Progressive revelation (Bahá'Ã)
Progressive revelation or Progressive revelation of God is a theological term from the Bahaitum, which outlines the idea that divine revelation is not a singular event, but progressively and relative to their time ( and the respective culture ) takes place.
Bahai see various disclosures and the forward end professional religions history of religion as different stages of an indivisible, eternal, ongoing and evolving evolutionary religion of divine origin. Also the Bahaitum sees herself as part of this development and at the same time as the eschatological fulfillment of all previous revelations.
Revelation is both cyclically and progressively. Each Manifestation of God brings divine teachings according to the spiritual capacity of the people in their time. Therefore, religious truth is relative in terms of its recipients, and not absolute. The disclosures of the Manifestations of God include on the one hand, eternal truths, such as some immutable basic moral and spiritual statements, and certain on the other hand, for the spiritual development of human society, customized messages. Because humans thus developed civilization and spiritually, this is the progressive part of the disclosure.
The cycles of the successive manifestations of God are compared with the passage of the seasons. The appearance of a new Manifestation of God is like the life-giving spring. After a period of positive development, the summer, following the decline of autumn, in the beginning the followers of the religion, to no longer follow the original spirit of revelation but only external traditions. In winter, after all, the religion reduced almost entirely on unreflective imitation, which can also lead to the rejection of the new manifestation of God.
In addition to these cycles, which relate to the divine mission of the individual manifestations and their effects, the Bahaitum knows even larger cycles that include multiple manifestations of God. Specifically mentioned in the writings of the Bahai two of these cycles. The prophetic cycle, even Adamite cycle, and fulfilling cycle, usually called Bahai cycle.
Clear emerging from the literature Manifestations of God of the prophetic cycle are Adam, Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Krishna, Siddhartha Gautama, Jesus Christ and Muhammad. Other manifestations in this cycle are not excluded, at least before Mohammed. Since God never leaves people without a guide, it must also have (albeit by name unknown ) Manifestations of God to Adam, have given and also give after Muhammad, even if the great prophetic cycle closes as the " Seal of the Prophets ".
The Bab and Baha'u'llah: After Mohammed the Bahai know two other manifestations of God. They are the first two manifestations of God in the fulfillment cycle, which began with the proclamation of the Bab in 1844 and is scheduled to last at least 500,000 years. Also on Baha'u'llah will follow at a distance of about 1,000 years, and continue the sequence of small revelation cycles within this period many other manifestations of God.