The Bible and beyond

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)

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?

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

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

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?

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

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)

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

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” (2 nd – 4 th cent. CE)
Talmud : Rabbinic commentaries and interpretation of Torah (2 nd – 7 th cent. CE)
Zohar: Jewish mystical interpretation of
Torah (12 th cent. CE) (Kabbalah)
Orthodox Jews study Talmud

“Another Testament of Jesus Christ”
Compiled by prophets of the ancient
Americas (including Mormon) (5 th cent. BCE
– 5 th 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

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

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 (19 th 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/

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 16 th century by the 1 st Guru, Nanak
Later written down and additional hymns composed by 5 th and 10 th gurus
1699, 10 th guru, Gobind Singh, completes the holy book and declares it to be the next guru: Guru Granth Sahib

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

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

Tao Te Ching (6 th cent. BCE) by legendary sage Lao Tzu
Chuang Tzu (4 th – 3 rd 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)