Well, all the Bahai's who have participated so far in my opinion is against this Dibdin person. He obviously does not have any choice but admit the most blatant, kindergarten level scholarship that says no one knows who in the world were the authors of the canonical Gospels. There is nothing more blatant than that in any kind of NT scholarship. But the Bahai's have been saying otherwise.
Nevertheless, I thank you for a nice read. Though I think this paper by Dibdin is one of the most unscholarly works I have ever read, it was good to know the perspective they have taken. I dont know why they have given scholars like FF Bruce, one of the most respected and revered Bible scholars, when they have not taken anything substantive from his work. This is full of assumptions. Though the Gospels were utterly anonymous, lets just assume "they were uplifted and inspired". Think about it, how in the world is that a valid thesis? For the sake of our faith, lets just assume this. Thats great???
I dont know what to say brother.
Peace.
Dibdin isn’t trying to add to Christian scholarship, rather Baha’i scholarship. There’s an important distinction, in that Baha’is recognise some degree of authority within the Baha’i writings whereas Christians don’t. So the Baha’is have been discussing the Bible within a Western setting from the end of nineteenth century when those from a Christian background became Baha’is. Most were from a Christian background. So in providing the paper written in 1996 it provides a glimpse of the evolution of Baha’i thought about the Bible over a one hundred year period. The Baha’is on RF are a diverse group from differing backgrounds including Protestant, Catholic, evangelical, atheism, agnosticism and Islam. We’re all engaged in a process of learning. Part of that learning is study of the Baha’i and Christian texts. Another part is becoming acquainted with biblical scholarship. We’re not all university scholars here and not claiming to be experts.
In regards authorship of the Gospels there is no agreement amongst scholars. Although the majority would attribute these books to unknown authors, there’s a significant minority who believe it was the Apostle John who wrote the Gospel of John. My personal view is that we can not know for certain who wrote any of the Gospels from the available evidence. There may be a faith based argument that it was the Apostle John for both Christians and Baha’is but there’s a case to be made that it wasn’t. The Baha’is here are simply providing their views in all sincerity as you have asked.