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. The names of sacred scriptures are often capitalized as a mark of respect or tradition.
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, see Zoroaster for details).
The first printed scripture for wide distribution to the masses was The Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist scripture, and is the earliest recorded example of a dated printed text, bearing the chinese calendar date for 11 May 868 CE.
Texts
Sacred texts of various religions:
- The Poetic Edda, including especially the Hávamál
- The Younger Edda
- The Akilattirattu Ammanai
- The Arul Nool
- The Kitáb-i-Aqdas
- Kitáb-i-Íqán
- and many other writings including ones from other faiths
- Bon Kangyur and Tengyur
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- In Theravada Buddhism
- The Tipitaka or Pali canon
- In Mahayana
- The Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka
- In Pure Land
- Infinite Life Sutra
- Amitabha Sutra
- Contemplation Sutra
- other Pure Land Sutras
- In Tiantai, Tendai, and Nichiren
- In Tibetan
- In Shingon
- In Jonangpa
- writings of Dolpopa
- three baskets
- The Bible
- In some forms of Christianity:
- The Apocrypha
- The Kolbrin Bible
- In the Latter Day Saint denominations (see also Standard Works):
- The Book of Mormon
- The Pearl of Great Price
- The Doctrine and Covenants
- In Cerdonianism and Marcionism
- Gospel of Marcion
- the Apostolicon
- In Paulicianism
- The Five Classics
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- Śruti
- Smriti
- In Purva Mimamsa
- Mimamsa Sutras of Jaimini
- In Vedanta (Uttar Mimamsa)
- Brahma Sutras of Bādarāyaņa
- In Yoga
- Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
- In Samkhya
- Samkhya Sutras of Kapila
- In Nyaya
- Niyaya Sutras of Gautama
- In Vaisheshika
- Vaisheshika Sutras of Kanada
- In Vaishnavism
- Vaikhanasa Samhitas
- Pancaratra Samhitas
- In Saktism
- Sakta Tantras
- In Kashmir Saivism
- 64 Bhairavagamas
- 28 Saiva Agamas
- Shiva Sutras
- In Pasupata Saivism
- Pasupata Sutras and Panchartha-bhashya (both works of Kaundinya)
- In Saiva Siddhanta
- 28 Saiva Agamas
- Tirumurai (canon of 12 works)
- Meykandar Shastras (canon of 14 works)
- In Gaudiya Vaishnavism
- Brahma Samhita
- Jayadeva's Gita-govinda
- Krishna-karnamrita
- Caitanya-bhagavata
- Caitanya-caritamrita
- Prema-bhakti-candrika
- Hari-bhakti-vilasa
- In Kabir Panth
- poems of Kabir
- In Dadu Panth
- poems of Dadu
- Basava Purana
- Vachanas
- Mantra Gopya
- Shoonya Sampadane
- Chennabasavanna's Karana Hasuge
- 28 Saiva Agamas
- Hermetica, Emerald tablet and associated writings
- Qur'an (Islamic Scripture, Al-Kitab, 'the Book')
- Hadith (sayings and actions of Muhammad)
- Nahj al Balagha In Shi'a Islam
- In Shvetambara
- 11 Angas
- Secondary
- 12 Upangas, 4 Mula-sutras, 6 Cheda-sutras, 2 Culika-sutras, 10 Prakirnakas
- Secondary
- 11 Angas
- In Digambara
- Karmaprabhrita, also called Shatkhandagama
- Kashayaprabhrita
- The Ginza Rba
- Book of the Zodiac
- Qulasta, Canonical Prayerbook
- Book of John the Baptizer
- Diwan Abatur, Purgatories
- 1012 Questions
- Coronation of Shislam Rba
- Baptism of Hibil Ziwa
- The Arzhang
- Indigenous and Aboriginal mythologies
New Age religions
Various New Age religions may regard any of the following texts as inspired:
- The Orphic Poems
- The Bible
- the Holy Piby
- the Kebra Negast
- The speeches and writings of Haile Selassie I
- Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy
- The Satanic Bible
- The Guru Granth Sahib
- The Dasam Granth Sahib
- The Kojiki
- The Nihon Shoki or Nihongi
- The Spirits Book
- The Bible
- The writings of Emanuel Swedenborg
- Some also consider a number of posthumously published manuscripts of Swedenborg to also be sacred.
- Daozang
- The Tao-te-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 religious texts, that is, the Avesta collection:
- 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).
- There are some 60 secondary religious texts, none of which are considered scripture. The most important of these are:
- The Dēnkard (middle Persian, 'Acts of Religion'),
- The Bundahishn, (middle Persian, 'Primordial Creation')
- The Mainog-i-Khirad (middle Persian, 'Spirit of Wisdom')
- The Arda Viraf Namak (middle Persian, 'The Book of Arda Viraf')
- The Sad-dar (modern Persian, 'Hundred Doors', or 'Hundred Chapters')
- The Rivayats (modern Persian, traditional treatises).
- For general use by the laity:
Views
Attitudes to sacred texts differ. Some religions make written texts widely and 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. Some religions view their sacred texts as the "Word of God", often contending that the texts are inspired by God and as such not open to alteration. Translations of texts may receive official blessing, but an original sacred language often has de facto, absolute or exclusive paramountcy. Some religions make texts available free or in subsidized 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 many other religions (including the Abrahamic religions and their offshoots) favour chapter and verse pointers.
Other Terminology
Other terms are often by adherents to describe the canonical works of their religion. In the United States, terms like 'Holy Writ' and others are used by some Christian groups (including the King-James-Only Movement) to describe the Christian Bible or, less often, by Muslim groups to describe the Qur'an.
Another term is 'Holy Scripture' or 'Sacred Scripture', used to denote the text's importance, its status as divine revelation, or, as in the case of many Christian groups, its complete inerrancy. Christianity is not alone in using this terminology to revere its sacred book; Islam holds the Qur'an in similar esteem, as does Hinduism the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita, and Buddhism the sutras.
Hierographology
Hierographology (Greek ιερος, hieros, "sacred" or "holy", + γραφος, graphos, "writing", + λογος, logos, "word" or "reason") (archaically also '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.
External links
- 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.
- Eternal Pages Readable, searchable Bible in multiple languages and versions.
- Islamic Religious Books Religious Islamic books of all kinds
- avesta.org: Translations of the Avesta texts
- http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/themes/landmarks/diamondsutra.html
- Sai SatCharitra A sacred text Sai SatCharitra describing life and teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi, with online resources.
- Academy for Ancient Texts. Ancient texts library. Ancient texts and sacred texts. The world's largest library of on-line ancient texts.