This
three part monograph will largely be an attempt to explore the history
of concepts of God having an All-Powerful, Mighty or Greatest Name in
the closely interrelated, major Abrahamic religions (primarily Judaism,
Christianity and Islam) and the theological reinterpretations of this
Mighty divine Name concept in the sacred scriptures of the Bābī and
Bahā’ī religions. It will sometimes lead into little studied areas
such as
magic signs and symbols believed to have protective, talismanic and
other significances.
Though biblical
scholars have given some attention to the theology of the Names of God
expressive of the divine grandeur and transcendence, relatively little
attention has been given in modern times to the specific theological motif of
the mightiest Name of God in Islamic and Bābī-Bahā'ī
studies.
Part II of this
monograph will further attempt to sum up some linguistic, historical and
theological aspects of the Arabic word bahā', a verbal-noun
theologically viewed by Bahā'īs as the quintessence of the "Greatest
Name" of God. It will be seen that considered alone the word bahā’ has a
very wide range of meanings and a huge semantic field, aside from its
well-known senses relating to beauty, radiant glory, splendour, light
and brilliancy. As a Persian loan-word baha’ and its various derivates,
again have a wide range of senses and a much expanded semantic field.
