Religious text

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Most religions have religious texts they view as sacred. Many religions and spiritual movements believe that their sacred texts are wholly divine or spiritually inspired in origin. Monotheistic religions often view their sacred texts as the "Word of God", often feeling that the texts are inspired by God. Even non-believers often capitalize the names of sacred scriptures as a mark of respect or tradition. Another interpretation of the "Word of God" is that it was with the power of the Word that God brought into existence Heaven and Earth, and that this power continues to maintain a balance (i.e the movement of the planets and stars, cycles of nature). This is akin to the concept of the Greek Logos or the Chinese Tao.

The Rigveda of Hinduism was likely composed between roughly 1500–1300 BCE, making it one of the world's oldest religious texts. The oldest portions of the Zoroastrian Avesta are believed to have been transmitted orally for centuries before they found written form, and although widely differing dates for Gathic Avestan (the language of the oldest texts) have been proposed, scholarly consensus floats at around 1000 BCE (roughly contemporary to the Brahmana period of Vedic Sanskrit).

The first printed scripture for wide distribution to the masses was The Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist scripture, printed in the year 868 AD.

In English language, the term scriptures can be used to describe any religion's sacred text as in Hindu scriptures, Jewish scriptures, etc. but when capitalized, in English literature, the word Scriptures generally refers to the sacred texts of the Bible, also referred to as Holy Scripture.

Contents

[edit] Texts

Sacred texts of various religions:

[edit] Ásatrú

[edit] Ayyavazhi

[edit] Bahá'í Faith

[edit] Buddhism

[edit] Christianity

[edit] Mormonism

[edit] Spiritism

[edit] Discordianism

  • The Principia Discordia, although this may not be true for every sect.
  • There are many other holy texts within Eristic cabals, as pretty much anyone can canonize things.

[edit] Etruscan religion

[edit] Falun Gong

[edit] Hinduism

The Bhagvad Gita is Lord Krishna's counsel to Arjuna on the battlefield of the Kurukshetra.
Enlarge
The Bhagvad Gita is Lord Krishna's counsel to Arjuna on the battlefield of the Kurukshetra.

[edit] Islam

  • Al-Qur'an (Islamic Scripture, Al-Kitab, 'the Book')
  • Al-Hadith (sayings and doings of Prophet Muhammad)


[edit] Jainism

[edit] Judaism

[edit] Mandaeanism

[edit] Manichaeism

[edit] New Age religions

Various New Age religions may regard any of the following texts as inspired:

[edit] Rastafari movement

[edit] Samaritanism


[edit] Sikhism

[edit] Shinto

[edit] SubGenius

[edit] Swedenborgianism

  • The Bible
  • The writings of Emanuel Swedenborg
  • Some also consider a number of posthumously published manuscripts of Swedenborg to also be sacred.

[edit] Taoism

[edit] Thelema

[edit] Unification Church

[edit] Zoroastrianism

  • The Katha (The Gathas of Zarathushtra)
  • Primary:
    • The Avesta collection of texts:
      • The Yasna, the primary liturgical collection, includes the Gathas.
      • The Visparad, a collection of supplements to the Yasna.
      • The Yashts, hymns in honor of the divinities.
      • The Vendidad, describes the various forms of evil spirits and ways to confound them.
      • shorter texts and prayers, the five Nyaishes ("worship, praise"), the Sirozeh and the Afringans (blessings).
  • Secondary:
    • The Dēnkard (middle Persian, 'Acts of Religion'),
    • The Bundahishn, (middle Persian, 'Original Creation')
    • The Mainog-i-Khirad (middle Persian, 'Spirit of Wisdom')
    • The Arda Viraf Namak (middle Persian, 'The Book of Arda Viraf')
    • The Zartushtnamah (modern Persian, 'Book of Zoroaster')
    • The Sad-dar (modern Persian, 'Hundred Doors', or 'Hundred Chapters')
    • The Rivayats (modern Persian, traditional treatises).
  • For general use by the laity:
    • The Zend (lit. commentaries), various commentaries on and translations of the Avesta.
    • The Khordeh Avesta, a collection of everyday prayers from the Avesta.

[edit] Views

Attitudes to sacred texts differ. Some religions make written texts widely freely available, while others hold that sacred secrets must remain hidden from all but the loyal and the initiate. Most religions promulgate policies defining the limits of the sacred texts and controlling or forbidding changes and additions. Translations of texts may receive official blessing, but an original sacred language often has de facto, absolute or exclusive paramouncy. Some religions make texts available gratis or in subsidised form; others require payment and the strict observance of copyright.

References to scriptures profit from standardisation: the Guru Granth Sahib (of Sikhism) always appears with standardised page numbering while the Abrahamic religions and their offshoots appear to favour chapter and verse pointers.

[edit] Hierographology

Hierographology (Greek ιερος, hieros, "sacred" or "holy", + γραφος, graphos, "writing", + λογος, logos, "word" or "reason") (archaically hierology) is the study of sacred texts.

Increasingly, sacred texts of many cultures are studied within academic contexts, primarily to increase understanding of other cultures, whether ancient or contemporary. Sometimes this involves the extension of the principles of higher criticism to the texts of many faiths. It may also involve a comparative study of religious texts. The hierographology of the Qur'an can be particularly controversial, especially when questioning the accuracy of Islamic traditions about the text.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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