PARADISE AND PARADIGM Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Bahā’ī Faith Christopher Buck State University of New York Press Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1999 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press State University Plaza, Albany, New York 12246 Production by Dana Foote Marketing by Patrick Durocher Cover illustration by Shiew-Yeu Loh Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Buck, Christopher, 1950– Paradise and paradigm: key symbols in Persian Christianity and the Baha’i Faith/Christopher Buck. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-4061-3 (hc: alk. paper) ISBN 0-7914-4062-1 (pb: alk. paper) 1. Heaven—Bahā’ī Faith. 2. Bahā’ī Faith—Doctrines. 3. Heaven—Christianity—History of doctrines—Early church, ca. 30-600. 4. Syrian Church—Doctrines—History. 5. Heaven—Comparative studies. 6. Paradise—Comparative studies. I. Title. BP388. H43 B83 1999 291.2’3—dc21 98-45882 CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Nahzy Abadi Buck, Takur, and Taraz Syrian Orthodox Icon of St. Ephrem the Syrian ‘Abdu’l-Bahā, December 2, 1912. Portrait by (d. 373 CE) in the Mother of God Church, Jacob Schloss (1857–1938), famed New York Monastery of St. Ephrem the Syrian, in Glane/ City photographer known for his portraits of Losser, the Netherlands. Based on the medieval theatrical stars. Photograph taken at the home of icon (1218 CE) of St. Ephrem in the Theotokos Bahā’ī hosts, Edward B. Kinney (1863–1950) and Mother of God Church, Diyarbakir, Turkey. Carrie Kinney (1878–1959), 780 West End Photograph taken in 1995. Courtesy of Gabriel Avenue, New York. Courtesy of the U.S. National Rabo, Faculty of the Department of Syrian Bahā’ī Archives. Church History, Göttingen University, Germany. v From St. Ephrem the Syrian From Bahā’u’llāh An Ode on Noah and the Ark Song of the Holy Mariner * Chorus: * Chorus: Glory, Lord, to Thee! Glorified be my Lord, the All- Glorious! O NOBLE NOAH! O HOLY MARINER! Afloat in the Flood, the All-Ruler’s Ark Bid thine ark of eternity appear before emerged from the East; she winged to the Celestial Concourse, the West, wheeled South and then Launch it upon the ancient sea, in His sealed the North . Name, the Most Wondrous, To her Saviour sing! And let the angelic spirits enter, in the Her sequence sketched her Defender’s Name of God, the Most High. Device: Unmoor it, then, that it may sail upon the her course traced a cross! ocean of glory, With water and wood, Noah, salt of the O Mariner! sea, the Church did portray . Teach them that are within the ark that Myth and mystery, Ark and Torah tell the which We have taught thee behind the self-same story! . mystic veil. Naves echo the Ark, Perchance they may not tarry in the whose meaning they mark . sacred snow-white spot, Faith (though I be frail) shall be, Lord, But may soar upon the wings of the spirit my ship! unto that station which the Lord hath All those drown in doubt, who would exalted above all mention in the work Thee out! worlds below . To Thy Sire we shout! May know the mysteries hidden in the Seas of light. Saint Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373 C.E.) Bahā’u’llāh (d. 1892 C.E.) An Ode on Noah and the Ark Song [or Tablet] of the Holy Mariner (363–373) (1863) (Hymns on Faith XLIX. 1; 3–6) (Arabic section) Trans. by Andrew Palmer (1993, 175). Trans. by Shoghi Effendi (1922). CONTENTS Acknowledgments xiii I. Comparing Paradises 1 1.0 Objective 1.1 Paradises and Paradigms 1.2 Systems of Symbols 1.3 Key Symbols 1.4 Dimensional Model 1.5 Symbolic Profiles 1.6 Worldview Comparison 1.7 Symbolic Transformation as Paradigm Shift II. A Historical Profile of Syriac Christianity 37 2.0 Syriac Christianity 2.1 Ephrem the Syrian and Aphrahāṭ, “the Persian Sage” 2.2 Syriac Christianity as a Mesopotamian Response to Late Antiquity 2.3 The Universality of the Church of the East: How Persian was Persian Christianity? III. A Symbolic Profile of Syriac Christianity 85 3.0 Syriac Symbol Theory Key Scenarios 3.1 Doctrinal: The Way 3.2 Ritual: Robe of Glory 3.3 Ethical: Sons/Daughters of the Covenant 3.4 Experiential: The Wedding Feast 3.5 Mythic: Harrowing of Hell 3.6 Social: Noah’s Ark/Mariner Root Metaphors 3.7 Doctrinal: Physician 3.8 Ritual: Medicine of Life 3.9 Ethical: The Mirror 3.10 Experiential: The Pearl 3.11 Mythic: Tree of Life 3.12 Social: Paradise 3.13 The Syriac Paradigm of Purity IV. A Historical Profile of the Bahā’ī Faith 135 4.0 Introduction 4.1 Bahā’u’llāh 4.2 The Bahā’ī Faith as a Response to Modernity V. A Symbolic Profile of the Bahā’ī Faith 181 5.0 Bahā’ī Symbol Theory Key Scenarios 5.1 Doctrinal: The Promised One 5.2 Ritual: The Covenant 5.3 Ethical: Illumination 5.4 Experiential: Lover and the Beloved 5.5 Mythic: The Maid of Heaven 5.6 Social: The Crimson Ark and the Holy Mariner Root Metaphors 5.7 Doctrinal: Physician 5.8 Ritual: Wine/Water of Life 5.9 Ethical: Mirror/Gems 5.10 Experiential: The Journey 5.11 Mythic: Lote-Tree/Sinai 5.12 Social: Paradise 5.13 The Bahā’ī Paradigm of Unity VI. Paradise Similarities and Paradigm Differences 227 6.0 Procedure for Dimensional Analysis 6.1 Doctrinal 6.2 Ritual 6.3 Ethical 6.4 Experiential 6.5 Mythic 6.6 Social VII. Paradise and Paradigm 259 7.0 Introduction 7.1 Sapiential Theōsis: A New Reading of Ephrem the Syrian’s Hymns on Paradise 7.2 Paradise and Society in Bahā’ī Texts VIII. Conclusions 313 8.0 Interpretation of Results 8.1 Evaluation of Research Design 8.2 Counterindications 8.3 Suggestions for Further Study 8.4 Relevance to the Study of Religion Appendixes I. Abbreviations 331 II. Syriac Transliteration Scheme 339 III. Arabic/Persian Transliteration Scheme 341 IV. Fragments of a Lost Persian Christian Liturgy 345 Works Cited 351 Index 381 [**xiii] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study was originally a dissertation researched at the Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto (Canada’s “Harvard of the North”), during Dr. Jane McAuliffe’s tenure as director. It is therefore fitting that I acknowledge the members of my advisory committee: my Ph.D. supervisor, Dr. Willard G. Oxtoby (Trinity College), Dr. John Corbett (Scarborough College), and Dr. Maria Subtelny (University of Toronto), who replaced Dr. B. Todd Lawson (Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University) as the third committee member. As a dissertation, Paradise and Paradigm was successfully defended on 21 June 1996. Dr. Jonathan Z. Smith, Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor of the Humanities, University of Chicago, served as my external examiner. Dr. Smith’s dissertation appraisal begins with this assessment: “Mr. Buck’s thesis is a superior piece of work, one of the most sophisticated exercises on comparison that I have read, and, therefore, a work of historic importance with respect to the study of ‘patristic’ Christianity, a field that is notably ‘primitive’ with respect to comparative issues. Of the nearly one hundred dissertations I have served as director or reader for, in the fields of history of religions and early Christianities, this is, without question, one of the two or three best.” Having closely followed the work of Jonathan Z. Smith over the years, to have had this brief personal and professional interaction with him has been profoundly inspirational. All those who assisted me in researching Syriac and Bahā’ī primary and secondary sources contributed to the success of the project, as acclaimed by J. Z. Smith further in his appraisal: “The extraction of the central symbolic logic of both the Syriac and Bahā’ī materials is utterly convincing . This, then, contributes to a comparison across differences of the logics which richly illuminates both the specific symbols and the cultural matrix in which they are found.” To Prof. Amir Harrak for his close reading of the manuscript, for the benefit of his linguistic expertise and for his uncanny acumen in making corrections and proposing revisions, I express my heartfelt appreciation. For their assistance with Syriac texts, I would like to thank His Grace Mar Emmanuel, Diocesan Bishop, Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, Diocese of Canada, and Bishop Mar Bawai Soro, [**xiv] General Secretary of the Assyrian Church of the East in the United States. I would also like to thank Prof. Sidney Griffith of the Catholic University of America, and Prof. Edward G. Mathews, Jr., of Scranton University, for answering a number of questions of mine pertaining to both Ephrem and related Syriac texts. I am likewise indebted to Mr. Francis Sarguis, English language editor of the Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society, for having read and edited portions of this manuscript. For their research assistance in searching Bahā’ī texts, I would like to thank Dr. Robert Stockman, Mr. Jonah Winters, and Mr. Sen McGlinn. My thanks to Dr. Juan R.