Bahaiquest:Limitations

Bahai.quest is most similar to a concordance, an alphabetical listing of words that appear in a body of work, with a listings of those words and their immediate context. This project will be affected by certain limitations:

Exclusion of relevant content

The most significant limitation involves this formats presentation being dependent on the usage of a certain word to describe a certain idea. Take for example the following passage from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh:

It behoveth all to lay down their lives for the sake of Thine ear that heareth the cries of Thine ardent lovers in every land and the sighs of Thy friends who suffer at the hands of Thine enemies.1

Undoubtedly this passage concerns the concept of sacrifice, however because it does not use the word sacrifice it would not appear on the page for that entry. Understanding can be supplemented through reference to compilations or subject-based outlines if you are looking for completeness, but ultimately the only way to gain a true and complete understanding of what the Bahá’í writings teach would be to personally read and study them for yourself. Study tools or note taking software are especially useful to help group concepts which appear dispersedly throughout the entire collection of writings.

For the purpose of gaining a general conceptual understanding of a certain theme, referring to a subject-based outline would be a good companion to a concordance. Where appropriate we will link to articles, compilations or other resources to help readers learn about the subjects they are looking for. The references that would make good supplementary resources to link to are:

• loomofreality.org — A subject-based outline compiled by Dr. Steven Phelps
• bahaiquotes.com — A subject-based outline compiled by Susan Gammage
• bahai9.com A Compendium compiled primarily by Brett Zamir

Truncation of important context

Owing to the limitations of this format, that only very short excerpts from the whole sentence or passage can be used, the excerpt passage may appear to have a meaning opposite the one intended, which would be clear from reading the entire passage. Take for example this excerpt:

all those who believe in the Scriptures of the past accept that Isaac was a sacrifice unto God 1

While reading from the full passage makes the meaning clear. With that in mind we will do our best to not excerpt quotes in such a way that they would be misleading, but readers are encouraged to read the full quote and context for any excerpts that catch their attention.