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 (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 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.
Sacred texts of various religions:
*The
Poetic Edda, including especially the
Hávamál*The
Younger Edda* The
Kitáb-i-Aqdas*
Kitáb-i-Íqán*and
many other writings including ones from other faiths
* The
Tipitaka or
Pali canon* and other
Buddhist texts* The
Bible (also referred to as the
Holy Writ), and
** in
Mormonism:
*** The
Book of Mormon*** The
Pearl of Great Price*** The
Doctrine and Covenants** 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.
** The
Apocrypha 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* The
Zhuan Falun*
Śruti**
Vedas***
Rig Veda***
Sama Veda***
Yajur Veda***
Atharva Veda**
Brahmanas**
Aranyakas**
Upanishads
*
Smriti**
Itihāsas***
Mahābhārata****
Bhagavad Gītā***
Ramayana***
Puranas (
List)
**
Tantras**
Sutras (
List)
**
Stotras**
Ashtavakra Gita**
Gherand Samhita**
Gita Govinda**
Hatha Yoga Pradipika* The
Qur'an (the holy book of Islam)
*
Ahadith (sayings and doings of the Islamic prophet Muhammad)
*
Tattvartha Sutra* The
Hebrew Bible (
Tanakh)
**
Torah**
Nevi'im**
Ketuvim* The
Ginza Rba* The
ArzhangNew Age religions
Various
New Age religions may regard any of the following texts as inspired:
*
Course in Miracles*
Conversations with God*
Oahspe*
The Urantia Book* The
Bible* the
Holy Piby* the
Kebra Negast* The speeches of
Haile Selassie I*
Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy* The
Samaritan Pentateuch*
The Satanic Bible* The
Guru Granth Sahib* The
Dasam Granth Sahib
* The
Book of the SubGenius* The
Bible* The writings of
Emanuel Swedenborg* Some also consider a number of posthumously published manuscripts of Swedenborg to also be sacred.
*The
Tao-te-ching*The
I Ching* The
Chuang Tzu*
The Holy Books of Thelema especially
Liber Al vel Legis*
Divine Principle*
Wolli Hesul (
Explanation of the Divine Principle)
*
Wolli Kangron (
Exposition of the Divine Principle)
* 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
D"nkard (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.
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.
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.
*
Biblical canon*
Table of books of Judeo-Christian Scripture*
Add Bible to your life! Online Bible search and resources. Includes several versions, translations and languages.
*
Internet Sacred Texts Archive Extensive online resource for a wide variety of world religions, folklore, and traditional beliefs.
*
Ocean Downloadable and searchable database of world religious texts. Extensive Bahá'í, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic & Jewish libraries in seven European languages.
*
The Religious Texts Index*
avesta.org: Translations of the Avesta texts
