. Paradise allegorizes ideals. These ideals are projected onto heaven. There, in the wish-images of the communal dream, ideals are reified and beatified. In a Berger-esque process of paradisical world-building, Heaven functions as the impressionistic blueprint of the ideal faith-community. Paradise imagery is then dislocated from the speculative and refocused on earth. When once the heart is transformed and society reformed, Paradise is realized. In the intersection of eschatology and ethics, in the interplay of ideas and imagery, and as a function of an organizing principle, an overarching paradigm, Paradise becomes utopia.

William Collins, Review of Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Baha’i Faith, by Christopher Buck (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999), Baha’i Studies Review 10 (2001/2002): 157–160.

Daniel Grolin, Review of Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Baha’i Faith, by Christopher Buck (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999), H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences (July 2000).

Christopher Buck, “A Symbolic Profile of the Baha’i Faith.” Journal of Baha’i Studies 8.4 (1998): 1–48. ABSTRACT Advanced study of the Bahá’í Faith must still deal with basics. While considerable progress has been made in historical research on Bábí and Bahá’í origins, much foundational work in Bahá’í Studies remains to be done at the level of text. Based on primary sources, this study will present a “symbolic profile” of Bahá’í consciousness, to the extent that it is shaped by the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ancillary texts. To order and classify the symbols, this profile will employ Ninian Smart’s dimensional model of religion, using the present writer’s acronym, DREEMS (Doctrinal, Ritual, Ethical, Experiential, Mythic, Social). Sherry Ortner’s key symbols paradigm, consisting of thought-orientating “root metaphors” and action-inciting “key scenarios,” completes the profile, while John Wansbrough provides insight into the formation of a new religious ethos through a process of symbolic transformation. This study will highlight some of the predominant Bahá’í symbols, to which others will surely be added. In his analysis of the Bahá’í symbolic vision, Alessandro Bausani writes: __________________ An expression like: ‘the dove of eternity sings on the branches of the Túbá tree’ (the name of a tree symbolic of Muslim paradise) is susceptible of three levels of interpretation: (a) realistic level: in a pretty garden on a verdant tree a dove sings fascinating melodies; (b) mystic-symbolic level: in the Gardens of Paradise, outside of this lowly world, saints and blessed ones sing the praises of God; (c) realistic-symbolic level: Bahá’u’lláh at an exact moment in our time sends forth into the world a renewing spirit that will recreate it and give it form again in unitary visible forms, revealing his Writings in a definite place in the earth (the vicinity of Mt. Carmel). The spatial and temporal concreteness therefore, remains but makes itself translucent with eternity. (Bausani, “Some Aspects of the Bahá’í Expressive Style” 43) __________________ This expression, “translucent with eternity,” is instructive, particularly with respect to the symbol’s opacity. A symbol is opaque until it is understood. It need not even be explicable. It is sufficient for it to be intuited. For the one to whom the symbol makes inspirational sense, the symbol is translucent, at once a way of looking at present reality, and at the same time affording a glimpse of the potential future, of a possible collective scenario, of the ideal real, the translucent shadows of the spiritual world to which a Bahá’í is ontologically and morally committed. These symbols take on a life of their own. In the inner world of spiritual consciousness, Bahá’u’lláh speaks of “subtle mysteries.” These are described as the “fruits of communion” with God in the garden of the heart. “By My life, O friend,” Bahá’u’lláh writes, “wert thou to taste of these fruits, from the green garden of these blossoms which grow in the lands of knowledge, beside the orient lights of the Essence in the mirrors of names and attributes—yearning would seize the reins of patience and reserve from out thy hand, and make thy soul to shake with the flashing light, and draw thee from the earthly homeland to the first, heavenly abode in the Center of Realities, and lift thee to a plane wherein thou wouldst soar in the air even as thou walkest upon the earth, and move over the water as thou rushest on the land.” (Bahá’u’lláh, The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys 3–4) A series of potent images impels the believer to recreate waking life. Like dream-logic, Bahá’í symbolism is the logic of a vision of the world at peace, given its initial moral and spiritual impetus by Bahá’u’lláh. This poetic vision is a resource. It instills faith. If such faith is creative, it expresses itself in action. In this way, faith shapes social reality.

Christopher Buck, Review of Udo Schaefer, Beyond the Clash of Religions: The Emergence of a New Paradigm. Baha’i Studies Review 6 (1996): 68–71. ABSTRACT Beyond the Clash of Religions: The Emergence of a New Paradigm Author: Udo Schaefer Translator: Geraldine Schuckelt Publisher: Zero Palm Press, Prague, 1995, 177 pages Reviewer: Christopher Buck Paradigm analysis is an integrative approach to the study of religions as systems. It has heuristic value (explanatory power) in disclosing the concatenating or interconnected “logics” of belief (i.e., faith, doctrine, ethos) and praxis (i.e., ritual, piety, and ethics). Precisely because it takes this approach, Udo Schaefer’s Beyond the Clash of Religions: The Emergence of a New Paradigm is an important contribution to Bahá’í studies. . . . In the final pages of this essay, Schaefer introduces the Bahá’í Faith as offering a “new paradigm” (42) anchored in revelation, in which the will of God for the world today is apprehended and affirmed by faith, and a universal value system is offered. In contrast to “the old ecclesiastical paradigm” of Christian salvation, “the new paradigm depicts a divine economy of salvation” (46), according to Schaefer. The nature of this “economy” is paradigmatically different from traditional Christianity. The nature of this new paradigm is developed in the second essay, “On the Diversity and Unity of Religions” (51–150). This essay begins with a “Prefatory Note on the Concept of Paradigm,” in which the author assimilates Thomas Kuhn’s definition of “paradigm” as “the entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques, and so on shared by a member [sic; read “the members” ] of a given community” (Kuhn, apud Schaefer, 55; cf. 26, n. 41). Schaefer then speaks of the “unity paradigm” central to Bahá’í belief and praxis. . . . The concluding part of the book begins at section IX, “The New Paradigm: Progressive Revelation” (106–150). Interestingly, Schaefer speaks of the vertical and horizontal dimensions of religion. The former is “constant,” while the latter is “variable” (138). That is to say, the heart of religion—in its “vertical” relationship to the Holy—is essentially mystical and unchanging, while the “horizontal” dimension is socially referenced and thus in a state of flux, conditioned by historical exigencies. The Bahá’í Faith is referenced to modernity. It represents a veritable “paradigm-shift” in religious history, in which all religions are viewed federally as integral to history. The Bahá’í Faith thus offers a unique, teleological theory of civilization that “makes sense” of history by defining the past in terms of the present. There is a certain acquisitive nature to revelation in that it is a “progressive” unfoldment of spiritual verities in direct proportion to humanity’s capacity for cognisance of spiritual reality. . . . Beyond the Clash of Religions: The Emergence of a New Paradigm contributes to an emergent, extracanonical Bahá’í ethos. It is an intellectually respectable articulation of a distinctively Bahá’í world view. This book is recommended as an introduction to the Bahá’í religion for educated or intellectually-inclined audiences. More significantly, Udo Schaefer has effectively adapted Kuhn’s concept of “paradigm” and “paradigm-shift” from the history of science to the history of religion. There is every probability that Udo Schaefer’s approach will gain wide currency throughout the Bahá’í world.

This article offers a systematic and comprehensive overview of Baha'i theology and philosophy. Since Bahá'í thought is still in very nascent stages of development, without any established philosophical or theological schools, it is discussed within the comparative framework of what has already been long established in both of these scholarly fields. Bahá'í religious texts contain a great deal of philosophical passages and speculation, sometimes of a highly technical nature. Bahá'í scriptures make use of such Aristotelian terms as essence, substance, essential and accidental attributes, four-fold causality, potentiality, and its actualization, and so on. In addition to Aristotelian philosophical ideas, the Bahá'í Writings make use of a Neoplatonist concept of emanation. Overall, the article explores Bahá'í views in the areas of epistemology, ontology, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of religion and history, social and political philosophy, ethics, and aesthetics.

Christopher Buck, “A Unique Eschatological Interface: Baha’u’llah and Cross-Cultural Messianism.” In Iran. Edited by Peter Smith. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1986. Pp. 157–179.