Across families
Bahá’í Faith and Orthodox Judaism
Different families with 11 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.12 (0 would be identical).
One unknowable God revealed progressively through a succession of messengers, of whom Bahá’u’lláh is the most recent — so the world’s religions are stages of one revelation rather than rivals. Highly inclusive about other paths and highly centralised about its own administration.
Covenant with a people, worked out in a law that covers ordinary life in detail, under an interpretive authority that is rabbinic rather than priestly. The lowest E3 value in the matrix: belonging here is inherited, not chosen.
Where they agree
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.00.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at strictly one — a gap of 0.00.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at clergy and tradition decide — a gap of 0.00.
C2 Shape of time
Both sit at one life, then judgment — a gap of 0.00.
D3 The body
Both sit at between to be disciplined and to be celebrated — a gap of 0.00.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound — a gap of 0.02.
A4 Locus
Both sit at between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it — a gap of 0.03.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at an intentional act — a gap of 0.03.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight — a gap of 0.05.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at leaning a personal being one can address and a personal being one can address respectively — a gap of 0.06.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.12.
Where they part company
E3 Locus of belonging
Bahá’í Faith: leaning an individual choice. Orthodox Judaism: a people, inherited. A gap of 0.60 on an axis running from “a people, inherited” to “an individual choice”.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Bahá’í Faith: between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all. Orthodox Judaism: literal and binding. A gap of 0.40 on an axis running from “literal and binding” to “metaphorical, or no text at all”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Bahá’í Faith | Orthodox Judaism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | a divine reality certainly exists | 0.00 |
| A2 Personhood | leaning a personal being one can address | a personal being one can address | 0.06 |
| A3 Plurality | strictly one | strictly one | 0.00 |
| A4 Locus | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | 0.03 |
| B1 Source of truth | leaning revealed and fixed | revealed and fixed | 0.17 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all | literal and binding | 0.40 |
| B3 Institutional authority | clergy and tradition decide | clergy and tradition decide | 0.00 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | leaning continues in some form | 0.23 |
| C2 Shape of time | one life, then judgment | one life, then judgment | 0.00 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.02 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | 0.05 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | leaning essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.26 |
| D3 The body | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | 0.00 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning many valid paths | between one true path and many valid paths | 0.13 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | an intentional act | an intentional act | 0.03 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | leaning an individual choice | a people, inherited | 0.60 |
| E4 Standing of nature | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.12 |
Positions for Bahá’í Faith rest principally on Bahaʼuʼllah, Kitab-i-Aqdas and Kitab-i-Iqan; for Orthodox Judaism, on Tanakh, Mishnah and Shulchan Aruch. Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.