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Abstract: Scholarly talk on the nature of interpretation and the Covenant, given at Foundation Hall of the House of Worship in Wilmette. Notes: Talk given on July 27, 1997. Distributed on a series of two cassette tapes, © 1997 National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the U.S. Recorded, and posted here, with permission of speaker. Punctuation and paragraph breaks added by transcriber, and need further proofreading. |
Remembering Shoghi Effendi as Interpreter
1997-07
1997 marks the centenary of the Birth of Shoghi Effendi. There are
no celebrations of the occasion official or otherwise, because Shoghi
Effendi did not wish his birthday to be celebrated. He made this clear in
writing to commemorate any event associated with his life would be
tantamount to a departure from those established truths that are
enshrined within our beloved Faith. However there is nothing to stop us
from remembering him, indeed how can we forget so unique and
indispensable a figure of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. Since I have been offered
an opportunity[a] very welcome [one] I should say, and a pleasant
opportunity of being with you today, I invite you to join me in
remembering Shoghi Effendi as interpreter.
It is only fair, I think, to tell you that the talk I am about to give will be
lengthy. It comprises [of] three parts. The first part is the Word as
Genesis, second interpreting the Word and third the
literature of interpretation. Now, perhaps you have heard that
phrasing before because I have been involved is some form of
resurrection... and ..not as spectacular as that involved Lazarus but it was
some form of resurrection because some years ago I wrote an article by
this title which was published in the World Order magazine [online here] so since I
assume most of you have not heard about this article I take a chance and
bring a large of it chunk to your attention. So then let's begin.
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