Religious text
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 .
Encyclopedia
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 . This is akin to the concept of the Greek Logos or the Chinese
Tao.
The
Rigveda is a collection of Vedic Sanskrit [i] hymns [i] counted as the holiest of the four reli ...
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 have been proposed, scholarly consensus floats at around 1000 BCE .
The first printed scripture for wide distribution to the masses was
The Diamond Sutra, a
Buddhist scripture, printed in the year 868 CE.
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.
Texts
Sacred texts of various religions:
Ásatrú
- The Poetic Edda, including especially the Hávamál
- The Younger Edda
- The Tipitaka or Pali canon
- and other Buddhist texts
- The Bible , and
- in Mormonism:
- in Spiritism:
- The Spirits Book
- The Book of Mediums
- The Gospel According to Spiritism
- Heaven and Hell
- The Genesis According to Spiritism
- 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.
- Pyrgi Tablets
- Tabula Cortonensis
- Liber Linteus
- Cippus Perusinus
Falun Gong
- Sruti
- Vedas
- Brahmanas
- Aranyakas
- Upanishads
- Smriti
- Itihasas
- Tantras
- Sutras
- Stotras
- Ashtavakra Gita
- Gherand Samhita
- Gita Govinda
- Hatha Yoga Pradipika
- The Qur'an
- Ahadith
- These Holy Sciptures are considered other books sent by God to mankind, but were either lost or corrupted.
- Suhuf-i-Ibrahim
- The Tawrat
- The Zabur
- The Injil
-Talmud
-Zohar
Mandaeanism
New Age religions
Various
New Age religions may regard any of the following texts as inspired:
- The Bible
- the Holy Piby
- the Kebra Negast
- The speeches of Haile Selassie I
- Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy
Samaritanism
- The Bible
- The writings of Emanuel Swedenborg
- Some also consider a number of posthumously published manuscripts of Swedenborg to also be sacred.
Unification Church
- Divine Principle
- Wolli Hesul
- Wolli Kangron
...
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 , the Sirozeh and the Afringans .
- Secondary:
- The Denkard ,
- The Bundahishn,
- The Mainog-i-Khirad
- The Arda Viraf Namak
- The Zartushtnamah
- The Sad-dar
- The Rivayats .
- For general use by the laity:
- The Zend , various commentaries on and translations of the Avesta
...
.
- The Khordeh Avesta, a collection of everyday prayers from the Avesta
...
.
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 always appears with standardised page numbering while the
Abrahamic religions and their offshoots appear to favour chapter and verse pointers.
Hierographology
Hierographology 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.
See also
- Biblical canon
- Table of books of Judeo-Christian Scripture
External links
- Readable, searchable Bible in multiple languages and versions.
- Online Bible search and resources. Includes several versions, translations and languages.
- Extensive online resource for a wide variety of world religions, folklore, and traditional beliefs.
- Downloadable and searchable database of world religious texts. Extensive Bahá'í, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic & Jewish libraries in seven European languages.
