Download 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)
Adi Granth (Sikhism)
Tao Te Ching (Taoism)
Lun Yu (Confucianism)
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?
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
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
“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?
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
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)
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!
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
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
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
Baha’i Faith
Handwriting of
Baha’u’llah
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
“Revelation writing”
Sacred texts of the Baha’i Faith:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bhi/
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
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)
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
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
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
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)