Progressive Revelation
God has sent Manifestations throughout history — Abraham, Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and Bahá'u'lláh — each revealing divine truth appropriate to humanity's evolving capacity.
One of the most distinctive Bahá'í teachings is progressive revelation: God's truth is revealed progressively through divine Messengers appropriate to humanity's spiritual and intellectual capacity at each stage of development. Each Manifestation confirms the divine source of all previous revelations while bringing new laws and teachings for the current age.
All these holy, divine Manifestations are one. They have served one God, promulgated the same truth.
Progressive revelation is the central theological innovation of the Bahá'í Faith, reconciling the apparent contradictions between world religions.
The Promulgation of Universal Peace
Written about in
- What the Bahá'í Faith says about doubt
A common trigger for doubt is a scripture that seems plainly wrong for the present. Progressive revelation answers that each Manifestation brought teaching matched to the capacity of its age, so a law that no longer fits is read as evidence of a changed audience rather than a false source.