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Sacred Texts

Sacred Texts. The Bible and beyond. Sacred texts in all religions. Torah (Judaism) Bible (Christianity) Qur’an (Islam) Book of Mormon (Latter-Day Saints) The “Most Holy Book” (Baha’i Faith) Avesta & Gathas (Zoroastrianism) Vedas, Bhagavad Gita (Hinduism) TriPitaka, Dhammapada (Buddhism)

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Sacred Texts

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  1. Sacred Texts The Bible and beyond

  2. Sacred texts in all religions • Torah (Judaism) • Bible (Christianity) • Qur’an (Islam) • Book of Mormon (Latter-Day Saints) • The “Most Holy Book” (Baha’i Faith) • Avesta & Gathas (Zoroastrianism) • Vedas, Bhagavad Gita (Hinduism) • TriPitaka, Dhammapada (Buddhism) • Adi Granth (Sikhism) • Tao Te Ching (Taoism) • Lun Yu (Confucianism)

  3. Questions to ponder • What makes a book “holy”? • Which comes first: a holy book or the religion it is associated with? • Are these the “word of God” or of men? • If other religions have other sacred texts what makes us think our “holy book” is more sacred then theirs?

  4. Contents of sacred texts • Teachings of eternal truths • Myths of the gods, stories of creation • Inspirational & profound words of wisdom • Theological or metaphysical foundations of a faith • Narrative: Religious & cultural history • Stories of the founders and heros of a faith • Early history of the religion • Directives and foundations for a faith • Legal & moral codes of conduct • Foundations of ritual practice • Liturgical: prayers and hymns

  5. Origins of Sacred Texts • Revealed by God through prophets (Western) • Dictated word for word by God? • Written by men “inspired by” God? • Truth discovered by sages (Eastern) • Oral first, later written, still later “canonized” and translated • “insider” vs. “outsider” stories

  6. “Open” or “closed” – is revelation ongoing? • Closed: Torah, Bible, Quran Why would God have stopped talking to us? (or did we stop listening?) • Open: Baha’i faith, Mormon Why would there be “new” revelations of eternal truths?

  7. Using Sacred texts • Bible is read and studied in churches • Torah is chanted and discussed in synagogues • Qur’an is memorized and recited in prayer • Vedas are chanted during Hindu rituals • Hymns are sung from Adi Granth

  8. The Bible: contents Not one book but a collection of books: • Hebrew Bible (“Old Testament”) TaNaKh • Torah (Pentateuch, Five Books of Moses) (the “Law”) • The Prophets (major & minor) • The Writings (liturgical & historical texts – psalms, proverbs, Job, Esther, Ruth, Chronicles) • New Testament (not used by Jews) • Four Gospels (life & teachings of Jesus) • Book of Acts (early history of the church) • The Epistles (letters from early evangelists) • Book of Revelation (visions of things to come)

  9. The Bible: history • Initial oral transmission (13th century BCE or earlier) • Hebrew texts written between 7th – 4th century BCE • Translated into Greek by 1st century BCE (Septuagint) • New Testament epistles earliest written (in Greek) • Gospels written between years 70 – 95 CE (in Greek) • Not canonized until 4th century CE • Translated into Latin centuries later • Still later translated into English (14th cent.) and over 2000 other languages!

  10. Other texts of Judeo-Christian tradition • Dead Sea Scrolls • Apacrapha (non-canonical Hebrew text books, in Catholic but not Protestant Bible) • Gnostic Gospels (Nag Hammadi): books that did not “make the cut” (2nd – 4th cent. CE) • Talmud: Rabbinic commentaries and interpretation of Torah (2nd – 7th cent. CE) • Zohar: Jewish mystical interpretation of Torah (12th cent. CE) (Kabbalah) Orthodox Jews study Talmud

  11. The Book of Mormon“Another Testament of Jesus Christ” • Compiled by prophets of the ancient Americas (including Mormon) (5th cent. BCE – 5th cent. CE) • Engraved on plates of metal and buried • Found and translated by Joseph Smith in 1820s, upstate NY • Further revelations to Smith and other “latter-day” prophets continue • Mormons do also use the Bible http://scriptures.lds.org/bm

  12. The Qur’an (“recitation”) • Revealed orally, in Arabic, to Muhammad by God, through angel Gabriel, 610 – 632 CE • Written by scribes during or shortly after Muhammad’s life • Collected and compiled into one book within 15 – 20 years after Muhammad’s death • 114 chapters (suras), arranged from longest to shortest (except for first) (not chronological) • Memorized and recited in prayer, studied and used as a guide for living the Muslim life • It’s not really the Qur’an if not in the original language • Other texts: Hadith & Sunnah

  13. Handwriting ofBaha’u’llah “Revelation writing” Baha’i Faith • Many texts (not yet collected in a single volume) • Revealed through and written by Baha’u’llah in his lifetime (19th century) • Secondary texts written by successors to Baha’u’llah • Collections of prayers, rules and guidelines for living, teachings of truth Sacred texts of the Baha’i Faith: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bhi/

  14. Sikh sacred text: Adi Granth • The “original book” – a collection of hymns by the early “gurus” of Sikhism and other sage-saints of Hindu and Muslim background • First hymns composed orally in 16th century by the 1st Guru, Nanak • Later written down and additional hymns composed by 5th and 10th gurus • 1699, 10th guru, Gobind Singh, completes the holy book and declares it to be the next guru: Guru Granth Sahib

  15. Hindu texts Shruti (“heard”): • 4 Vedas: myths/hymns, rituals, chants, incantations (oral: 15th – 10th cent. BCE, written: 6th – 3rd cent. BCE) • Brahmanas interpret Vedas • Mystical “Forest Books” • Metaphysical Upanishads (8th – 4th cent. BCE)

  16. More Hindu Texts Smriti (“remembered”): • Epic poems: Mahabharata (including Bhagavad-Gita) (4th – 3rd cent. BCE), Ramayana (200 BCE) • Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (2nd cent. BCE) • Code of Manu (2nd cent. CE) • Puranas (400 – 500 CE) • Other texts

  17. Buddhist texts • TriPitaka (Pali Canon) “three baskets”: • Discourses of the Buddha (sutras) • Discipline for monastic life (vinaya) • Dharma: metaphysical teachings • Mahayana sutras: Lotus sutra, heart Sutra, plus over 2000 others (200 BCE – 200 CE) • Bardo Thodol (Tibetan Book of the Dead) • Dhammapada: 423 sayings of the Buddha, collected in 26 chapters

  18. Taoist texts • Tao Te Ching (6th cent. BCE) by legendary sage Lao Tzu • Chuang Tzu (4th – 3rd cent. BCE) Other Chinese texts: • I-Ching (Book of Changes): a divination text at least 3000 years old • Lun Yu – the Analects (sayings) of Confucius

  19. The Internet Sacred Text Archive: http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm Here you can read hundreds of sacred texts (primary and secondary) from all the major religions of the world and many minor traditions and mystery cults. All texts are translated into English and some also appear in the original language (The Bible in Hebrew, Greek and Latin)

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